eHRAF Archaeology

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The Aceramic Neolithic tradition extends from 10,500 BP to 7500 BP from the Mediterranean zone to the desert areas of the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, southeastern Turkey, and northern Iraq. At the start of the time period people lived in villages while hunting and gathering. By the end of the time period they were agriculturalists and pastoralists. There is little evidence for social stratification although some villages were very large and there was some public architecture.

The tradition known as Adena extends from 2600 to 1900 BP. It is found in the central Ohio River valley and adjacent regions of the United States. Adena was a mortuary cult involving several interacting groups that shared mortuary practices and ceremonies. They kept their mortuary mounds and residential camps separate. They were small, mobile social hunter-gatherers and horticulturalists. Although the mounds seem to indicate some status differences may have existed, the residential sites indicate they were egalitarian.

The Akkadian tradition started circa 4334 BP with the kingship of Sargon the Great in the city of Akkade on the Tigris river in Iraq, through his conquering the Sumerians, and continued to circa 4112 BP when the Akkadian empire collapsed. It is during this time period that Mesopotamian kings were first considered to be deities. At the height of their territorial expansion the Akkadian tradition extended from eastern Syria, through Mesopotamian Iraq, and into southwestern Iran. They used cuneiform writing, had standard weights and measures, and used copper. Their economy was based on dry farming of cereal, irrigation agriculture, and animal husbandry.

The Andean Regional Development Tradition includes localized but interacting Andean states in the region from northern Peru to northern Chile between 2200 and 1300 BP. Agriculture and pastoralism (primarily llamas and alpacas) formed the basis of the subsistence economy. Caravans of llamas moved substantial amounts of goods that linked coastal and jungle areas with highlands. These states developed sophisticated local ceramics styles, metallurgy, and weaving. The period was characterized by the coalescing of local political groups into larger units; however, except for payment of tribute to large centers, local autonomy appears to have prevailed.

Andean Regional States refers to the period between 900 and 530 BP prior to the expansion of the Inka Empire.  Many small independent states and chiefdoms occupied the Andean region, including the Chimu and Aymara Kingdoms. The coastal valleys and highland regions differed in their organizational forms and settlement patterns. States in the former regions were usually larger and more developed, and included two or more levels of political/religious centers, large scale irrigation systems, varying amounts of special purpose architecture, burial and ceremonial monuments, storage, and administrative facilities. Highland settlement systems were less complex. 

The Aymara kingdoms were politically autonomous and located in the Lake Titicaca region and high Andes of southern Peru, Bolivia, and northern Chile. In contrast to the previous Tiwanaku period with its intensive agricultural strategies, the Aymara kingdoms relied heavily on pastoralism and household level agriculture on rain-fed terraces. The Aymara Kingdom tradition was characterized by fortified, hilltop sites with smaller associated settlements. Social ranking was not marked. The Aymara Kingdoms tradition dates from 900 to 530 BP (AD 1100 - AD 1470).

The Basketmaker tradition is found in southern Nevada and Utah, southwestern Colorado, northwestern New Mexico and northeastern Arizona, from around 3000 to 1300 BP. The people were semi-sedentary horticulturalists who lived in pit houses in rockshelters during the early part of the tradition, and in pit houses in open-air sites forming small hamlets during the later part of the tradition. They grew corn and squash but also relied on pine nuts and other gathered foods. Sophisticated fiber baskets and string bags are characteristic. Very late in the tradition people started making plain pottery, probably for cooking the beans they had begun to cultivate. Elaborate burials were placed in and around their dwellings.

The Bell Beaker Tradition occurred in the temperate areas of Western Europe between 4500 and 3800 BP (2500-1800 BC). The Bell Beaker people practiced a sedentary agriculture supplemented by animal husbandry and lived in small villages grouped into chiefdoms. Diagnostic artifacts include bell-shaped ceramic beakers decorated with stamped horizontal bands, copper knives, flint arrowheads with barbs and tangs, and polished stone wristguards.

The Cascade tradition occurred in the plateau region of northwestern United States from 8000 to 5000 BP. The people were semi-sedentary hunters, fishers, and gatherers with a generalized subsistence economy that included deer, elk, bison, antelope, river mussels, and salmon. There might have been seasonal use of plants, too. Cascade sites range from the uplands to the bottoms of river canyons, in open settings and in rock shelters. The classic Cascade lanceolate projectile point is diagnostic of the tradition as well as their semi-subterranean pit houses, among the earliest known examples of such houses.

