Military Level List
A viewset for viewing and editing Military Levels.
GET /api/sc/military-levels/?ordering=military_level_from
{ "count": 364, "next": "https://seshatdata.com/api/sc/military-levels/?ordering=military_level_from&page=2", "previous": null, "results": [ { "id": 312, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": "levels. The following reconstruction of small communities consisting of extended families based in autonomous homesteads suggests minimal social diffrentiation. ”For the first 400 years of the settlement's history, Kirikongo was a single economically generalized social group (Figure 6). The occupants were self-sufficient farmers who cultivated grains and herded livestock, smelted and forged iron, opportunistically hunted, lived in puddled earthen structures with pounded clay floors, and fished in the seasonal drainages. [...] Since Kirikongo did not grow (at least not significantly) for over 400 years, it is likely that extra-community fissioning continually occurred to contribute to regional population growth, and it is also likely that Kirikongo itself was the result of budding from a previous homestead. However, with the small scale of settlement, the inhabitants of individual homesteads must have interacted with a wider community for social and demographic reasons. [...] It may be that generalized single-kin homesteads like Kirikongo were the societal model for a post-LSA expansion of farming peoples along the Nakambe (White Volta) and Mouhoun (Black Volta) River basins. A homestead settlement pattern would fit well with the transitional nature of early sedentary life, where societies are shifting from generalized reciprocity to more restricted and formalized group membership, and single-kin communities like Kirikongo's house (Mound 4) would be roughly the size of a band.”§REF§(Dueppen 2012: 27, 32)§REF§", "note": null, "finalized": false, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": false, "drb_reviewed": null, "name": "Military_level", "military_level_from": 0, "military_level_to": 0, "polity": { "id": 613, "name": "bf_west_burkina_faso_yellow_5", "start_year": 100, "end_year": 500, "long_name": "West Burkina Faso Yellow I", "new_name": "bf_west_burkina_faso_yellow_5", "polity_tag": "POL_AFR_WEST", "general_description": null, "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": null, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 7, "name": "West Africa", "subregions_list": "From Senegal to Gabon (Tropical)", "mac_region": { "id": 2, "name": "Africa" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 326, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": "levels. There were likely military roles in specific communities, but not on the polity level. “The Kingdom of Nri (1043–1911) was the West African medieval state of the Nri Igbo, a subgroup of the Igbo people, and is the oldest kingdom in Nigeria. The Kingdom of Nri was unusual in the history of world government in that its leader exercised no military power over his subjects. The kingdom existed as a sphere of religious and political influence over much of Igboland, and was administered by a priest-king called the eze Nri. The eze Nri managed trade and diplomacy on behalf of the Igbo people, and was the possessor of divine authority in religious matters.” §REF§Ngara, C. A. (n.d.). An Ethnohistorical Account Of Pre-Colonial Africa, African Kingdoms And African Historical States. 25:11. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/UJG3ED8W/collection§REF§ “Although bloodshed is inherent in this historical charter, for many centuries the people of Nri have had a strong commitment to peace, rooted in the belief that it is an abomination to pollute the sacred Earth. “The white men that came started by killing those who did not agree with their rules. We Nri never did so”.” §REF§Isichei, Elizabeth. A History of African Societies to 1870. Cambridge University Press, 1997: 246. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z4GK27CI/collection§REF§", "note": null, "finalized": false, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": false, "drb_reviewed": null, "name": "Military_level", "military_level_from": 0, "military_level_to": 0, "polity": { "id": 668, "name": "ni_nri_k", "start_year": 1043, "end_year": 1911, "long_name": "Ọ̀ràézè Ǹrì", "new_name": "ni_nri_k", "polity_tag": "POL_AFR_WEST", "general_description": null, "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": null, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 7, "name": "West Africa", "subregions_list": "From Senegal to Gabon (Tropical)", "mac_region": { "id": 2, "name": "Africa" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 154, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": " levels. Kenoyer writes that there is no evidence of the existence of an army during the period 2600 BCE 1900 BCE§REF§Jonathan Mark Kenoyer. 'Uncovering the keys to the Lost Indus Cities', <i>Scientific American</i>, vol. 15, no. 1, 2005, p. 29.