Polity Population List
A viewset for viewing and editing Polity Populations.
GET /api/sc/polity-populations/?format=api&page=2
{ "count": 467, "next": "https://seshatdata.com/api/sc/polity-populations/?format=api&page=3", "previous": "https://seshatdata.com/api/sc/polity-populations/?format=api", "results": [ { "id": 418, "year_from": -3400, "year_to": -3201, "description": " People. Population estimate for Late Uruk period (c3200-3100 BCE) based on 4.6 persons per km2 estimate and estimated polity area of 1500 km of Renfrew's (1975) Early State Module, which provides some support for 20km estimated communication distance in Middle Uruk from central place to administrative boundary.§REF§(Johnson 1987, 115) Johnson, Gregory A. in Hole, Frank ed. 1987. The Archaeology of Western Iran. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D.C.§REF§<br>Population of the Susiana§REF§(Johnson 1987, 131) Johnson, Gregory A. in Hole, Frank ed. 1987. The Archaeology of Western Iran. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D.C.§REF§ <i>not sure why the figures are so specific, probably modelled data. using \"administered population\" for lowest figure of the range.</i><br>Early Uruk: 19,036. The \"administered population\" was 9,806.<br>Middle Uruk: 25,338. The \"administered population\" was 21,382.<br>\"Total (center and rural) population densities, in persons per square kilometer, for the Susiana between Terminal A ad Late Uruk are as follows:\"§REF§(Johnson 1987, 122) Johnson, Gregory A. in Hole, Frank ed. 1987. The Archaeology of Western Iran. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D.C.§REF§ <i>I've converted the terminology into dates using the table on page 17 of the book.</i><br>2.6 persons per km2 3800 BCE<br>8.4 3700-3600 BCE<br>11.2 3500-3300 BCE<br>4.6 3200-3100 BCE<br>Early-Middle Uruk population increase occurred over about 300 years.§REF§(Johnson 1987, 120) Johnson, Gregory A. in Hole, Frank ed. 1987. The Archaeology of Western Iran. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D.C.§REF§ <i>so transition would be c3500 BCE</i><br>\"A period of depopulation, characterized by political competition between Susa in the west and Chogha Mish in the east led to the rather enigmatic Late Uruk polity in which Chogha Mish was independent of Susa.\"§REF§(Sumner 1988) Sumner, William. 1988. Frank Hole, (ed.) - 1987. The Archaeology of Western Iran, Settlement and Society From Prehistory to the Islamic Conquest. Paleorient. Volume 14. Number 1. pp.177-179.§REF§ <i>- note more recent reference possibly contradicts this \"depopulation\".</i>", "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": "polity_population", "polity_population_from": 21000, "polity_population_to": 25000, "polity": { "id": 493, "name": "IrSusa2", "start_year": -3800, "end_year": -3100, "long_name": "Susa II", "new_name": "ir_susa_2", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": " §REF§ (Johnson 1987, 131) Johnson, Gregory A. in Hole, Frank ed. 1987. The Archaeology of Western Iran. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D.C. §REF§ <br>Uruk (IrSusa1)\"Sometime during the fourth millennium, in the urban center of Uruk (for which the archaeological period is named), southern Mesopotamia acquired a specifically Sumerian historical identity. With the introduction of a system of writing, a gradual development from an earlier accounting system, a radical change occurred in the social organization and in the very foundations of thought. ... Susa, in its earliest period (Susa I) attached to the world of the Iranian plateau, was now (in Susa II) integrated into the early Sumerian civilization of Mesopotamia, which it interpreted with originality. Precise stratigraphic excavations conducted in recent decades have allowed us to trace developments at Susa in the Uruk phase, notably of an accounting system that preceded the slightly later appearance of writing.\" §REF§ (Amiet, Chevalier and Carter 1992, 4) Amiet, Pierre. Chevalier, Nicole. Carter, Elizabeth. in Harper, Prudence O. Aruz, Joan. Tallon, Francoise. eds. 1992. The Royal City of Susa: Ancient Near Eastern Treasures in the Louvre. Metropolitan Museum of Art. §REF§ <br><br/>Chronology for Iran §REF§ (Leverani 2014, 513) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. §REF§ <br>Uruk colonies<br>Proto-Elamite period 3100-2700 BCE<br>Awan 2350-2200 BCE (contemporaneous with Akkad in Lower Mesopotamia)<br>Simash 2050-1950 BCE<br>Sukkalmah 1900-1750 BCE<br>Middle Elamite kingdom c1300-1100 BCE<br>Neo-Elamite kingdom 750-650 BCE<br>Media 650-550 BCE<br>Susa - Tal-i Malyan (Anshan, Anzan) [450-550] KM2.<br><br/>Liverani 2014 chronology for Isin-Larsa period 2000-1750 BCE §REF§ (Leverani 2014, 192-193) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. §REF§ Elam §REF§ (Leverani 2014, 193) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. §REF§ <br>2000 BCE Shimashki dynasty, Kindattu c2000 BCE ... Indattu II c1925 BCE (last or last known)<br>1900 BCE Sukkalmah dynasty, Ebarat c1900 BCE ... Kuduzulush c1765 BCE (last or last known)<br><br/><br>\"Susa ... began its political life around 6000 BC, first as a city-state, then as an empire rivaling Sumer in Mesopotamia, and subsequently as the capital of one of the oldest empires of antiquity, Elam, around 3000 BC.\" §REF§ (Farazmand 2009, 21) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. §REF§ <br>\"Thus the earliest experience of state tradition and administrative functions on a massive scale in Iran began around 6000 BC.\" §REF§ (Farazmand 2009, 21) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. §REF§ <br>\"The main instrument of public administration and governance under the long history of the federal state of Elam was the bureaucracy, which also played a powerful role under the Median and the Persian empires.\" §REF§ (Farazmand 2009, 21) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. §REF§ <br>\"Unlike the small city-state of Sumer, the Elamite empire was formed and administered on a massive scale and governed a large territory comprising present Iran and a major part of the Near East, at times including Babylonia and Assyria, for over 2500 years.\" §REF§ (Farazmand 2009, 21) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. §REF§ <br>\"Their bureaucratic contacts with the Assyrians and Babylonians gave them useful insights. However, being a rival to Sumer, Babylon, and Assyria, the Elamite federal government developed the first Iranian tradition of public administration on a massive scale, though that tradition originated much earlier in the great city-state of Susa.\" §REF§ (Farazmand 2009, 21) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. §REF§ <br>\"development of an active intergovernmental management and federalism, perhaps the earliest in history.\" §REF§ (Farazmand 2009, 22) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. §REF§ <br>\"In the cities, thriving activities reigned, where along with the villages, professions of all kinds flourished, showing clear evidence of variety and stratification of professional and, hence, social classes in ancient Elam.\" §REF§ (Farazmand 2009, 22) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. §REF§ <br>\"The development of centers on the Susiana plane, beginning with Middle Cha1colithic Chogha Mish and culminating in the rise of Susa during the Late Chalcolithic. suggests a trend towards regional control in some economic and administrative activities (Delougaz and Kantor 1996, Hole 1987b: 89-90). This trend towards centralization may also be suggested by the presence of possible elite or \"Khan's\" houses during this time at several sites (Hole 1987a: 41). In spite of these trends, Chalcolithic society throughout Khuzistan presents a strong egalitarian appearance. During the Middle and Late Chalcolithic, differential access to resources may have involved less archaeological1y visible items such as staples. access to water, and control over labor, as it appears to have done at this time in Mesopotamia (Stein 1994).\" §REF§ (Peasnall in Peregrine and Ember 2002, 173) §REF§ The Middle Chalcolithic corresponds to 4800-3900 BCE and the Late Chalcolithic corresponds to 3900-3500 BCE in this book.", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 9, "name": "Susiana", "subregion": "Levant-Mesopotamia", "longitude": "48.235564000000", "latitude": "32.382851000000", "capital_city": "Susa (Shush)", "nga_code": "IR", "fao_country": "Iran", "world_region": "Southwest Asia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 45, "name": "Iran", "subregions_list": "Iran", "mac_region": { "id": 11, "name": "Southwest Asia" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 419, "year_from": -3200, "year_to": -3101, "description": " People. Population estimate for Late Uruk period (c3200-3100 BCE) based on 4.6 persons per km2 estimate and estimated polity area of 1500 km of Renfrew's (1975) Early State Module, which provides some support for 20km estimated communication distance in Middle Uruk from central place to administrative boundary.§REF§(Johnson 1987, 115) Johnson, Gregory A. in Hole, Frank ed. 1987. The Archaeology of Western Iran. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D.C.§REF§<br>Population of the Susiana§REF§(Johnson 1987, 131) Johnson, Gregory A. in Hole, Frank ed. 1987. The Archaeology of Western Iran. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D.C.§REF§ <i>not sure why the figures are so specific, probably modelled data. using \"administered population\" for lowest figure of the range.</i><br>Early Uruk: 19,036. The \"administered population\" was 9,806.<br>Middle Uruk: 25,338. The \"administered population\" was 21,382.<br>\"Total (center and rural) population densities, in persons per square kilometer, for the Susiana between Terminal A ad Late Uruk are as follows:\"§REF§(Johnson 1987, 122) Johnson, Gregory A. in Hole, Frank ed. 1987. The Archaeology of Western Iran. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D.C.§REF§ <i>I've converted the terminology into dates using the table on page 17 of the book.</i><br>2.6 persons per km2 3800 BCE<br>8.4 3700-3600 BCE<br>11.2 3500-3300 BCE<br>4.6 3200-3100 BCE<br>Early-Middle Uruk population increase occurred over about 300 years.§REF§(Johnson 1987, 120) Johnson, Gregory A. in Hole, Frank ed. 1987. The Archaeology of Western Iran. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D.C.§REF§ <i>so transition would be c3500 BCE</i><br>\"A period of depopulation, characterized by political competition between Susa in the west and Chogha Mish in the east led to the rather enigmatic Late Uruk polity in which Chogha Mish was independent of Susa.