Cover (The Human Past_World Prehistory and
the Development of
Human Societies)
Front Matter
Title Page
Copyright
Brief Contents
Contents
Contributors
Preface
New in this Edition
Organization of the Book
Special Features
Student and Instructor Resources
A Note on Dating
Reviewers
1 Introduction: The Study of the Human Past: Chris Scarre, Durham University
What Is Archaeology?
Prehistory vs. History
The Relevance of World Archaeology
A Brief History of Archaeology
Renaissance Beginnings
Advances in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth
Centuries: The First Excavations
Developments in the Nineteenth Century:
Understanding Chronology and Evolution
Methods and Techniques
Dating
Radiocarbon Dating
Potassium-Argon Dating
Uranium-Series
Electron Spin Resistance
Luminescence Dating
Paleomagnetism
Tree-Ring Dating
Other Field and Laboratory Methods
Reconstructing Ancient Environments
Genetics in Archaeology
Archaeological Fieldwork
Archaeological Theory
Processual and Postprocessual Archaeology
Cultural Ecology and Agency Theory
Common Models in Archaeology
Innovation, Diffusion, Emulation, and Migration
Key Themes: Humans in Long-Term Perspective 38 Linear and Cyclical Patterns
Linear and Cyclical Patterns
The Responsibilities of Archaeology
Summary and Conclusions
Further Reading and Suggested Websites
Part I The Evolution of Humanity: 6 million to 11,600 years ago
2 African Origins: Nicholas Toth and Kathy Schick, Indiana University
Evolution and Human Origins
The Human Evolutionary Record
The Primate Ancestors of Apes and Humans
What Is a Primate?
Our Ape Ancestry: The Comparative Anatomical
and Genetic Evidence
Anatomical Evidence
Genetic Evidence
The Environmental Background
Key Discovery: Ardipithecus ramidus and Other Early Fossils
Climate Change and Early Hominin Evolution
The Rise of the Earliest Hominins
Key Theme: Climate Change Evolutionary Change
The Australopithecines
The Emergence of Homo: Homo habilis, Homo ergaster,
and Homo rudolfensis
Key Sites: Hadar and Laetoli: “Lucy,” the “First Family,”
and Fossil Footsteps
The First Stone Tools and the Oldowan
Technology
Who Made the Oldowan Tools?
Key Site: Olduvai Gorge: The Grand Canyon of Prehistory
The Nature of Oldowan Sites
Key Controversy: Modern Apes as Oldowan
Toolmakers?
Key Discovery: Australopithecus garhi: The First
Stone Toolmaker?
Food Procurement and Diet
Hunters or Scavengers?
Food for Thought: Diet and Encephalization
The Behavior of Oldowan Hominins
Social Organization
Diet
Fire
Art, Ritual, and Language
Recent Trends in Approaches to the Oldowan
Isotopic Studies
Key Controversy: What Were Oldowan Tools
Used For?
Summary and Conclusions
Further Reading
3 Hominin Dispersals in the Old World: Richard Klein, Stanford University
Homo ergaster
Anatomy
The Turkana Boy
Human Evolution and Inferences from the
Turkana Boy
Key Controversy: Distinguishing Homo Ergaster
and Homo Erectus
The Acheulean
The Acheulean Hand Axe Tradition
Key Discovery: The Acheulean Hand Axe
Tradition
Hand Axe Function
Variation within the Acheulean Tradition
The Dispersal of Homo ergaster
The Initial Expansion of Homo ergaster from Africa
The Expansion of Homo ergaster to Eurasia:
The Dmanisi Discoveries
Key Controversy: The “Hobbit”: Homo floresiensis,
a Unique Species?
Dating the Dmanisi Fossils
Homo erectus
The Discovery and Dating of Homo erectus in Java
and China
China and the Peking Man
The Movius Line
Key Theme: Climate Change Human Evolution and Adaptability
The Persistence and Fate of Homo erectus
Homo heidelbergensis and the Initial Occupation
of Europe
Key Controversy: When Did Humans First Colonize Europe?
Key Site: The Gran Dolina TD6 and the
History of Cannibalism
Brain Expansion and Change within the
Hand Axe Tradition
Key Theme: Migration Homo Ergaster As the First Afro-Eurasian Hominin
The European Origin of the Neanderthals
Evidence for Early Human Behavior
apart from Stone Artifacts
Other Raw Materials
Site Modification and Housing
Fire
Art
Diet and Food Procurement
Plant Foods: Foraging
Key Controversy: Is Homo Erectus Represented by DNA From Denisova Cave?
