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Seshat: Global History Databank

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---
type: dataset
homepage: https://seshatdatabank.info
tags:
  - topic-history
  - data-on-github
  - license-nc
  - license-confused
---

# Seshat: Global History Databank

Seshat is a historical database that collects what is currently known about the social and political organization of human societies over time. Founded in 2011.

🔗 https://seshat-db.com

Related info site: https://seshatdatabank.info

![image](https://github.com/datasets/seshat/assets/180658/62c4099c-9b93-4838-8045-ba2a17340d00)

## Data

Data is available for download 🎉 but not openly licensed (NC restriction) 😬

Have cached copies of files in [`data` folder](./data/).

![image](https://github.com/datasets/seshat/assets/180658/4d4c75ce-928f-40ed-b80f-f7572f669461)

### Equinox

Equinox is consolidated database with a snapshot of everything they have (roughly)

Equinox file is downloadable from zenodo: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6642229 and also on github 🎉 https://github.com/seshatdb/Equinox_Data

> Second, we periodically publish “snapshots” of the Seshat Databank for well-curated variables and polities. The current such data release is Equinox-2020, which presents data in both browsable format and through a spreadsheet. Whereas the spreadsheet contains data in computer-readable form suitable for statistical analyses, Seshat Data Browser also includes narrative paragraphs, explaining the codes, as well as references. Equinox-2020 is forward looking and brings together all data upon which the next series of forthcoming publications is based. This approach allows our collaborators and other domain experts to browse our data and suggest improvements.

### _Social Complexity Dataset_

Download the Social Complexity dataset [here](https://seshat-db.com/download_oldcsv/sc_dataset.12.2017.xlsx/)

Please include the following text in any publication using these data:

_This research employed data from the Seshat Databank (seshatdatabank.info) under Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial (CC By-NC SA) licensing._

And cite:

- Turchin, P., R. Brennan, T. E. Currie, K. Feeney, P. François, […] H. Whitehouse. 2015. “Seshat: The Global History Databank.” Cliodynamics 6(1): 77–107. https://doi.org/10.21237/C7clio6127917.
- Turchin, P., T. E. Currie, H. Whitehouse, P. François, K. Feeney,  […] C. Spencer. 2017. “Quantitative historical analysis uncovers a single dimension of complexity that structures global variation in human social organization.” PNAS. http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/12/20/1708800115.full.

### _Agricultural Productivity Dataset_

Download the Agri dataset [here](https://seshat-db.com/download_oldcsv/agri_dataset.07.2020.csv/)

Please include the following text in any publication using these data:

_This research employed data from the Seshat Databank (seshatdatabank.info) under Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial (CC By-NC SA) licensing._

And cite:

- Turchin, P., R. Brennan, T. E. Currie, K. Feeney, P. François, […] H. Whitehouse. 2015. “Seshat: The Global History Databank.” Cliodynamics 6(1): 77–107. https://doi.org/10.21237/C7clio6127917.
- Turchin, Peter, Thomas Currie, Christina Collins, Jill Levine, Oluwole Oyebamiji, Neil R. Edwards, Philip B. Holden, et al. “An Integrative Approach to Estimating Productivity in Past Societies Using Seshat: Global History Databank:” The Holocene 31, no. 6 (2021): 1055–65. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683621994644.

### _Axial Age Dataset_

Download the Axial Age dataset [here](https://seshat-db.com/download_oldcsv/axial_dataset.05.2018.csv/)

Please include the following text in any publication using these data:

_This research employed data from the Seshat Databank (seshatdatabank.info) under Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial (CC By-NC SA) licensing._

And cite:

- Turchin, P., R. Brennan, T. E. Currie, K. Feeney, P. François, […] H. Whitehouse. 2015. “Seshat: The Global History Databank.” Cliodynamics 6(1): 77–107. https://doi.org/10.21237/C7clio6127917.
- Mullins, D., D. Hoyer, […] P. Turchin. Preprint. “Mullins, D., D. Hoyer, […] P. Turchin. 2018. “A Systematic Assessment of ‘Axial Age’ Proposals Using Global Comparative Historical Evidence.” American Sociological Review 83(3): 596–626. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122418772567.

### _Moralizing Religion Dataset_

Download the Moralizing Religion dataset [here](https://seshat-db.com/download_oldcsv/mr_dataset.04.2021.csv/)

Download the Moralizing Religion 'Retake'  dataset [here](https://seshat-db.com/download_oldcsv/mr_replication_dataset.02.2020.csv/)

_*Archived versions of our moralizing religion data are available by request._

Please include the following text in any publication using these data:

_This research employed data from the Seshat Databank (seshatdatabank.info) under Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial (CC By-NC SA) licensing._

And cite:

- Turchin, P., R. Brennan, T. E. Currie, K. Feeney, P. François, […] H. Whitehouse. 2015. “Seshat: The Global History Databank.” Cliodynamics 6(1): 77–107. https://doi.org/10.21237/C7clio6127917.
- Turchin, P., H. Whitehouse, J. Larson, et al. 2022. “Explaining the Rise of Moralizing Religions: A Test of Competing Hypotheses Using the Seshat Databank.” Religion Brain & Behavior. doi: 10.1080/2153599X.2022.2065345.
- Whitehouse et al. 2022. “Testing the Big Gods hypothesis with global historical data: a review and “retake”.” Religion Brain & Behavior. doi: 10.1080/2153599X.2022.2074085

### _Consequences of Crisis Dataset_

Download the Consequences of Crisis dataset [here](https://seshat-db.com/download_oldcsv/CrisisConsequencesData_NavigatingPolycrisis_2023.03.csv/)

Please include the following text in any publication using these data:

_This research employed data from the Seshat Databank (seshatdatabank.info) under Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial (CC By-NC SA) licensing._

And cite:

- Turchin, P., R. Brennan, T. E. Currie, K. Feeney, P. François, […] H. Whitehouse. 2015. “Seshat: The Global History Databank.” Cliodynamics 6(1): 77–107. https://doi.org/10.21237/C7clio6127917.
- Hoyer, Daniel, James S Bennett, Samantha Holder, Robert Howard, Jill Levine, Peter Turchin, Jenny Reddish, Majid Benam, Francis Ludlow, and Gary M Feinman. (Forthcoming). “Navigating Polycrisis: Long-Run Socio-Cultural Factors Shape Response to Changing Climate.” _Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B_ Special Issue: Climate change adaptation needs a science of culture, edited by Anne C Pisor, J. Stephen Lansing, and Kate Magargal.. [https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2022.0402](https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2022.0402).

## License

CC-BY-NC-SA

Evidence from https://seshat-db.com/downloads_page/ (2024-06-30)

> This research employed data from the Seshat Databank (seshatdatabank.info) under Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial (CC By-NC SA) licensing. The Equinox dataset is an openly accessible file stored on Zenodo under the doi: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6642229.

NB: irony that they refer to a bunch of their datasets as open access but these are NC.

### Confused licensing

Weirdly the Github version of the SeshatDB data https://github.com/seshatdb/Equinox_Data has a CC Zero in [`LICENSE` file](https://github.com/seshatdb/Equinox_Data/blob/ce30ebd92eccff181556861c30b29fc1db99d9b7/LICENSE) but about info on Github page states otherwise ...

![image](https://github.com/datasets/seshat/assets/180658/57a8cbb1-3fb1-4c04-af71-a90d8b2be27a)

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