§REF§, although it has been argued that the absence of evidence does not mean that the Harappan people lived peacefully throughout the period: \"More significantly, our knowledge of warfare in Egypt and Mesopotamia is heavily dependent on textual evidence and art; but this simply does not exist to portray any aspect of life in the Indus Civilisation. The absence of artistic or textual reference to war in the Indus is therefore no more representative of a lack of war than a lack of trade, agriculture or urbanisation - none of which are in any doubt.”§REF§Cork, E. (2005) Peaceful Harappans? Reviewing the evidence for the absence of warfare in the Indus Civilisation of north-west India and Pakistan (c. 2500-1900 BC). Antiquity (79): 411-423. p420§REF§", "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": null, "name": "military_level", "military_level_from": 0, "military_level_to": 1, "polity": { "id": 122, "name": "PkUrbn2", "start_year": -2100, "end_year": 1800, "long_name": "Kachi Plain - Urban Period II", "new_name": "pk_kachi_urban_2", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "The Mature Harappan culture, also known as the Indus Civilization, emerged around 2500 BCE and, from its core in the Indus and Saraswati Valleys, expanded to the Kachi plain and the Makran coast in the west, to Gujarat in the south, and to the foothills of the Himalayas and the northern borders of the Ganga-Yamuna Doab in the north and east. This civilization was characterized by the establishment of several large cities, most notably Mohenjo-daro, the largest of these centres and the one best positioned to control trade and communications throughout the region. Rather than being united by a single shared ideology, it appears that the Indus people had a wide range of beliefs and/or religions. §REF§ (McIntosh 2008, 83-84) McIntosh, Jane. 2008. The Ancient Indus Valley. Santa Barbara; Denver; Oxford: ABC-CLIO. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5P92SHE8\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5P92SHE8</a>. §REF§ Around 1900 or 1800 BCE, the Indus Civilization began to decline, possibly due to environmental factors. §REF§ (McIntosh 2008, 396-400) McIntosh, Jane. 2008. The Ancient Indus Valley. Santa Barbara; Denver; Oxford: ABC-CLIO. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5P92SHE8\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5P92SHE8</a>. §REF§ <br><i>Population and political organization</i><br>There is no clear or explicit evidence for the existence of rulers during the Mature Harappan period, though archaeologists have suggested a number of different possible ways its cities - or perhaps its entire territory - may have been governed, ranging from heterarchy to theocracy. §REF§ (McIntosh 2008, 391-92) McIntosh, Jane. 2008. The Ancient Indus Valley. Santa Barbara; Denver; Oxford: ABC-CLIO. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5P92SHE8\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5P92SHE8</a>. §REF§ Certainly the Harappans could boast a well developed bureaucracy, as suggested by seals, tablets, and other inscribed artefacts. §REF§ (McIntosh 2008, 212) McIntosh, Jane. 2008. The Ancient Indus Valley. Santa Barbara; Denver; Oxford: ABC-CLIO. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5P92SHE8\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5P92SHE8</a>. §REF§ <br>The scholarly literature does not appear to provide population estimates for the Indus Valley as a whole, but one source suggests a population of 100,000 for the largest Harappan city, Mohenjo-daro. §REF§ (McIntosh 2008, 214) McIntosh, Jane. 2008. The Ancient Indus Valley. Santa Barbara; Denver; Oxford: ABC-CLIO. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5P92SHE8\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5P92SHE8</a>. §REF§ ", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 13, "name": "Kachi Plain", "subregion": "Indo-Gangetic Plain", "longitude": "67.628836000000", "latitude": "29.377664000000", "capital_city": "Mehrgarh", "nga_code": "PK", "fao_country": "Pakistan", "world_region": "South Asia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 38, "name": "Pakistan", "subregions_list": "Pakistan", "mac_region": { "id": 9, "name": "South Asia" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 311, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": "levels. Inferred from the following quote. \"As demonstrated by the uniformity of their material culture and their presumed belief system, most prominently reflected by the terracotta sculptures, external contacts within their culture must have existed. However, such a larger social network apparently was not organised and maintained in a way as to infer social inequality, social hierarchies or other signs of internal demarcation traceable by available archaeological data. None of the numerous excavations brought to light architectural remains of specified buildings or the spatial organisation of housing areas that might have been occupied by high-ranking members of the community. Further, among the admittedly few features interpreted as graves there is no evidence of any heterogeneity pointing to a difference between burials of elite members or commoners. Nowhere, an accumulation of valuable objects neither of iron nor any other materials signifying inequality in terms of property or prosperity was found.