Animal Foods: Hunting and Scavenging
Key Site: The Mystery of Dinaledi Cave and Homo naledi
Summary and Conclusions
Further Reading and Suggested Websites
4 The Rise of Modern Humans: Paul Pettitt, Durham University
The Climatic Background
Competing Hypotheses for the Origin
of Homo sapiens
The Multi-Regional Evolution Hypothesis
The Out of Africa Hypothesis
Other Hypotheses and Attempts at Consensus
Key Theme: Climate Change Oscillations and Human Dispersal
Evidence for the Rise of Modern Humans
in Africa
Earliest Homo sapiens
Transitional Homo sapiens
Anatomically Modern Humans
Genetic Keys to the Origins of Modern Humans
Mitochondrial DNA and the Theory of an
Early African “Coalescence”
Other Theories and Potential Consensus
Mitochondrial DNA and the Evolution of
Homo neanderthalensis
Archaeology and the Emergence of “Modern”
Behavior in Middle Stone Age Africa
Hunting and Dietary Evidence
Key Site: Klasies River Mouth: Middle Stone Age Hunters?
Evidence of Site Modification and Art
Key Controversy: The Evolution of Language
The Neanderthals
Key Site: Blombos Cave and the
Origins of Symbolism
The Anatomy of Homo neanderthalensis
Exploitation of Resources: Hunting, Gathering,
and Scavenging
The Mousterian Lithic Industry
Neanderthal Behavior
Key Discovery: The Neanderthal Genome
Early Dispersals of Homo sapiens into
the Levantine Corridor
Key Theme: Migration Changing Pleistocene Environments Drove Human Dispersals
The Colonization of East Asia and Australia
The Colonization of Europe, and the Middle to
Upper Paleolithic Transition
The Aurignacian
Key Controversy: The Initial Upper Paleolithic and the Emergence of Modern Behavior
The End of the Neanderthals and their Relationship
to Incoming Homo sapiens
Developments in Human Behavior: The European
Mid- and Later Upper Paleolithic
The Gravettian
Gravettian Behavior
Key Sites: Four Sites with Upper Paleolithic Art
The Magdalenian and Mezinian
Key Controversy: The Meaning of “Venus” Figurines
Summary and Conclusions
Further Reading and Suggested Websites
5 The Origins, Antiquity, and Dispersal of the First Americans: David J. Meltzer, Southern Methodist University
Pleistocene Bridges and Barriers to America
(35,000–11,600 Years Ago)
The Archaeology of Beringia
Colonization Complexities
Key Discovery: Genetics and the First Americans
When and How
Key Sites: Pushing the Antiquity Envelope: Folsom, Clovis, and Monte Verde
Key Theme: Migration Motives and Methods
Learning New Landscapes
The Clovis Occupation of North America
(13,400–12,600 Years Ago)
Key Theme: Climate Change The Effects of Climate Change on the First Americans
North America after Clovis
Key Controversy: Pleistocene Extinctions
The Earliest South Americans
Adapting to Diversity
Summary and Conclusions
Changes on the Horizon
Further Reading
Part II After the Ice Age: 11,600 years ago to the Early Civilizations
6 The World Transformed: From Foragers and Farmers to States and Empires: Chris Scarre, Durham University
From Glacial to Postglacial
Climate Change and Faunal Extinction at the End
of the Pleistocene
The Early Holocene Environment
Hunter-Gatherer Adaptations to the Holocene
The Adoption of Agriculture
What Is Agriculture?
The Development of Domesticates
The Geography of Domestication
Key Theme: Domestication The Domestication of the Dog
Why Agriculture?