Central Indian Neolithic Tradition is found in central India from 5000 to 3100 BP. Earliest evidence for agriculture and village settlements comes from the site of Balathal in Rajasthan around 5000 BP. The tradition is distinguished by painted, wheel-made ceramics, a specialized blade/flake industry, restricted use of copper, and a farming, stock-raising, pastoralist, and limited hunting based subsistence. After 4400 BP with Harappan contact a chiefdom political organization developed and flourished centered on regional centers. Central Indian Chalcolithic can be divided into the following sub-traditions, or cultures: Ahar (5000-3500 BP), Kayatha (4200-3800 BP) and Malwa (3700-3300 BP).

The Central Mexico Classic tradition was found in the entire basin of Mexico and included parts of the states of Hidalgo, Tlaxcala, Puebla, and Morelos from circa 2150-1350 BP (150 BC-AD 650). The tradition mostly consists of the city and probable colonies of the state of Teotihuacan. The state had a permanent military, probably controlled the distribution of Thin Orange Ware to other elites in Mesoamerica, and had a system of writing. At one time the city of Teotihuacan consisted of as many as 100,000 people with almost all living within multi-apartment compounds. The city contained marketplaces. Their religion included human sacrifice and probably much pageantry.

The Central Mexico Postclassic tradition extends from 1300 to 479 BP (AD 700 to 1521) in the central highlands of Mexico. Throughout the time period regional centers/states with monumental architecture formed and collapsed. Military expansion was encouraged by a religious ideology that linked human sacrifice with warfare. Multiple migrations created a society was ethnically and linguistically diverse. Society was stratified from noble to commoner to slave with some opportunities for advancement. The Late Postclassic had the highest population of any prehispanic period in Central Mexico requiring nearly all arable land to be in production.

The Ceramic Neolithic tradition extends from 8000 BP to 6100 BP in the Levant and the Euphrates and Tigris basins below the Taurus and Zagros mountains. People lived in settled villages and were agriculturalists growing cereals and pulses; and also pastoralists raising sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle. Ceramic technology is widespread. There is some settlement hierarchy with farmsteads or hamlets associated with larger villages.

Chavín is considered to be a tradition and a religious cult, but does not appear to have been a strongly centralized state. Located along the coast and highlands of central and northern Peru, it existed from 2800–2200 BP The people of Chavín were sedentary agriculturalists and herders. Maize was only a minor part of their diet and may have been grown mostly for making chicha (maize beer) for religious ceremonies. Long distance trade was important and control of travel and trade through their area may have been what started the type site of Chavín de Huantar. Large, symbolically decorated ceremonial centers are present.

The Chimu tradition lasted from 1000–480 BP (AD 900–1520), the last fifty years under Inka domination, and was located along the northern coast of Peru from the Piura to the Huarmey valleys and inland to the Andean piedmont, with its heartland and principal city of Chan Chan in the Moche Valley. Chimu was a state society, probably with a dualistic political system, and a rigid class system. Late in the tradition it became a militaristic expansionist state, although most settlements are not defensively located and there are few forts. Settlements range from cities with populations of 40,000–60,000 down to rural hamlets. The subsistence economy was based on irrigation agriculture and fishing. There were full-time specialists, some attached to royal or noble households. The power base of the elites seems to have depended on craft production. The Chimu were master metallurgists, but few examples survive due to tribute exacted during the Inka and Spanish conquests.

During the Classic Maya tradition there were localized but interacting states based on sophisticated lowland agriculture in what is now eastern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, western Honduras, and western El Salvador. Most polities had a four-level settlement hierarchy including central capitals with populations varying from 2,500 to 100,000 people. The time period of this tradition is from about 1850 BP through 1100 BP (ca. AD 150 - AD 900). Society was stratified into elites and commoners. The latter paid tribute and supplied corvée labor to construct and maintain the urban infrastructure.

The Coastal Andean Archaic tradition is located along the Pacific coast of South America from southern Ecuador to northern Chile—principally the desert coast of Peru—from 7000–3800 BP (5000–1800 BC). The tradition ends with the introduction of ceramics, at different times in different areas: before 5500 BP (3500 BC) in Ecuador; circa 3800 BP (1800 BC) in northern and central Peru; and circa 3400–3200 BP (1400–1200 BC) in northern Chile. At the start of the tradition people were nomadic hunter-gatherers; by the end they had become settled fishermen and horticulturalists who built centers with monumental architecture. Their diet changed from deer, birds, reptiles, and gathered plants to one consisting largely of fish, shellfish, and marine mammals, with some gathered plant foods, and domesticated crops that included several types of tubers, beans, and fruits. But the earliest and probably most economically important crops were cotton and gourds for industrial uses such as fishing line, nets and floats. The use of cotton changed from cordage alone to single-warp textiles to split-paired twining and, ultimately, to plural-warp textiles.

