Understanding Early Civilizations
A Comparative Study

The first detailed comparative study of the seven best-documented early civilizations.

Bruce G. Trigger (Author)

9780521705455, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 16 April 2007

774 pages
23.6 x 17.5 x 4.3 cm, 1.43 kg

'This book is an extraordinary undertaking and a great achievement … It provides an accessible introduction to the problems and priorities of cross-cultural comparison and approaches to early civilisations.' Antiquity

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.

Part I. Introduction: 1. Rationalism and relativism
2. Comparative studies
3. Defining 'early civilization'
4. Evidence and interpretation
Part II. Sociopolitical Organization: 5. Kingship
6. States: city and territorial
7. Urbanism
8. Class systems and social mobility
9. Family organization and gender roles
10. Administration
11. Law
12. Military organization
13. Sociopolitical constants and variables
Part III. Economy: 14. Food production
15. Land ownership
16. Trade and craft specialization
17. Appropriation of wealth
18. Economic constants and variables
Part IV. Cognitive and Symbolic Aspects: 19. Conceptions of the supernatural
20. Cosmology and cosmogony
21. Cult
22. Priests, festivals, and the politics of the supernatural
23. The individual and the universe
24. Elite art and architecture
25. Literacy and specialized knowledge
26. Values and personal aspirations
27. Cultural constants and variables
Discussion: 28. Culture and reason
29. Conclusion
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC], Archaeology [HD], General & world history [HBG]