Are the United States of America a State Level Society?

Extra Credit Option III – Are the United States of America a State Level Society?
Total value: 10 points
What is this assignment about?
Through the examination of state level societies across (pre)history, archaeologists have realized that states (however large or small) often share certain characteristics. Although all societies are different from each other, depending on their particular historical trajectories, this exercise asks you to consider the broad similarities across states. Think of the USA today in archaeological terms, providing 5 photographic examples that would make an archaeologist in the future say that the USA was indeed a state level society.
Why should you complete this assignment? What will you learn?
If you complete this assignment, you will gain first-hand experience in an important archaeological and scientific skill: finding material evidence related to the expectations of a hypothesis. (If the USA is a state level society, then it should have a formal centralized government, specialized labor, long distance trade, large scale infrastructure, etc. What is material evidence for a formal centralized government, specialized labor, etc.?). By analyzing how the state is part of your everyday life –making some things possible and restricting others– you will get a better insight into the lives of people in the past that also lived in state level societies. When you visit a museum, or read a story about an archaeological find, objects will not just be mute, dead things for you! A cuneiform tablet, for example, will be an invitation to an entire vibrant social world of commoners, scribes, and rulers, of teachers and students, of farmers, tax collectors and lawyers, etc.
What to do
1. Look around you and observe the space in which you are, noticing the things to which you have access.
2. Ask yourself, “what makes it possible to have these things?” (e.g., say you are inside your house.. how come you have electricity? What produces it? Who regulates and makes sure that it comes to your house? Who measures how much you use? Who decides what those units of measurement are and how much each unit is worth? Do you have to pay for it? How do you pay?).
3. Take a photograph of 5 things.
4. Place the photos in a word document and number each Photo from 1 to 5 (i.e., Photo #1, Photo #2, etc.).
5. Underneath each photograph explain (using 1” margins, 12pt Times font, 1.5 spacing):
a. What it is (e.g., Electrical outlet)
b. Where it is (e.g., Inside my house in Tempe, AZ)
c. The state characteristic that it exemplifies (e.g., States are associated with standardized units and measurements OR States are associated with centralized overseeing and regulating trading activities)
d. How does it exemplify the state characteristic you chose (e.g., Electricity is measured in standardized units and its use if charged in standardized units)
COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS MAIN CAMPUS TELEPHONE
AND SCIENCES PO BOX 872402 (480) 965-6213
SCHOOL OF HUMAN EVOLUTION TEMPE, AZ 85287-240 FACSIMILE
AND SOCIAL CHANGE (480) 965-7671
ASB 222 Buried Cities and Lost Tribes 2 Dr. Kostalena Michelaki – Spring 2020
IMPORTANT NOTE: Each of the photographs must exemplify a different state characteristic (i.e., they cannot all exemplify the same thing). Similarly, each photograph must be unique (i.e. you cannot use the same picture to exemplify all 5 state characteristics).
Hint: we will cover the state characteristics in class. Consult the power point slides of the lecture on States!!!.
SUBMISSION DETAILS:
Date: No later than Tuesday, April 28th
Time: by 11:59 pm
Location: CANVAS Assignment #3
Format: Word file or PDF