Eurasia at the Dawn of History
Cambridge University Press, 2/28/2017
EAN 9781107147409, ISBN10: 1107147409
Hardcover, 488 pages, 26 x 18.5 x 3.1 cm
Language: English
Our current world is characterized by life in cities, the existence of social inequalities, and increasing individualization. When and how did these phenomena arise? What was the social and economic background for the development of hierarchies and the first cities? The authors of this volume analyze the processes of centralization, cultural interaction, and social differentiation that led to the development of the first urban centres and early state formations of ancient Eurasia, from the Atlantic coasts to China. The chronological framework spans a period from the Neolithic to the Late Iron Age, with a special focus on the early first millennium BC. By adopting an interdisciplinary approach structured around the concepts of identity and materiality, this book addresses the appearance of a range of key phenomena that continue to shape our world.
Part I. Between Myth and Logos
1. Materialities of complexity in ancient Eurasia Manuel Fernández-Götz and Dirk Krausse
2. Cognitive archaeology and the making of the human mind Colin Renfrew
3. History of writing, history of rationality David Olson
4. The impact of social differentiation on identity
lights and shadows of the individualization process Almudena Hernando
5. The Neolithic conquest of the Mediterranean Jean Guilaine
6. Low-density urbanism
the case of the Trypillia group of Ukraine John Chapman and Bisserka Gaydarska
7. From the Neolithic to the Iron Age – demography and social agglomeration
the development of centralized control? Johannes Müller
8. Early state formation from a big history point of view Fred Spier
9. Reframing ancient economies
new models, new questions Gary Feinman
10. How can archaeologists identify early cities? Definitions, types, and attributes Michael E. Smith
11. Towns between de-territorialisation and networking
on the dynamics of urbanization in the global context Hans-Peter Hahn
Part II. Ancient Civilizations at the Turn of the Axis
12. Egypt in the 'axial age' Jan Assmann
13. Conservative vs innovative cultural areas in the Near East Mario Liverani
14. Elite burials in first-millennium BC China
towards individualization Alain Thote
15. Giant tumuli of the Iron Age
tradition – monumentality – knowledge transfer Svend Hansen
Part III. Times of Connectivity
The Mediterranean on the Move
16. Agency, structure, and the unconscious in the longue durée John Bintliff
17. Phoenicians abroad
from merchant venturers to colonists MarÃÂa Eugenia Aubet
18. Spheres of interaction
temperate Europe and the Mediterranean world in the Iron Age John E. Collis
Part IV. Early Urban Cultures from South to North
19. The determinacy of space and state formation in archaic Greece Jonathan M. Hall
20. Intercultural networks and urbanization in Southern Italy in the early Iron Age Massimo Osanna
21. Power and place in Etruria Simon Stoddart
22. Urbanization processes and cultural change in the early Iron Age of Central Europe Manuel Fernández-Götz and Dirk Krausse
23. Founding rituals and myths in the Keltiké MartÃÂn Almagro-Gorbea
Part V. Changing Symbols, Changing Minds?
24. Phase transition, axial age, and axis displacement
from the Hallstatt to the La Tène culture Rudolf Echt
25. Early Celtic art in context Otto-Herman Frey
26. Images, ornament, and cognition in early La Tène Europe
a new style for a changing world Peter S. Wells
27. The network genesis of the La Tène cultures
a western point of view Pierre-Yves Milcent.