PART I Prehistory
Chapter 1 Introducing World Prehistory
PART II The World of the First Humans
Chapter 2 Human Origins
Chapter 3 African Exodus
PART III The Birth of the Modern World
Chapter 4 Diaspora
Chapter 5 The Origins of Food Production
Chapter 6 The Earliest Farmers
Chapter 7 Chiefs and Chiefdoms
PART IV Early Civilizations
Chapter 8 State-Organized Societies
Chapter 9 Mesopotamia and the Eastern Mediterranean World
Chapter 10 Egypt and Africa
Chapter 11 South, Southeast, and East Asia
Chapter 12 Lowland Mesoamerica
Chapter 13 Highland Mesoamerica
Chapter 14 Andean Civilizations
Detailed Table of Contents
Preface
A Note on Chronologies and Measurements
About the Author
PART I PREHISTORY
1. Introducing World Prehistory
Prologue
In the Beginning
Pseudoarchaeology
Prehistory, Archaeology, and World Prehistory
Major Developments in Human Prehistory
Cyclical and Linear Time
Written Records, Oral History, and Archaeology
Studying World Prehistory
Culture
Culture History, Time and Space, and The Myth of the Ethnographic Present
Context
Time
Space
Analogy and the Ethnographic Present
SCIENCE: DATING THE PAST
Cultural Process and Past Lifeways
The Mechanisms of Culture Change
Culture as Adaptation
Multilinear Cultural Evolution
SITE: ANCIENT WAR CASUALTIES AT THEBES, EGYPT
SCIENCE: ANCIENT SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
Cultural Traditions and Cultural Change
Intangibles: Ideology and Interaction
Ideology and Beliefs
Interactions
Summary
PART II THE WORLD OF THE FIRST HUMANS
CHAPTER 2 Human Origins
Prologue
The Great Ice Age (1.8 million to 15,000 years ago)
Early Primate Evolution and Adaptation
The Order Primates
Coming Down from the Trees
The Fossil Evidence for Human Evolution (7 million to 1.5 million years ago)
The Earliest Hominin?
SCIENCE: POTASSIUM ARGON DATING
What Is Australopithecus?
Ardipithecus ramidus
From Ardipithecus to Australopithecus
All Kinds of Australopithecines (3 million to 2.5 million years ago)
Gracile Australopithecines: Australopithecus africanus
Robust Australopithecines: A. aethiopicus, A. boisei, and A. robustus
Australopithecus garhi
Early Homo: Homo habilis (2.5 million to 2 million years ago)
A Burst of Rapid Change?
Who Was the First Human?
SITE: OLDUVAI GORGE, TANZANIA
The Earliest Human Toolmakers
Hunters or Scavengers?
The Earliest Human Mind
The Development of Language
The Earliest Social Organization
Summary
CHAPTER 3 African Exodus
Prologue
Ice Age Background
Homo ergaster in Africa (c. 1.9 million to c. 600,000 years ago)
Humans Radiate out of Africa
Homo erectus in Europe and Asia
The Lifeway of Homo erectus
Archaic Human Lifeways
SITE: SCHONINGEN, GERMANY
Bamboo and Choppers in Tropical Forests
Language
Archaic Homo sapiens (c. 600,000 to 130,000 years ago)
The Neanderthals (c. 200,000 to 30,000 years ago)
SCIENCE: DNA AND ARCHAEOLOGY
The Origins of Modern Humans (?c. 180,000 to 150,000 years ago)
Continuity or Replacement?
Molecular Biology and Homo sapiens
Ecology and Homo sapiens
Out of Tropical Africa
Summary
PART III THE BIRTH OF THE MODERN WORLD
CHAPTER 4 Diaspora
Prologue
The Late Ice Age World (50,000 to 15,000 years ago)
The Peopling of Southeast Asia and Australia (45,000 to 15,000 years ago)
SITE: EXOTIC ISLANDERS: HOMO FLORESIENSIS
SCIENCE: RADIOCARBON DATING
Late Ice Age Europe: The Cro-Magnons (c. 43,000 to 15,000 years ago)
Subsistence
Cro-Magnon Technology
The World's First Art
Hunter-Gatherers in Eurasia (45,000 to 15,000 years ago)
SITE: GROTTE DE CHAUVET, FRANCE
East Asia (35,000 to 15,000 years ago)
Sinodonty and Sundadonty
Early Human Settlement of Northeast Siberia (?before 25,000 to 15,000 years ago)
The First Americans (?before 15,000 years ago to 11,000 B.C.)
