Contents
Preface xii
Chapter 1: Prehistory, History, and Archaeology 1
What Are Archaeologists Looking For? (The Meaning of the Past) 2
Archaeology as the Reconstruction of Extinct Cultures and Their Histories 5
Archaeology as a Body of Theories and Methods for Explaining the Past 11
A Short History of Attempts to Understand the Past 12
Summary and Conclusions 32
Chapter 2: Fundamentals of Archaeology 41
Archaeologists and the Practice of Archaeology 41
The Basic Data of the Past 43
Analyses of the Past 57
Dating the Past 65
Summary and Conclusions 72
Chapter 3: The Origins of Culture 83
The Problem of Cultural Origins 83
The Nature of Culture 84
The Ecological Context of Cultural Origins 97
Models of Cultural Origins 115
Summary and Conclusions 122
Chapter 4: The Origins of Homo sapiens sapiens 132
Human Evolution and Radiation: 1.8? million to Circa 300,000 Years Ago 133
Homo sapiens: Models of Origins 145
The Middle to Upper Paleolithic Period 157
Human Colonization of the World: Circa 30,000 –10,000 Years Ago 172
Summary and Conclusions 179
Chapter 5: The First Americans 194
Routes for the Initial Colonization of the Americas 196
Evidence for the First Americans 207
Early Paleoindian Economies 217
Summary and Conclusions 222
Chapter 6: The Origins of Agriculture 228
Agriculture, Domestication, and Sedentary Communities 231
Hypotheses About the Origins of Domestication, Agriculture, and Sedentary Communities 235
Early Domestication and Agriculture: The Post-Paleolithic Background 243
The Origins of Domestication, Agriculture, and Sedentary Communities in Southwest Asia 246
Other Old World Domesticates 260
Agricultural Origins in the New World 262
Summary and Conclusions 269
Chapter 7: The Evolution of Complex Societies 279
Social Complexity and Human Values 284
Traditional Sociocultural Typologies 286
Contemporary Approaches to Sociocultural Typology 290
The Archaeology of Complex Societies 292
Explaining the Evolution of Civilizations: The Search for Causes 298
Summary and Conclusions 316
Chapter 8: Origins of Complex Societies in Southwest Asia 324
The Ecological Setting 325
Fundamentals of the Southwest Asian Archaeological Record 328
The Neolithic Origins of Southwest Asian Civilization 329
Initial Cultural Complexity 334
Early States: The Uruk and Jemdet Nasr Periods 341
The Early Dynastic Period 349
Southwest Asia After 2350 B.C. 356
Summary and Conclusions 358
Chapter 9: The Origins of Complex Societies in Egypt 368
The Ecological Setting 370
Early Egyptian Agriculture 373
The Predynastic Period 375
The Archaic, Old Kingdom, and First Intermediate Periods 377
The Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Periods 384
The New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Periods 385
Ancient Egyptian Art and Thought 389
Egyptian Writing and Literature 391
Who Were the Ancient Egyptians? 395
Summary and Conclusions 396
Chapter 10: The Evolution of Complex Societies in the Indus Valley 405
The Ecological Setting 407
The Neolithic Background to South Asian Cultural Complexity 409
The Neolithic–Urban Transition 411
Early Harappan Culture 412
Mature Harappan Civilization 415
The Decline of Harappan Civilization 422
Summary and Conclusions 424
Chapter 11: The Evolution of Complex Societies in China 432
The Ecological Setting 434
Early Farmers 435
Regional Neolithic Developments in North China 437
Early Complex Chinese Societies 440
Erh-li-t’ou Culture 443
Shang Civilization and Its Contemporaries 445
Early Imperial China 449
Summary and Conclusions 451
Chapter 12: Later Complex Societies of the Old World 456
Temperate Europe 458
A Brief Overview of Other Later Old World Complex Societies 468
Colonization of the Western Pacific Islands 471
Summary and Conclusions 475
Chapter 13: The Evolution of Complex Societies in Mesoamerica 481
The Ecological Setting 484
Early Mesoamerican Farming 485
The Archaeological Record of Early Complex Mesoamerican Societies 486
The Archaeological Record of Mesoamerican States in the Valleys of Mexico and Oaxaca 496
The Maya 501
Postclassic Mesoamerica 516
The Spanish Conquest 523
Summary and Conclusions 523
Chapter 14: The Evolution of Complex Societies in Andean South America 533
The Ecological Setting 536
Early Hunters and Gatherers 537
The Agricultural Basis of Andean Civilization 538
The First Complex Societies in Andean South America 539
The Early Horizon 546
The Early Intermediate Period: Early States 549
The Middle Horizon: Competing States 552
The Late Intermediate Period: Early Empires 554
The Late Horizon: The Imperial Transformation 554
The European Conquest 557
Summary and Conclusions 558
Chapter 15: Early Cultural Complexity in North America 565
The Ecological Setting 568
The North American East 569
The North American Southwest 583
Summary and Conclusions 594
Chapter 16: Prehistory in Perspective 601
Our Intellectual Heritage 601
Lessons of Prehistory 606
The Future of Archaeology 609
Art Credits 611
Index 615
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