Civili-musings 4

So what happens when a civilization becomes more complex? Just like with a business, more rules and procedures have to be laid down to manage the growth of more people.

How each society manages this can be different. We don’t know how most of the pre-Colombian tribal cultures began in the Americas.

You’ve probably heard that they crossed the land bridge that was between modern Russia and Alaska over 10,000 years ago. That’s not an established fact, however. It’s our best hypothesis.

So, without being able to establish how they started, we can’t determine how they adjusted as they grew. It’s a 3-part evaluation, and we’re missing the first set of data.

So all we can do is start from the second step. We can see what rules needed to be in place as they were in peak population, and why.

For instance, the “Alaskan Natives” (and tribes all over the area) had to keep diplomacy with others over long distances. That was the best method for the greater population’s survival.

So they would come together once or twice a year for a cross-cultural feast event called a Potlatch. They would alternate every time which tribe (therefore which location) would host it.

Not only was it important for trade and sharing of information, but the hosting chief got to show off his wealth by sharing the bounty. So, just like today, there was materialistic rivalry. But during the Potlatch, it was still friendly and cooperative.

Down in modern Mexico, there was of course the Mayan empire. They also established a vast territorial influence. Having developed later on in history, they had a real monetary system. They used cocoa beans as currency.

It might be very strange to think of a food product also being used for money, but it worked for them. For ingestion, they only used the cocoa bean in their “chocolatl” drink. And yes, that is where “chocolate” came from!

Believe it or not, there were even counterfeit cocoa beans made sometimes - out of wood or clay. Just like today, there was the scammer outlaws and the anti-scammer authorities.

In Teotehuacan, the largest city during the Classic Period, they operated the largest open market (that we know of) in the Western Hemisphere. That’s where the most cacao beans were traded. There were guards all around, and even “judges” to manage disputes between vendors or accusations of theft.

In what’s now Missouri, there’s one culture we know about that seemed to flaunt the boundaries of civilization. We know this, mainly, because it didn’t long enough to see European contact.

There remain huge, huge constructed mounds where massive structures once stood. Thanks to a nearby Mississippian tribe, the city was then named Cahokia, which indicates arrogant builders. Whatever they did to adapt to unimaginable growth, it didn’t work.

Moving on to Ancient Egypt and Greece, as most of us know, their spirituality was completely interwoven into the rules and norms. Civil authority buildings had monuments and offerings to the Gods. Burial rites were carried out under specific procedures for the honor and fear of the deceased’s eternal fate.

So, needless to say, the social control was twofold. And then there was territorial expansion. Both empires covered a lot of land and fought battles for more. As much as they tried, and implored their Gods, they ran up against the absolute limits.

Alexander the Great tried to conquer the whole known world, but was stymied in the end by India. And, as grand and formidable as Egypt was, they were almost torn apart by a mysterious group called The Sea Peoples.

So, there are things that can be done to keep a huge, growing population together. But there’s nothing that can be done to control the entire world. Also, no civilization can last forever.