Pitt Archeologists' Comparative Study of Prehistoric Chiefdoms, Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Find Clues in Varying Organizational Structures, Call for Larger Studies

PITTSBURGH—A comparative study published Feb. 6 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that early complex societies, or chiefdoms, had considerable variability in their organizational hierarchy, yet common principles that might represent a general pattern of growth were present. Robert D. Drennan, University of Pittsburgh Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, and colleague Christian Peterson, a Pitt doctoral student in anthropology, urge archeologists to use the patterns in differences as clues to the forces behind chiefdom development and call for comparative study of a larger number of cases.

In the study, titled "Patterned Variation in Prehistoric Chiefdoms," Drennan and Peterson compare chiefdoms—the earliest human societies comprising more than a single local group, usually organized around strikingly unequal relationships between commoners and a handful of prestigious, powerful, or wealthy families—in Oaxaca, Mexico; Alto Magdalena, Colombia; and Northeast China.

Drennan said that while human societies have probably always had some kinds of unequal relationships, they became much more pervasive in social organization in many parts of the world 7,000 to 1,000 years ago.

Comparing interdependence within chiefly communities in Mexico during the first millennium B.C.E., ceremonial chiefly centers in Colombia during the first millennium C.E., and economic and symbolic hierarchies in China during the fourth millennium B.C.E., the researchers found leaders who were materially well off compared to the populations they led; those who weren't wealthy but, instead, were associated with supernatural powers; and those who had both wealth and spiritual power. Additionally, Drennan noted that some early chiefdoms had individuals distinguished from the pack in both these ways, but were not the same individuals.

"Our aim is to better understand the basic process by understanding how the organizational structure comes to take these different forms initially and what the further developmental implications of these forms are," Drennan said.

While, Drennan said, "it is no surprise that such institutions have appeared repeatedly in human history, we do not fully understand just how they came to emerge when and where they did, and not in other times and places."

Why this occurred with such frequency and persistence is of particular interest to Drennan, Peterson, and many archeologists. "Our article argues that we need to pay closer attention to some of the different ways this fundamentally similar transformation worked out in different parts of the world," Drennan said.

At Pitt since 1977, Drennan was named a member of The National Academy of Sciences in 2004 for his distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. He received the A. B. degree in art and archaeology from Princeton University in 1969 and the Master of Arts and Ph.D. degrees in anthropology from the University of Michigan in 1970 and 1975, respectively.

Peterson received the Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology from the University of Toronto in 1999 and the Master of Arts degree in anthropology from Pitt.

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