Key Controversy: Explaining Agriculture
The Spread of Agriculture
The Consequences of Agriculture
Settlement
Social Complexity
Material Culture
Warfare
Agricultural Intensification
Cities, States, and Empires
Key Controversy: Cities, States, and Civilizations Defined and Explained
The Development of States
The Geography of State Formation
Archaeological Features of States
Toward History: The Adoption of Writing
States and Empires
Summary and Conclusions
Further Reading and Suggested Website
7 From Mobile Foragers to Complex Societies In Southwest Asia: Trevor Watkins, University of Edinburgh
Terminologies in Southwest Asia
Landscapes and Environments of Southwest Asia:
Defining the “Core Area”
Changing Climate and Environments
A Crescendo of Change (20,000–8800 bce)
The Epipaleolithic in the Levant
(c. 20,000–9600 bce)
Key Controversy: Explaining the Neolithic Revolution
Key Theme: Climate Change
Environmental Shocks in Southwest Asia
The Natufians in the Late Epipaleolithic Levant
Key Site: Ohalo II: Epipaleolithic Lifeways in the
Levant
The Epipaleolithic beyond the South Levant
Key Site: Abu Hureyra: The Transition from Foraging to Farming
The Early Aceramic Neolithic: A Burst of New,
Permanent Settlements
Key Site: Jerf el Ahmar: A Neolithic Village
Pre-Domestic Cultivation
A Cascade of Rapid Change: The Later Aceramic
Neolithic (8800–6500 bce)
Settlements and Communities
Key Site: Göbekli Tepe: Religious Structures
at a “Central Place”
Special Buildings for Special Purposes
Ritual Cycles of Burial, Skull Retrieval,
and Curation
Key Site: Çatalhöyük
Regional and Supra-Regional Networks of Sharing
and Exchange
Key Theme: Domestication A Story of Unintended Consequences
Transformation, Dispersal, and Expansion
(6500–6000 bce)
The Levant
Central and West Anatolia
Key Site: Tell Sabi Abyad I
What Was the Cause of Dispersal and Expansion?
Summary and Conclusions
Further Reading and Suggested Websites
8 East Asian Agriculture and Its Impact: Charles Higham, University of Otago
Northern China
The Origins of Millet Cultivation: The Yellow River
Valley to 7000 bce
The Development of Permanent Villages in the Yellow
River Valley (c. 7000–5000 bce)
Key Site: Jiahu: The Transition to Agriculture in the
Huai River Valley
Key Theme: Domestication The Consequences and Significance of Agriculture
The Growth of Agricultural Communities
(c. 5000–2600 bce): Neolithic Cultures in the
Yellow River Valley
Central Plains and the Loess Plateau: The Yangshao
Culture (c. 5000–3000 bce)
The Middle Yangshao (c. 4000–3500 bce)
Eastern China: The Dawenkou Culture
(c. 4150–2600 bce)
The Yangzi Valley
The Origins of Rice Cultivation in the
Yangzi River Valley
Gathering Wild Rice: Yuchanyang
The Transition from Wild to Cultivated Rice:
Diaotonghuan and Xianrendong
Key Controversy: The Origins of Rice Cultivation
The Development of Permanent Villages
in the Yangzi Valley
The Middle Yangzi Valley
The Lower Yangzi Valley
Summary: The Origins of Rice Domestication
Key Site: Tianluoshan
The Expansion of Neolithic Settlement
in the Yangzi River Valley
The Daxi Culture (c. 4500–3300 bce)
The Qujialing Culture (c. 3300–2500 bce)
The Lower Yangzi Region: The Majiabang and
Songze Cultures (c. 5000–3300 bce)
The Expansion of Rice and Millet Farmers
The Expansion of Farmers into Southeast Asia
Initial Dispersal into Southern China
From Southern China into Vietnam
Early Rice Farmers in Northeast Thailand
Key Site: Man Bac
Cambodia and the Dong Nai River
The Bangkok Plain
Khok Phanom Di
Key Site: Ban Non Wat: Hunter-Gatherers and
Early Rice Farmers
The Expansion of Farmers into Korea and Japan
Korea
Key Theme: Social Inequality The Role of Agriculture and Metallurgy
Japan
Yayoi Rice Farmers
Key Discovery: Sedentism without Agriculture
Summary and Conclusions
Further Reading and Suggested Websites
9 Australia and the Indo-pacific Islands During the Holocene: Peter Bellwood, Australian National University, and Peter Hiscock, Sydney University
Australia
Early Foragers in a Changing Landscape
Key Site: South Molle Quarry: Aboriginal Foragers
at the End of the Ice Age
Technology in Uncertain Times
Changing Life in Tasmania
Key Controversy: Explaining Technological Change in Australia
Changes in Aboriginal Perceptions of the Landscape:
The Rainbow Serpent
Key Controversy: Why Did the Tasmanians Stop Eating Fish?
