Understanding early civilizations : a comparative study / Bruce G. Trigger.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Trigger, Bruce G.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Civilization, Ancient.

Social archaeology.

Prehistoric peoples.

Physical Description:

xiii, 757 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Summary:

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. Yet only two basic types of political organization are found -- city-states and territorial states -- and they influenced economic behaviour at least as much as did environmental differences. Underlying various religious beliefs was a single, distinctive pattern that is unique to early civilizations and must have developed independently in different regions of the world. Many other shared religious beliefs appear to have been transformations of a shared heritage from earlier times. Esteemed lifestyles that differed idiosyncratically from one early civilization to another influenced human behaviour in ways that often persisted despite changing material and political circumstances. 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.

Contents:

1 Rationalism and Relativism 3

2 Comparative Studies 15

3 Defining 'Early Civilization' 40

4 Evidence and Interpretation 53

Sociopolitical Organization

5 Kingship 71

6 States: City and Territorial 92

7 Urbanism 120

8 Class Systems and Social Mobility 142

9 Family Organization and Gender Roles 167

10 Administration 195

11 Law 221

12 Military Organization 240

13 Sociopolitical Constants and Variables 264

Economy

14 Food Production 279

15 Land Ownership 315

16 Trade and Craft Specialization 338

17 Appropriation of Wealth 375

18 Economic Constants and Variables 395

Cognitive and Symbolic Aspects

19 Conceptions of the Supernatural 409

20 Cosmology and Cosmogony 444

21 Cult 472

22 Priests, Festivals, and the Politics of the Supernatural 495

23 The Individual and the Universe 522

24 Elite Art and Architecture 541

25 Literacy and Specialized Knowledge 584

26 Values and Personal Aspirations 626

27 Cultural Constants and Variables 638

28 Culture and Reason 653.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 689-731) and index.

ISBN:

0521822459

OCLC:

50291226

Online:

Publisher description