Willamette Valley Civilization: Part 3 Urban Development
The development of urban civilization begins with three key factors, the abundance of organized agriculture, the abundance of people, and the abundance of desire for people to congregate together. This development is one characteristic of the Formative Period (2000 BC- 100 AD) for the Willamette Valley and specifically of the Early Formative Period from 2000 BC – 200 BC where the basis for much of the culture would be developed. Instead of creating many new technologies and cultural characteristics the Late Formative Period (200 BC-100 AD) would develop instead of creating civilized aspects- the Willamette Civilization is formed. The root of this being in the development of urban society in the Willamette Valley.
-
The abundance of agriculture can be attributed to the biological developments in the River Potato with it being cultivated as a more carbohydrate and sustaining plant much like corn in Mesoamerica, grain, wheat, and rice in the Old World. The abundance can be attributed also too human efforts to spread the plant across the Willamette Valley with nomadic and semi nomadic groups planting it all across the rivers and streams of the valley and irrigation. As previously mentioned irrigation techniques expand, worked first by family groups and later by extended family groups increasingly coming together to work the crops. First largely being restricted to along the Willamette River the River Potato would spread to the Terrace Prairies between the river and the Valley Hill lands where the seminomadic groups made their winter quarters when the river swells over its banks. Drawing on rivers and streams coming down from the Cascade and Pacific Coast Range the ancient Willamette people, the Kalapuya, created terraced paddies from the runoff of the higher discharging rivers in the Prairie Terraces and lower Valley Hills where they migrated to in large numbers.
-
The abundance of people came from the increasing reliance and abundance of the River Potato and other native plants such as the Camas plant nurtured in the savannah of the Willamette Valley. Creating side pools in the rivers and streams the natives could even ‘direct’ fish in the river into the created canals and paddies, trapping them and encouraging enrichment of their plots and soils into the Prairie Terraces. This extra work and effort brought family groups together which previously would split apart in their semi nomadic existence and the growth of agriculture would lead to population booms throughout the Willamette Valley. The increasing crowded population density and the switch to heavy cultivation lead to less and less free space ending the seminomadic lifestyle for much of the people in the Willamette Valley.
-
The desire came from different family groups either fighting or making peaceful alliances with one another for creation of new commune style Chiefdoms and family clans where the leaders of these new Chiefdoms would be elected by popular vote of family clan leaders or some clans would divide up socio-economic responsibilities such as planting and harvesting, making pottery, trading, hunting, and so forth as a stratified hierarchy and complex socio-economic structures arose.
-
Village developments became most common above the floodplain of the Willamette River in the Prairie Terrace regions and in the Portland-Vancouver Ecological Basin and into the Columbia Gorge, with smaller ones on points of the river that flooded less frequently and in the upper Valley Highlands where in the former fishing was the most common way of life and in the latter hunting.
-
Buildings were commonly rectangular shaped and made of wood, common housing hosting entire clans in some but as family feuds and splits progressed with increasing population sizes they could become smaller more for a immediate family. Entire villages shared communal plots and hunting grounds but split irrigated crops and fishing grounds between the different clans in many cases. The layout of the villages as they evolved into larger and larger communities went from circular developments to spread out and restructured to larger villages and towns focused in circular developments. Religious structures in the villages were mounded platforms with a central wooden house and open roof for ritual burnings of offerings and the dead. In the Valley Highlands and deeper into the Cascade mountains burial and hunting grounds for different villages often overlapped or crisscrossed one another which caused tension.
-
The increase in population and centering of this population naturally lead to stratified societies and socio-economic developments which lead to cultural developments and freeing up of certain members of the population to develop social culture. Such as language.
The development of urban civilization begins with three key factors, the abundance of organized agriculture, the abundance of people, and the abundance of desire for people to congregate together. This development is one characteristic of the Formative Period (2000 BC- 100 AD) for the Willamette Valley and specifically of the Early Formative Period from 2000 BC – 200 BC where the basis for much of the culture would be developed. Instead of creating many new technologies and cultural characteristics the Late Formative Period (200 BC-100 AD) would develop instead of creating civilized aspects- the Willamette Civilization is formed. The root of this being in the development of urban society in the Willamette Valley.
-
The abundance of agriculture can be attributed to the biological developments in the River Potato with it being cultivated as a more carbohydrate and sustaining plant much like corn in Mesoamerica, grain, wheat, and rice in the Old World. The abundance can be attributed also too human efforts to spread the plant across the Willamette Valley with nomadic and semi nomadic groups planting it all across the rivers and streams of the valley and irrigation. As previously mentioned irrigation techniques expand, worked first by family groups and later by extended family groups increasingly coming together to work the crops. First largely being restricted to along the Willamette River the River Potato would spread to the Terrace Prairies between the river and the Valley Hill lands where the seminomadic groups made their winter quarters when the river swells over its banks. Drawing on rivers and streams coming down from the Cascade and Pacific Coast Range the ancient Willamette people, the Kalapuya, created terraced paddies from the runoff of the higher discharging rivers in the Prairie Terraces and lower Valley Hills where they migrated to in large numbers.
-
The abundance of people came from the increasing reliance and abundance of the River Potato and other native plants such as the Camas plant nurtured in the savannah of the Willamette Valley. Creating side pools in the rivers and streams the natives could even ‘direct’ fish in the river into the created canals and paddies, trapping them and encouraging enrichment of their plots and soils into the Prairie Terraces. This extra work and effort brought family groups together which previously would split apart in their semi nomadic existence and the growth of agriculture would lead to population booms throughout the Willamette Valley. The increasing crowded population density and the switch to heavy cultivation lead to less and less free space ending the seminomadic lifestyle for much of the people in the Willamette Valley.
-
The desire came from different family groups either fighting or making peaceful alliances with one another for creation of new commune style Chiefdoms and family clans where the leaders of these new Chiefdoms would be elected by popular vote of family clan leaders or some clans would divide up socio-economic responsibilities such as planting and harvesting, making pottery, trading, hunting, and so forth as a stratified hierarchy and complex socio-economic structures arose.
-
Village developments became most common above the floodplain of the Willamette River in the Prairie Terrace regions and in the Portland-Vancouver Ecological Basin and into the Columbia Gorge, with smaller ones on points of the river that flooded less frequently and in the upper Valley Highlands where in the former fishing was the most common way of life and in the latter hunting.
-
Buildings were commonly rectangular shaped and made of wood, common housing hosting entire clans in some but as family feuds and splits progressed with increasing population sizes they could become smaller more for a immediate family. Entire villages shared communal plots and hunting grounds but split irrigated crops and fishing grounds between the different clans in many cases. The layout of the villages as they evolved into larger and larger communities went from circular developments to spread out and restructured to larger villages and towns focused in circular developments. Religious structures in the villages were mounded platforms with a central wooden house and open roof for ritual burnings of offerings and the dead. In the Valley Highlands and deeper into the Cascade mountains burial and hunting grounds for different villages often overlapped or crisscrossed one another which caused tension.
-
The increase in population and centering of this population naturally lead to stratified societies and socio-economic developments which lead to cultural developments and freeing up of certain members of the population to develop social culture. Such as language.
