World Prehistory: A Brief Introduction / Edition 8 available in Paperback
World Prehistory: A Brief Introduction / Edition 8
- ISBN-10:
- 0205017916
- ISBN-13:
- 9780205017911
- Pub. Date:
- 12/14/2010
- Publisher:
- Taylor & Francis
- ISBN-10:
- 0205017916
- ISBN-13:
- 9780205017911
- Pub. Date:
- 12/14/2010
- Publisher:
- Taylor & Francis
World Prehistory: A Brief Introduction / Edition 8
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Overview
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780205017911 |
---|---|
Publisher: | Taylor & Francis |
Publication date: | 12/14/2010 |
Series: | MyAnthroKit Series |
Edition description: | Older Edition |
Pages: | 432 |
Product dimensions: | 7.30(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d) |
About the Author
Nadia Durrani, FSA, read archaeology and anthropology at Cambridge University before taking a PhD in archaeology from University College London. An editor and author within archaeology, she has collaborated widely with Brian Fagan including as co-author of Bigger Than History: Why Archaeology Matters.
Table of Contents
Preface | xiii | |
A Note on Chronologies and Measurements | xvi | |
Part I | Prehistory | 1 |
Chapter 1 | Introducing World Prehistory | 3 |
Prologue | 4 | |
"In the Beginning" | 4 | |
Pseudoarchaeology | 6 | |
Prehistory, Archaeology, and World Prehistory | 7 | |
Major Developments in Human Prehistory | 9 | |
Cyclical and Linear Time | 10 | |
Written Records, Oral History, and Archaeology | 14 | |
Studying World Prehistory | 15 | |
Culture History, Time and Space, and "The Myth of the Ethnographic Present" | 17 | |
Cultural Process and Past Lifeways | 22 | |
The Mechanisms of Culture Change | 24 | |
Culture as Adaptation | 26 | |
Intangibles: Ideology and Interaction | 30 | |
Summary | 32 | |
Part II | The World of the First Humans | 35 |
Chapter 2 | Human Origins | 37 |
Prologue | 8 | |
The Great Ice Age (1.8 million to 15,000 years ago) | 39 | |
Early Primate Evolution and Adaptation | 41 | |
The Fossil Evidence for Human Evolution (4 million to 1.5 million years ago) | 44 | |
All Kinds of Australopithecines (3 million to 2.5 million years ago) | 50 | |
Early Homo: Homo habilis (2.5 million to 2.0 million years ago) | 52 | |
Who Was the First Human? | 56 | |
The Earliest Human Technology | 57 | |
Hunters or Scavengers? | 61 | |
The Earliest Human Mind | 63 | |
The Development of Language | 65 | |
The Earliest Social Organization | 66 | |
Summary | 67 | |
Chapter 3 | African Exodus | 68 |
Prologue | 69 | |
Ice Age Background | 69 | |
Homo erectus (c. 1.9 million to after 200,000 years ago) | 72 | |
The Lifeway of Homo erectus | 76 | |
Archaic Homo sapiens (c. 400,000 to 130,000 years ago) | 81 | |
The Neanderthals (c. 150,000 to 30,000 years ago) | 82 | |
The Origins of Modern Humans (?c. 180,000 to 150,000 years ago) | 88 | |
Out of Tropical Africa | 93 | |
Summary | 94 | |
Part III | The Birth of the Modern World | 95 |
Chapter 4 | Diaspora | 97 |
Prologue | 98 | |
The Late Ice Age World (50,000 to 15,000 years ago) | 99 | |
The Peopling of Southeast Asia and Australia (45,000 to 15,000 years ago) | 101 | |
Late Ice Age Europe: The Cro-Magnons (40,000 to 15,000 years ago) | 103 | |
Hunter-gatherers in Eurasia (35,000 to 15,000 years ago) | 109 | |
East Asia (35,000 to 15,000 years ago) | 112 | |
Early Human Settlement of Siberia (?before 20,000 to 15,000 years ago) | 114 | |
The First Americans (?before 15,000 years ago to 11,000 B.C.) | 114 | |
