Early State Society Research Paper

An early state society is characterized by a definitive hierarchy and class structure under the control of a central, powerful figure such as a king. Rulers maintain order within their domain and ensure the compliance of their subjects by establishing a permanent professional army. This type of society has a larger population than a hunter-gatherer group or a segmentary society. The population is concentrated in and around a city which serves as a hub for government administration, commerce, and religious worship. Early state societies also display evidence of pronounced skill specialization. Based on the above synopsis and the content and context of the burials, I believe that the graves belong to members of an early state. The cemetery is located near the city of Ely which is in East Anglia, a documented Anglo Saxon kingdom from the 7th century AD. It is highly likely that the cemetery is …show more content…
The artifacts within the graves are also consistent with the styles employed by Anglo Saxon artisans of that time period. The burials appear to display a distinct regard for social status and rank. The central mound is larger than the other graves and contains the body of a female buried with finely crafted jewelry of gold and garnet, a bone comb, imported glass bowls from France, and an elaborate gold and garnet crown. The fashioning of the jewelry reveals the presence of adroit craft specialists within the society. The creation of the mound required a high level of authoritative power and organization and the entombed wealth as well as the crown, suggests that this woman was of a high social rank. The five smaller burials that encircle the mound show a gradient of classes and the burial layout emphasizes the disparity in status both physically and symbolically. Three of the graves, one of an infant, contain little or no grave goods, leading me to speculate that their occupants were of low