The Emergence of Civilisation: From Hunting and Gathering to Agriculture, Cities, and the State of the Near East - Softcover

Maisels, Charles Keith

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0415096596 ISBN 13: 9780415096591

Publisher: Routledge, 1993

Synopsis

The Emergence of Civilisation is a major contribution to our understanding of the development of urban culture and social stratification in the Near Eastern region. Charles Maisels argues that our present assumptions about state formation, based on nineteenth century speculations, are wrong. His investigation illuminates the changes in scale, complexity and hierarchy which accompany the development of civilisation. The book draws conclusions about the dynamics of social change and the processes of social evolution in general, applying those concepts to the rise of Greece and Rome, and to the collapse of the classical Mediterranean world.

About this title

Review:

"A fascinating exposition of a new approach to explain the emergence of civilization in the Tigris-Euphrates valley. Coming from an anthropological perspective, Maisels provides a wide-ranging and penetrating analysis of the developmental process which brought agriculture, towns, and cities into being."
-"Religious Studies Review

From the Back Cover:

The Emergence of Civilization argues that our present assumptions about state formation, based on nineteenth-century speculation, are wrong. Charles Maisels integrates archaeology, ecology and textual history into a new anthropological perspective.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0415096596
• ISBN 13: 9780415096591
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416