An Archaeological Primer on Craft Specialization

An Archaeological Primer on Craft Specialization Craft specialization is what archaeologists call the assignment of specific tasks to specific people or subsets of people in a community. An agricultural community might have had specialists who made pots or knapped flints or tended crops or stayed in touch with the gods or conducted burial ceremonies. Craft specialization allows a community to get large projects completed-wars fought, pyramids built and yet still get the day-to-day operations of the community done as well. How Does Craft Specialization Develop? Archaeologists generally believe that hunter-gatherer societies were/are primarily egalitarian, in that most everyone did most everything. A recent study on modern hunter-gatherers suggests that even though a select portion of the community group goes out to do the hunting for the whole (i.e., what you would imagine would be hunting specialists)  when they return, they pass the knowledge ​on to the next generations, so everyone in the community understands how to hunt. Makes sense: should something happen to the hunters, unless the hunting process is understood by everyone, the community starves. In this way, knowledge is shared by everyone in the community and no one is indispensable. As a society grows in population and complexity, however, at some point certain kinds of tasks became overly time-consuming, and, theoretically anyway, someone who is particularly skilled at a task gets selected to do that task for his or her family group, clan, or community. For example, someone who is good at making spearpoints or pots is selected, in some process unknown to us, to dedicate their time to the production of these items. Why is Craft Specialization a Keystone to Complexity? Craft specialization is also part of the process that archaeologists believe may kickstart societal complexity. First, someone who spends their time making pots may not be able to spend time producing food for her family. Everybody needs pots, and at the same time the potter must eat; perhaps a system of barter becomes necessary to make it possible for the craft specialist to continue.Secondly, specialized information must be passed on in some way, and generally protected. Specialized information requires an educational process of some kind, whether the process is simple apprenticeships or more formal schools.Finally, since not everyone does exactly the same work or has the same lifeways, ranking or class systems might develop out of such a situation. Specialists may become of higher rank or lower rank to the rest of the population; specialists may even become society leaders. Identifying Craft Specialization Archaeologically Archaeologically, evidence of craft specialists is suggested by patterning: by the presence of different concentrations of certain types of artifacts in certain sections of communities. For example, in a given community, the archaeological ruins of the residence or workshop of a shell tool specialist might contain most of the broken and worked shell fragments found in the whole village. Other houses in the village might have only one or two complete shell tools. Identification of the work of craft specialists is sometimes suggested by archaeologists from a perceived similarity in a certain class of artifacts. Therefore, if ceramic vessels found in a community are pretty much the same size, with the same or similar decorations or design details, that may be evidence that they were all made by the same small number of individuals-craft specialists. Craft specialization is thus a precursor to mass production. Some Recent Examples of Craft Specialization Cathy Costins research using examinations of design elements to identify how craft specialization worked among Inka groups in 15th and 16th century AD Peru [Costin, Cathy L. and Melissa B. Hagstrum 1995 Standardization, labor investment, skill, and the organization of ceramic production in late prehispanic highland Peru. American Antiquity 60(4):619-639.]Kathy Schick and Nicholas Toth of Indiana University continue experimental replication of craft technology at the Stone Age Institute.Kazuo Aoyama discusses the Aguateca site in Guatemala, where an abrupt attack of the Classic Maya center preserved evidence of specialized bone or shell working. Sources Aoyama, Kazuo. 2000.  Ancient Maya State, Urbanism, Exchange, and Craft Specialization: Chipped Stone Evidence from the Copan Valley and the LA Entrada Region, Honduras. Siglo del Hombre Press, Mexico City.Aoyama, Kazuo.  Craft Specialization and Elite Domestic Activities: Microwear Analysis of Lithic Artifacts from Aguateca, Guatemala. Online report submitted to the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc.Arnold, Jeanne E. 1992 Complex hunter-gatherer-fishers of prehistoric California: Chiefs, specialists, and maritime adaptations of the Channel Islands.  American Antiquity  57(1):60-84.Bayman, James M. 1996 Shell ornament consumption in a classic Hohokam platform mound community center.  Journal of Field Archaeology  23(4):403-420.Becker, M. J. 1973 Archaeological evidence for occupational specialization among Classic Maya at Tikal, Guatemala.  