\"§REF§(Sumner 1988) Sumner, William. 1988. Frank Hole, (ed.) - 1987. The Archaeology of Western Iran, Settlement and Society From Prehistory to the Islamic Conquest. Paleorient. Volume 14. Number 1. pp.177-179.§REF§ <i>- note more recent reference possibly contradicts this \"depopulation\".</i>", "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": "polity_population", "polity_population_from": 6900, "polity_population_to": 6900, "polity": { "id": 493, "name": "IrSusa2", "start_year": -3800, "end_year": -3100, "long_name": "Susa II", "new_name": "ir_susa_2", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": " §REF§ (Johnson 1987, 131) Johnson, Gregory A. in Hole, Frank ed. 1987. The Archaeology of Western Iran. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D.C. §REF§ <br>Uruk (IrSusa1)\"Sometime during the fourth millennium, in the urban center of Uruk (for which the archaeological period is named), southern Mesopotamia acquired a specifically Sumerian historical identity. With the introduction of a system of writing, a gradual development from an earlier accounting system, a radical change occurred in the social organization and in the very foundations of thought. ... Susa, in its earliest period (Susa I) attached to the world of the Iranian plateau, was now (in Susa II) integrated into the early Sumerian civilization of Mesopotamia, which it interpreted with originality. Precise stratigraphic excavations conducted in recent decades have allowed us to trace developments at Susa in the Uruk phase, notably of an accounting system that preceded the slightly later appearance of writing.\" §REF§ (Amiet, Chevalier and Carter 1992, 4) Amiet, Pierre. Chevalier, Nicole. Carter, Elizabeth. in Harper, Prudence O. Aruz, Joan. Tallon, Francoise. eds. 1992. The Royal City of Susa: Ancient Near Eastern Treasures in the Louvre. Metropolitan Museum of Art. §REF§ <br><br/>Chronology for Iran §REF§ (Leverani 2014, 513) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. §REF§ <br>Uruk colonies<br>Proto-Elamite period 3100-2700 BCE<br>Awan 2350-2200 BCE (contemporaneous with Akkad in Lower Mesopotamia)<br>Simash 2050-1950 BCE<br>Sukkalmah 1900-1750 BCE<br>Middle Elamite kingdom c1300-1100 BCE<br>Neo-Elamite kingdom 750-650 BCE<br>Media 650-550 BCE<br>Susa - Tal-i Malyan (Anshan, Anzan) [450-550] KM2.<br><br/>Liverani 2014 chronology for Isin-Larsa period 2000-1750 BCE §REF§ (Leverani 2014, 192-193) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. §REF§ Elam §REF§ (Leverani 2014, 193) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. §REF§ <br>2000 BCE Shimashki dynasty, Kindattu c2000 BCE ... Indattu II c1925 BCE (last or last known)<br>1900 BCE Sukkalmah dynasty, Ebarat c1900 BCE ... Kuduzulush c1765 BCE (last or last known)<br><br/><br>\"Susa ... began its political life around 6000 BC, first as a city-state, then as an empire rivaling Sumer in Mesopotamia, and subsequently as the capital of one of the oldest empires of antiquity, Elam, around 3000 BC.\" §REF§ (Farazmand 2009, 21) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. §REF§ <br>\"Thus the earliest experience of state tradition and administrative functions on a massive scale in Iran began around 6000 BC.\" §REF§ (Farazmand 2009, 21) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. §REF§ <br>\"The main instrument of public administration and governance under the long history of the federal state of Elam was the bureaucracy, which also played a powerful role under the Median and the Persian empires.\" §REF§ (Farazmand 2009, 21) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. §REF§ <br>\"Unlike the small city-state of Sumer, the Elamite empire was formed and administered on a massive scale and governed a large territory comprising present Iran and a major part of the Near East, at times including Babylonia and Assyria, for over 2500 years.\" §REF§ (Farazmand 2009, 21) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. §REF§ <br>\"Their bureaucratic contacts with the Assyrians and Babylonians gave them useful insights. However, being a rival to Sumer, Babylon, and Assyria, the Elamite federal government developed the first Iranian tradition of public administration on a massive scale, though that tradition originated much earlier in the great city-state of Susa.\" §REF§ (Farazmand 2009, 21) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. §REF§ <br>\"development of an active intergovernmental management and federalism, perhaps the earliest in history.\" §REF§ (Farazmand 2009, 22) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. §REF§ <br>\"In the cities, thriving activities reigned, where along with the villages, professions of all kinds flourished, showing clear evidence of variety and stratification of professional and, hence, social classes in ancient Elam.\" §REF§ (Farazmand 2009, 22) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. §REF§ <br>\"The development of centers on the Susiana plane, beginning with Middle Cha1colithic Chogha Mish and culminating in the rise of Susa during the Late Chalcolithic. suggests a trend towards regional control in some economic and administrative activities (Delougaz and Kantor 1996, Hole 1987b: 89-90). This trend towards centralization may also be suggested by the presence of possible elite or \"Khan's\" houses during this time at several sites (Hole 1987a: 41). In spite of these trends, Chalcolithic society throughout Khuzistan presents a strong egalitarian appearance. During the Middle and Late Chalcolithic, differential access to resources may have involved less archaeological1y visible items such as staples. access to water, and control over labor, as it appears to have done at this time in Mesopotamia (Stein 1994).\" §REF§ (Peasnall in Peregrine and Ember 2002, 173) §REF§ The Middle Chalcolithic corresponds to 4800-3900 BCE and the Late Chalcolithic corresponds to 3900-3500 BCE in this book.", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 9, "name": "Susiana", "subregion": "Levant-Mesopotamia", "longitude": "48.235564000000", "latitude": "32.382851000000", "capital_city": "Susa (Shush)", "nga_code": "IR", "fao_country": "Iran", "world_region": "Southwest Asia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 45, "name": "Iran", "subregions_list": "Iran", "mac_region": { "id": 11, "name": "Southwest Asia" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 420, "year_from": -3100, "year_to": -3100, "description": " People. Population estimate for Late Uruk period (c3200-3100 BCE) based on 4.6 persons per km2 estimate and estimated polity area of 1500 km of Renfrew's (1975) Early State Module, which provides some support for 20km estimated communication distance in Middle Uruk from central place to administrative boundary.§REF§(Johnson 1987, 115) Johnson, Gregory A. in Hole, Frank ed. 1987. The Archaeology of Western Iran. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D.C.§REF§<br>Population of the Susiana§REF§(Johnson 1987, 131) Johnson, Gregory A. in Hole, Frank ed. 1987. The Archaeology of Western Iran. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D.C.§REF§ <i>not sure why the figures are so specific, probably modelled data. using \"administered population\" for lowest figure of the range.</i><br>Early Uruk: 19,036. The \"administered population\" was 9,806.<br>Middle Uruk: 25,338. The \"administered population\" was 21,382.<br>\"Total (center and rural) population densities, in persons per square kilometer, for the Susiana between Terminal A ad Late Uruk are as follows:\"§REF§(Johnson 1987, 122) Johnson, Gregory A. in Hole, Frank ed. 1987. The Archaeology of Western Iran. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D.C.§REF§ <i>I've converted the terminology into dates using the table on page 17 of the book.</i><br>2.6 persons per km2 3800 BCE<br>8.4 3700-3600 BCE<br>11.2 3500-3300 BCE<br>4.6 3200-3100 BCE<br>Early-Middle Uruk population increase occurred over about 300 years.§REF§(Johnson 1987, 120) Johnson, Gregory A. in Hole, Frank ed. 1987. The Archaeology of Western Iran. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D.C.§REF§ <i>so transition would be c3500 BCE</i><br>\"A period of depopulation, characterized by political competition between Susa in the west and Chogha Mish in the east led to the rather enigmatic Late Uruk polity in which Chogha Mish was independent of Susa.\"§REF§(Sumner 1988) Sumner, William. 1988. Frank Hole, (ed.) - 1987. The Archaeology of Western Iran, Settlement and Society From Prehistory to the Islamic Conquest. Paleorient. Volume 14. Number 1. pp.177-179.§REF§ <i>- note more recent reference possibly contradicts this \"depopulation\".</i>", "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": "polity_population", "polity_population_from": 6900, "polity_population_to": 6900, "polity": { "id": 493, "name": "IrSusa2", "start_year": -3800, "end_year": -3100, "long_name": "Susa II", "new_name": "ir_susa_2", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": " §REF§ (Johnson 1987, 131) Johnson, Gregory A. in Hole, Frank ed. 1987. The Archaeology of Western Iran. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D.C. §REF§ <br>Uruk (IrSusa1)\"Sometime during the fourth millennium, in the urban center of Uruk (for which the archaeological period is named), southern Mesopotamia acquired a specifically Sumerian historical identity. With the introduction of a system of writing, a gradual development from an earlier accounting system, a radical change occurred in the social organization and in the very foundations of thought. ... Susa, in its earliest period (Susa I) attached to the world of the Iranian plateau, was now (in Susa II) integrated into the early Sumerian civilization of Mesopotamia, which it interpreted with originality. Precise stratigraphic excavations conducted in recent decades have allowed us to trace developments at Susa in the Uruk phase, notably of an accounting system that preceded the slightly later appearance of writing.\" §REF§ (Amiet, Chevalier and Carter 1992, 4) Amiet, Pierre. Chevalier, Nicole. Carter, Elizabeth. in Harper, Prudence O. Aruz, Joan. Tallon, Francoise. eds. 1992. The Royal City of Susa: Ancient Near Eastern Treasures in the Louvre. Metropolitan Museum of Art. §REF§ <br><br/>Chronology for Iran §REF§ (Leverani 2014, 513) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. §REF§ <br>Uruk colonies<br>Proto-Elamite period 3100-2700 BCE<br>Awan 2350-2200 BCE (contemporaneous with Akkad in Lower Mesopotamia)<br>Simash 2050-1950 BCE<br>Sukkalmah 1900-1750 BCE<br>Middle Elamite kingdom c1300-1100 BCE<br>Neo-Elamite kingdom 750-650 BCE<br>Media 650-550 BCE<br>Susa - Tal-i Malyan (Anshan, Anzan) [450-550] KM2.