\" §REF§(Breunig and Ruppe 2016: 252) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/ES4TRU7R.§REF§", "note": null, "finalized": false, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": false, "drb_reviewed": null, "name": "Military_level", "military_level_from": 0, "military_level_to": 0, "polity": { "id": 612, "name": "ni_nok_1", "start_year": -1500, "end_year": -901, "long_name": "Middle and Late Nok", "new_name": "ni_nok_1", "polity_tag": "POL_AFR_WEST", "general_description": null, "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": null, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 7, "name": "West Africa", "subregions_list": "From Senegal to Gabon (Tropical)", "mac_region": { "id": 2, "name": "Africa" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 313, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": "levels. Inferred from the following quote. \"As demonstrated by the uniformity of their material culture and their presumed belief system, most prominently reflected by the terracotta sculptures, external contacts within their culture must have existed. However, such a larger social network apparently was not organised and maintained in a way as to infer social inequality, social hierarchies or other signs of internal demarcation traceable by available archaeological data. None of the numerous excavations brought to light architectural remains of specified buildings or the spatial organisation of housing areas that might have been occupied by high-ranking members of the community. Further, among the admittedly few features interpreted as graves there is no evidence of any heterogeneity pointing to a difference between burials of elite members or commoners. Nowhere, an accumulation of valuable objects neither of iron nor any other materials signifying inequality in terms of property or prosperity was found.\" §REF§(Breunig and Ruppe 2016: 252) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/ES4TRU7R.§REF§", "note": null, "finalized": false, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": false, "drb_reviewed": null, "name": "Military_level", "military_level_from": 0, "military_level_to": 0, "polity": { "id": 615, "name": "ni_nok_2", "start_year": -900, "end_year": 0, "long_name": "Middle and Late Nok", "new_name": "ni_nok_2", "polity_tag": "POL_AFR_WEST", "general_description": null, "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": null, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 7, "name": "West Africa", "subregions_list": "From Senegal to Gabon (Tropical)", "mac_region": { "id": 2, "name": "Africa" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 285, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": " levels. Kenoyer writes that there is no evidence of the existence of an army even during the period 2600 BCE - 1900 BCE§REF§Jonathan Mark Kenoyer. 'Uncovering the keys to the Lost Indus Cities', <i>Scientific American</i>, vol. 15, no. 1, 2005, p. 29.§REF§", "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": null, "name": "military_level", "military_level_from": 0, "military_level_to": 1, "polity": { "id": 119, "name": "PkChalc", "start_year": -4000, "end_year": -3200, "long_name": "Kachi Plain - Chalcolithic", "new_name": "pk_kachi_ca", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "The Kachi Plain, in modern-day Pakistan, is hemmed in on two of its three sides by the mountains of Baluchistan, while its southeastern side opens up to the Indus Valley. §REF§ (Jarrige & Enault 1976, 29) Jarrige, Jean-François, and Jean-François Enault. 1976. “Fouilles de Pirak - Baluchistan.” Arts Asiatiques 32 (1): 29-70. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/Q32UJUPX\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/Q32UJUPX</a>. §REF§ The earliest evidence for agriculture here was found in Mehrgarh and dates to 7000 BCE. The occupation of the settlement continued throughout the period under consideration here, between the 4th and the 2nd millennia BCE. In the region generally, the number of sites increased, the sites themselves became larger, and they expanded into the Indus Basin; notable sites include Periano Ghundai, Mundigak, Faiz Mohammad, Togau, and Sheri Khan Tarakai. Mehrgarh itself became an important centre for craft production, and excavations suggest increased diversity in burial rites. Agriculture remained the main economic activity in the region and oats, a new variety of barley and two new varieties of bread wheat became new staple cultivars. §REF§ (McIntosh 2008, 57-61) McIntosh, Jane. 2008. The Ancient Indus Valley. Santa Barbara; Denver; Oxford: ABC-CLIO. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5P92SHE8\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5P92SHE8</a>. §REF§ <br><i>Population and political organization</i><br>It is not possible to give an accurate estimate of the region's population at this time, §REF§ (Possehl 1999, 472) Possehl, Gregory L. 1999. Indus Age: The Beginnings. New Delhi: Oxford & IBH Publishing. