Over more than seven centuries, from approximately 1350 BC to 600 BC, the Assyrian Empire established political dominance and cultural influence that extended across numerous settlements in the ancient Near East. Resource extraction policies, such as taxation and levies, have been extensively analyzed through textual and artistic sources. Now, a recent study conducted by researcher Petra M. Creamer of the Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies at Emory University, Atlanta, reveals new insights into the impact of these policies on wealth patterns through the analysis of funerary material, one of the most conservative and deeply rooted elements of group identity.
The researcher suggests that a trend toward a decrease in both the quality and quantity of funerary goods over time supports models that highlight the heavy economic burden of Assyrian administration on its subjects. This comprehensive study provides a new perspective on how the Assyrian Empire’s resource extraction practices significantly affected the lower social classes, manifesting in funerary traditions.
The Assyrian Empire’s resource extraction policies focused primarily on the perpetual expansion and maintenance of the empire, which generated an increasing dependence on resources for both subsistence (agriculture and pastoralism) and exchange (precious goods and specialized services). Compared to other contemporary empires, Assyrian extraction mechanisms included an intensification in the use of labor, land utilization, and wealth accumulation. Parallel examples can be found in the Inca Empire of South America, where similar strategies included forced labor taxation, agricultural surplus storage, and control over artisanal production.
The Assyrian Empire employed a variety of flexible strategies inherited from the second millennium BC that included the imposition of tributes as the first step in provincial administration. Within the empire’s territories, provincial governors oversaw the collection of taxes, which often materialized in the form of food products such as grain and livestock.
To assess the impact of these policies on the population, Creamer examined Assyrian imperial tombs over time, as funerary practices, due to their resistance to change, can provide valuable clues about the evolution of socio-economic conditions. By analyzing the relative wealth of the tombs, variations reflecting influential external factors, such as the economic pressure imposed by imperial policies, can be identified.
The researcher found that the decline in the quality and quantity of funerary goods over time indicates an increasing economic burden on the communities subjected to the empire, a phenomenon visible both in the imperial core and in the more central provinces. The older, wealthier tombs, filled with high-quality and abundant objects, contrast markedly with the later, more modest tombs with fewer goods.
Creamer’s findings suggest that while the Assyrian Empire prospered and expanded its reach, the communities under its control experienced increasing inequality, reflected in the decreasing ability of individuals to invest in funerary goods. That is, while the empire grew and extended, the poor became increasingly poorer, and according to the researcher, the gap between the lower and upper classes in the Iron Age was widening, where Assyrian subjects were significantly poorer than in the Late Bronze Age.
This pattern of decreasing wealth is therefore directly attributed to the economic burden imposed by the imperial resource extraction policies. Parallel evidence from inequality studies using other metrics, such as household size, often finds a similar increase in inequality between the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age.
Comparing wealth in mortuary contexts between the two periods has shown that there was not only less wealth available to non-elites in the Iron Age, but this was true for both capital inhabitants and those in provincial centers, concludes the researcher.
The study sheds light on a crucial aspect of the Assyrian Empire’s impact that has been overlooked in previous analyses. The resource extraction policies not only affected the immediate economy of the Assyrian provinces but also had long-term repercussions on cultural traditions and social structure. The decline in tomb wealth over time is a clear indicator of how imperial demands depleted the resources available to local communities, imposing a burden reflected even in the most conservative aspects of culture.
Sources
Creamer PM. Inequalities in wealth distribution within Imperial Assyrian graves. Antiquity. doi:10.15184/aqy.2024.81
- Share on:
Discover more from LBV Magazine English Edition
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
The Mystery of the Mardaites: The Christian Highlanders Who Maintained Their Autonomy Between Byzantium and the Caliphate
In the province of Hatay, in southern Turkey, there is a mountain range locally known as Nur Dağları. Arabs call it Jabal al-Lukkam, and in Spanish, its Greek name, Amanus,…
The Jaxartes River, the Battle Where Alexander Defeated the Scythians Using Catapults, Wounded and with Nearly His Entire Army Sick with Dysentery
As its name indicates, the Spanish Cape of Finisterre (finis terrae) was considered in Antiquity as the westernmost limit of the known world. But where was the eastern border located…
Nature of the Enigmatic “Armas de la tierra” of the Coronado Expedition in the 16th Century Revealed
Recent research has unveiled the nature of the weaponry used by Francisco Vázquez de Coronado’s expedition (which crossed the present-day U.S. states of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas),…
A Megalography Depicting a Rare Mythological Scene of Achilles and Bronze Statuettes Found in a Roman “Domus” in Reims
The urban organization of Durocortorum, the Gallo-Roman city now known as Reims in France, faithfully adhered to the principles of Roman urbanism. The city was divided into blocks bounded by…
Neolithic Rondel Found in Poland Reveals These Ceremonial Centers May Have Been Managed by Organizations Similar to Secret Societies 7,000 Years Ago
An archaeological discovery in the locality of Nowe Objezierze, in the northwest of Poland, has led to a significant breakthrough in understanding the Neolithic societies of Central Europe. An interdisciplinary…
New Geoarchaeological Evidence Challenges the Identification of Kalkriese Hill as the place of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
Kalkriese Hill, located in northwestern Germany, has been identified for decades as a potential site of the historic Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 CE, a decisive confrontation between…
The Newly Formed Earth Was a Dry and Hot Place: A Theory Explains How Water Arrived Here and on Other Planets of the Solar System
A group of scientists from the Paris Observatory has proposed a new theory about how water arrived on Earth, a key question for understanding the emergence of life on our…
Analysis of Mesopotamian Texts in Akkadian Reveals How Emotions Were Experienced: Love Was Felt in the Knees
Love and emotions have been universal themes throughout human history, expressed in diverse ways but with commonalities across different cultures and eras. A fascinating recent study reveals that people in…
Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty, the chronicles of the Korean kingdom spanning five centuries, are the longest uninterrupted ones of a single dynasty in history
In 2006, the Seoul government announced that the Guksa Pyeonchan Wiwonhoe (National Institute of Korean History) had undertaken the digitization of the Joseon Wangjo Sillok, that is, the “Veritable Records…
Tsakonian Is the Only Current Greek Language That Derives from the One Spoken by the Spartans
Although it is officially considered a dialect, Tsakonian is a divergent variety of Greek frequently classified as a separate language, as it is not intelligible to speakers of standard Modern…
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