<br><br/>Liverani 2014 chronology for Isin-Larsa period 2000-1750 BCE §REF§ (Leverani 2014, 192-193) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. §REF§ Elam §REF§ (Leverani 2014, 193) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. §REF§ <br>2000 BCE Shimashki dynasty, Kindattu c2000 BCE ... Indattu II c1925 BCE (last or last known)<br>1900 BCE Sukkalmah dynasty, Ebarat c1900 BCE ... Kuduzulush c1765 BCE (last or last known)<br><br/><br>\"Susa ... began its political life around 6000 BC, first as a city-state, then as an empire rivaling Sumer in Mesopotamia, and subsequently as the capital of one of the oldest empires of antiquity, Elam, around 3000 BC.\" §REF§ (Farazmand 2009, 21) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. §REF§ <br>\"Thus the earliest experience of state tradition and administrative functions on a massive scale in Iran began around 6000 BC.\" §REF§ (Farazmand 2009, 21) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. §REF§ <br>\"The main instrument of public administration and governance under the long history of the federal state of Elam was the bureaucracy, which also played a powerful role under the Median and the Persian empires.\" §REF§ (Farazmand 2009, 21) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. §REF§ <br>\"Unlike the small city-state of Sumer, the Elamite empire was formed and administered on a massive scale and governed a large territory comprising present Iran and a major part of the Near East, at times including Babylonia and Assyria, for over 2500 years.\" §REF§ (Farazmand 2009, 21) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. §REF§ <br>\"Their bureaucratic contacts with the Assyrians and Babylonians gave them useful insights. However, being a rival to Sumer, Babylon, and Assyria, the Elamite federal government developed the first Iranian tradition of public administration on a massive scale, though that tradition originated much earlier in the great city-state of Susa.\" §REF§ (Farazmand 2009, 21) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. §REF§ <br>\"development of an active intergovernmental management and federalism, perhaps the earliest in history.\" §REF§ (Farazmand 2009, 22) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. §REF§ <br>\"In the cities, thriving activities reigned, where along with the villages, professions of all kinds flourished, showing clear evidence of variety and stratification of professional and, hence, social classes in ancient Elam.\" §REF§ (Farazmand 2009, 22) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. §REF§ <br>\"The development of centers on the Susiana plane, beginning with Middle Cha1colithic Chogha Mish and culminating in the rise of Susa during the Late Chalcolithic. suggests a trend towards regional control in some economic and administrative activities (Delougaz and Kantor 1996, Hole 1987b: 89-90). This trend towards centralization may also be suggested by the presence of possible elite or \"Khan's\" houses during this time at several sites (Hole 1987a: 41). In spite of these trends, Chalcolithic society throughout Khuzistan presents a strong egalitarian appearance. During the Middle and Late Chalcolithic, differential access to resources may have involved less archaeological1y visible items such as staples. access to water, and control over labor, as it appears to have done at this time in Mesopotamia (Stein 1994).\" §REF§ (Peasnall in Peregrine and Ember 2002, 173) §REF§ The Middle Chalcolithic corresponds to 4800-3900 BCE and the Late Chalcolithic corresponds to 3900-3500 BCE in this book.", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 9, "name": "Susiana", "subregion": "Levant-Mesopotamia", "longitude": "48.235564000000", "latitude": "32.382851000000", "capital_city": "Susa (Shush)", "nga_code": "IR", "fao_country": "Iran", "world_region": "Southwest Asia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 45, "name": "Iran", "subregions_list": "Iran", "mac_region": { "id": 11, "name": "Southwest Asia" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 366, "year_from": -2000, "year_to": -1551, "description": " People, in a single polity. Estimate in the Middle Bronze Age taken from Finkelstein's estimate of the Canaanite \"territorial units\" (i.e. polities),§REF§Finkelstein (1992:211)§REF§ §REF§cf. Burke (2004:267).§REF§ with the upper boundary arbitrarily increased by 30% to account for methodological critiques of the estimating method. Finkelstein estimates his populations based on ground surveys of pottery remains and an assumed population density of 250 people per built-up hectare. However, the suitability of this assumption is not a given. \"Some of the densities recently put forward for area coefficients have been based on unwalled, premodern villages…. How similar is such a village to a walled Bronze or Iron Age town or city? Although this is not a case of comparing apples and oranges (more like oranges and grapefruit), it seems probable that the economic constraints of building a defensive system put a permanent physical limit on the settlement area,\" leading to higher population densities.§REF§Zorn (1994:33)§REF§ \"…the density coefficients employed by various population estimates of the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Byzantine Period in the southern Levant using a figure of about 200-250 persons per hectare have been based upon data from observations in the old quarters of various Middle Eastern cities, towns, and villages in Iraq, Iran, and Syria (Finkelstein 1996; Broshi and Gophna 1986; Broshi 1979; Hassan 1981:66). Rather than assign an arbitrary density coefficient derived from a vastly different time period and culture, then simply applied to the overall measure of a settlement, more precise means should be used when seeking an accurate population estimate.… Basing a population estimate on the number houses, size of houses, members per household, and residential area of a site is essential for an accurate estimate because these figures can vary widely between sites, regions, and time periods.\"§REF§Kennedy (2013:12).§REF§<br>The upper bound in the Late Bronze Age is taken from Kennedy's estimate of Hazor (2013:328), increased by c. 20% to account for the built-up settlements within Hazor's territory but outside of Hazor proper.§REF§Cf. Finkelstein (1992:211)§REF§ There are several other population estimates that are significantly smaller, but I judge them to be less convincing. \"In northern Canaan, there was an apparent trend of urbanization in the region of southern Lebanon between the Middle Bronze Age and the Late Bronze Age—the larger sites stayed occupied while some of the smaller sites became unoccupied in Late Bronze I (Marfoe 1998: 170).4 This may indicate an urbanization of the region rather than depopulation, and could be reflective of Canaan as a whole. The rise of city-states, known definitively from the Amarna Letters, could account for this demographic trend of urbanization.5 Yet, broad conclusions about the Late Bronze Age from limited archaeological data and studies have been drawn that claim the Late Bronze Age was a period of demographic decline and even increased nomadism.\"§REF§Kennedy (2013:3).§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": "polity_population", "polity_population_from": 5000, "polity_population_to": 40000, "polity": { "id": 103, "name": "IlCanaa", "start_year": -2000, "end_year": -1175, "long_name": "Canaan", "new_name": "il_canaan", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "_Short description_<br>Very little is known about the ancient Canaanites and what is known is often through references given by other cultures (such as the Egyptians). Even combined with what is known and not known from archaeological work the overall picture of Canannite society should be taken as a very provisional one.<br>Canaanites seem to have lived between 2000-1175 BCE, from a time contemporary to the Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, the Canaanite Hyksos Period of Egypt and their expulsion, through the New Kingdom of Egypt, to the invasion of the Sea Peoples (which have often been associated with the destruction of Canaanite cities).<br>Outside of the city-state organization the Canaanites did not achieve any territorial centralization in the Levant. The Canaanites lived in hierarchical city-states that would form alliances and fight opposing coalitions of Canaanites. The region as a whole was under Egyptian control after the invasion of Thutmose III.<br>One tentative archaeological interpretation of Canaanite government holds that Canaanite regimes were more similar to an household <i>oikos</i> economy than a Mesopotamian-style redistributive state: \"in sharp contrast to both the Aegean and the entire ancient Near East, there is not a single indication that literate administration ever played any significant role in the [Middle Bronze Age] Canaanite economy.\" §REF§ (Yasur-Landau et al. 2015, 609). Assaf Yasur-Landau, Eric H. Cline, Andrew J. Koh, David Ben-Shlomo, Nimrod Marom, Alexandra Ratzlaff and Inbal Samet. 2015. \"Rethinking Canaanite Palaces? The Palatial Economy of Tel Kabri during the Middle Bronze Age.\" Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 40, No. 6: 607-625. §REF§ <br>However, it appears at least some Canaanites did use writing to record laws. Two fragments of a larger clay tablet (designated Hazor 18) were discovered in 2010 at Tel Hazor, that would possibly have contained as many as 20 or 30 laws (which in turn could have been part of a larger collection of law tablets) in a format similar to the Code of Hammurabi. An earlier tablet, Hazor 5, contains part of the description of a lawsuit, judged by the king personally. §REF§ (Horowitz, Oshima, Vukosavovic 2012) Wayne Horowitz, Oshima Takayoshi and Filip Vukosavovic. 2012. \"Hazor 18: Fragments of a Cuneiform Law Collection from Hazor.\" Israel Exploration Journal, Vol. 62, No. 2: 158-176. §REF§ It is likely that at least some Canaanite polities would have had formal law codes.<br>The population of the Canaanites probably never exceeded much beyond 50,000 people in a single polity, though more were likely present towards the end of the period than at the beginning.