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/IWNUD7IH\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/IWNUD7IH</a>. §REF§ and the size of occupied Mehrgarh is uncertain, as the population shifted over time and part of the site has been cut away by the Bolan River. §REF§ (Jarrige 2013, 135-154) Jarrige, J.-F. 2013. Mehrgarh Neolithic. Paris: Éditions de Boccard. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/4MKZA34B\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/4MKZA34B</a>. §REF§ Similarly, the literature does not provide many clues as to the political organization of Mehrgarh or any other site in the region during this period.", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 13, "name": "Kachi Plain", "subregion": "Indo-Gangetic Plain", "longitude": "67.628836000000", "latitude": "29.377664000000", "capital_city": "Mehrgarh", "nga_code": "PK", "fao_country": "Pakistan", "world_region": "South Asia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 38, "name": "Pakistan", "subregions_list": "Pakistan", "mac_region": { "id": 9, "name": "South Asia" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 150, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": " There is no evidence of organized warfare at Pirak at this time.§REF§Jarrige, J-F. (1979) Fouilles de Pirak. Paris : Diffusion de Boccard.§REF§", "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": null, "name": "military_level", "military_level_from": 0, "military_level_to": 1, "polity": { "id": 123, "name": "PkPostU", "start_year": -1800, "end_year": -1300, "long_name": "Kachi Plain - Post-Urban Period", "new_name": "pk_kachi_post_urban", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "The Kachi Plain, in modern-day Pakistan, is hemmed in on two of its three sides by the mountains of Baluchistan, while its southeastern side opens up to the Indus Valley. §REF§ (Jarrige & Enault 1976, 29) Jean-Francois Jarrige and Jean-Francois Enault. 1976. Fouilles de Pirak. <i>Arts Asiatiques</i> 32: 29-70. §REF§ Here, the settlement of Pirak was established not long after the beginning of the second millennium BCE, and it was continuously occupied from that time up until the sixth or seventh century BCE. Here we consider Pirak I, that is, the phase of Pirak's occupation that corresponds to the best part of the second millennium BCE. §REF§ (Jarrige & Enault 1976, 32-33) Jean-Francois Jarrige and Jean-Francois Enault. 1976. Fouilles de Pirak. <i>Arts Asiatiques</i> 32: 29-70. §REF§ It seems very likely that Pirak was part of a larger assemblage of culturally similar settlements, but, perhaps due to the erosive effects of nearby rivers, only Pirak remains. §REF§ (Jarrige & Enault 1976, 45-46) Jean-Francois Jarrige and Jean-Francois Enault. 1976. Fouilles de Pirak. <i>Arts Asiatiques</i> 32: 29-70. §REF§ Notable archaeological finds from the site at this time include terracotta seals, horse and camel figurines, and zoomorphic game pieces, and the site's architecture and agricultural infrastructure is somewhat reminiscent of the Indus Valley Civilization. §REF§ (Jarrige & Enault 1976, 33-36) Jean-Francois Jarrige and Jean-Francois Enault. 1976. Fouilles de Pirak. <i>Arts Asiatiques</i> 32: 29-70. §REF§ <br><i>Population and political organization</i><br>Not much appears to be known about Pirak's political organization, although the retrieval of terracotta seals §REF§ (Jarrige & Enault 1976, 36) Jean-Francois Jarrige and Jean-Francois Enault. 1976. Fouilles de Pirak. <i>Arts Asiatiques</i> 32: 29-70. §REF§ suggests perhaps the existence of some form of bureaucracy.<br>The scholarly literature does not provide population estimates.", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 13, "name": "Kachi Plain", "subregion": "Indo-Gangetic Plain", "longitude": "67.628836000000", "latitude": "29.377664000000", "capital_city": "Mehrgarh", "nga_code": "PK", "fao_country": "Pakistan", "world_region": "South Asia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 38, "name": "Pakistan", "subregions_list": "Pakistan", "mac_region": { "id": 9, "name": "South Asia" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 153, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": " levels. Kenoyer writes that there is no evidence of the existence of an army during the period 2600 BCE 1900 BCE§REF§Jonathan Mark Kenoyer. 'Uncovering the keys to the Lost Indus Cities', <i>Scientific American</i>, vol. 15, no. 1, 2005, p. 29.§REF§, although it has been argued that the absence of evidence does not mean that the Harappan people lived peacefully throughout the period: \"More significantly, our knowledge of warfare in Egypt and Mesopotamia is heavily dependent on textual evidence and art; but this simply does not exist to portray any aspect of life in the Indus Civilisation. The absence of artistic or textual reference to war in the Indus is therefore no more representative of a lack of war than a lack of trade, agriculture or urbanisation - none of which are in any doubt.”