Understanding Early Civilizations: A Comparative Study

Framsida
Cambridge University Press, 5 maj 2003
This book offers the first detailed comparative study of the seven best-documented early civilizations: ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, Shang China, the Aztecs and adjacent peoples in the Valley of Mexico, the Classic Maya, the Inka, and the Yoruba. Unlike previous studies, equal attention is paid to similarities and differences in their sociopolitical organization, economic systems, religion, and culture. Many of this study's findings are surprising and provocative. Agricultural systems, technologies, and economic behaviour turn out to have been far more diverse than was expected. These findings and many others challenge not only current understandings of early civilizations but also the theoretical foundations of modern archaeology and anthropology. The key to understanding early civilizations lies not in their historical connections but in what they can tell us about similarities and differences in human behaviour.

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Appropriation of Wealth
375
Economic Constants and Variables
395
Cognitive and Symbolic Aspects
407
Conceptions of the Supernatural
409
Cosmology and Cosmogony
444
Cult
472
Priests Festivals and the Politics of the Supernatural
495
The Individual and the Universe
522

Class Systems and Social Mobility
142
Family Organization and Gender Roles
167
Administration
195
Law
221
Military Organization
240
Sociopolitical Constants and Variables
264
Economy
277
Food Production
279
Land Ownership
315
Trade and Craft Specialization
338
Elite Art and Architecture
541
Literacy and Specialized Knowledge
584
Values and Personal Aspirations
626
Cultural Constants and Variables
638
Discussion
651
Culture and Reason
653
Conclusion
684
References
689
Index
733
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Om författaren (2003)

Bruce G. Trigger is James McGill Professor in the Department of Anthropology at McGill University. He received his Ph.D. from Yale University and has carried out archaeological research in Egypt and the Sudan. His current interests include the comparative study of early civilizations, the history of archaeology, and archaeological and anthropological theory. He has received various scholarly awards, including the prestigious Prix Léon-Gérin from the Quebec government, for his sustained contributions to the social sciences. He is an honorary fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and an honorary member of the Prehistoric Society (UK). His numerous books include The Children of Aataentsic: A History of the Huron People to 1660 (1976), A History of Archaeological Thought (Cambridge 1989), Early Civilizations: Ancient Egypt in Context (1993), and Sociocultural Evolution (1998), and The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas, Volume 1 (Cambridge 1996), co-edited with Wilcomb E. Washburn.

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