<br><br/>_Oren's long description_<br>During the Bronze Age, Canaan was composed of dozens of \"city-states,\" some strong enough to lead regional confederations against each other or against outside invaders. These city-states appear to have been significantly institutionalized, featuring standing armies, bureaucracies and public works, and official cults. The social structure was highly unequal; most of the land was concentrated in the hands of the small ruling class, with the vast majority of inhabitants being serfs, slaves, or landless vagabonds or nomads. The economy depended heavily on trade, with intensive agriculture of staples such as wine and oil meant for export in exchange for prestige goods such as imported pottery, and tin for making bronze.<br>Canaan of the Middle and Late Bronze was by no means a unified entity, even as its polities shared significant cultural elements. The varying landscape carried with it different geopolitical conditions for each local polity, strongly conditioning the development of each one and its various political/strategic needs. \"The Coastal Plain, the setting for the region's largest political and economic centers, conventionally seen as the hearth of Canaanite civilization, emerges as a hodge-podge of polities with highly variable structures and their attendant political connotations. The Jordan Rift, normally seen as a smaller-scale backwater off the Mediterranean littoral, features settlement patterns most consistent with a series of highly integrated peer polities or city-states, and subregional political coherence. In contrast to both of these lowland areas, the settlement clusters of the Hill Country are more dispersed, with consistent evidence of less settlement integration. When considered structurally, these results suggest three fundamentally different bases for political development in a region normally viewed as a single, albeit fractious, social and cultural entity during the Late Bronze Age. These distinctions help illuminate the foundations of the particularly volatile political dynamics of the southern Levant.\" §REF§ Savage/Falconer (2003:42). §REF§ <br>During the Middle Bronze, Canaanite polities were wealthy and powerful enough to extend their influence into the Egyptian Delta (via the so-called \"Hyksos). However, the end of the Middle Bronze is marked by the campaign of Thutmose I, who expelled the Hyksos and then campaigned into Canaan proper, imposing Egyptian overlordship over many of the Canaanite cities. As the Late Bronze progressed, Canaanite cities were marked with increasing social turmoil, wracked by repeated uprisings against Egyptian officials or against local elites, and facing periodic invasions from the sea or pressure from the Hittite Empire. The politics of this period are somewhat better understood thanks to the finding of the Amarna Letters, some 350 clay tablets of Egyptian diplomatic correspondence that date to about the middle of the 14th Century BCE. Many of them are from Canaanite \"mayors,\" sending groveling obeisances to the Pharaoh and pleading for military assistance in the face of urgent threats. Finally, during the 12th Century BCE, a series of poorly-understood calamities and city destructions brought the Bronze Age Canaanite civilization to a close; it would be succeeded by the Phoenicians to the north, and the Israelites in the Judean highlands.<br>(A word of caution is in order about coding methodology. Much of the evidence we have about this polity comes from archaeological finds. However, the brute fact of an archaeological artifact is often used as the basis for considerable interpretation and conjecture. Methods have been improving over time, but still some archaeologists tend to leap far ahead of what the evidence will support. Additionally, the meaning of many finds is hotly disputed by archaeologists, each faction insisting for its point of view: \"When any scholar defends the correctness or appropriateness of a singular point of view, or set of data, everything else tends to be analyzed accordingly - alternative views are intensely criticized, dismissed, or ignored entirely, while complementary views or evidence are presented with little critical reflection. Whether the evidence is archaeological or scientific, often it is only partial or ambiguous and so becomes easy to interpret or manipulate in a manner that serves to perpetuate a preconceived idea or point of view. The outcome is often a selective filtering of data and related information and an unwillingness to contemplate or envisage a counter position.\" §REF§ Knapp/Manning (2016:101). §REF§ <br>This is a particular problem with regard to establishing chronologies. While on a given archaeological site researchers are (usually) able to determine the boundaries of relative temporal layers, tying those layers to an absolute timeline, or even fitting them into a relative relationship with the layers of other sites, is a fraught business; and when the time period in question is as far back as the Middle Bronze, the available evidence becomes correspondingly scarcer and more difficult to correlate with each other. Unfortunately, many researchers are too quick to claim certainty where none exists. §REF§ See extensive discussion in Knapp/Manning (2016). §REF§ <br>In short, every data point that is backed up with archaeology must be considered provisional, and new discoveries can totally upend our picture of what happened—as can new interpretations that correct erroneous early interpretations, a <a class=\"external text\" href=\"http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~fisher/hst140/MotelOfMysteries.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">constant danger</a> with motivated archaeologists.)", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 10, "name": "Galilee", "subregion": "Levant-Mesopotamia", "longitude": "35.303500000000", "latitude": "32.699600000000", "capital_city": "Nazareth", "nga_code": "IL", "fao_country": "Israel", "world_region": "Southwest Asia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 61, "name": "Levant", "subregions_list": "Israel/Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria", "mac_region": { "id": 11, "name": "Southwest Asia" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 367, "year_from": -1550, "year_to": -1175, "description": " People, in a single polity. Estimate in the Middle Bronze Age taken from Finkelstein's estimate of the Canaanite \"territorial units\" (i.e. polities),§REF§Finkelstein (1992:211)§REF§ §REF§cf. Burke (2004:267).§REF§ with the upper boundary arbitrarily increased by 30% to account for methodological critiques of the estimating method. Finkelstein estimates his populations based on ground surveys of pottery remains and an assumed population density of 250 people per built-up hectare. However, the suitability of this assumption is not a given. \"Some of the densities recently put forward for area coefficients have been based on unwalled, premodern villages…. How similar is such a village to a walled Bronze or Iron Age town or city? Although this is not a case of comparing apples and oranges (more like oranges and grapefruit), it seems probable that the economic constraints of building a defensive system put a permanent physical limit on the settlement area,\" leading to higher population densities.§REF§Zorn (1994:33)§REF§ \"…the density coefficients employed by various population estimates of the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Byzantine Period in the southern Levant using a figure of about 200-250 persons per hectare have been based upon data from observations in the old quarters of various Middle Eastern cities, towns, and villages in Iraq, Iran, and Syria (Finkelstein 1996; Broshi and Gophna 1986; Broshi 1979; Hassan 1981:66). Rather than assign an arbitrary density coefficient derived from a vastly different time period and culture, then simply applied to the overall measure of a settlement, more precise means should be used when seeking an accurate population estimate.… Basing a population estimate on the number houses, size of houses, members per household, and residential area of a site is essential for an accurate estimate because these figures can vary widely between sites, regions, and time periods.\"§REF§Kennedy (2013:12).§REF§<br>The upper bound in the Late Bronze Age is taken from Kennedy's estimate of Hazor (2013:328), increased by c. 20% to account for the built-up settlements within Hazor's territory but outside of Hazor proper.§REF§Cf. Finkelstein (1992:211)§REF§ There are several other population estimates that are significantly smaller, but I judge them to be less convincing. \"In northern Canaan, there was an apparent trend of urbanization in the region of southern Lebanon between the Middle Bronze Age and the Late Bronze Age—the larger sites stayed occupied while some of the smaller sites became unoccupied in Late Bronze I (Marfoe 1998: 170).4 This may indicate an urbanization of the region rather than depopulation, and could be reflective of Canaan as a whole. The rise of city-states, known definitively from the Amarna Letters, could account for this demographic trend of urbanization.5 Yet, broad conclusions about the Late Bronze Age from limited archaeological data and studies have been drawn that claim the Late Bronze Age was a period of demographic decline and even increased nomadism.\"§REF§Kennedy (2013:3).§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": "polity_population", "polity_population_from": 5000, "polity_population_to": 60000, "polity": { "id": 103, "name": "IlCanaa", "start_year": -2000, "end_year": -1175, "long_name": "Canaan", "new_name": "il_canaan", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "_Short description_<br>Very little is known about the ancient Canaanites and what is known is often through references given by other cultures (such as the Egyptians). Even combined with what is known and not known from archaeological work the overall picture of Canannite society should be taken as a very provisional one.<br>Canaanites seem to have lived between 2000-1175 BCE, from a time contemporary to the Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, the Canaanite Hyksos Period of Egypt and their expulsion, through the New Kingdom of Egypt, to the invasion of the Sea Peoples (which have often been associated with the destruction of Canaanite cities).<br>Outside of the city-state organization the Canaanites did not achieve any territorial centralization in the Levant. The Canaanites lived in hierarchical city-states that would form alliances and fight opposing coalitions of Canaanites. The region as a whole was under Egyptian control after the invasion of Thutmose III.