Settlement before 30,000 Years Ago?
SITE: MONTE VERDE, CHILE
Settlement after 15,000 Years Ago?
The Clovis People (c. 11,200 to 11,000 B.C.)
Summary
CHAPTER 5 The Origins of Food Production
Prologue
The Holocene (after 10,000 B.C.)
Changes in Hunter-Gatherer Societies
Social Complexity among Hunter-Gatherers
Theories of Farming Origins
Early Theories: Oases and Hilly Flanks
The Recovery Revolution
Multicausal Theories
SCIENCE: FLOTATION AND BOTANICAL REMAINS
SCIENCE: ACCELERATOR MASS SPECTROMETRY (AMS) RADIOCARBON DAT-ING
Population and Resources Theories
Ecological Theories
The Consequences of Food Production
Differing Dates and Why
Changes in Human Life
Nutrition and Early Food Production
Summary
CHAPTER 6 The Earliest Farmers
Prologue
Domesticating Animals
Domesticating Wheat and Barley
Southwest Asian Farmers (c. 10,000 to 5000 B.C.)
SITE: MEN'S AND WOMEN'S WORK AT ABU HUREYRA, SYRIA
SITE: RITUAL BUILDINGS IN SOUTHEASTERN TURKEY
Early Egyptian and African Farmers (earlier than 7000 to 1000 B.C.)
European Farmers (c. 6500 to 3000 B.C.)
SITE: EASTON DOWN AND THE AVEBURY LANDSCAPE, ENGLAND
Early Agriculture in Asia (before 6000 B.C.)
Rice Cultivation in Southern China
First Farmers in Northern China
Early American Agriculture (8000 B.C. onward)
Mesoamerica: Guila Naquitz and Early Cultivation
Maize
Andean Farmers
Summary
CHAPTER 7 Chiefs and Chiefdoms
Prologue
Reciprocity and Big Men
Chiefs and Navigators in the Pacific (2000 B.C. to modern times)
The American Southwest (300 B.C. to modern times)
Hohokam, Mogollon, and Ancestral Pueblo
SCIENCE: DENDROCHRONOLOGY (TREE-RING DATING)
Moundbuilders in Eastern North America (2000 B.C. to A.D. 1650)
Adena and Hopewell
The Mississippian Tradition
SITE: MOUNDVILLE, ALABAMA
Summary
PART IV EARLY CIVILIZATIONS
CHAPTER 8 State-Organized Societies
Prologue
What Is a State-Organized Society?
Cities
Theories of the Origins of States
The Urban Revolution
Early Ecological Models
Technology and Trade
SCIENCE: OBSIDIAN SOURCING
Warfare
Cultural Systems and Civilization
Environmental Change
Social Approaches: Power in Three Domains
Factionalism and Ideology
People as Agents of Change
The Collapse of Civilizations
Summary
CHAPTER 9 Mesopotamia and the Eastern Mediterranean World
Prologue
Origins (5500 to 3000 B.C.)
SITE: THE TEMPLE AT ERIDU, IRAQ
The First Cities: Uruk
Writing and Metallurgy
Sumerian Civilization (c. 3100 to 2334 B.C.)
VOICES: THE SUMERIANS
Akkadians and Babylonians (2334 to 1650 B.C.)
Hittites and Sea Traders (1650 to 1200 B.C.)
The Hittites
Uluburun and Maritime Trade
Iron Technology
Minoans and Mycenaeans (1900 to 1200 B.C.)
Minoan Civilization (1900 to 1400 B.C.)
Mycenaean Civilization (1600 to 1200 B.C.)
Sea Peoples and Phoenicians (1200 to 800 B.C.)
Assyrians and Babylonians (900 to 539 B.C.)
Summary
CHAPTER 10 Egypt and Africa
Prologue
Predynastic Egypt: Ancient Monopoly (5000 to 3100 B.C.)
SCIENCE: ANCIENT WINE AT ABYDOS
Dynastic Egyptian Civilization (c. 3000 to 30 B.C.)
Archaic Egypt and the Great Culture (3000 to 2575 B.C.)