American Antiquity  38:396-406.Brumfiel, Elizabeth M. and Timothy K. Earle (eds). 1987  Specializatio n, Exchange, and Complex Societies.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Camillo, Carlos. 1997. . L P D PressCostin, Cathy L. 1991 Craft Specialization: Issues in Defining, Documenting, and Explaining the Organization of Production. In  Archaeological Method and Theory  volume 1. Michael B. Schiffer, ed. Pp. 1-56. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.Costin, Cathy L. and Melissa B. Hagstrum 1995 Standardization, labor investment, skill, and the organization of ceramic production in late prehispanic highland Peru.  American Antiquity  60(4):619-639.Ehrenreich, Robert M. 1991 Metalworking in Iron Age Britain: Hierarchy or heterarchy?  MASCA: Metals in Society: Theory beyond analysis. 8(2), 69-80.Evans, Robert K. 1978 Early craft specialization: an example from the Balkan Chalcolithic. In Charles L. Redman and et al., eds. Pp. 113-129. New York: Academic Press.Feinman, Gary M. and Linda M. Nicholas 1995 Household craft specialization and shell ornament manufacture in Ejutla, Mexico.  Expedition  37(2):14-25.Feinman, Gary M., Linda M. Nicholas, a nd Scott L. Fedick 1991 Shell working in prehispanic Ejutla, Oaxaca (Mexico): Findings from an exploratory field season.  Mexicon13(4):69-77.   Feinman, Gary M., Linda M. Nicholas, and William D. Middleton 1993 Craft activities at the prehispanic Ejutla site, Oaxaca, Mexico.  Mexicon15(2):33-41.  Hagstrum, Melissa 2001 Household Production in Chaco Canyon Society.  American Antiquity  66(1):47-55.Harry, Karen G. 2005 Ceramic Specialization and Agricultural Marginality: Do Ethnographic Models Explain the Development of Specialized Pottery Production in the Prehistoric American Southwest?  American Antiquity  70(2):295-320.Hirth, Kenn. 2006. Obsidian Craft Production in Ancient Central Mexico: Archaeological Research at Xochicalco. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Kenoyer, J. M. 1991 The Indus Valley tradition of Pakistan and Western India.  Journal of World Prehistory  5(4):331-385.Masucci, Maria A. 1995 Marine shell bead production and the role of domestic craft activities in the conomy of the Guangala phase, southwest Ecuador.  Latin American Antiquity  6(1):70-84.Muller, Jon 1984 Mississippian s pecialization and salt.  American Antiquity  49(3):489-507. Schortman, Edward M. and Patricia A. Urban 2004 Modeling the roles of craft production in ancient political economies.  Journal of Archaeological Research  12(2):185-226Shafer, Harry J. and Thomas R. Hester. 1986 Maya stone-tool craft specialization and production at Colha, Belize: reply To Mallory.  American Antiquity  51:158-166.Spence, Michael W. 1984 Craft production and polity in early Teotihuacan. In  Trade and Exchange in Early Mesoamerica. Kenneth G. Hirth, ed. Pp. 87-110. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.Tosi, Maurizio. 1984 The notion of craft specialization and its representation in the archaeological record of early states in the Turanian Basin. In  Marxist perspectives in archaeology. Matthew Spriggs, ed. Pp. 22-52. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Vaughn, Kevin J., Christina A. Conlee, Hector Neff, and Katharina Schreiber 2006 Ceramic production in ancient Nasca: provenance analysis of pottery from the Early Nasca and Tiza cultures through IN AA.  Journal of Archaeological Science  33:681-689. Vehik, Susan C. 1990 Late Prehistoric Plains Trade and Economic Specialization.  Plains Anthropologist  35(128):125-145.Wailes, Bernard (editor). 1996. Craft Specialization and Social Evolution: In Memory of V. Gordon Childe. University Museum Symposium Series, Volume 6 University Museum Monograph - UMM 93. University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology - University of Pennsylvania.Wright, Henry T. 1969. The Administration of Rural Production in an Early Mesopotamian Town. 69. Ann Arbor, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan. Anthropological Papers.Yerkes, Richard W. 1989 Mississippian craft specialization in the American Bottom.  Southeastern Archaeology  8:93-106.Yerkes, Richard W. 1987 Prehistoric Life on the Mississippi Floodplain. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Mothers Day Celebrations Around the World

Mothers Day Celebrations Around the World Although the idea of honoring mothers on a special day was known as far back as ancient Greece, today Mothers Day is celebrated in many countries, in many different ways, and on different dates. Where Did Mothers Day Originate? The credit for the American Mothers Day observance goes to three women. In 1872 Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910), who also wrote the lyrics for The Battle Hymn of the Republic, proposed a Mothers Day observance dedicated to peace in the years following the Civil War. Such annual observances were held in Boston in the late 1800s. In 1907 Anna Marie Jarvis (1864-1948), a Philadelphia teacher originally from Grafton, West Virginia, began her own efforts to establish a national