<br>One tentative archaeological interpretation of Canaanite government holds that Canaanite regimes were more similar to an household <i>oikos</i> economy than a Mesopotamian-style redistributive state: \"in sharp contrast to both the Aegean and the entire ancient Near East, there is not a single indication that literate administration ever played any significant role in the [Middle Bronze Age] Canaanite economy.\" §REF§ (Yasur-Landau et al. 2015, 609). Assaf Yasur-Landau, Eric H. Cline, Andrew J. Koh, David Ben-Shlomo, Nimrod Marom, Alexandra Ratzlaff and Inbal Samet. 2015. \"Rethinking Canaanite Palaces? The Palatial Economy of Tel Kabri during the Middle Bronze Age.\" Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 40, No. 6: 607-625. §REF§ <br>However, it appears at least some Canaanites did use writing to record laws. Two fragments of a larger clay tablet (designated Hazor 18) were discovered in 2010 at Tel Hazor, that would possibly have contained as many as 20 or 30 laws (which in turn could have been part of a larger collection of law tablets) in a format similar to the Code of Hammurabi. An earlier tablet, Hazor 5, contains part of the description of a lawsuit, judged by the king personally. §REF§ (Horowitz, Oshima, Vukosavovic 2012) Wayne Horowitz, Oshima Takayoshi and Filip Vukosavovic. 2012. \"Hazor 18: Fragments of a Cuneiform Law Collection from Hazor.\" Israel Exploration Journal, Vol. 62, No. 2: 158-176. §REF§ It is likely that at least some Canaanite polities would have had formal law codes.<br>The population of the Canaanites probably never exceeded much beyond 50,000 people in a single polity, though more were likely present towards the end of the period than at the beginning.<br><br/>_Oren's long description_<br>During the Bronze Age, Canaan was composed of dozens of \"city-states,\" some strong enough to lead regional confederations against each other or against outside invaders. These city-states appear to have been significantly institutionalized, featuring standing armies, bureaucracies and public works, and official cults. The social structure was highly unequal; most of the land was concentrated in the hands of the small ruling class, with the vast majority of inhabitants being serfs, slaves, or landless vagabonds or nomads. The economy depended heavily on trade, with intensive agriculture of staples such as wine and oil meant for export in exchange for prestige goods such as imported pottery, and tin for making bronze.<br>Canaan of the Middle and Late Bronze was by no means a unified entity, even as its polities shared significant cultural elements. The varying landscape carried with it different geopolitical conditions for each local polity, strongly conditioning the development of each one and its various political/strategic needs. \"The Coastal Plain, the setting for the region's largest political and economic centers, conventionally seen as the hearth of Canaanite civilization, emerges as a hodge-podge of polities with highly variable structures and their attendant political connotations. The Jordan Rift, normally seen as a smaller-scale backwater off the Mediterranean littoral, features settlement patterns most consistent with a series of highly integrated peer polities or city-states, and subregional political coherence. In contrast to both of these lowland areas, the settlement clusters of the Hill Country are more dispersed, with consistent evidence of less settlement integration. When considered structurally, these results suggest three fundamentally different bases for political development in a region normally viewed as a single, albeit fractious, social and cultural entity during the Late Bronze Age. These distinctions help illuminate the foundations of the particularly volatile political dynamics of the southern Levant.\" §REF§ Savage/Falconer (2003:42). §REF§ <br>During the Middle Bronze, Canaanite polities were wealthy and powerful enough to extend their influence into the Egyptian Delta (via the so-called \"Hyksos). However, the end of the Middle Bronze is marked by the campaign of Thutmose I, who expelled the Hyksos and then campaigned into Canaan proper, imposing Egyptian overlordship over many of the Canaanite cities. As the Late Bronze progressed, Canaanite cities were marked with increasing social turmoil, wracked by repeated uprisings against Egyptian officials or against local elites, and facing periodic invasions from the sea or pressure from the Hittite Empire. The politics of this period are somewhat better understood thanks to the finding of the Amarna Letters, some 350 clay tablets of Egyptian diplomatic correspondence that date to about the middle of the 14th Century BCE. Many of them are from Canaanite \"mayors,\" sending groveling obeisances to the Pharaoh and pleading for military assistance in the face of urgent threats. Finally, during the 12th Century BCE, a series of poorly-understood calamities and city destructions brought the Bronze Age Canaanite civilization to a close; it would be succeeded by the Phoenicians to the north, and the Israelites in the Judean highlands.<br>(A word of caution is in order about coding methodology. Much of the evidence we have about this polity comes from archaeological finds. However, the brute fact of an archaeological artifact is often used as the basis for considerable interpretation and conjecture. Methods have been improving over time, but still some archaeologists tend to leap far ahead of what the evidence will support. Additionally, the meaning of many finds is hotly disputed by archaeologists, each faction insisting for its point of view: \"When any scholar defends the correctness or appropriateness of a singular point of view, or set of data, everything else tends to be analyzed accordingly - alternative views are intensely criticized, dismissed, or ignored entirely, while complementary views or evidence are presented with little critical reflection. Whether the evidence is archaeological or scientific, often it is only partial or ambiguous and so becomes easy to interpret or manipulate in a manner that serves to perpetuate a preconceived idea or point of view. The outcome is often a selective filtering of data and related information and an unwillingness to contemplate or envisage a counter position.\" §REF§ Knapp/Manning (2016:101). §REF§ <br>This is a particular problem with regard to establishing chronologies. While on a given archaeological site researchers are (usually) able to determine the boundaries of relative temporal layers, tying those layers to an absolute timeline, or even fitting them into a relative relationship with the layers of other sites, is a fraught business; and when the time period in question is as far back as the Middle Bronze, the available evidence becomes correspondingly scarcer and more difficult to correlate with each other. Unfortunately, many researchers are too quick to claim certainty where none exists. §REF§ See extensive discussion in Knapp/Manning (2016). §REF§ <br>In short, every data point that is backed up with archaeology must be considered provisional, and new discoveries can totally upend our picture of what happened—as can new interpretations that correct erroneous early interpretations, a <a class=\"external text\" href=\"http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~fisher/hst140/MotelOfMysteries.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">constant danger</a> with motivated archaeologists.)", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 10, "name": "Galilee", "subregion": "Levant-Mesopotamia", "longitude": "35.303500000000", "latitude": "32.699600000000", "capital_city": "Nazareth", "nga_code": "IL", "fao_country": "Israel", "world_region": "Southwest Asia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 61, "name": "Levant", "subregions_list": "Israel/Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria", "mac_region": { "id": 11, "name": "Southwest Asia" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 600, "year_from": -1400, "year_to": -500, "description": " People.<br>According to McEvedy and Jones (1978) the total population of Siberia and Mongolia at this time did not exceed 400,000, while in Russian Turkestan in 1300 BC \"we can think in terms of 100,000 people on the steppe.\"§REF§(McEvedy and Jones 1978, 160-156) McEvedy, Colin. Jones, Richard. 1978. Atlas of World Population History. Penguin Books Ltd. London.§REF§<br>The pre-Empire Xiongnu would have been a fraction of the total figure. 5-10% of 500,000 would provide an estimate of 25,000-50,000. This might represent an average of 20-40 groups covering this whole region. Since the time period 1400-300 BCE is extremely long I use this average for the 1400-500 BCE period and double it for the last 200 years prior to the rise of the Xiongnu Imperial Confederation. <br>", "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": "polity_population", "polity_population_from": 25000, "polity_population_to": 50000, "polity": { "id": 437, "name": "MnXngnE", "start_year": -1400, "end_year": -300, "long_name": "Early Xiongnu", "new_name": "mn_hunnu_early", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "The Orkhon Valley is located on either side of the Orkhon River, in north-central Mongolia. Here, we are interested in the phase of its prehistory in the millennium preceding the establishment of the Xiongnu empire, that is, 1400-300 BCE. Unfortunately, very little is known about this period, §REF§ (Yu 1990, 118) §REF§ though Chinese historians note that at the very end of this period the Xiongnu were one of three major steppe confederations in Mongolia more widely. §REF§ (Rogers 2012, 220) §REF§ <br>No population estimates could be found specifically for the an average independent political unit in the Orkhon Valley at this time, though it is worth noting that, according to McEvedy and Jones (1978), the total population of Siberia and Mongolia in this period did not exceed 400,000. §REF§ (McEvedy and Jones 1978, 160-156) McEvedy, Colin. Jones, Richard. 