Inequality, demography, and variability among early complex societies in Central Pacific Panama

Local economies and household spacing in early chiefdom communities

“…In turn, this development—often in combination with other factors—shaped the varied organizational forms of early chiefdoms. Our results here converge with and complement those of other studies that emphasize the role of local interaction in shaping human societies [ 1 , 74 , 83 , 91 – 93 , 100 – 102 ]. If the forces that produce social change are generated in the matrix of local interaction between households, then it is worth continuing to explore the role that household spacing played in shaping that change.…”

“…The correlation between household spacing and productive differentiation thus reveals a functional relationship for these six cases. Similar observations have been made elsewhere on the basis of both plausibility and archaeological analysis [ 1 , 74 , 91 – 93 ].…”

“…In contrast, no interaction between households was called for to mitigate agricultural risk in the Alto Magdalena or the Western Liao Valley, because agricultural risk was minimal in the Alto Magdalena and because the best strategies in the Western Liao involved independent action by individual households. Connections between nucleation and agricultural risk mitigation strategies are beginning to recur across a broader comparison of chiefdom trajectories [ 93 ], though we doubt that risk mitigation is the only, or even the principal, factor to have influenced early settlement nucleation in all regions. It is not at all clear that agricultural risk mitigation is connected to settlement nucleation in Barinas or at Jenné-Jeno and Çatalhöyük, although it might have been.…”

Patrones de distribución espacial en las necrópolis megalíticas de Majadillas y Hoyas del Conquín (Granada, España). Resultados preliminares

“…Así, además del papel de marcadores que adquirían los monumentos, el ritual funerario tendría diversas funciones en las sociedades como la justificación del poder a través de la movilización de recursos en la ceremonia fúnebre, la legitimación de derechos exclusivos sobre un territorio concreto y los recursos que en él se encuentran, incluyendo la propia fuerza de trabajo, y la obtención de cohesión a través de la creación de ciertas identidades y construcciones sociales (Bard, 1992: 16;Adams y Figura 3: Dólmenes n.º 65 y 69, necrópolis de Majadillas (zona superior de la imagen), n.º 102, necrópolis de Llano de Olivares (zona inferior izquierda) y n.º 134, necrópolis de Hoyas del Conquín (zona inferior derecha) LVCENTVM, XXXIX, 2020, 73-85. DOI: 10.14198/LVCENTVM2020.39.04 Kusumawati, 2011: 19, 22, 24, 26;Laneri, 2011: 122, 131;Berrey, 2015;Quinn y Beck, 2016).…”

Comparison of Two Project-Based Learning Experiences in Panama City, Panama

“…The government's optimism is dogged by the criticisms of environmental experts regarding the wider impacts of the Canal expansion on local livelihoods, rural communities, and regional water supply [19]. The benefits and damages of the Expansion Project are not likely to impact all stakeholders equally -despite rapid economic growth, Panama is routinely ranked as one of the most unequal countries in the world, with nearly 40% of the population living in poverty [20]. Supplemental funding was awarded to the above-mentioned IRES grant, which was used to support a five-person IQP team that investigated the effects of the Expansion Project on the FEW Nexus in the Panama Canal watershed.…”