{"schema":"https://ver.cy/schemas/card/1.0.0","id":"vr.tr.civilization","code":"thing-q8432","url":"https://ver.cy/models/thing/q8432/","name":"civilization","alternateNames":["cradle of civilization","material civilization","African civilization","European civilization","extraterrestrial civilization","medieval civilization","Islamic civilization","oriental civilization","pre-Columbian era","planetary civilization","intellectual civilization","lost culture"],"kind":"thing","status":"published","version":"0.2.0-wave.1","language":"en","classifiers":{"family":"Thing Registry","category":"Society, people and institutions","entryKind":"thing","plane":"SOC","domain":["SOC.ORG"],"industry":[],"navPath":"","tags":[],"facets":{}},"whatItIs":"A complex society characterised by cities, social stratification, specialised labour, writing or record systems, monumental architecture and organised government; the term is also used for large cultural spheres, and its use has been criticised for implying hierarchy between cultures.","purpose":"Let an agent handle civilizations by region, period, features and sources, presenting the concept critically and avoiding value rankings of cultures.","scope":{"in":[],"out":[],"boundaries":[]},"distinguishingFeatures":["Complex, urban societies","Contested criteria","Studied by archaeology and history","Term carries value judgements"],"structure":{"bundles":[{"id":"society","name":"Society","description":"Which civilization.","layers":[{"id":"identity","name":"Identity","description":"Name and period.","findings":[{"id":"identity-finding","name":"Identity","description":"Identity.","questions":[{"text":"Which civilization, region and period is meant?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which sources describe it?","kind":"provenance"}]}]},{"id":"features","name":"Features","description":"Characteristics.","findings":[{"id":"features-finding","name":"Features","description":"Features.","questions":[{"text":"What features do archaeologists identify, such as cities or writing?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"How strong is the evidence?","kind":"boundary"}]}]}]},{"id":"concept","name":"Concept","description":"Critique.","layers":[{"id":"criteria","name":"Criteria","description":"Definitions.","findings":[{"id":"criteria-finding","name":"Criteria","description":"Criteria.","questions":[{"text":"Which criteria define a civilization in this source?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Are they contested?","kind":"boundary"}]}]},{"id":"critique","name":"Critique","description":"Value judgements.","findings":[{"id":"critique-finding","name":"Critique","description":"Critique.","questions":[{"text":"Does the use imply a ranking of cultures?","kind":"boundary"},{"text":"How do scholars critique it?","kind":"provenance"}]}]}]},{"id":"evidence","name":"Evidence","description":"Archaeology.","layers":[{"id":"sites","name":"Sites","description":"Archaeological sites.","findings":[{"id":"sites-finding","name":"Sites","description":"Sites.","questions":[{"text":"Which sites provide evidence, and are they protected?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"How can they be visited?","kind":"provenance"}]}]},{"id":"myths","name":"Myths","description":"Pseudo-archaeology.","findings":[{"id":"myths-finding","name":"Myths","description":"Pseudo-archaeology.","questions":[{"text":"Is a claim about lost civilizations pseudo-archaeology?","kind":"boundary"},{"text":"What do archaeologists say?","kind":"provenance"}]}]}]},{"id":"senses","name":"Senses","description":"Disambiguation.","layers":[{"id":"speculative","name":"Speculative","description":"Extraterrestrial.","findings":[{"id":"speculative-finding","name":"Speculative","description":"Speculative sense.","questions":[{"text":"Is a hypothetical extraterrestrial civilization meant?","kind":"boundary"},{"text":"Which entry fits?","kind":"action"}]}]},{"id":"games","name":"Games","description":"Media.","findings":[{"id":"games-finding","name":"Games","description":"Media sense.","questions":[{"text":"Is a game or book titled Civilization meant?","kind":"boundary"},{"text":"Which entry fits?","kind":"action"}]}]}]}]},"agentConduct":{"may":["Describe civilizations from archaeological and historical sources, citing them.","Compare features of societies such as writing, cities and government without ranking peoples."],"mustNot":["Rank peoples or cultures as civilized or uncivilized to justify domination or contempt.","Present contested or speculative history as settled fact.","Attribute a civilization's achievements to outsiders without evidence.","Help loot or trade artefacts taken from archaeological sites."],"requiresHuman":["Publishing claims about the origins of a living community's ancestors."]},"ethics":{"considerations":["The idea of civilization has been used to justify colonisation and the erasure of other societies.","Descendant communities have a stake in how their past is told."],"affectedParties":["Descendant communities","Indigenous peoples","Students and readers of history"]},"owners":{"steward":"Nobody owns the concept; heritage authorities and descendant communities care for the sites and records.","roles":[],"masterSystems":[]},"relations":[{"target":"Q8425","type":"parent","note":"registry parent class"},{"target":"society","type":"related","note":"category"},{"target":"archaeology and history","type":"related","note":"fields"},{"target":"city","type":"related","note":"feature"},{"target":"culture","type":"related","note":"concept"}],"interaction":{"identity":{"applicability":"required","items":["Vercy registry: vr.tr.civilization","Wikidata: Q8432 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8432)"]},"properties":{"applicability":"not-applicable","items":[]},"recognition":{"applicability":"optional","items":["Cities, writing and monuments","Cradles of civilization such as Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley","Civility as manners is a different sense","Not physical; evidenced by cities, monuments, writing and artefacts."]},"capabilities":{"applicability":"required","items":["summarise early civilizations from sources","explain criteria and critiques of the concept","find archaeological and historical resources","separate speculative uses such as extraterrestrial civilizations"]},"hazards":{"applicability":"required","items":["Ranking cultures as more or less civilised","Eurocentric framing","Unsourced claims about ancient societies"]},"interfaces":{"applicability":"required","items":["World Heritage Convention for sites"]},"context":{"applicability":"required","items":["Describing large-scale societies in history and archaeology.","early river valley civilizations","classical civilizations","Mesoamerican and Andean civilizations","medieval civilizations","hypothetical extraterrestrial civilizations"]}},"sources":[{"title":"Wikidata item Q8432: civilization","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8432","note":"identity and sense of the item"},{"title":"Wikipedia: Civilization","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization","note":"general description of the item"}],"openQuestions":["Should each civilization be a separate entry?","How should critiques of the term be presented?","How should speculative uses be split off?"],"resources":{"spec":"/models/things/publications/thing-q8432/spec.json"},"provenance":{"origin":"thing registry research (pass 2)","builtFrom":["models/things/publications/thing-q8432/spec.json"],"providers":["Claude"],"researchStatus":"unreviewed","generatedAt":"2026-09-11T10:31:22Z","builder":"tools/build_cards.py@1.0.0"},"completeness":{"sections":{"classifiers":"filled","whatItIs":"filled","purpose":"filled","distinguishingFeatures":"filled","structure":"filled","agentConduct":"filled","ethics":"filled","owners":"filled","relations":"filled","interaction.identity":"filled","interaction.properties":"not-applicable","interaction.recognition":"filled","interaction.capabilities":"filled","interaction.hazards":"filled","interaction.interfaces":"filled","interaction.context":"filled","sources":"filled"},"notes":{"_gate":"Published through the thing publication gate 1.0 on 2026-10-06T19:52:02+00:00: completeness 1.00; sense: Wikidata description; 2 live sources; review by codex: pass","interaction.properties":"Plane SOC: no invented physical properties."},"score":1.0}}