1978. Atlas of World Population History. Penguin Books Ltd. London. §REF§ Similarly, no information could be found on political organization at this time.", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 24, "name": "Orkhon Valley", "subregion": "Mongolia", "longitude": "102.845486000000", "latitude": "47.200757000000", "capital_city": "Karakorum", "nga_code": "MN", "fao_country": "Mongolia", "world_region": "Central Eurasia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 9, "name": "Mongolia", "subregions_list": "Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, the steppe part of Manchuria", "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": [] }, { "id": 646, "year_from": -1200, "year_to": -1000, "description": " People. Early = 500-1000 / Middle = 5,000-15,000 / Late = 20,000-25,000<br>\"At the smallest and least complex (in terms of population, geographic scale and decision-making arrangements) end of this continuum, chiefs with limited decision-making prerogatives probably presided over single settlements. In larger examples, more powerful leaders based in larger centers likely exerted varying degrees of control over multiple and varying numbers of settlements. Finally, at the most complex end of this continuum, paramount chiefs ruling from large regional centers with lesser chiefs as political subordinates dominated even larger polities containing numerous settlements and substantial populations. In the present context it seems most likely that chiefdoms of the first type were prevalent during the earlier phases of the Iron Age, with those of the latter two types developing with increasing frequency as time passed.\"§REF§R. Brubaker, Aspects of mortuary variability in the South Indian Iron Age, in <i>Bulletin of the Deccan College Post-Graduate & Research Institute</i> 60-61, pp. 253-302§REF§<br>Early in period = same as the population of a single settlement at that time<br>1. Single settlement<br>e.g. 5 ha settlement§REF§P. Peregrine, M. Ember (eds), Encyclopedia of Prehistory, vol. 8: South And Southwest Asia (2003), p. 365§REF§ at 200 per ha gives upper limit of 1000. [500-1000]: 1200-1000 BCE<br>Later in period = population of a large settlement, plus population of numerous lesser settlements that have substantial populations<br>1. Large regional center<br>e.g. 50 ha settlement§REF§P. Peregrine, M. Ember (eds), Encyclopedia of Prehistory, vol. 8: South And Southwest Asia (2003), p. 365§REF§ at 200 per ha gives upper limit of 10,000. [5,000-10,000]: 599-300 BCE<br>2. Numerous settlements and substantial populationse.g. settlement of 20 ha§REF§P. Peregrine, M. Ember (eds), Encyclopedia of Prehistory, vol. 8: South And Southwest Asia (2003), p. 365§REF§ at 200 per ha gives an upper limit of 4,000. 5 ha settlement§REF§P. Peregrine, M. Ember (eds), Encyclopedia of Prehistory, vol. 8: South And Southwest Asia (2003), p. 365§REF§ at 200 per ha gives upper limit of 1000. Multiple these figures by 3 to approximate \"numerous lesser settlements\" = 15,000<br>", "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": "polity_population", "polity_population_from": 500, "polity_population_to": 1000, "polity": { "id": 86, "name": "InDecIA", "start_year": -1200, "end_year": -300, "long_name": "Deccan - Iron Age", "new_name": "in_deccan_ia", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "The South Indian Iron Age lasted, roughly, from 1200 to 300 BCE. §REF§ (Johansen 2014, 59) Peter G. Johansen. 2014. 'The Politics of Spatial Renovation: Reconfiguring Ritual Practices in Iron Age and Early Historic South India'. <i>Journal of Social Archaeology</i> 14 (1): 59-86. §REF§ The vast majority of Iron Age megalithic structures and associated sites have been found in the modern-day Indian states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. §REF§ (Brubaker 2001-2002, 253) Robert Brubaker. 2001-2002. 'Aspects of Mortuary Variability in the South Indian Iron Age'. <i>Bulletin of the Deccan College Post-Graduate & Research Institute</i> 60-61: 253-302. §REF§ As in the preceding Neolithic period, South Indians sustained themselves through bovine and caprine pastoralism as well as the cultivation of millet and pulses - and, increasingly, wheat, barley, and rice. Settlement designs became more complex and labour-intensive, and new social arrangements and mortuary practices emerged. §REF§ (Johansen 2014, 65) Peter G. Johansen. 2014. 'The Politics of Spatial Renovation: Reconfiguring Ritual Practices in Iron Age and Early Historic South India'. <i>Journal of Social Archaeology</i> 14 (1): 59-86. §REF§ <br><i>Population and political organization</i><br>Differences in the scale, design and materials of mortuary megalithic structures and associated grave goods point to the growing hierarchization of South Indian societies at this time. §REF§ (Johansen 2014, 65) Peter G. Johansen. 2014. 'The Politics of Spatial Renovation: Reconfiguring Ritual Practices in Iron Age and Early Historic South India'. <i>Journal of Social Archaeology</i> 14 (1): 59-86. §REF§ However, there was some variation in terms of the sociopolitical organization of individual communities: for example, it is likely that some chiefs with limited decision-making powers ruled over single settlements, and that more powerful leaders based in large centres exerted some control over surrounding settlements, and that some polities were made up of several settlements ruled by a hierarchy of leaders who answered to a single paramount chief. The first type of polity probably prevailed at the beginning of the Iron Age, while the second and third type likely became more common towards its end. §REF§ (Brubaker 2001-2002, 287-91) Robert Brubaker. 2001-2002. 'Aspects of Mortuary Variability in the South Indian Iron Age'. <i>Bulletin of the Deccan College Post-Graduate & Research Institute</i> 60-61: 253-302. §REF§ <br>No population estimates for this period could be found in the specialist literature.", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 15, "name": "Deccan", "subregion": "Central India", "longitude": "76.625407000000", "latitude": "15.386856000000", "capital_city": "Kampli", "nga_code": "DEC", "fao_country": "India", "world_region": "South Asia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 36, "name": "Central India", "subregions_list": "Deccan, etc", "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": 632, "year_from": -1045, "year_to": -957, "description": " People.<br>100,000: 1122 BCE; 5,000,000: 1045; [9,000,000-12,000,000]: 957 BCE; 13,500,000: 771 BCE<br>McEvedy and Jones (1979) say after the Shang Empire population actually increased quickly so that by 400 BCE the figure for a definition of China - that included parts outside the Western Zhou - was 25 million. Their implied figure for the Shang Empire in 1045 BCE was 5 million. §REF§(McEvedy and Jones 1979, 172)§REF§<br>Maisels suggests 13.5 million for Western Zhou. §REF§(Maisels 2001, 260)§REF§<br>Relevant page in Maisel's book not now accessible via google books so cannot check for date. If figure was at peak, i.e. c950 BCE, that would be a jump of 8m in 100 years from 5m in 1045 BCE. Seems high even for territorial acquisitions. Perhaps 13.5 million reflects 771 BCE.<br>Have instead coded a range for the population at the the peak date between the beginning and end figures.", "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": "polity_population", "polity_population_from": 9000000, "polity_population_to": 12000000, "polity": { "id": 244, "name": "CnWZhou", "start_year": -1122, "end_year": -771, "long_name": "Western Zhou", "new_name": "cn_western_zhou_dyn", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "The Western Zhou Dynasty was the first Chinese state to claim the Mandate of Heaven, the divinely bestowed right to rule. Zhou was a tributary state to Shang until the Zhou king Zhou Wu Wang defeated the last king of Shang in the 1046 BCE Battle of Muye. §REF§ (San 2014, 30) San, Tan Koon. 2014. <i>Dynastic China: An Elementary History.</i> Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F</a>. §REF§ Zhou power was consolidated after the Duke of Zhou's defeat of the Rebellion of the Three Guards, led by Shang loyalists and separatist eastern nobles. §REF§ (San 2014, 31) San, Tan Koon. 2014. <i>Dynastic China: An Elementary History.</i> Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F</a>. §REF§ In defeating the rebellion, the Zhou state was able to add a large area of land in eastern China to its territory. §REF§ (San 2014, 30) San, Tan Koon. 2014. <i>Dynastic China: An Elementary History.</i> Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F</a>. §REF§ <br>The Western Zhou established their capital at Haojing, and the Duke of Zhou later established Chengzhou as a second capital. §REF§ (Theobald 2000) Theobald, Ulrich. 2000. “Zhou History.” <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Zhou/zhou.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Zhou/zhou.html</a> Accessed May 31, 2017. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/V8ABGJAF\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/V8ABGJAF</a>. §REF§ In 957 BCE, the Zhou controlled territory covering an estimated 850,000 square kilometres based in the central plains of China.<br>The period was peaceful for the first 75 years of Zhou rule. §REF§ (Shaughnessy 1999, 310-11) Shaughnessy, Edward L. 1999. “Western Zhou History.” In <i>The Cambridge History of Ancient China</i> edited by Michael Loewe and Edward L. Shaughnessy. Cambridge: CUP. 292-351. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/GEZH7945\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/GEZH7945</a>. §REF§ However, the decentralization of Zhou power into fiefdoms encouraged turmoil between states, popular unrest, and vassal rebellions. §REF§ (Shaughnessy 1999, 310-11) Shaughnessy, Edward L. 1999. “Western Zhou History.” In <i>The Cambridge History of Ancient China</i> edited by Michael Loewe and Edward L. Shaughnessy. Cambridge: CUP. 292-351. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/GEZH7945\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/GEZH7945</a>. §REF§ The Marquess of Shen sacked Haojing and killed the 12th Zhou king over a succession dispute in 771 BCE. §REF§ (San 2014, 34) San, Tan Koon. 2014. <i>Dynastic China: An Elementary History.</i> Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F</a>. §REF§ The crown prince subsequently moved the capital to Luoyang and founded the Eastern Zhou dynasty.<br>The Western Zhou are noted for their introduction of the Mandate of Heaven, their kinship-based feudal system and their use of lineage law. §REF§ (Zhao 2015, 79) Zhao, Dingxin. 2015. <i>The Confucian-Legalist State: A New Theory of Chinese History.</i> Oxford: OUP. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/Z4ASKKD5\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/Z4ASKKD5</a>. §REF§ The state's kinship-based feudal system encouraged the spread of Zhou writing, culture and identity. §REF§ (Zhao 2015, 80) Zhao, Dingxin. 2015. <i>The Confucian-Legalist State: A New Theory of Chinese History.</i> Oxford: OUP. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/Z4ASKKD5\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/Z4ASKKD5</a>. §REF§ Some scholars have seen Zhou lineage law, with its emphasis on 'lineage rituals, familial ethics, and beneficent rule', as an intellectual precursor of Confucianism. §REF§ (Zhao 2015, 80) Zhao, Dingxin. 2015. <i>The Confucian-Legalist State: A New Theory of Chinese History.</i> Oxford: OUP. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/Z4ASKKD5\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/Z4ASKKD5</a>. §REF§ The hierarchies, division of labour and meritocratic practices that emerged under the Western Zhou also helped lay the foundations for the introduction of bureaucracy. §REF§ (Zhao 2015, 80) Zhao, Dingxin. 2015. <i>The Confucian-Legalist State: A New Theory of Chinese History.</i> Oxford: OUP. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/Z4ASKKD5\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/Z4ASKKD5</a>. §REF§ <br><i>Population and political organization</i><br>The Western Zhou state was a proto-feudal monarchy in which feudal lords were supported by an extended family network. §REF§ (San 2014, 29) San, Tan Koon. 2014. <i>Dynastic China: An Elementary History.</i> Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F</a>. §REF§ The first king of Zhou introduced the <i>fengjian</i> system, which made military leaders and members of the royal family into regional lords ruling over parcels of land. §REF§ (Roberts 1999, 9-12) Roberts. John A.G. 1999. <i>A Concise History of China.</i> Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/GEZH7945\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/GEZH7945</a>. §REF§ These fiefdoms were then divided into smaller units and distributed to members of the local rulers' families. §REF§ (San 2014, 29) San, Tan Koon. 2014. <i>Dynastic China: An Elementary History.</i> Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F</a>. §REF§ <br>Individual fiefdoms had their own taxes, legal systems, and currencies but paid dues to the king and provided soldiers in times of need. §REF§ (Roberts 1999, 9-12) Roberts. John A.G. 1999. <i>A Concise History of China.</i> Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/GEZH7945\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/GEZH7945</a>. §REF§ This system eventually led to decentralization and the weakening of Zhou rule. §REF§ (Roberts 1999, 9-12) Roberts. John A.G. 1999. <i>A Concise History of China.</i> Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/GEZH7945\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/GEZH7945</a>. §REF§ <br>It is difficult to obtain population figures for the Western Zhou period. C. K. Maisels has given an estimate of 13.5 million people in 800 BCE. §REF§ (Maisels 2001, 260) Maisels, C. K. 2001. <i>Early Civilizations of the Old World: The Formative Histories of Egypt, the Levant, Mesopotamia, India, and China</i>. Routledge: London. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/P9IXAB56\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/P9IXAB56</a>. §REF§", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": "", "created_date": null, "modified_date": "2024-01-04T15:30:09.450839Z", "home_nga": { "id": 20, "name": "Middle Yellow River Valley", "subregion": "North China", "longitude": "112.517587000000", "latitude": "34.701825000000", "capital_city": "Luoyang", "nga_code": "CN", "fao_country": "China", "world_region": "East Asia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 58, "name": "North China", "subregions_list": "North China without Tibet, Inner Mongolia, and Xinjiang", "mac_region": { "id": 4, "name": "East Asia" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 368, "year_from": -1030, "year_to": -1000, "description": " People.<br>\"The central hill country—between the Jezreel and the Beer-sheba Valleys—is well known archaeologically from both excavations and intensive survey projects. The surveys, mainly those conducted in the 1980s, revealed a massive wave of settlement that swept throughout this region in the Iron I (Finkelstein 1988; 1995; Zertal 1994; Ofer 1994). The main concentration of sites can be found in the northern part of this region, between Jerusalem and the Jezreel Valley. The settlement process may have started in the final phase of the Late Bronze Age (the late thirteenth or early twelfth centuries b.c.e.), accelerated in the early Iron I (the late twelfth to mid-eleventh century), and reached its peak in the late Iron I (the late eleventh and first half of the tenth centuries b.c.e.). In the late Iron I there were approximately 250 sites in this area (compared to ca. 30 sites in the Late Bronze Age), with a total built-up area that can be estimated at roughly 220 hectares (ca. 50 hectares in the Late Bronze Age). Using the broadly accepted, average density coefficient of two hundred people living on one built-up hectare in premodern societies, the late Iron I population can be estimated at circa 45,000 people.\"§REF§Finkelstein (2013:37-38)§REF§<br>\"Estimation of population is based on the results of surface surveys; if done properly, the collection of pottery sherds at a given site can shed light on the size of the site in every period of habitation. Accordingly, one can draw a settlement map for a given period with all sites, classified according to size, and compute the total built-up area. Deploying a density coefficient (number of people living on one built-up hectare in premodern, traditional towns and villages), it is possible to reach the total number of inhabitants. The population of [the Northern Kingdom of] Israel on both sides of the Jordan River in its peak prosperity in the middle of the eighth century can accordingly be estimated at 350,000—three times larger than the population of Judah of that time (Broshi and Finkelstein 1992).\"§REF§Finkelstein (2013:109-110)§REF§<br>It should be noted that these estimates are highly speculative, and there is reason to believe that they underestimate the true population by a considerable amount. \"Some of the densities recently put forward for area coefficients have been based on unwalled, premodern villages…. How similar is such a village to a walled Bronze or Iron Age town or city? Although this is not a case of comparing apples and oranges (more like oranges and grapefruit), it seems probable that the economic constraints of building a defensive system put a permanent physical limit on the settlement area,\" leading to higher population densities.§REF§Zorn (1994:33)§REF§<br>", "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": "polity_population", "polity_population_from": 40000, "polity_population_to": 50000, "polity": { "id": 105, "name": "IlYisrl", "start_year": -1030, "end_year": -722, "long_name": "Yisrael", "new_name": "il_yisrael", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "_Short description_<br>The ancient kingdom of Israel 1030-722 CE was a monarchy established by Israelite people that was eventually conquered by the Assyrian Empire. Initially a monarchic union with Judah, around 930 BCE the Northern Kingdom (Israel) gained autonomy. In the 9th century Israel entered an anti-Assyria coalition but from Jehu (841 BCE) paid them tribute and thereafter were frequently a vassal of the Mesopotamian empire. After a revolt against Assyria in 727 CE the Assyrians ended the polity sending many of its inhabitants into exile.<br>The century authorities ruled through administrative centers and fortresses sites that had \"public buildings and ... large open spaces.\" §REF§ (Finkelstein 2013, 104)Israel Finkelstein. 2013. The Forgotten Kingdom: The Archaeology and History of Northern Israel. Society of Biblical Literature. Atlanta, GA. Available online <a class=\"external text\" href=\"https://www.sbl-site.org/assets/pdfs/pubs/9781589839106_OA.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a>. §REF§ Local administration may have been through tribal elders who may have been responsible for tax collection. Our image of a centralized monarchy (for some of or the whole of the period) might be tempered by the ideas of Pfoh (2008) who has argued Israel was actually a \"patronage kingdom\" in which a monarchy did not control a truly unitary state. Nevertheless, Israel possessed a standing army with a strong chariot corps, and used weapons of iron and bronze. Fortifications were many and imposing, and the Palace of Omri was one of the grandest in the Ancient Near East.<br>At its height, Israel imposed tribute on many of the surrounding kingdoms, not only Judah but Moab, Edom, and perhaps others as well. The Israelite population primarily lived in cities and towns in the hills, with fortified cities protecting the frontiers on the plains and dominating major trade routes through the region. Trade linked Israel with its northern neighbor Phoenicia, particularly through the port of Dor. At the height of its power, Israel was also a significant military force, contributing the largest contingent to the regional coalition that turned back Assyria's first attempt to conquer the Levant.<br>At least some of the population was literate even before the 10th Century BCE, though the prevalence of literacy is disputed. While the majority of the populace lived in small towns and villages, a significant fraction lived in walled cities such as the capital, Samaria. Most of the economy was in agriculture and pastoral production; staples for export included grain, wine, and oil. In the eighth century BCE the population likely exceeded well over a quarter of a million people, a vast increase on the less than 100,000 people estimated for the earliest times.<br><br/><br>_Oren's long description_<br>How the Kingdom of Israel began is a matter of dispute. The Bible depicts it as originally being the greater part of the old Israelite tribal confederation, and then a part of the United Monarchy under Saul, David, and Solomon (c. 1030 BCE)—before seceding during the rule of Rehaboam, and forming its own state. This narrative is more or less accepted by some archaeologists such as Mazar, while others such as Finkelstein assert that Israel actually emerged first from a process of gradual state formation, with the southern kingdom of Judah emerging later. §REF§ Cf. Finkelstein/Mazar (2007). §REF§ <br>Regardless, the two kingdoms always had close interactions, and the northern kingdom of Israel was almost always the dominant one. At its height, Israel imposed tribute on many of the surrounding kingdoms, not only Judah but Moab, Edom, and perhaps others as well. The Israelite population primarily lived in cities and towns in the hills, with fortified cities protecting the frontiers on the plains and dominating major trade routes through the region. Trade linked Israel with its northern neighbor Phoenicia, particularly through the port of Dor. At the height of its power, Israel was also a significant military force, contributing the largest contingent to the regional coalition that turned back Assyria's first attempt to conquer the Levant. Israel featured a standing army with a strong chariot corps, with weapons of iron and bronze. Fortifications were many and imposing, and the Palace of Omri was one of the grandest in the Ancient Near East.