§REF§Cork, E. (2005) Peaceful Harappans? Reviewing the evidence for the absence of warfare in the Indus Civilisation of north-west India and Pakistan (c. 2500-1900 BC). Antiquity (79): 411-423. p420§REF§", "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": null, "name": "military_level", "military_level_from": 0, "military_level_to": 1, "polity": { "id": 121, "name": "PkUrbn1", "start_year": -2500, "end_year": -2100, "long_name": "Kachi Plain - Urban Period I", "new_name": "pk_kachi_urban_1", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "The Mature Harappan culture, also known as the Indus Civilization, emerged around 2500 BCE and, from its core in the Indus and Saraswati Valleys, expanded to the Kachi plain and the Makran coast in the west, to Gujarat in the south, and to the foothills of the Himalayas and the northern borders of the Ganga-Yamuna Doab in the north and east. This civilization was characterized by the establishment of several large cities, most notably Mohenjo-daro, the largest of these centres and the one best positioned to control trade and communications throughout the region. Rather than being united by a single shared ideology, it appears that the Indus people had a wide range of beliefs and/or religions. §REF§ (McIntosh 2008, 83-84) McIntosh, Jane. 2008. The Ancient Indus Valley. Santa Barbara; Denver; Oxford: ABC-CLIO. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5P92SHE8\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5P92SHE8</a>. §REF§ Around 1900 or 1800 BCE, the Indus Civilization began to decline, possibly due to environmental factors. §REF§ (McIntosh 2008, 396-400) McIntosh, Jane. 2008. The Ancient Indus Valley. Santa Barbara; Denver; Oxford: ABC-CLIO. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5P92SHE8\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5P92SHE8</a>. §REF§ <br><i>Population and political organization</i><br>There is no clear or explicit evidence for the existence of rulers during the Mature Harappan period, though archaeologists have suggested a number of different possible ways its cities - or perhaps its entire territory - may have been governed, ranging from heterarchy to theocracy. §REF§ (McIntosh 2008, 391-92) McIntosh, Jane. 2008. The Ancient Indus Valley. Santa Barbara; Denver; Oxford: ABC-CLIO. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5P92SHE8\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5P92SHE8</a>. §REF§ Certainly the Harappans could boast a well developed bureaucracy, as suggested by seals, tablets, and other inscribed artefacts. §REF§ (McIntosh 2008, 212) McIntosh, Jane. 2008. The Ancient Indus Valley. Santa Barbara; Denver; Oxford: ABC-CLIO. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5P92SHE8\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5P92SHE8</a>. §REF§ <br>The scholarly literature does not appear to provide population estimates for the Indus Valley as a whole, but one source suggests a population of 100,000 for the largest Harappan city, Mohenjo-daro. §REF§ (McIntosh 2008, 214) McIntosh, Jane. 2008. The Ancient Indus Valley. Santa Barbara; Denver; Oxford: ABC-CLIO. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5P92SHE8\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5P92SHE8</a>. §REF§ ", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 13, "name": "Kachi Plain", "subregion": "Indo-Gangetic Plain", "longitude": "67.628836000000", "latitude": "29.377664000000", "capital_city": "Mehrgarh", "nga_code": "PK", "fao_country": "Pakistan", "world_region": "South Asia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 38, "name": "Pakistan", "subregions_list": "Pakistan", "mac_region": { "id": 9, "name": "South Asia" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 283, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": " levels. Kenoyer writes that there is no evidence of the existence of an army even during the period 2600 BCE - 1900 BCE§REF§Jonathan Mark Kenoyer. 'Uncovering the keys to the Lost Indus Cities', <i>Scientific American</i>, vol. 15, no. 1, 2005, p. 29.§REF§", "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": null, "name": "military_level", "military_level_from": 0, "military_level_to": 1, "polity": { "id": 120, "name": "PkPreUr", "start_year": -3200, "end_year": -2500, "long_name": "Kachi Plain - Pre-Urban Period", "new_name": "pk_kachi_pre_urban", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "The Pre-Urban period in the Indus Valley, also known as the Early Harappan or Early Indus, started around 3200 and ended around 2600 BCE. Here we extend it to include the transitional century or so between the Early and the Mature Harappan. This period was characterized by the spread of farming communities across the Indus Basin, reaching as far as the Upper Ganga-Yamuna Doab in modern-day North India. Overall, this was not a period of great innovation, but precursors of writing appear to have emerged at this time, and, together with the appearance of seals and weights, these point to a shift in organizational complexity. §REF§ (McIntosh 2008, 67-72) McIntosh, Jane. 2008. The Ancient Indus Valley. Santa Barbara; Denver; Oxford: ABC-CLIO. