Christine Barrera

Excavation of a Civilization: University of Michigan

Social evolution of human groups occurs in stages which increase in complexity. Childe

defines these stages as savagery, barbarism and civilization/state, which is the most complex

stage. As Vere Gordon Childe explains in “The Urban Revolution” (1950), a state is the endpoint

in the evolutionary development of societies.

A state can be identified and understood archeologically through the study of material

remains found at a site. To archeologists, these remains are the key to understanding past

civilizations, ancient social structures. Aspects that we strive to understand include

administration, developed settlement hierarchy and urbanism, the widespread regulation of the

way people live, control of power and use of force to glorify the state to the people, and

ideological underpinnings of the state. In order to identify a state through excavation, there are

ten characteristic aspects of a state which must be found in archeological evidence. Each

characteristic of a civilization is reviewed and evaluated using material culture from the

University of Michigan.

The first characteristic of a state, according to VG Childe, is the aspect of population

density within the state. A state-like society cannot exist unless a dense population can be

supported and fulfill various functions within a state. The population density of University of

Michigan is very apparent from the size and quantity of buildings, and the large number of rooms

and seats in meeting rooms. In the center of this site, there are nearly 100 large and elaborate

buildings, designed to hold over 20,000 people in group meetings at one time. These elaborate

buildings were built to hold a dense, and likely growing, population. These buildings were costly

to built, and could not have been built without a form of taxation from a large number of people.
 Population density is also apparent through the quantity of living spaces in this site.

There are approximately 15 ‘residence hall’ buildings in the center of this site. There are a large

number of houses and apartment buildings surrounding the center. There is thousands of housing

units that were built tightly packed together, especially as they get closer to the center of the site.

A dense population requires that a certain amount of food is available for maintaining the large

population. There are many food wrappers and containers found near the housing units which

verifies that a large amount of people were consuming food here. In the residence halls, there are

large containers of mass produced foods that were served to these citizens. For members of the

population that were not housed in ‘residence halls’, there are many buildings and cooking

machines, such as ovens and stoves, that were used to supply food throughout this state by food

specialists.

The second characteristic of a state is a specialist – someone who specializes in craft

production to be traded and used by the public. Specialists existed as various groups of people at

the University of Michigan who were necessary for the maintenance and functioning of the state.

Workers who repaired and maintained paths like sidewalks and roads were one type of specialist

in this state. The University of Michigan had a great need for food specialists to make and

distribute food to the public in the ‘residence halls’ – as was stated in the previous section, and

also distributed to those not in the residence halls. Also found during excavation was equipment

that was used by transportation specialists. The storage area for motor vehicles was not intended

to be easily accessible to all of the population at this site. This area appears to be designated for

specialists who worked with these vehicles. These vehicles, mostly buses, pick-up trucks and

vans are kept corralled together in a fenced in area near the football stadium. These vehicles and
the specialists who drove them were probably used to transport people, maintain landscape and

clean the streets.

The third characteristic of a state is writing. The writing system of this state was

officially English. There are signs from the government which label laws in the streets. These say

things such as “STOP,” “One Way,” “No Parking,” to name a few examples. There are many

written signs outside of public buildings that label the names of different public buildings. Due to

the size and complexity of navigation within and between the buildings, a system of writing was

essential for the public to be able to navigate through complex buildings in the state. They could

do this by reading signs in buildings and on plaques next to rooms.

The University of Michigan was built on the ideology of education, and thus promoted

use and understanding of other languages. There are written signs, like those outside or inside of

buildings that point to various language departments in the state. The “Department for Romance

Languages” was very large, and smaller departments such as “Center for Middle Eastern and

North African Studies” had knowledge of different languages.

Writing was also used as a way to glorify the state. Written language is used on

monuments, located all over the site, to memorialize a certain person or group from a certain

time in the past. This means that writing was the tool used to remember or pay tribute.

Economic surplus and taxation, the fourth characteristic of a state, is also apparent in

this site. Taxation enabled the state to promote itself through building elaborate facilities for

public use such as computer labs, libraries and gardens.

Economic surplus is apparent through the quantity of retail buildings and businesses

throughout the state. Due to the plethora of places to spend money, there must have been a great

deal of money circulating around and coming into the state. While the many elaborate buildings
represent economic surplus, the bell tower is one-of-a-kind building that stands tall over and is

visible from a distance. The sound of the ringing bell, which could be heard even when the tower

could not be seen, would have been used to attract attention and glorify the state. Though it is a

simple tower, it is extravagant in how it stands and what it symbolized in terms of the state’s

administrative power. The University of Michigan had great power in terms of economic surplus,

taxation and otherwise.

Monumental architecture is the fifth characteristic of a state. Monumental architecture

is an important aspect of the structure of the state because it exemplifies the presence of the

authority of the state.

The President’s house and football stadium are two symbols of the state’s power. The

president’s house is centrally located along a main street and surrounded by big meeting room

buildings. The centrality and visibility of the president’s house must have been a constant

reminder of the ruling power, and also served to provide the citizens with a sense of closeness to

the administrative power of the state and comfort in its visibility. The football stadium, larger

than one city block, is an enormously large and blue-colored piece of monumental architecture. It

could hold over 100,000 people, making it one of the largest stadiums in the world during the

20th century. World-wide recognition of this structure would have made it very symbolic for the

power and authority of the University of Michigan.

