Economic inequality is fueled by population scale, land-limited production, and settlement hierarchies across the archaeological record

Defining wealth broadly to include wealth in people, relational connections, and material possessions, we examine the prehistory of wealth inequality at the level of the residential units using the consistent proxy of Gini coefficients calculated across areas of contemporaneous residential units. In a sample of >1,100 sites and > 47,000 residential units spanning >10,000 y, persistent wealth inequality typically lags the onset of plant cultivation by more than a millennium. It accompanies landscape modifications and subsistence practices in which land (rather than labor) limits production, and growth of hierarchies of settlement size. Gini coefficients are markedly higher through time in settlements at or near the top of such hierarchies; settlements not enmeshed in these systems remain relatively egalitarian even long after plant and animal domestication. We infer that some households in top-ranked settlements were able to exploit the network effects, agglomeration opportunities, and (eventually) political leverage provided by these hierarchies more effectively than others, likely boosted by efficient intergenerational transmission of material resources after increased sedentism made that more common. Since population growth is associated with increased sedentism, more land-limited production, and the appearance and growth of settlement hierarchies, it is deeply implicated in the postdomestication rise of wealth inequality. Governance practices mediate the degree of wealth inequality, as do technical innovations such as the use of animals for portage, horseback riding, and the development of iron smelting.

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Publication Details

Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Published
2025-04-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2400691122
Citations
9
Primary Topic
Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
38.96

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article

Economic inequality is fueled by population scale, land-limited production, and settlement hierarchies across the archaeological record

Amy Bogaard, Amy E. Thompson, Shadreck Chirikure, Enrico R. Crema et al.
9 citations
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
38.96
article

Economic inequality is fueled by population scale, land-limited production, and settlement hierarchies across the archaeological record

Amy Bogaard, Amy E. Thompson, Shadreck Chirikure, Enrico R. Crema, Gary M. Feinman, Dan Lawrence, Detlef Gronenborn, Paul Roscoe, Grace Erny, Scott G. Ortman, Cameron A. Petrie, Helena Hamerow, René Ohlrau, Jessica L. Munson, Mark D. McCoy, Adam S. Green, Luis Navarro, Jennifer Birch, Matthew Pailes, G. Jin, Habeom Kim, Mattia Fochesato, Timothy A. Kohler, Tim Kerig, Eva Rosenstock, Pablo Cruz, Gabriela Cervantes Quequezana, John Hanson
article en
9 citations

Abstract

Defining wealth broadly to include wealth in people, relational connections, and material possessions, we examine the prehistory of wealth inequality at the level of the residential units using the consistent proxy of Gini coefficients calculated across areas of contemporaneous residential units. In a sample of >1,100 sites and > 47,000 residential units spanning >10,000 y, persistent wealth inequality typically lags the onset of plant cultivation by more than a millennium. It accompanies landscape modifications and subsistence practices in which land (rather than labor) limits production, and growth of hierarchies of settlement size. Gini coefficients are markedly higher through time in settlements at or near the top of such hierarchies; settlements not enmeshed in these systems remain relatively egalitarian even long after plant and animal domestication. We infer that some households in top-ranked settlements were able to exploit the network effects, agglomeration opportunities, and (eventually) political leverage provided by these hierarchies more effectively than others, likely boosted by efficient intergenerational transmission of material resources after increased sedentism made that more common. Since population growth is associated with increased sedentism, more land-limited production, and the appearance and growth of settlement hierarchies, it is deeply implicated in the postdomestication rise of wealth inequality. Governance practices mediate the degree of wealth inequality, as do technical innovations such as the use of animals for portage, horseback riding, and the development of iron smelting.

Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesVol. 122(16)
Florida State University (US), Santa Fe Institute (US), PAST Foundation (US), University of Bonn (DE), University of Georgia (US), University of Pittsburgh (US), Durham University (GB), University of Cambridge (GB), Field Museum of Natural History (US), National University of Jujuy (AR), Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (DE), University of Oxford (GB), Amt für Archäologie (CH), Oxford Archaeology (GB), University of York (GB), The Ohio State University (US), Lycoming College (US), Bocconi University (IT), Washington State University (US), University of Maine (US), The University of Texas at Austin (US), University of Oklahoma (US), Leipzig University (DE)
Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences
No poverty
Openalex Percentile: Top 0%
Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
38.96
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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