The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #58380 Message #936155
Posted By: Forum Lurker
18-Apr-03 - 04:50 PM
Thread Name: BS: Where are the WMDs?
Subject: RE: BS: Where are the WMDs?
McGrath- A couple score might be four times that in a foraging band, which I think might be a significant difference. My understanding, from the Rise of Civilization class that I am currently in, is that most societies cease to be egalitarian almost immediately upon gaining the ability to hoard wealth. While stored food is not enough, any kind of access to precious materials allows for the concentration of wealth. Only in the Indus Valley, as far as modern archaelogists know, did a complex society arise that presents no evidence of social stratification. Everywhere else, a social elite arose when it became possible.