Final answer:
Morgan's three states of development, Savagery, Barbarism, Civilization, were important because they organized societies by socioeconomic organization, underscoring the impact of technology on social evolution, despite reflecting the ethnocentric biases of the time.
Step-by-step explanation:
Morgan's three states of development, Savagery, Barbarism, Civilization, were important for their time because they provided a means to organize societies based on their socioeconomic organization. This typology by Lewis Henry Morgan offered a framework for understanding the evolutionary progress of societies from simple to more complex forms. It emphasized technological advancements as key drivers in social evolution, highlighting how new ways of making things could transform social practices and thought patterns. Additionally, Morgan's stages reflected the ethnocentric biases of his time, often correlating technological complexity with cultural superiority.
The persistence of hunter-gatherer and nomadic societies alongside emerging sedentary and agricultural civilizations indicates the complexity and diversity of ancient societal structures. Even as civilizations developed writing, governments, and social hierarchies, these other forms of social organization continued to play crucial roles in the exchange of resources and culture, illustrating the intricate web of socioeconomic dynamics in these eras.