DIFFERENTIATION IN STATUS, POWER, WEALTH
With agricultural surpluses and settlement in villages came
opportunities for individuals and households to acquire more
social status, political power, and wealth than their neigh-
bors. Such social diff erentiation into elites and commoners,
or patrons and clients, characterizes the later millennia of
prehistory in many parts of the world (but not everywhere).
At fi rst, the diff erences were temporary and were not passed
along from one generation to the next. Later, we oft en fi nd
that the children of elites inherited their parents’ social status.
Anthropologists oft en refer to small societies with hereditary
social ranking as “chiefdoms.” While chiefdoms did not oc-
cur everywhere, it does seem that they emerged in many parts
of the world toward the end of prehistoric times.
RITUAL LANDSCAPES
Along with diff erences in status and power came the develop-
ment of monuments and ceremonies meant to demonstrate
and reinforce social relationships. Sometimes these monu-
ments and ceremonies are connected with tombs that com-
memorate ancestral ties, while elsewhere they are connected
with cosmology and religion. Many sites are mysterious and
defy attempts to explain them. It is clear that their signifi -
cance extends beyond the individual sites to their surround-
ing landscapes, where there are additional monuments and
ritual structures. Th us archaeologists speak of “ritual land-
scapes” that held tremendous signifi cance for ancient people.
THE RISE OF CIVILIZATION
In many parts of the world, civilizations led by kings and roy-
al dynasties developed. Many early civilizations were based
in cities with large populations, such as those in Mesopota-
mia, while in others, such as Egypt and Central America, the
rulers lived in royal precincts with their retainers, and most
of the population lived as farmers in the countryside. Tribute
fl owed from the commoners to the elites. Many early civili-
zations developed the formal administrative structures and
bureaucracy that are characteristic of states. Some, like the
Romans and Assyrians, sought to expand their territory by
conquest, thus becoming empires.INTERACTION BETWEEN CIVILIZATIONS AND
THEIR NEIGHBORS
Scholars are not interested only in states and empires by
themselves but also in how they interacted with their neigh-
bors, who may not have had such complex forms of organi-
zation. Th e classic example is the relationship between the
Greeks and Romans and the people living outside their civi-
lizations, which they called “barbarians,” yet every civiliza-
tion has to contend with the people outside their borders.
Th e relationship may be complex. Th e outsiders might will-
ingly provide important goods and even services, but they
may also pose a threat to the civilization if they are bellig-
erent. Th e rise and fall of civilizations in the ancient world
is very much the story of their relations with the peoples
beyond their frontiers.
With this background about the ancient world, you are
now welcome to explore the articles in this encyclopedia.
—PETER BOGUCKIxxviii Introduction