When research scholars, including archaeologists and anthropologists, study societies past or present, it can be very useful to have a system of ranking against which to test their ideas. A four-fold categorizing system developed by the American anthropologist Elman Service, each associated with certain types of social and settlement. The four types are known as bands, tribes, chiefdoms and early states.

Bands

These are small-scale societies, generally of fewer than 100 people, who live by hunting and gathering, moving seasonally to take advantage of wild (undomesticated) food sources. Most groups who live in this way today, such as the Hadza of Tanzania or the San of southern Africa, would be classified as bands. The members of a band are generally related to each other, either by descent or by marriage. Bands lack formal leaders, so there are no clear economic differences or other differences in status among the members. Bands are composed of mobile groups, their sites consist mainly of seasonally occupied camps and some other sites, such as work sites, where tools are made or other specific activities are carried out. Archaeological sites associated with this type of society may show evidence of substantial dwellings, along with the debris of residential occupation. Most sites from the Palaeolithic period (more than 12,000 years ago) seem to be associated with groups of this type.

Tribes

These are generally larger than bands but rarely number more than a few thousand people, whose diet is mainly based on plants or domestic animals. Typically, these people are settled farmers, but for some groups life is nomadic, with a mobile economy based on herds of animals. Although some tribes have officials, these lack the economic base necessary for effective use of power. The typical settlement pattern for tribes is one of permanent agricultural homesteads or villages. Characteristically, no one settlement dominates any of the others in the region. Instead, the archaeological record may be made up of a collection of free-standing houses like those of the first farmers of the Danube Valley in Europe, or their houses may be grouped together, as in the pueblos of the American Southwest, or the early farming village of Catalhoyuk in what is now Turkey.

Chiefdoms

These operate on the principle of ranking—differences in social status between people. Different lineages (groups claiming descent from a common ancestor) are graded on a scale of prestige, and the senior lineage, and hence the society as a whole, is governed by a chief. Prestige and rank are determined by how closely related one is to the chief, and there is no true stratification into classes. The role of the chief is crucial. Often, there is local specialisation in craft products such as pottery, cloth and leatherware. Any surplus of these and of foodstuffs is periodically paid to the chief. He uses these to pay his retainers and may also redistribute them to his subjects as rewards. The chiefdom generally has a centre of power, often with temples, residences of the chief and his retainers, and craft specialists. Chiefdoms vary greatly in size, but the range is generally between 5,000 and 20,000 persons. Chiefdoms give indications that some areas were more permanently than others, and may have operated as ceremonial and ceremonial centres, although they were not centres with an established bureaucracy. Examples are Moundville in Alabama, USA, or the late-Neolithic monuments of Wessex in southern Britain, including the famous ceremonial centre of Stonehenge.

Early states

These preserve many of the features of chiefdoms, but the ruler, perhaps a king or queen, has explicit authority to establish laws and to enforce them by means of a standing army. The society no longer depends on kin relationships but is stratified into different classes. Agricultural workers and the poorer urban dwellers make up the base of the pyramid, with the craft specialists above them and the priests and relatives of the ruler higher still. The society is regarded as a territory owned by the ruling lineage and populated by tenants who have the obligation to pay taxes. The central capital houses the officials of a bureaucratic administration. One of their main functions is to collect revenue (often in the form of taxes and tolls) and distribute it to government, army and craft specialists. Many early states developed complex redistribution systems to support these essential services. Early-state societies show a characteristic settlement pattern in which cities play the predominant part. The city is typically a large population centre of more than 5,000 people, with major public buildings, and often there is a pronounced settlement hierarchy with the capital city as the major centre and subsidiary or regional centres as well as local villages. Certainly, it would be too long emphasis to the importance of the four types of society given above, or to spend too over-agonising as to whether a particular society should be classified in one category or another. However, in seeking to talk about early societies, we must use words and organise concepts to do so. Elman Service's categories provide us with a good framework to henco our thoughts. They should not, however, deflect us from focusing on the changes over time in the different institutions of a society, whether in the social sphere, the organisation of the food quest, technology, contact and exchange, or the spiritual life.