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5P92SHE8\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5P92SHE8</a>. §REF§ <br><i>Population and political organization</i><br>No population estimates could be found in the literature. There is also no clear picture of political organization at this time - seals have been found in relevant archaeological contexts, but the existence of a bureaucratic apparatus remains unlikely. §REF§ A. Ceccarelli, personal communication to E. Cioni, February 2017. §REF§ ", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 13, "name": "Kachi Plain", "subregion": "Indo-Gangetic Plain", "longitude": "67.628836000000", "latitude": "29.377664000000", "capital_city": "Mehrgarh", "nga_code": "PK", "fao_country": "Pakistan", "world_region": "South Asia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 38, "name": "Pakistan", "subregions_list": "Pakistan", "mac_region": { "id": 9, "name": "South Asia" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 184, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": " levels.", "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": null, "name": "military_level", "military_level_from": 1, "military_level_to": 1, "polity": { "id": 464, "name": "UzKok01", "start_year": -1400, "end_year": -1000, "long_name": "Koktepe I", "new_name": "uz_koktepe_1", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "\"Pre-Achaemenid period. Before the arrival of Iranian peoples in Central Asia, Sogdiana had already experienced at least two urban phases. The first was at Sarazm (4th-3rd m. BCE), a town of some 100 hectares has been excavated, where both irrigation agriculture and metallurgy were practiced (Isakov). It has been possible to demonstrate the magnitude of links with the civilization of the Oxus as well as with more distant regions, such as Baluchistan. The second phase began in at least the 15th century BCE at Kok Tepe, on the Bulungur canal north of the Zarafsan River, where the earliest archeological material appears to go back to the Bronze Age, and which persisted throughout the Iron Age, until the arrival from the north of the Iranian-speaking populations that were to become the Sogdian group. It declined with the rise of Samarkand (Rapin, 2007). Pre-Achaemenid Sogdiana is recalled in the Younger Avesta (chap. 1 of the Vidēvdād, q.v.) under the name Gava and said to be inhabited by the Sogdians. §REF§ (De la Vaissière, Encyclopedia Iranica online, <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdiana-iii-history-and-archeology\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdiana-iii-history-and-archeology</a>) §REF§ <br>\"Archaeologists are now generally agreed that the Andronovo culture of the Central Steppe region in the second millennium BC is to be equated with the Indo-Iranians. However, no matter how pastorally oriented these people's culture probably was, they were no nomads. They lived in permanent houses, not on wagons or in tents as the earliest nomads are known to have done.\" §REF§ (Beckwith 2009, 49) Beckwith, Christopher I. 2009. Empires of the Silk Road. A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton University Press. Princeton. §REF§ <br><br/>According to Claude Rapin, for \"the complex question relating to the Early Iron Age in Central Asia\" read this (and another 2001 work)<br>Francfort, H. -P. 1989. Fouilles de Shortugai. Recherches sur l'Asie central protohistorique, Memoires de la Mission archeologique francaise en Asie centrale 2, Paris.<br><br/>\"it can be provisionally assumed that the two earlier Iron Age phases distinguished at Koktepe could represent the first manifestations of local agricultural development. Maurizio Tosi has proposed that for the southern slopes of the Zerafshan valley, along the Dargom canal, this economic system could have developed from an earlier period, when irrigation was limited to the natural flows of water from the foothills (Koktepe I period), to a later irrigation system, mainly exemplified by the excavation of the great canals deriving from the Zerafshan, the Bulungur and the Dargom (Koktepe II period).\" §REF§ (Rapin 2007, 35) Rapin, Claude. \"Nomads and the Shaping of Central Asia: from the Early Iron Age to the Kushan Period.\" in Cribb, Joe. Herrmann, Georgina. 2007. After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam. British Academy. §REF§ <br><br/><br>\"As was the case for various earlier constructions, both monuments were abandoned during a period of nomad invasions, possibly in the sixth century BC. (We know, for instance, that east of the Caspian Sea Darius I had to fight Scythian nomads like those represented by their king Skunkha illustrated as a defeated prisoner on the relief of Behistun).\" §REF§ (Rapin 2007, 36) Rapin, Claude. \"Nomads and the Shaping of Central Asia: from the Early Iron Age to the Kushan Period.\" in Cribb, Joe. Herrmann, Georgina. 