![]() The emergence of social hierarchies is often related to size hierarchies of settlements the monumental architecture of large settlements is related to the emergence of more hierarchical social structures, such as complex chiefdoms and early states. The functional differences among settlements are a fundamental aspect of the division of labor that links households and communities into larger polities and systems of polities. ![]() The settlement size distribution–the relative population sizes of the settlements within a region–is an important and easily ascertained aspect of all sedentary social systems. The spatial aspect of population density is perhaps the most fundamental variable for understanding the constraints and possibilities of human social organization. Archaeologists and ethnographers map out the ways in which human habitations are spread across space, providing a fundamental window on the lives of the people in all social systems. It is rarely possible to understand such settlements without knowing their relationships with the rural and nomadic populations that interact with them. ![]() Once humans began living in fairly permanent hamlets and villages, it became possible to study the interactions of these settlements with one another. The study of city systems is a subcategory of the more general topic of settlement systems. Systems of cities are human interaction networks and their connections with the built and natural environments.
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