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<DIV><FONT size=2>Not if I'm reading Thompson correctly. Of course, the
big problem is that he's going from physical evidence that's from around 3,000
BCE. Unlike with other examples of anarchic or stateless societies -- the
key recent one being Iceland from about 900 CE to 1200 CE -- there's no oral or
written history of this civilization. It's written works remain
un-deciphered. So, the case is based on archaeological evidence and
arguments from that.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Regards,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Dan<BR><A
href="http://uweb1.superlink.net/~neptune/">http://uweb1.superlink.net/~neptune/</A></FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=dirk.bruere@gmail.com href="mailto:dirk.bruere@gmail.com">Dirk
Bruere</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org
href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">ExI chat list</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, December 04, 2005 10:42
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [extropy-chat] A Stateless
Civilization?<BR></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=gmail_quote>On 12/4/05, <B
class=gmail_sendername>Technotranscendence</B> <<A
href="mailto:neptune@superlink.net">neptune@superlink.net</A>>
wrote:</SPAN>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid">Sadly,
Thomas J. Thompson's "An Ancient Stateless Civilization: Bronze<BR>Age India
and the State in History" is only currently available in the<BR>print
edition of _The Independent Review_ 10(3) [Winter 2006]. Anyhow,
<BR>I recommend it even if I'm not completely satisfied with
Thompson's<BR>argument for Harappan civilization being
stateless... But he offers a<BR>compelling case given the limits
of the evidence.<BR><BR>If he's right, this would be a whole civilization
and the stateless <BR>period seems to have lasted about 700
years. I've noticed a tendency<BR>among critics of anarchism to
claim that no society of any appreciable<BR>size has remained anarchist for
long. When one points to Medieval<BR>Iceland, one problem is, of
course, that even though the stateless<BR>period lasted about three
centuries, Icelandic society during that time<BR>never formed cities -- it
was an essential non-urban or pre-urban<BR>society. Well,
Harappan civilization did. So, if the stateless thesis <BR>is
correct, it presents an interesting case of a long lived,
_urban_<BR>civilization without a state.<BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>Not even a
city-state?<BR><BR>Dirk</BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>