Seshat (project)

[1] The organizers of this research project contend that the mass of data then can be used to test a variety of competing hypotheses about the rise and fall of large-scale societies around the globe which may help science provide answers to global problems.

[dubious – discuss] A large interdisciplinary and international team of experts helps the Seshat project to produce a database that is historically rigorous enough to study the past using well-established scientific techniques.

[4] The World Sample-30 provides the Seshat project with an initial sample of societies that vary along the dimension of social complexity from ten major regions around the globe.

[2] In 2016, Ian Morris praised two key aspects of the Seshat project: (1) it emphasizes the collection of data related to shifts in cultural systems (e.g., changes in religious morality or agricultural techniques) in addition to material elements (e.g., metallurgy technologies) and (2) it better situates seemingly extraordinary individuals in their geographic and historical context.

[1][6] The Seshat: Global History Databank is governed by an editorial board, which includes Peter Turchin, Harvey Whitehouse, Pieter François, Thomas E. Currie, and Kevin C. Feeney.