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2026
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20076934 |
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| _version_ | 1866901375141543936 |
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| author | Hugh, Robin |
| author_facet | Hugh, Robin |
| contents | <p class="MsoNormal"><span>This study proposes and systematically constructs a complex social formation overlooked by existing social typologies (band, tribe, chiefdom, state): the Fishing-Trading Pre-Agricultural Polity (FTPAP). Conventional neo-evolutionism implicitly assumes that the emergence of complex societies depends upon agricultural surplus. This study argues, however, that under specific ecological conditions</span><span>—</span><span>exceptionally stable and productive fisheries combined with navigable trans-regional waterways</span><span>—</span><span>societies can develop chiefdom-level complexity in the complete absence of agriculture.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>Through an interdisciplinary evidence chain, this study constructs the institutional mechanisms of the FTPAP, including a short-cycle rationing system, a mobilization mechanism based on corvée labor as a substitute for tribute, and control over waterways and port nodes. Together, these mechanisms constitute a non-agricultural fiscal-organizational structure that enables the FTPAP to maintain a stable hierarchical order while remaining highly sensitive to environmental change.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>Multiple lines of evidence support this model: the Makah society of the Northwest Coast as an observable lower-bound case; the Richat Structure during the African Humid Period as the most complete instance of the mechanism, whose paleohydrological and geomorphological conditions closely align with the FTPAP; the J</span><span>ō</span><span>mon culture as a boundary case, demonstrating a fishing society that did not cross the FTPAP threshold; and the Xiongnu as a structural analogy, demonstrating the diversity of non-agricultural complex societies.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>This study proposes testable predictions, for example, that sediment cores from the paleo-lake basin south of the Richat Structure should contain an organic-rich anomalous layer dating to approximately 11.6 ka. By specifying the structural conditions under which non-agricultural societies can achieve high complexity, this study expands the comparative typology of social evolution and provides a falsifiable theoretical framework for reinterpreting prehistoric coastal and lacustrine societies.</span></p> |
| format | Recurso digital |
| id | zenodo_https___doi_org_10_5281_zenodo_20076934 |
| institution | Zenodo |
| language | |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publisher | Zenodo |
| record_format | zenodo |
| spellingShingle | Fishing-Trading Pre-Agricultural Polity (FTPAP): An Overlooked Social Type and Its Interdisciplinary Construction Hugh, Robin FTPAP Pre-Agricultural Polity Interdisciplinary Social Evolution <p class="MsoNormal"><span>This study proposes and systematically constructs a complex social formation overlooked by existing social typologies (band, tribe, chiefdom, state): the Fishing-Trading Pre-Agricultural Polity (FTPAP). Conventional neo-evolutionism implicitly assumes that the emergence of complex societies depends upon agricultural surplus. This study argues, however, that under specific ecological conditions</span><span>—</span><span>exceptionally stable and productive fisheries combined with navigable trans-regional waterways</span><span>—</span><span>societies can develop chiefdom-level complexity in the complete absence of agriculture.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>Through an interdisciplinary evidence chain, this study constructs the institutional mechanisms of the FTPAP, including a short-cycle rationing system, a mobilization mechanism based on corvée labor as a substitute for tribute, and control over waterways and port nodes. Together, these mechanisms constitute a non-agricultural fiscal-organizational structure that enables the FTPAP to maintain a stable hierarchical order while remaining highly sensitive to environmental change.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>Multiple lines of evidence support this model: the Makah society of the Northwest Coast as an observable lower-bound case; the Richat Structure during the African Humid Period as the most complete instance of the mechanism, whose paleohydrological and geomorphological conditions closely align with the FTPAP; the J</span><span>ō</span><span>mon culture as a boundary case, demonstrating a fishing society that did not cross the FTPAP threshold; and the Xiongnu as a structural analogy, demonstrating the diversity of non-agricultural complex societies.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>This study proposes testable predictions, for example, that sediment cores from the paleo-lake basin south of the Richat Structure should contain an organic-rich anomalous layer dating to approximately 11.6 ka. By specifying the structural conditions under which non-agricultural societies can achieve high complexity, this study expands the comparative typology of social evolution and provides a falsifiable theoretical framework for reinterpreting prehistoric coastal and lacustrine societies.</span></p> |
| title | Fishing-Trading Pre-Agricultural Polity (FTPAP): An Overlooked Social Type and Its Interdisciplinary Construction |
| topic | FTPAP Pre-Agricultural Polity Interdisciplinary Social Evolution |
| url | https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20076934 |