Social stratification is the sixth characteristic of a state. Social stratification is the

division of a population into groups with different social status. The University of Michigan was

socially stratified by the proximity of housing to the central area of the University. Housing units

in the University of Michigan are situated by geographic proximity to important resources of

education, and the specialists that offered food and recreation. Just as the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers provided important resources of fertile soil and water to the people of Mesopotamia, the

University of Michigan’s center held important resources that caused particular formations of

housing units that allowed the greatest number of people to be close to the center. The

geographic stratification of housing created somewhat of a social hierarchy that begins with the

President’s house at the top, as it is large and located in the center. There are many housing

options that are also centrally located, but not directly in the center. Housing units that the state

provides or ‘residence halls’ are also, mostly, centrally located and very convenient for citizens

since these buildings were administered directly by the state and were staffed with workers and

food. However, the food packaging found here was meant to feed hundreds of people. Residents

halls, while centrally located, were densely packed, small and lower quality housing.

At the University of Michigan, housing is densely packed together and radiates out from

the center. The population is stratified by how close they live to important facilities. Residence

halls contain all these needs, while the apartment buildings and houses are less connected to

important resources. The housing units at the edge of the southern edge of the center lack most in

proximity to the important resources. The majority of housing units were built closer to

resources. ‘Convenience stores’ are sporadically placed near or in more centrally located

neighborhoods.

Group membership based on residence is the seventh characteristic of a state. In some

states this ideology might be based on kinship, but in this state it seems to have been based on

belonging to the University of Michigan community rather than being part of family units.

Interestingly, many members of the University of Michigan community share commonality in

another aspect of group membership – age. The human remains found during excavation from

the buildings collapses in the Disaster of 2012 were mostly young adults. Group membership in
this state was mostly based on community membership, but age may have played a secondary

role in the feeling of belonging in the population of this group.

In addition, the geographic layout of University of Michigan campuses and housing units

divide the inhabitants by those who live in the dense housing units which radiate out from the

center, where many young adult skeletons were found, and housing units that are much farther

away. The people living on the edge of the community probably had little to no sense of group

membership.

The eighth characteristic of exact and predictive sciences is significant in the University

of Michigan. The core ideology of the state revolves around education, knowledge and research.

In the ‘Chemistry building’ multiple science laboratories and research equipment has been found.

This equipment was made out of rare materials and must have been very important in this state

for so much of it to have been found here. In addition, computers have been found in various

buildings all over the state, including computer laboratories, housing units and centers of waste.

This suggests that the sciences were important to the state and also that the state was very

connected to other centers of exact and predictive sciences.

Long distance trade is the ninth characteristic VG Childe says is part of being a state.

Laboratory equipment was not made in this state, and this aspect in itself signifies the long

distance trade relationships that the University of Michigan had. In addition, almost every

building material in the University of Michigan was not produced locally, and had to come from

some distance. These materials include plastic, brick and metals as well as other materials which

probably were used but have not withstood time. Food packaging found in the housing units and

waste centers show that much of their food was mass produced suggesting that the state was

highly reliant on long distance trade.

 A specific and unique example of long distance trade was found in The School of Music.

In our excavation here, we have found a Gamelan ensemble which is rare and expensive musical

instruments and native to Indonesia. This is a special item of long distance trade, which shows

how powerful this state was in the world. Many other unique items of long distance trade like the

Gamelan exist in this state as well. In various museums there are housed some ancient

archeological artifacts of other cultures and societies. There were many departments within the

state that have been found to be associated with international trade and research. Plentiful trade

interactions with the rest of the world must have occurred in the University of Michigan.

Representational art/ portraits, the tenth characteristic of a state according to Childe.

There is not an exceptional amount of portraits found in the University of Michigan. Portraits

serve to legitimize rulers and leaders. The importance of this leader is understood through the

fact that craft specialization has been devoted to recreating their likeness. Small portraits can be

found of important financial donors to the University of Michigan, and also of extremely

significant leaders in the world such as Gandhi. These are memorial-type portraits, and have

been preserved on metal plaques or sculpture. It is interesting that there is not a lot of portrait

representational art in this state. The lack of portraits leads to the hypothesis that ideology that

promotes the head of the state must have been conveyed in other ways. Many examples of

representational art that promotes the administration through symbols instead of portraits has

been found in abundance of varying sizes. A large example of this is the buses painted blue with

the large letters “MICHIGAN” painted in yellow on the sides of the buses. This type of

representational art has been found frequently in different forms of the same symbol.
 Symbolic representations of the state is very simple. The two colors: ‘maize’ and blue

carried a powerful message in the state. This type of representational art can be found

everywhere in the state in public and private spaces.

The material remains found at this site has told us a lot about this state and how it

operated. It was a powerful state with world-wide recognition and far reaching connections to

long distance trade. The majority of the population in the state must have been in agreeance with

the administration because of the abundance of symbolic representation art. The state gained

support through glorification and impressive monumental architecture. Also, specialists existed

in all aspects of the state to provide well for the population. The University of Michigan

excavation site certainly qualifies as a state according to VG Childe’s ten characteristics.