Mothers Day. She also wished to honor her own mother, Anna Reeves Jarvis (1832-1905), who had first promoted the Mothers Work Days in 1858 as a way to improve the sanitary conditions in her town. She later worked to relieve suffering during and after the Civil War. With the support of churches, business people, and politicians, Mothers Day came to be observed on the second Sunday in May in most U.S. states within several years of Ann Jarvis campaign. The national Mothers Day holiday became official on May 8, 1914, when President Woodrow Wilson signed a joint resolution, but it was more of a patriotic day on which flags were flown in honor of mom. Ironically, Anna Jarvis, who later tried in vain to combat the increasing commercialization of the holiday, never became a mother herself. Mothers Day in Europe Englands Mothers Day observance goes back to the 13th century when Mothering Sunday was observed on the fourth Sunday of Lent (because it was originally for Mary, mother of Christ). Later, in the 17th century, servants were given a free day on Mothering Sunday to return home and visit their mothers, often bringing along a sweet treat known as the mothering cake that was to be kept until Easter. In the UK, Mothering Sunday is still observed during Lent, in March or early April. In Austria, Germany, and Switzerland Muttertag is observed on the second Sunday in May, just as in the U.S., Australia, Brazil, Italy, Japan, and many other countries. During the First World War, Switzerland was one the first European countries to introduce Mothers Day (in 1917). Germanys first Muttertag observance took place in 1922, Austrias in 1926 (or 1924, depending on the source). Muttertag was first declared an official German holiday in 1933 (the second Sunday in May) and took on a special significance as part of the Nazi motherhood cult under the Hitler regime. There was even a medal- das Mutterkreuz- in bronze, silver, and gold (eight or more Kinder!), awarded to mothers who produced children for the Vaterland. (The medal had the popular nickname of Karnickelorden, the Order of the Rabbit.) After World War II the German holiday became a more unofficial one that took on the cards-and-flowers elements of the U.S. Mothers Day. In Germany, if Mothers Day happens to fall on Pfin gstsonntag (Pentecost), the holiday is moved to the first Sunday in May. Mothers Day in Latin America International Mothers Day is observed on May 11. In Mexico and much of Latin America Mothers Day is on May 10. In France and Sweden Mothers Day falls on the last Sunday in May. Spring in Argentina comes in October, which may explain why their Mothers Day observance is on the second Sunday in October rather than May. In Spain and Portugal Mothers Day is Dec. 8 and is more of a religious holiday than most Mothers Day celebrations around the world, although the English Mothering Sunday actually began under Henry III in the 1200s as a celebration of the Mother Church. German poet and philosopher, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Von Vater hab ich die Statur, des Lebens ernstes FÃ ¼hren, von MÃ ¼tterchen die Frohnatur und Lust zu fabulieren.

American heritage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

American heritage - Essay Example Listing of the rights makes the Bill of Rights more ineffective and dangerous for the reason that most Governments often abuse rights that are not documented. In addition, the congress is given certain powers by the Constitution, yet the Bill of Rights lists the same rights that the Congress cannot violate; it has no power to do so. Originally, anyone who violated the rights of citizens could be simply thrown out of office. In this sense therefore, a Bill of Rights was needless in a nation where citizens have the right to do away with officials from office. A senior official who demoralized his constituents was to face the music (McNeese, 2001). The original constitution specifically listed the powers of the Federal Government and it thus had no right to interfere with anything that was not specifically listed. Through listing rights in the initial amendments, it seems to be granting rights to citizens, even those who were for the Bill of Rights put it their to simply state what was not within the control of the Federal Government. However, by doing this, it was perceived that rights that were given to the Americans by the constitution were essential rights that citizens thought were natural or God-given but exceed government. The concept of separation of power entails the distribution of powers among three branches of government. Article I, II, and III of the U.S constitution provides for the separation among the executive, judicial, and legislative branches. It was not meant to take away power from the government, but rather to spread power evenly in all divisions of the government and to prevent one arm from possessing too much power. The system of sharing power or checks and balances is what limits the power of each branch. The Legislative branch is made up of the Senate and the House; the President, his vice, and the Departments make up the Executives, while the Supreme