Old Kingdom (c. 2575 to 2134 B.C.)
SITE: THE STEP PYRAMID AT SAQQARA, EGYPT
Middle Kingdom (2040 to 1640 B.C.)
New Kingdom (1530 to 1075 B.C.)
VOICES: THE WARRIOR AHMOSE, SON OF ABANA
Late Period (1070 to 30 B.C.)
Egypt and Afrocentrism
Nubia: The Land of Kush (3000 to 633 B.C.)
Meroe and Aksum
Meroe (593 B.C. to A.D. 330)
Aksum (A.D. 100 to 1000)
Ancient African Kingdoms
The Spread of Iron (c. 500 B.C. to A.D. 250)
The Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay (c. A.D. 800 to 1550)
Great Zimbabwe (A.D. 1100 to 1500)
Summary
CHAPTER 11 South, Southeast, and East Asia
Prologue
South Asia: The Harappan Civilization (c. 2700 to 1700 B.C.)
Mature Harappan Civilization
South Asia after the Harappans (1700 to 180 B.C.)
The Origins of Chinese Civilization (2600 to 1100 B.C.)
Royal Capitals
Royal Burials
Bronzeworking
Shang Warriors
The War Lords (1100 to 221 B.C.)
Southeast Asian Civilization (A.D. 1 to 1500)
SITE: THE BURIAL MOUND OF EMPEROR SHIHUANGDI, CHINA
The Angkor State (A.D. 802 to 1430)
SITE: ANGKOR WAT, CAMBODIA
Summary
CHAPTER 12 Lowland Mesoamerica
Prologue
Beginnings: Preclassic Peoples in the Lowlands (2000 B.C. to A.D. 300)
The Olmec (1500 to 500 B.C.)
SITE: MAYA PAINTINGS AT SAN BARTOLO, GUATEMALA
The Origins of Maya Civilization (before 1000 B.C. to A.D. 300)
San Bartolo, Nakbe, and El Mirador (c. 1000 to 300 B.C.)
Kingship, Glyphs, and Political Cycles
Maya Script
Political Cycles
Classic Maya Civilization (A.D. 300 to 900)
The Rise of Tikal and Uaxactun
Caracol and Calakmul
Palenque and Copan
The Classic Maya Collapse
SITE: A TRAGEDY AT CEREN, SAN SALVADOR
SCIENCE: STUDYING THE MAYA COLLAPSE AT COPAN, HONDURAS
Postclassic Maya Civilization (A.D. 900 to 1517)
Summary
CHAPTER 13 Highland Mesoamerica
Prologue
The Rise of Highland Civilization: The Valley of Oaxaca (2000 to 500 B.C.)
Monte Alban (500 B.C. to A.D. 750)
Valley of Mexico: Teotihuacan (200 B.C. to A.D. 750)
SITE: LIFE IN TEOTIHUACAN'S BARRIOS
The Toltecs (A.D. 650 to 1200)
Aztec Civilization (A.D. 1200 to 1521)
Tenochtitlan
SITE: THE AZTEC TEMPLO MAJOR AT TENOCHTITLAN
The World of the Fifth Sun
VOICES: AZTEC THOUGHTS ON HUMAN EXISTENCE
The Aztec State
The Spanish Conquest (A.D. 1517 to 1521)
Summary
CHAPTER 14 Andean Civilizations
Prologue
The Maritime Foundations of Andean Civilization
Coastal Foundations (2600 to 900 B.C.)
The Early Horizon and Chavin de Huantar (900 to 200 B.C.)
The Initial Period
The Coast (after 1800 B.C.)
Lake Titicaca Basin: Chiripa and Pukara (1000 B.C. to A.D. 100)
The Moche State (200 B.C. to A.D. 700)
SITE: THE LORDS OF SIPAN, PERU
The Middle Horizon: Tiwanaku and Wari (A.D. 600 to 1000)
Tiwanaku
Wari
The Late Intermediate Period: Sican and Chimu (A.D. 700 to 1460)
The Late Horizon: The Inca State (A.D. 1476 to 1534)
SITE: CUZCO, THE INCA CAPITAL
The Spanish Conquest (A.D. 1532 to 1534)
Summary
Epilogue
Glossary of Technical Terms
Glossary of Archaeological Sites and Cultural Terms
Guide to Further Reading
References in the Text
Photo Credits
Index