2007. After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam. British Academy. §REF§ <br> ??? - 1000 BCE Koktepe I<br>1000 - 750 BCE Chronological gap<br>750 - 550 BCE Koktepe II \"sacred courtyard area\" \"strongly fortified courtyards\" §REF§ (Rapin 2007, 36) Rapin, Claude. \"Nomads and the Shaping of Central Asia: from the Early Iron Age to the Kushan Period.\" in Cribb, Joe. Herrmann, Georgina. 2007. After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam. British Academy. §REF§ <br>550 - ??? BCE Scythians? \"nomadic establishment\" §REF§ (Rapin 2007, 36) Rapin, Claude. \"Nomads and the Shaping of Central Asia: from the Early Iron Age to the Kushan Period.\" in Cribb, Joe. Herrmann, Georgina. 2007. After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam. British Academy. §REF§ <br> ??? - ??? BCE Koktepe IIIa \"totally different expression of monumental urbanism\" §REF§ (Rapin 2007, 36) Rapin, Claude. \"Nomads and the Shaping of Central Asia: from the Early Iron Age to the Kushan Period.\" in Cribb, Joe. Herrmann, Georgina. 2007. After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam. British Academy. §REF§ - could be Archaemenid<br><br/>Koktepe IIIa<br>\"The next period is represented at Koktepe by the construction of two platforms with religious and political functions ... and by a huge fortification wall built in the plain around the site.\" §REF§ (Rapin 2007, 36) Rapin, Claude. \"Nomads and the Shaping of Central Asia: from the Early Iron Age to the Kushan Period.\" in Cribb, Joe. Herrmann, Georgina. 2007. After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam. British Academy. §REF§ <br>\"this rampart seems to have been built at the same time as the fortification that surrounds the plateau of Afrasiab ... Both walls not only protected monumental buildings, but also encircled a large open area, probably for the surrounding population to shelter with their cattle when necessary. This conception is characteristic of Central Asian urbanism near the steppe areas (Francfor 2001), and is also apparent in later cities, such as Ai Khanum or Taxila-Sirkap.\" §REF§ (Rapin 2007, 36) Rapin, Claude. \"Nomads and the Shaping of Central Asia: from the Early Iron Age to the Kushan Period.\" in Cribb, Joe. Herrmann, Georgina. 2007. After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam. British Academy. §REF§ <br>\"The sacred function of the monument, probably related to early Zoroastrianism (or at least to a local cult affiliated to the Indo-Iranian complex), is confirmed by the evidence of a ritual of foundation performed just before its construction.\" §REF§ (Rapin 2007, 37) Rapin, Claude. \"Nomads and the Shaping of Central Asia: from the Early Iron Age to the Kushan Period.\" in Cribb, Joe. Herrmann, Georgina. 2007. After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam. British Academy. §REF§ <br><br/>Early Iron Age settlement C14 dated to second-half of second and beginning of first millennium BCE. §REF§ (Lhuillier and Rapin 2013) Lhuillier, J. Rapin, C. Handmade painted ware in Koktepe: some elements for the chronology of the early Iron Age in northern Sogdiana. Wagner, Marcin ed. 2013. Pottery and Chronology of the Early Iron Age in Central Asia. Warszawa. §REF§ <br><div>Koktepe site excavated by C. Rapin and M. Kh. Ismaddinov between 1994 and 2008 by the French Uzbek Archaeological Mission of Sogdiana. §REF§ (Lhuillier and Rapin 2013) Lhuillier, J. Rapin, C. Handmade painted ware in Koktepe: some elements for the chronology of the early Iron Age in northern Sogdiana. Wagner, Marcin ed. 2013. Pottery and Chronology of the Early Iron Age in Central Asia. Warszawa. §REF§ <br>Site about 17ha. §REF§ (Lhuillier and Rapin 2013) Lhuillier, J. Rapin, C. Handmade painted ware in Koktepe: some elements for the chronology of the early Iron Age in northern Sogdiana. Wagner, Marcin ed. 2013. Pottery and Chronology of the Early Iron Age in Central Asia. Warszawa. §REF§ <br>Of samples taken, earliest C14 date c1400-1200 BCE, latest C14 date 810-760 BCE §REF§ (Lhuillier and Rapin 2013) Lhuillier, J. Rapin, C. Handmade painted ware in Koktepe: some elements for the chronology of the early Iron Age in northern Sogdiana. Wagner, Marcin ed. 2013. Pottery and Chronology of the Early Iron Age in Central Asia. Warszawa. §REF§ <br>\"we can now suggest dividing the Early Iron Age in Sogdiana into two sub-periods characterized by a strong continuity.\" §REF§ (Lhuillier and Rapin 2013) Lhuillier, J. Rapin, C. Handmade painted ware in Koktepe: some elements for the chronology of the early Iron Age in northern Sogdiana. Wagner, Marcin ed. 2013. Pottery and Chronology of the Early Iron Age in Central Asia. Warszawa. §REF§ </div><br>Köktepe I:<br>\" L’objet le plus ancien de Koktepe est un poids discoïdal en pierre muni d’une anse datable du XVIIIe siècle av. n. è. Cette trouvaille isolée d’un instrument cultuel suppose le voisinage d’un site du bronze moyen que l’on ne peut identifier pour le moment, car les périodes les plus anciennes de l’occupation de la plaine du Zerafshan ne sont pour l’essentiel représentées aujourd’hui que par le site de Sarazm (Lyonnet 1996) et des trouvailles funéraires isolées (Avanesova 2010).