The Ancient Americas

Why and how do scientists classify, organize and categorize cultures?

Organizing cultures helps scientists deal with their complexity. Throughout time there has been so much cultural variety—differences in peoples’ beliefs about general worldview, family structure, styles of dress, etc.—that scientists’ have organized their knowledge about these cultures so they can be more effectively studied.

Organizing cultures by similarities or dissimilarities helps scientists better understand the relationships between different cultures. But it is important to note that not all groups fit perfectly into nice, neat little categories.

Over time, scientists have come up with many different ways to organize culture:

	Early classification systems One of the earliest classification models from the 19th century—now considered inaccurate and judgmental—ranked cultures according to whether they were "savages," "barbarians," or "civilized along a single evolutionary trajectory.
	Later classification systems Later models classified cultures by how they utilized technology, what kind of economic system they employed, or how they were organized politically and socially. You may be familiar with ranking systems that label cultures as “Stone Age, Bronze Age, Copper Age, and Iron Age.” While these tools are still somewhat useful in identifying a society’s level of technological advancement, they do not acknowledge a culture’s social and political development. Other models of classification attempted to incorporate socio-economic development by creating the categories of “bands, tribes, chiefdoms, states, and empires.” The inherent danger in this classification system is that people may perceive these categories to be progressive, implying that each represents a stage in improvement.
	Today’s organizational systems Scientists today often use a combination of classifications and approaches. For example, *The* *Ancient Americas* is based loosely on a socio-political classification that acknowledges different ways of living such as hunting and gathering, farming, etc. The exhibit also points to key differences between the groups that are included in each of the exhibition’s galleries.

The goal is to recognize that societies do evolve, however, this evolution is not linear, ever-present, or preordained. Each category represents both positive and negative changes for people’s lives and does not represent a step towards a better way of living or an “ideal” lifestyle. In fact, throughout history and even today, cultures that fit into each category still live successfully and harmoniously with one another.

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