Understanding collapse : ancient history and modern myths / Guy D. Middleton, Newcastle University, UK.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Middleton, Guy D., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Civilization, Ancient.

History, Ancient.

Social change--History--To 1500.

Social change.

Complexity (Philosophy)--Social aspects--History--To 1500.

Complexity (Philosophy).

Resilience (Personality trait)--Social aspects--History--To 1500.

Resilience (Personality trait).

Human ecology--History--To 1500.

Human ecology.

History--Errors, inventions, etc.

History.

Social archaeology.

Environmental archaeology.

Social aspects.

Physical Description:

xx, 441 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2017.

Summary:

"Understanding Collapse explores the collapse of ancient civilisations, such as the Roman Empire, the Maya, and Easter Island. In this lively survey, Guy D. Middleton critically examines our ideas about collapse--how we explain it and how we have constructed potentially misleading myths around collapses--showing how and why collapse of societies was a much more complex phenomenon than is often admitted. Rather than positing a single explanatory model of collapse--economic, social, or environmental--Middleton gives full consideration to the overlooked resilience in communities of ancient peoples and the choices that they made. He offers a fresh interpretation of collapse that will be accessible to both students and scholars. The book is an engaging, introductory-level survey of collapse in the archaeology/history literature, which will be ideal for use in courses on the collapse of civilizations, sustainability, and climate change. It includes up-to-date case studies of famous and less well-known examples of collapses, and is illustrated with 25 black and white illustrations, 3 line drawings, 16 tables and 18 maps"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1. Introducing collapse

2. Egypt : the Old Kingdom falls

3. Akkad : the end of the world's first empire

4. The Indus Valley : a truly lost civilisation?

5. The end of Minoan Crete

6. The kingdoms of Mycenaean Greece

7. The Hittites and the Eastern Mediterranean

8. The fall of the Western Roman Empire

9. Collapse and revolution in Mesoamerica

10. The classic Maya collapse

11. Collapse in the Andes

12. Angkor and the Khmer

13. The incredible survival of Rapa Nui

Conclusions.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781107151499

110715149X

9781316606070

1316606074

OCLC:

957705058