<br>Le milieu urbain au début de l’occupation de Koktepe est celui d’une agglomération relativement dense composée de maisons à pièces multiples construites en piséau-dessus du sol, plus rarement creusées dans le sol naturel, mais vers la fin de cette période, l’habitat n’est plus représenté que par des huttes légères (figures 6-7). Le développement économique repose alors encore sur une agriculture sèche qui pourrait avoir été périodiquement secondée par les eaux d’un torrent de montagne (communications orales de B. Rondelli et M. Isamiddinov). Durant cette première phase, le site s’inscrit dans le contexte de la céramique modelée peinte caractéris-tique de la culture de Burgulûk (oasis de Tashkent), qui fait elle-même partie de la civilisation qui, du Turkménistan au Xinjiang, s’étend dans la période de transition entre l’age du bronze et l’age du fer, du dernier tiers du IIe millénaire au début du Ier millénaire av. n. è. (époque dite « de Yaz I ») (Lhuillier 2010 ; Lhuillier, Isamiddinov, Rapin 2012 ; Lyonnet, ce volume).\" §REF§ (Rapin and Isamiddinov 2013, 124-125) §REF§ During its first phase, Kok Tepe was part of the Burguluk culture, which corresponds to the Yaz I civilization from Turkmenistan to Xinjiang (last third of the second millennium BCE- beginning of the first millennium BCE)<br>\"Pre-Achaemenid period. Before the arrival of Iranian peoples in Central Asia, Sogdiana had already experienced at least two urban phases. The first was at Sarazm (4th-3rd m. BCE), a town of some 100 hectares has been excavated, where both irrigation agriculture and metallurgy were practiced (Isakov). It has been possible to demonstrate the magnitude of links with the civilization of the Oxus as well as with more distant regions, such as Baluchistan. The second phase began in at least the 15th century BCE at Kok Tepe, on the Bulungur canal north of the Zarafšān River, where the earliest archeological material appears to go back to the Bronze Age, and which persisted throughout the Iron Age, until the arrival from the north of the Iranian-speaking populations that were to become the Sogdian group. It declined with the rise of Samarkand (Rapin, 2007). Pre-Achaemenid Sogdiana is recalled in the Younger Avesta (chap. 1 of the Videvdad, q.v.) under the name Gava and said to be inhabited by the Sogdians. §REF§ (De la Vaissière, Encyclopedia Iranica online, <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdiana-iii-history-and-archeology\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdiana-iii-history-and-archeology</a>) §REF§ <br><br/>Transition period between Kok01 and Kok02:\"Sur le plan stratigraphique, la fin de cette première période vers la fin du IIe ou le début du Ier millénaire est apparemment marquée par une interruption de la céra-mique peinte. D’après les vestiges d’une épaisse couche organique présente partout sur le site, cette période pourrait avoir été celle d’une population semi-sédentaire, peut-être assez nombreuse, qui se serait installée à Koktepe avec du bétail. §REF§ (Rapin and Isamiddinov 2013, 126) §REF§ <br>transition period: starting in the late 2nd millennium BCE/early 1st millennium BCE<br>no more painted ceramic<br>thick organic layer found stratigraphically on the whole site: semi-sedentary population, living on Koktepe with their animals.<br>Edward Turner's interpretation of pre-Achaemenid Sogdiana (Koktepe in particular):<br>'The essential tension was the sedentary population needed (their irrigated) fields for growing crops, nomads needed land for grazing. so the \"strongly fortified courtyards\" is a manifestation of this tension.<br>another reason for fortification would be that wave/s of invasion/destruction had happened before:<br>\"By 1600 BCE, peoples carrying the Andronovo cultural package had displaced, if not destroyed, the Bactrian/Margiana towns\".<br>then the Yaz I replaced the Andronovo - UzKok01. (destruction then as well?)<br>if the inhabitants within the UzKok02 courtyards were Scythians they had probably invaded then settled c750 BCE, presumably causing some destruction of the previous culture.<br>an important line of evidence for invade/destroy/replace also is that it is likely that about 800 BCE the nomadic tribes around Central Asia began to use armies of horseback archers. the fact the sedentarized Scythians built fortifications must reflect the increased danger from the Steppe.<br>their identity lasted until either the Achaemenid or until another wave of Scythians destroyed their culture c550 BCE'.", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 23, "name": "Sogdiana", "subregion": "Turkestan", "longitude": "66.938170000000", "latitude": "39.631284000000", "capital_city": "Samarkand", "nga_code": "UZ", "fao_country": "Uzbekistan", "world_region": "Central Eurasia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 13, "name": "Turkestan", "subregions_list": "Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakstan, Xinjiang", "mac_region": { "id": 3, "name": "Central and Northern Eurasia" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] } ] }