Midterm Review Guide

Collapse

ANT 312

 

--This is the study guide for the Midterm exam, which will take place on Thursday, October 8, in class.  The review session will be Thursday, October 1 in class.

--The exam will be written from this study guide.  Please be able to define the following terms and describe how they are important to studying collapses:

 

Tragedy of the Commons

State

Invisible Hand

Malthusian principle of  population growth

Social collapse

Complex chiefdom

Political collapse

Ecocide

Resource depletion

Catastrophe theory of collapse

Invasion theory of collapse

Mystical factor theory of collapse

Class conflict/elite stupidity theory of collapse

Insufficient response to circumstance theory of collapse

Simple economy

Complex economy

Mana

Ambilineal kinship

Ahu

Moai

Pukao

Deforestation

Matatoa

Birdman cult

Hare moa

Rongorongo script

Sumer

Akkad

Sargon

Gutians

Ur III dynasty

Amorites

Salt

Siltation

Babylon

Hammurabi

Kassites

Assyria

Neo-Babylonian empire

Achaemenid Empire

Cyrus

Zoroastrianism

Preclassic Maya

Axis mundi

Classic Maya

Terminal Mayan collapse

Drought hypothesis (Mayan)

Warfare hypothesis (Mayan)

Calakmul

Tikal

Dos Pilas

Classic Hiatus

Great Tradition

Cenote

Karst

Petexbatun

Puuc region

 

Please think about the following topics and be able to write essays either about them, or using them as examples:

 

--Easter Island (Rapa Nui, Te pito o te henua) collapse:  Ecocide vs. Genocide

--Economic realities and collapse:  Tragedy of the commons, the Invisible Hand, and the Malthusian Principle of population growth

--Mesopotamian collapses (Sargonid, Ur III, Old Babylonian, Achaemenid invasion, or End of Cuneiform (AD 75).  When did they happen?  How serious were they?

--Mayan Terminal Classic collapse:  theories and evidence.

--Mayan warfare and centralization and its role in collapse

--The effects of climate change on collapses:  Good Idea or just Temporarily In Fashion?

--What is a collapse, anyway?