The societies that Cook recognizes as civilizations are some of the greatest of their time, and in some cases they are among the greatest civilizations ever on earth. However, the strict guidelines he has in place for the societies he discusses to be considered civilizations end up ‘disqualifying’ many accomplished would-be civilizations as less than. Cook’s initial argument was that to be a civilization people needed to be “sufficiently large and specialized that… different kinds of people did different kinds of things in a systematic and organized way”. However, the issues arise when he adds in that to separate civilizations and those who are almost civilizations you must include the presence of writing and kingship. Cook’s requirements of
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The regions that they all reside in are high population centers due to their natural fertility relative to their surroundings such as the fertile crescent region of the Middle East in which the Sumerians were found. The transition from hunter-gatherer to agrarian societies is what allowed people to have the time to innovate as well as rid themselves of the need to be mobile, which allowed them to be able to make use of permanent structures and pottery that were incompatible with the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. The ability for people to settle in densely populated cities allowed for the sharing of ideas, more structured and specialized labor divisions as well as the rise of more powerful rulers who could now have power over a larger number of people. These points are all made by Cook and are widely agreed upon by historians. It is clear that farming allowed people to live in cities and have the time to innovate which led to a lot of advancements in a short period of time. This effected many people throughout the ancient world and led to many societies forming, however this is where Cook makes sure to draw the line between who can be called a civilization and who …show more content…
Each individual aspect is met by many different groups throughout the world, however it is not enough for an African king to rule over a small empire. He would need to also meet the other two requirements laid out by Cook, in this case Cook’s system works quite well to weed out the insignificant peoples who were closer to organized tribes than civilizations. In other cases, however Cook’s system would ignore the achievements of the Paracas of Peru for example. While they may not have been the most accomplished of people, they were able to form a complex society and establish specialized labor as well as other things. The Paracan people more specifically were able to produce some of the finest textile in the world as written about in Macgregor’s History of the World in 100 Objects. The textile recovered from the Paracans was mostly from burial sites, in which they buried their nobles in some of the most extensive and elaborate cloths and textile decorations ever created. Some of the cloths reached 87 feet long and were of a quality that rivaled that seen in Asia and the Middle East. While the Paracans did not have a system of writing as well as no notable system of Kingship, they were able to have a labor force that could work together to create ornate textiles that required many forms of specialized labor. As outlined by Macgregor
The regions that they all reside in are high population centers due to their natural fertility relative to their surroundings such as the fertile crescent region of the Middle East in which the Sumerians were found. The transition from hunter-gatherer to agrarian societies is what allowed people to have the time to innovate as well as rid themselves of the need to be mobile, which allowed them to be able to make use of permanent structures and pottery that were incompatible with the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. The ability for people to settle in densely populated cities allowed for the sharing of ideas, more structured and specialized labor divisions as well as the rise of more powerful rulers who could now have power over a larger number of people. These points are all made by Cook and are widely agreed upon by historians. It is clear that farming allowed people to live in cities and have the time to innovate which led to a lot of advancements in a short period of time. This effected many people throughout the ancient world and led to many societies forming, however this is where Cook makes sure to draw the line between who can be called a civilization and who …show more content…
Each individual aspect is met by many different groups throughout the world, however it is not enough for an African king to rule over a small empire. He would need to also meet the other two requirements laid out by Cook, in this case Cook’s system works quite well to weed out the insignificant peoples who were closer to organized tribes than civilizations. In other cases, however Cook’s system would ignore the achievements of the Paracas of Peru for example. While they may not have been the most accomplished of people, they were able to form a complex society and establish specialized labor as well as other things. The Paracan people more specifically were able to produce some of the finest textile in the world as written about in Macgregor’s History of the World in 100 Objects. The textile recovered from the Paracans was mostly from burial sites, in which they buried their nobles in some of the most extensive and elaborate cloths and textile decorations ever created. Some of the cloths reached 87 feet long and were of a quality that rivaled that seen in Asia and the Middle East. While the Paracans did not have a system of writing as well as no notable system of Kingship, they were able to have a labor force that could work together to create ornate textiles that required many forms of specialized labor. As outlined by Macgregor