The Breakout: The Origins of Civilization
For much of the twentieth century, Mesopotamia was thought to he the singular “Cradle of Civilization,” and the agents of change that brought it about were thought to be demographic, ecological, and technological. Bronze Age Mesopotamian accomplishments were believed to have diffused outward, influencing the development of civilization in the rest of the world. Part of this Mesopocentric view was revised as archaeological evidence revealed that other unique civilizations had existed in both the Old and New Worlds, but the traditional Near Eastern pattern of development continued to serve as a model.

In the mid-1980s, however, Harvard’s Kwang-chih Chang proposed in Symbols—a publication of Harvard’s Peabody Museum and Department of Anthropology—that China’s first civilization did not evolve according to the conventional Mesopotamian model and argued instead for a new paradigm for understanding the origins of civilization in ancient China and the New World.

In this collection of subsequent Symbols articles and other essays, Maya and Near Eastern studies specialists engage in a stimulating debate of Chang’s thesis, also presented here.

1101406009
The Breakout: The Origins of Civilization
For much of the twentieth century, Mesopotamia was thought to he the singular “Cradle of Civilization,” and the agents of change that brought it about were thought to be demographic, ecological, and technological. Bronze Age Mesopotamian accomplishments were believed to have diffused outward, influencing the development of civilization in the rest of the world. Part of this Mesopocentric view was revised as archaeological evidence revealed that other unique civilizations had existed in both the Old and New Worlds, but the traditional Near Eastern pattern of development continued to serve as a model.

In the mid-1980s, however, Harvard’s Kwang-chih Chang proposed in Symbols—a publication of Harvard’s Peabody Museum and Department of Anthropology—that China’s first civilization did not evolve according to the conventional Mesopotamian model and argued instead for a new paradigm for understanding the origins of civilization in ancient China and the New World.

In this collection of subsequent Symbols articles and other essays, Maya and Near Eastern studies specialists engage in a stimulating debate of Chang’s thesis, also presented here.

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The Breakout: The Origins of Civilization

The Breakout: The Origins of Civilization

by Martha Lamberg-Karlovsky (Editor)
The Breakout: The Origins of Civilization

The Breakout: The Origins of Civilization

by Martha Lamberg-Karlovsky (Editor)

Paperback(New Edition)

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Overview

For much of the twentieth century, Mesopotamia was thought to he the singular “Cradle of Civilization,” and the agents of change that brought it about were thought to be demographic, ecological, and technological. Bronze Age Mesopotamian accomplishments were believed to have diffused outward, influencing the development of civilization in the rest of the world. Part of this Mesopocentric view was revised as archaeological evidence revealed that other unique civilizations had existed in both the Old and New Worlds, but the traditional Near Eastern pattern of development continued to serve as a model.

In the mid-1980s, however, Harvard’s Kwang-chih Chang proposed in Symbols—a publication of Harvard’s Peabody Museum and Department of Anthropology—that China’s first civilization did not evolve according to the conventional Mesopotamian model and argued instead for a new paradigm for understanding the origins of civilization in ancient China and the New World.

In this collection of subsequent Symbols articles and other essays, Maya and Near Eastern studies specialists engage in a stimulating debate of Chang’s thesis, also presented here.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780873659109
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Publication date: 05/25/2000
Series: Peabody Museum Monographs , #9
Edition description: New Edition
Pages: 152
Product dimensions: 7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.35(d)

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction: In the Beginning

Martha Lamberg-Karlovsky

1. Ancient China and Its Anthropological Significance

Kwang-chih Chang

2. The Near Eastern "Breakout" and the Mesopotamian Social Contract

C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky

3. Ancient Chinese, New World, and Near Eastern Ideological Traditions: Some Observations

Gordon R. Willey

4. On Theories of Order and Justice in the Development of Civilization

David H. P. Maybury-Lewis

5. Sacred Landscape and Maya Kingship

Linda Schele

6. The Indo-European Origins of the Concept of a Democratic Society

Mason Hammond

7. How Was Ancient Israel Different?

William G. Dever

8. Absolutism and Reciprocity in Ancient Egypt

Mark Lehner

9. Harappan Beginnings

Gregory L. Possehl

10. Orientalism and Near Eastern Archaeology

Mogens Trolle Larsen

Index

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