Glatz C, Del Bravo F, Chelazzi F, et al. / Antiquity
The archaeological site of Shakhi Kora
The rise and fall of one of the first centralized regimes of all time appears not to have been done violently. This is the story told by the Shakhi Kora site in Iraq.
In Shakhi Kora, an archaeological site in the Iraqi Kurdistan region, excavations carried out by archaeologists have made it possible to obtain new knowledge about the origin and evolution of first state institutionsdating back to the fourth millennium BC, tells .
A team led by the teacher Claudia Glatzfrom the University of Glasgow has now published in Antiquity one who takes note of the discovery of a set of institutional structures that operated for several centuries no local.
Among the objects discovered are rudimentary vessels used to serve large-scale communal mealswhich possibly served as payment to workers at the institutions.
Analysis of organic remains and skeletons shows that these meals consisted of abundant meat stews, reinforcing the idea that the first state organizations were based, at least in part, on their ability to distribute food and resources to the population. But the discoveries did not stop at the daily habits of the population at the time.
What surprised archaeologists most was the deliberate abandonment of final institutional structuresmore than 5 thousand years ago. Unlike most political institutions in the world, its fall was not due to a violent challenge to the regime. On the contrary.
There are no signs of violent destruction or environmental stress, which suggests that local communities consciously chose to dismantle this system centralized authority.
“This discovery challenges the notion that the evolution of hierarchical governments was an inevitable process in early complex societies. On the contrary, it demonstrates that communities had the ability to resist and reject centralized forms of organization and hierarchical when they became oppressive or contrary to their interests”, comments the researcher.
