Editing Chiefdom (section)

===Complex category===
A complex chiefdom is a group of simple chiefdoms controlled by a single paramount center and ruled by a [[paramount chief]].  Complex chiefdoms have two or even three tiers of political [[hierarchy]].  Nobles are clearly distinct from commoners and do not usually engage in any form of agricultural production.  The higher members of society consume most of the goods that are passed up the hierarchy as a tribute.

Reciprocal obligations are fulfilled by the nobles carrying out rituals that only they can perform. They may also make token, symbolic redistributions of food and other goods. In two- or three-tiered chiefdoms, higher-ranking chiefs have control over a number of lesser ranking individuals, each of whom controls specific territory or social units. Political control rests on the chief's ability to maintain access to a sufficiently large body of tribute, passed up the line by lesser chiefs.  These lesser chiefs in turn collect from those below them, from communities close to their own center.  At the apex of the status hierarchy sits the [[paramount chief|paramount]].

Anthropologists and [[archaeology|archaeologists]] have demonstrated through research that chiefdoms are a relatively unstable form of social organization. They are prone to [[Social cycle theory|cycles]] of collapse and renewal, in which tribal units band together, expand in power, fragment through some form of social stress, and band together again.  An example of this kind of social organization were the [[Germanic Peoples]] who conquered the western [[Roman Empire]] in the 5th century [[Common Era|CE]].  Although commonly referred to as tribes, anthropologists classified their society as chiefdoms.  They had a complex social hierarchy consisting of kings, a warrior aristocracy, common freemen, [[serfs]], and [[slaves]].

The Native American tribes sometimes had ruling kings or satraps (governors) in some areas and regions. The Cherokee, for example, had an imperial-family ruling system over a long period of history. The early Spanish explorers in the Americas reported on the Indian kings and kept extensive notes during what is now called the conquest. Some of the native tribes in the Americas had princes, nobles, and various classes and castes. The "[[Natchez people|Great Sun]]" was somewhat like the Great Khans of Asia and eastern Europe. Much like an emperor, the Great Sun of North America is the best example of chiefdoms and imperial kings in North American Indian history. The Aztecs of Mexico had a similar culture.