The Coastal Andean Early Formative tradition is located along the Pacific coast of Peru from southern Ecuador in the north to northern Chile in the south from 4100/3800–3000 BP (2100/1800–1000 BC). The start of the tradition is defined by the introduction of ceramics, and ceramics came into use at different times in different areas: before 5500 BP (3500 BC) in Ecuador, circa 3800 BP (1800 BC) in northern and central Peru and circa 3400–3200 BP (1400–1200 BC) in northern Chile. The people were sedentary and there was a settlement hierarchy with civic/ceremonial centers containing monumental architecture, farming villages along river valleys where irrigation agriculture was possible, and fishing villages along the coastline; inland farmers exchanged vegetable products with coastal dwellers for marine resources. Site sizes and hierarchy may variously indicate chiefdoms or emerging states.

The Coastal Andean Late Formative tradition occurred from 3000 BP–2200 BP and was located along the Pacific coast of Peru from the La Leche Valley in the north to the Nazca Valley in the south. The people were sedentary agriculturalists, with maize added during this period, and they supplemented their diet with fish, shellfish gathering, and domesticated animals such as llamas and guinea pigs. Settlements range from urban to small village sites and also include fortified hilltop sites and specialized elite cemeteries. The settlement hierarchy suggests a chiefdom level of organization. The fortified sites along the north coast suggest endemic conflict. Copper and gold artifacts appear for the first time and the high quality of these, the textiles, and ceramics hint at the existence of part-time specialists.

The Dawenkou Tradition occurred in the lower Yellow River valley of China from 6300 to 4500 BP. (4300 BC - 2500 BC). The people were sedentary agriculturalists growing millet and raising domesticated animals They supplemented their diet with wild deer, birds, and fish. They made stone tools, ceramics and jade ornaments. Burials indicate the presence of hereditary status and possibly social classes.

The Early Anasazi tradition is found in southern Nevada east across southern Utah to southwestern Colorado, northern New Mexico and northern Arizona from 1300-700 BP. The people were sedentary horticulturalists who lived in pit houses in the early part of the tradition and in above ground adobe or stone houses or apartment blocks in the later part of the tradition. They grew corn, squash, and beans but also relied on wild plants and animals. Turkeys were domesticated. Around the San Juan Basin settlements were connected to Chaco Canyon by roads. Towards the end of the time period there is evidence of endemic warfare as settlements are sited in extremely inaccessible locations and have defensive walls.

The Early Desert Archaic tradition extends from 10,000–8000 BP in the eastern Great Basin and the southwestern United States (Arizona, New Mexico, southwestern Colorado, and southeastern Utah). The people were nomadic hunters and gatherers traveling in small groups to exploit seasonally available animals and plants, including small seeds as seen by the presence of flat milling stones and hand stones. Camp sites are represented by fire hearths, lithics, and the occasionally preserved faunal remains. Cave sites were sometimes used for shelter and provide evidence of an extensive perishable artifact assemblage.

The Early Dynastic Egypt tradition extends from 5300 to 4575 BP, from the time of the late Predynastic kings through the third dynasty. The territory centers in Egypt with colonies in what is now Gaza, Israel, and the West Bank. The people were sedentary agriculturalists and there were only a few cities. The emerging state was based on a political-religious hierarchy with the king thought of as a god by the end of the time period. Writing progresses from labels on funerary items to short texts.

The Early Dynastic Mesopotamia tradition is found on the lower Tigris, Euphrates, and Diyala river valleys, ca. 4900-4334 BP.  The region included some twenty to thirty city-states, each with a principle center linked to smaller towns and villages. Walled cities had a central temple surrounded by auxiliary religious and political buildings, and workshops. The economy was based on irrigation agriculture and animal husbandry. Powerful leaders, often referred to as kings, headed a complex hierarchical political system. Two distinctive artifacts of the period were cylinder seals and votive statues.

The Early Indus Tradition is found in Pakistan and northwestern India, from 7500-4600 BP (5500-2600 BC). Subsistence was based on agriculture and animal husbandry. People lived in urban regional centers, villages, or camp sites; the only monumental architecture was large, brick perimeter walls. Regional cultural variation increased along with growth in inter-regional and long distance trade. Elites appeared at a time of increasing craft specialization and the first use of cubical limestone weights, seals, graffiti or potter’s marks, and writing.

Traditions

Aceramic Neolithic

Adena

Akkadian

Andean Regional Development

Andean Regional States

Aymara Kingdoms

Basketmaker

Bell Beaker

Cascade

Central Indian Neolithic

Central Mexico Classic

Central Mexico Postclassic

Ceramic Neolithic

Chavín

Chimu

Classic Maya

Coastal Andean Archaic

Coastal Andean Early Formative

Coastal Andean Late Formative

Dawenkou

Early Anasazi

Early Desert Archaic

Early Dynastic Egypt

Early Dynastic Mesopotamia

Early Indus

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