The Clovis People (c. 11,200 to 11,000 B.C.) | 118 | |
Summary | 120 | |
Chapter 5 | The Origins of Food Production | 121 |
Prologue | 122 | |
The Holocene (after 10,000 B.C.) | 125 | |
Changes in Forager Societies | 125 | |
Social Complexity among Foragers | 127 | |
Theories of Farming Origins | 129 | |
The Recovery Revolution | 130 | |
Multicausal Theories | 131 | |
The Consequences of Food Production | 134 | |
Nutrition and Early Food Production | 139 | |
Summary | 140 | |
Chapter 6 | The Earliest Farmers | 141 |
Prologue | 142 | |
Domesticating Animals | 143 | |
Domesticating Wheat and Barley | 144 | |
Southwest Asian Farmers (c. 10,000 to 5000 B.C.) | 146 | |
Early Egyptian and African Farmers (earlier than 6000 B.C. to 1000 B.C.) | 149 | |
European Farmers (c. 6500 to 3000 B.C.) | 151 | |
Early Agriculture in Asia (before 6000 B.C.) | 154 | |
Early American Agriculture (8000 B.C. onward) | 158 | |
Summary | 163 | |
Chapter 7 | Chiefs and Chiefdoms | 165 |
Prologue | 166 | |
Reciprocity and "Big Men" | 167 | |
Navigators and Chiefs in the Pacific (2000 B.C. to modern times) | 169 | |
The American Southwest (300 B.C. to modern times) | 173 | |
Moundbuilders in Eastern North America (2000 B.C. to A.D. 1650) | 180 | |
Summary | 187 | |
Part IV | Early Civilizations | 189 |
Chapter 8 | State-Organized Societies | 191 |
Prologue | 192 | |
What Is a State-Organized Society? | 192 | |
Cities | 194 | |
Theories of the Origins of States | 196 | |
Social Approaches: Power in Three Domains | 202 | |
People as Agents of Change | 206 | |
The Collapse of Civilizations | 207 | |
Summary | 209 | |
Chapter 9 | Mesopotamia and the Eastern Mediterranean World | 210 |
Prologue | 211 | |
Origins (5500 to 3000 B.C.) | 212 | |
Sumerian Civilization (c. 3100 to 2334 B.C.) | 218 | |
Akkadians and Babylonians (2334 to 1650 B.C.) | 221 | |
Hittites and Sea Traders (1650 to 1200 B.C.) | 222 | |
Minoans and Mycenaeans (1900 to 1200 B.C.) | 224 | |
Sea Peoples and Phoenicians (1200 to 800 B.C.) | 229 | |
Assyrians and Babylonians (900 to 539 B.C.) | 229 | |
Summary | 230 | |
Chapter 10 | Egypt and Africa | 232 |
Prologue | 233 | |
Predynastic Egypt: Ancient Monopoly? (5000 to 3100 B.C.) | 233 | |
Dynastic Egyptian Civilization (c. 3000 to 30 B.C.) | 237 | |
Egypt and Afrocentrism | 247 | |
Nubia: The Land of Kush (3000 to 633 B.C.) | 247 | |
Meroe and Aksum | 249 | |
Ancient African Kingdoms | 251 | |
Summary | 256 | |
Chapter 11 | South, Southeast, and East Asia | 257 |
Prologue | 258 | |
South Asia: The Harappan Civilization (c. 2700 to 1700 B.C.) | 258 | |
South Asia after the Harappans (1700 to 180 B.C.) | 264 | |
The Origins of Chinese Civilization (2600 to 1100 B.C.) | 264 | |
The War Lords (1100 to 221 B.C.) | 268 | |
Southeast Asian Civilization (A.D. 1 to 1500) | 270 | |
Summary | 275 | |
Chapter 12 | Lowland Mesoamerica | 276 |
Prologue | 277 | |
Beginnings: Preclassic Peoples in the Lowlands (2000 B.C. to A.D. 300) | 277 | |
The Olmec (1500 B.C. to 500 B.C.) | 279 | |
Classic Maya Civilization (A.D. 300 to 900) | 285 | |
The Classic Maya Collapse | 290 | |
Postclassic Maya Civilization (A.D. 900 to 1517) | 293 | |
Summary | 295 | |
Chapter 13 | Highland Mesoamerica | 297 |
Prologue | 298 | |
The Rise of Highland Civilization: The Valley of Oaxaca (2000 to 500 B.C.) | 298 | |
Monte Alban (500 B.C. to A.D. 750) | 300 | |
Valley of Mexico: Teotihuacan (200 B.C. to A.D. 750) | 301 | |
The Toltecs (A.D. 650 to 1200) | 305 | |
