Type 3 Societies

A stable neolithic society has the opportunity to make long-term observations --recognizing that a buried seed can become a plant, and that the seasons change according to the stars and moons. This will trigger an agricultural revolution, which will completely transform society. Agriculture means more food, which means a larger, healthier, and more socially-complex population, which also means more problems with internal organization and raids from less-prosperous neighbours.

An advanced Type-3 society built Göbekli Tepe as a place of worship. (Picture by Fernando Baptista)

Clothing will be developed, allowing citizens to carry useful tools rather than discarding them, which in turn leads to the establishment of a concept of "property." At the same time, the rise of a crafting class will allow technology to become more complex and less disposable. Citizens of this society have begun recording (and mythologizing) history --for the first time, artifacts and structures exist that will defy living memory, and members will question where they came from.

The problems faced by a Type-3 are similar to those of a Type-2, but larger in scale. A Type-3 society can command larger war parties, and deadlier weapons. A drive toward megalithic engineering may help counter this, both by focusing the group's efforts on something productive and by creating monuments intended to intimidate neighbouring tribes.

The Ewoks of Bright Tree Village represent a mid-level Type-3 society. (Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, 1983)

Footprint: Region (permanent villages), probably identified by a local landmark ("Bright Tree," "Singing Mountain," "Fraggle Rock," etc).

Sustainable Population: Hundreds.

Government: Simple. Usually a(n elected) monarchy; a chief, elder, or king/queen.

Bureaucracy: Simple division of labour and concentration of skills (usually into the Chief's entourage of advisors).

Language: Simple, each tribe will likely have its own dialect, which will be similar enough to communicate with neighbouring tribes.

Literacy: Rare (usually only the shaman/elder, and any apprentices) and limited to interpreting runes and pictograms.

Network: Word-of-mouth, simple signs and markers.

Religion: Ritualized and likely shamanistic (concentrated in a single spiritual leader). The shaman's main focus will likely be the prosperity of the tribe (possibly extending to the extermination of competing tribes).

Science: Astronomy, basic agriculture, and animal husbandry. Possibly a rudimentary understanding of genetics and chemistry. Likely intertwined with religion/spirituality; religious traditions may mask practical concerns, such as proscribed foods or interactions with outsiders (possibly for ease of communication --the shaman may have a stronger grasp of actual processes, which s/he keeps secret). Simple engineering (bows, hafted axes, mud brick construction, megalithic construction).

Medicine: Prayer, traditional remedies. Simple poultices & tourniquets. Extremely crude surgeries (trepanning, tooth-drilling, amputations).

Education: Parents teach daily skills. Apprenticeship (for specific skills) will be socially recognized, but probably not formally organized.

Energy: Most labour will still be manual, though natural forces will also have been harnessed (sailboats and cooking fires will be common, as well as counterweights, and possibly even gliders).

Industry: Specialized craftsmen create tools for others, allowing hunters and gatherers to concentrate on their tasks (thereby earning a surplus of food to feed everyone). Labour is exchanged for food and social care.

Military: None; hunters typically serve as fighters, following a strong or charismatic leader (who may be a future chief).

Economy: Local trade, with a system of barter using measured commodities (two pelts are worth one basket of sweetfruit, one jade bead is worth three spears, etc). Beginings of economic stratification (due to unequal resources).

Food: Organized hunting, simple plant cultivation, domesticated livestock.

Travel: Riding beasts and simple vehicles (sleds, canoes, gliders, etc) will be common. Most people will stay close to the village, though hunters and foragers may range further --distances will be measured in days' travel.

Spaceflight: None.

Alien contact: Cautious. This society will be aware of neighbouring tribes (i.e., they will recognize their own species as intelligent), and will thus recognize alien intelligence (something that acts like us but is not Like Us) --possibly as something supernatural or monstrous. If communication can be established, members of this society can accept aliens as beings from "other worlds, under other suns." This species may be detectable from orbital observation (via large settlements or cooking fires).

Examples (reality): Builders of Göbekli Tepe, Çatalöyük, and Skara Brae (all of which represent the mature end of the period), the creators of the Shigir Idol. Ötzi's people.
Examples (fiction): Ewoks, Unas, Yagahl, Na'vi, Podlings, Kokiri, Mogwai*, Fraggles.

Gizmo the Mogwai was capable of crafting complex weapons. (Gremlins 2: The New Batch, 1990)

 (* Mogwai seem to be more intelligent than in their Gremlin forms; while Gizmo's advanced engineering skills [demonstrated during the Clamp Building siege] seems to be an anomaly, even Mogwai-Stripe seemed more technically-minded [in recognizing and sabotaging Billy's alarm clock] than most Gremlins, who simply grab whatever human tech is available and [mis]use it as-is.)