The Development of Social Complexity
Using the data provided (four site maps for four successive time periods and four tables of burial data for each of the same four periods), write a report on the development of social complexity in the Rio Perdido valley. The report should be written with an uniformed reader in mind (i.e., for the general public, not your professor). It should have an introduction that briefly explains why the development of social complexity is important and summarizes your conclusions. In the body of the report, discuss your findings: the evidence, how you interpret it (i.e., what it tells you about developing social complexity), and finally your specific conclusions. For help in organizing this part of the report, see the questions listed below. Support your findings and explain how you reached your conclusions with examples from the data. If you use any outside sources, cite them in the body of your report and include them in a bibliography. Finally, be sure to conclude your report with a brief summary (restatement) of your specific findings, your thoughts about any limitations or shortcomings that your conclusions may have, and what additional data you might use to solidify your conclusions.
Development of Social Complex
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The Development of Social Complexity
Social complexity refers to the orientation of human society in terms of the number of people it has and the role each person has to play both socially and economically. Social complexity also addresses settlement orientation: is it permanent or temporary? Social complexity also consists of the adaptive social systems, which in general address how people perceive changes in society and how they work towards ensuring that they work to resolve the changes in the social environment. Different aspects and changes influence how social complexity is developed in a given society, including changes in the spatial organization, the movement of people into and out of the area, and changes in domestic architecture (Mayes et al., 2020).
Spatial organization refers to the organization of a society both internally and externally. While observing the two diagrams, there is a change in the physical orientation, which consequently has affected the social complexity by increasing it. In the first ceramic phase, the buildings are simple, with the houses being arranged near the shrine and about ten meters apart. The second ceramic phase increases the buildings' complexity. It has several house units surrounded by a wall and multiple courtyards arranged as buildings stemming from either side of the shrine. There are more buildings, meaning there are more people, hence more interaction. (Hepp, 2019). The third ceramic phase is the most complex. The houses are close to each other. The houses are larger; hence there is deemed to be an increased complexity socially due to the increase in the number of people present. Also, it is important to note that these people were very religious, and in the first ceramic phase, there was only one shrine, while in the second, there were increased worship places (Hepp, 2019).
Social complexity is directly affected by changes in domestic architecture because architecture is deemed to affect how individuals view their general occupation. On a personal level, architecture influences mood, health, and productivity. In the case of the Rio Perdido Valley, domestic architecture directly influences how the buildings have been structured and how the burial places have been built up. Also, domestic architecture influences how the houses are structured; are they far apart or clustered closely together?