Aztec Civilization (A.D. 1200 to 1521) | 306 | |
Summary | 314 | |
Chapter 14 | Andean Civilizations | 315 |
Prologue | 316 | |
The Maritime Foundations of Andean Civilization | 318 | |
Coastal Foundations (2500 to 900 B.C.) | 319 | |
The Early Horizon and Chavin de Huantar (900 to 200 B.C.) | 320 | |
The Initial Period | 321 | |
The Moche State (200 B.C. to A.D. 700) | 326 | |
The Middle Horizon: Tiwanaku and Wari (A.D. 600 to 1000) | 328 | |
The Late Intermediate Period: Sican and Chimu (A.D. 700 to 1460) | 330 | |
The Late Horizon: The Inca State (A.D. 1476 to 1534) | 331 | |
The Spanish Conquest (A.D. 1532 to 1534) | 336 | |
Summary | 337 | |
Epilogue | 338 | |
Glossary of Technical Terms | 341 | |
Glossary of Archaeological Sites and Cultural Terms | 345 | |
Guide to Further Reading | 353 | |
References in Text | 362 | |
Photo Credits | 363 | |
Index | 365 |
Preface
Egyptologist Howard Carter, notebook entry on Tutankhamun's tomb, November 26, 1922
Golden pharaohs, lost cities, grinning human skeletons: Archaeology is the stuff of romance and legend! Many people still think of archaeologists as adventurers and treasure hunters, like Indiana Jones of Hollywood movie fame seeking the elusive Holy Grail. This enduring image goes back to the late nineteenth century, when archaeologists like Heinrich Schliemann could still find lost civilizations like Troy and excavate three royal palaces in a week. Today, few, if any, archaeologists behave like Indiana Jones. They are scientists, not adventurers, as comfortable in an air-conditioned laboratory as they are on a remote excavation. The development of scientific archaeology from its Victorian beginnings ranks among the greatest triumphs of twentieth-century science. Archaeology has changed our understanding of the human experience in profound ways. A century ago, most scientists believed humans were no more than 100,000 years old. Today we know that our origins go back at least 5 million years. Our predecessors assumed the Americas were settled in about 8000B.C. and that farming began around 4000 B.C. New excavations date the first Americans to at least 12,000 B.C. and the beginnings of agriculture to about 10,000 B.C. Most important, archaeology has changed our perceptions of ourselves, especially of our biological and cultural diversity. Welcome to the fascinating world of archaeology!
The fifth edition of World Prehistory continues a long tradition of providing an interesting, jargon-free journey through the 5million-year-old landscape of the human past. I hope you enjoy your sojourn in its pages.
Highlights of the Fifth EditionThe fifth edition of World Prehistory has been revised throughout to reflect the latest advances in the field, and it includes suggestions by dozens of archaeologists and students who have taken the trouble to contact me after using previous editions.
This is an exciting time to be writing about archaeology. Many scientific advances are changing our perceptions about the past. Accordingly, the fifth edition is somewhat longer than its predecessors, with expanded coverage of major theoretical issues and the early civilizations. The fifth edition contains important new discoveries about early human evolution, the late Ice Age, and the origins of agriculture. New and updated coverage of the field appears in every chapter, with an up-to-date Guide to Further Reading at the end of the book along with a glossary of technical terms and one of archaeological sites and cultural names.