<br>However, starting with the assassination of the Omrid king Jehoram by Jehu (c. 841 BCE), Israel's fortunes waned; and it spent the rest of its existence as the tributary of either Aram or Assyria, depending on which of the two empires were ascendent. Even when the economy of Israel flourished during particular periods of the next century (as attested to by the greater incidence of luxury goods in archaeological finds), Israel was still subject to the depredations of foreign powers, being invaded several times. Ultimately, following an ill-fated rebellion against Assyria, the polity of Israel was dissolved (c. 722 BCE), its people exiled, and the land turned into an Assyrian province.<br>Israelite politics were marked with instability. In contrast to the kingdom of Judah, which featured a single ruling dynasty that traced its beginnings to David, Israelite kings frequently met violent ends. These would typically be at the hands of rebellious military commanders who would seize the throne, though such rebels ran the risk of being deposed themselves in short order. Zimri, one rebel captain, would rule for only a single week before losing the support of the army to rival captain Omri, founder of the Omrid Dynasty.<br>At least some of the population was literate even before the 10th Century BCE, though the prevalence of literacy is disputed. While the majority of the populace lived in small towns and villages, a significant fraction lived in walled cities such as the capital, Samaria. Most of the economy was in agriculture and pastoral production; staples for export included grain, wine, and oil.<br>A word of caution is in order about coding methodology. Much of the evidence we have about this polity comes from archaeological finds. However, the brute fact of an archaeological artifact is often used as the basis for considerable interpretation and conjecture. Methods have been improving over time, but still some archaeologists tend to leap far ahead of what the evidence will support. Additionally, the meaning of many finds is hotly disputed by archaeologists, each faction insisting for its point of view.<br>Worse, scholars of this particular polity often operate with ideological motives - either to prove the essential historicity of the Bible, or to disprove it—which can distort their claims. Israel Finkelstein, for example, once claimed that King David never existed, before having to revise his view after the discovery of the Tel Dan Stela. §REF§ Cf. Finkelstein/Mazar (2007). §REF§ (He now <a class=\"external text\" href=\"http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/print/2010/12/david-and-solomon/draper-text\" rel=\"nofollow\">believes</a>, as <i>National Geographic</i> puts it, that David was \"a raggedy upstart akin to Pancho Villa.\") His \"Low Chronology\" seems to have been motivated by the attempt to disprove the early existence of the United Monarchy, and the weight of the evidence now contradicts the chronology (while still inconclusive on the matter of the United Monarchy). §REF§ Mazar (2005) §REF§ In general, it seems that many archaeologists treat the absence of evidence as evidence of absence—risky to do, considering that new finds are unearthed practically every month.<br>In short, every data point that is backed up with archaeology must be considered provisional, and new discoveries can totally upend our picture of what happened. As can new interpretations that correct erroneous early interpretations, a <a class=\"external text\" href=\"http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~fisher/hst140/MotelOfMysteries.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">constant danger</a> with motivated archaeologists.", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 10, "name": "Galilee", "subregion": "Levant-Mesopotamia", "longitude": "35.303500000000", "latitude": "32.699600000000", "capital_city": "Nazareth", "nga_code": "IL", "fao_country": "Israel", "world_region": "Southwest Asia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 61, "name": "Levant", "subregions_list": "Israel/Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria", "mac_region": { "id": 11, "name": "Southwest Asia" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 637, "year_from": -999, "year_to": -600, "description": " People. Early = 500-1000 / Middle = 5,000-15,000 / Late = 20,000-25,000<br>\"At the smallest and least complex (in terms of population, geographic scale and decision-making arrangements) end of this continuum, chiefs with limited decision-making prerogatives probably presided over single settlements. In larger examples, more powerful leaders based in larger centers likely exerted varying degrees of control over multiple and varying numbers of settlements. Finally, at the most complex end of this continuum, paramount chiefs ruling from large regional centers with lesser chiefs as political subordinates dominated even larger polities containing numerous settlements and substantial populations. In the present context it seems most likely that chiefdoms of the first type were prevalent during the earlier phases of the Iron Age, with those of the latter two types developing with increasing frequency as time passed.\"§REF§R. Brubaker, Aspects of mortuary variability in the South Indian Iron Age, in <i>Bulletin of the Deccan College Post-Graduate & Research Institute</i> 60-61, pp. 253-302§REF§<br>Early in period = same as the population of a single settlement at that time<br>1. Single settlement<br>e.g. 5 ha settlement§REF§P. Peregrine, M. Ember (eds), Encyclopedia of Prehistory, vol. 8: South And Southwest Asia (2003), p. 365§REF§ at 200 per ha gives upper limit of 1000. [500-1000]: 1200-1000 BCE<br>Later in period = population of a large settlement, plus population of numerous lesser settlements that have substantial populations<br>1. Large regional center<br>e.g. 50 ha settlement§REF§P. Peregrine, M. Ember (eds), Encyclopedia of Prehistory, vol. 8: South And Southwest Asia (2003), p. 365§REF§ at 200 per ha gives upper limit of 10,000. [5,000-10,000]: 599-300 BCE<br>2. Numerous settlements and substantial populationse.g. settlement of 20 ha§REF§P. Peregrine, M. Ember (eds), Encyclopedia of Prehistory, vol. 8: South And Southwest Asia (2003), p. 365§REF§ at 200 per ha gives an upper limit of 4,000. 5 ha settlement§REF§P. Peregrine, M. Ember (eds), Encyclopedia of Prehistory, vol. 8: South And Southwest Asia (2003), p. 365§REF§ at 200 per ha gives upper limit of 1000. Multiple these figures by 3 to approximate \"numerous lesser settlements\" = 15,000<br>", "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": "polity_population", "polity_population_from": 5000, "polity_population_to": 15000, "polity": { "id": 86, "name": "InDecIA", "start_year": -1200, "end_year": -300, "long_name": "Deccan - Iron Age", "new_name": "in_deccan_ia", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "The South Indian Iron Age lasted, roughly, from 1200 to 300 BCE. §REF§ (Johansen 2014, 59) Peter G. Johansen. 2014. 'The Politics of Spatial Renovation: Reconfiguring Ritual Practices in Iron Age and Early Historic South India'. <i>Journal of Social Archaeology</i> 14 (1): 59-86. §REF§ The vast majority of Iron Age megalithic structures and associated sites have been found in the modern-day Indian states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. §REF§ (Brubaker 2001-2002, 253) Robert Brubaker. 2001-2002. 'Aspects of Mortuary Variability in the South Indian Iron Age'. <i>Bulletin of the Deccan College Post-Graduate & Research Institute</i> 60-61: 253-302. §REF§ As in the preceding Neolithic period, South Indians sustained themselves through bovine and caprine pastoralism as well as the cultivation of millet and pulses - and, increasingly, wheat, barley, and rice. Settlement designs became more complex and labour-intensive, and new social arrangements and mortuary practices emerged. §REF§ (Johansen 2014, 65) Peter G. Johansen. 2014. 'The Politics of Spatial Renovation: Reconfiguring Ritual Practices in Iron Age and Early Historic South India'. <i>Journal of Social Archaeology</i> 14 (1): 59-86. §REF§ <br><i>Population and political organization</i><br>Differences in the scale, design and materials of mortuary megalithic structures and associated grave goods point to the growing hierarchization of South Indian societies at this time. §REF§ (Johansen 2014, 65) Peter G. Johansen. 2014. 'The Politics of Spatial Renovation: Reconfiguring Ritual Practices in Iron Age and Early Historic South India'. <i>Journal of Social Archaeology</i> 14 (1): 59-86. §REF§ However, there was some variation in terms of the sociopolitical organization of individual communities: for example, it is likely that some chiefs with limited decision-making powers ruled over single settlements, and that more powerful leaders based in large centres exerted some control over surrounding settlements, and that some polities were made up of several settlements ruled by a hierarchy of leaders who answered to a single paramount chief. The first type of polity probably prevailed at the beginning of the Iron Age, while the second and third type likely became more common towards its end. §REF§ (Brubaker 2001-2002, 287-91) Robert Brubaker. 2001-2002. 'Aspects of Mortuary Variability in the South Indian Iron Age'. <i>Bulletin of the Deccan College Post-Graduate & Research Institute</i> 60-61: 253-302. §REF§ <br>No population estimates for this period could be found in the specialist literature.", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 15, "name": "Deccan", "subregion": "Central India", "longitude": "76.625407000000", "latitude": "15.386856000000", "capital_city": "Kampli", "nga_code": "DEC", "fao_country": "India", "world_region": "South Asia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 36, "name": "Central India", "subregions_list": "Deccan, etc", "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": [] } ] }