Updating and Rewriting- New perceptions of world prehistory. Chapter 1 includes important discussions of archaeology and alternative perspectives on the past, reflecting new thinking on this important topic.
- Early human evolution. Chapter 2 discusses the latest advances in the study of human origins, including the latest fossil discoveries in Ethiopia and Kenya, among them Australopithecus garhi, a confusing and still enigmatic predecessor of humanity.
- Origins of modern humans. Chapter 3 covers new research into the controversial issue of the earliest modern humans and fresh perceptions of Neanderthal ancestry and behavior.
- Origins of food production. Chapter 5 incorporates expanded coverage of the latest theories on the origins of agriculture and animal domestication. Chapter 6, which describes the first farmers, incorporates new dates for early agriculture obtained from accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates and the results of new researches into the early farming village at Abu Hureyra, Syria, currently the earliest agricultural settlement in the world.
- Origins of states and civilization. Chapter 8 has been expanded to include current theoretical debates on the origins of state-organized societies, including the issues of factionalism and charismatic leadership. Chapters 9 to 14 offer an up-to-date description and analysis of the first civilizations, with expanded coverage of ancient Egyptian civilization and of south and southeast Asian states. Chapters 12 and 13 offer more comprehensive analysis of highland and lowland Mesoamerican civilizations than in previous editions.
- Revision and updating throughout. The entire text and Guide to Further Reading have been revised and updated on a page-by-page basis.
Three types of in-text boxes enhance the book, designed to amplify the narrative:
- Science. These boxes introduce key dating methods and other scientific approaches, such as radiocarbon and AMS dating, and also environmental reconstruction.
- Sites. Each chapter includes one or more boxes describing sites of unusual importance, and some aspects of unusual interest.
- Voices. The Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and highland Mesoamerican chapters include special boxes that quote from writings of ancient times, giving each an unusual "voice."
The fifth edition's art program has been expanded with new photographs and fresh or revised line art. The new illustrations provide additional background on recent discoveries, amplify the narrative, or replace older art with new pictures. Some expanded captions serve to integrate the illustrations more closely into the text.
Complete RedesignThe entire book has been completely redesigned to make it more user-friendly.
Ancillary MaterialsThe ancillary materials that accompany this textbook have been carefully created to enhance the topics being discussed.
Instructor's Manual with Tests. For each chapter in the text, this manual provides a detailed outline, list of objectives, discussion questions, classroom activities, and additional resources. The test bank includes multiple choice, true-false, and essay questions for each chapter.
Companion Website®. In tandem with the text, students and professors can now take full advantage of the World Wide Web to enrich their study of archaeology. The Fagan Website correlates the text with related material available on the Internet. Features of the Website include chapter objectives and study questions, as well as links to interesting material and information from other sites on the Web that can reinforce and enhance the content of each chapter. Address:
Anthropoloy on the Internet 2001: Evaluating Online Resources. This guide introduces students to the origin and innovations behind the Internet and provides clear strategies for navigating the complexity of the Internet and World Wide Web. Exercises within and at the end of the chapters allow students to practice searching for the myriad of resources available to the student of anthropology. This supplementary book is free to students when shrinkwrapped as a package with World Prehistory: A Brief Introduction, 5/E.
AcknowledgmentsMany colleagues, too numerous to list here, have advised me on this revision. I am deeply grateful for their encouragement and assistance. I would like to thank the following reviewers for their help in revising this new edition. I appreciate their frank comments: Elliot M. Abrams, Ohio University; Mary C. Beaudry, Boston University; Katina Lollios, Ripon College; and John M. O'Shea, University of Michigan.
Lastly, my thanks to my editor Nancy Roberts and her colleagues at Prentice Hall. They have turned a complex manuscript into an attractive book and done all they can to minimize unexpected difficulties.
As always, I would be most grateful for criticisms, comments, or details of new work, sent to me c/o Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106 .
Brian M. Fagan