The Growth of Trade Networks
Population and Settlement Change
The Effects of Historic Foreign Contacts
Key Site: Barlambidj: Aboriginal Contact with
Southeast Asia
The Indo-Pacific Islands of Southeast Asia
and Oceania
The First Homo sapiens in Island Southeast Asia
Early Agriculturalists in New Guinea
The Austronesian Dispersal
Key Discovery: Early Farming in the New Guinea Highlands
A Basic History of the Austronesian Languages
The Archaeology of Early Austronesian Dispersal
Taiwan
Further Dispersals into Island Southeast Asia and
to Madagascar
Recent Debate over Movement through Taiwan
The Colonization of Oceania: Lapita
Key Site: Beinan and the Jade Trade
Lapita Economy
The Settlement of Polynesia
Key Controversy: The Origins of Lapita 285
Eastern Polynesia
Key Sites: Talepakemalai and Teouma
Key Controversy: Expert Navigation or Sheer Good Luck?
Why Migrate?
Key Controversy: Easter Island and South America
The Austronesian World after Colonization
Polynesian Complex Societies: Easter Island
and Elsewhere
Hawai‘i and New Zealand: Varying Social Responses
to Environmental Constraints
Key Theme: Climate Change Human Impact,
Environmental Change, and Migration
The Chiefdoms of Polynesia: Comparative Ethnographic Perspectives
Theories of Social Evolution
Seaborne Trade and the Transformation
of Tribal Society in Southeast Asia
Summary and Conclusions
Further Reading
10 Origins of Food-producing Economies: David L. Browman and Gayle J. Fritz, Washington University in St. Louis, and BrieAnna S. Langlie, Binghamton University, New York
The Mexican Archaic and the Origins of
Mesoamerican Agriculture, c. 9500–2500 bce
The Earliest Cultigens
Eastern North America
Early to Middle Archaic, c. 9500–4000 bce
Key Theme: Climate Change Changing Climates and Early Agricultural Developments in the Americas
Key Site: Koster: An Archaic Camp in Illinois
The Beginnings of Agriculture in the Middle
and Late Archaic
Key Sites: Watson Brake and Poverty Point,
Louisiana
Late Archaic Lifeways and Social Elaborations
(c. 4000–1000 bce)
The Carlston Annis Shell Mound in West Central
Kentucky
Horr’s Island, Florida
The Earliest Pottery
Key Discovery: The Archaic Dog
Early Woodland Period, c. 1000–200 bce
Later Agricultural Developments
Tobacco
Southwest North America
The Archaic Period (c. 7500 bce–1 ce)
Agricultural Beginnings
The Economic Impact of Maize and Other Crops
Key Controversy: The Domestication of Maize
Models of Agricultural Adoption and Dispersal
Later Agricultural Developments and Systems
Western North America: Alternatives to
Agriculture
Great Plains Bison Hunting
The Pacific Northwest Maritime Cultures
The Great Basin Desert Archaic
The Archaic Period in California
The South American Pacific Lowlands
The North Pacific Coast
The Peruvian Coast
North Coast
South Coast
Key Theme: Migration Early Agricultural Developments in the Americas
The Chilean Coast
Key Sites: La Paloma and Chilca: Archaic Villages of the Peruvian Coast
Key Discovery: The Chinchorro Mummies
Southern Chile and Southern Argentina
The Andean Highlands
The Northern Andes
The Central Andes
Northern Peru
Central Peru
Southern Peru
The Southern Andes
Andean Animal and Plant Domestication
Key Site: Caral and Norte Chico
The Amazonian Lowlands
The Atlantic Lowlands
Summary and Conclusions
Further Reading
11 Holocene Africa: Graham Connah, Australian National University
Intensified Hunting, Gathering, and Fishing, c. 9000–5000 bCE
Southern and Central Africa
Southern African Rock Art
Key Controversy: Symbolism in Southern African Rock Art
Northern, Eastern, and Western Africa
North Africa and the Sahara
Key Controversy: Climate and Adaptation in the Sahara
East Africa
West Africa
Key Theme: Domestication Agriculture for a Broad Range of Environments
The Beginnings of Farming
The Sahara
The Nile Valley
West Africa
Northeast and East Africa
Ironworking and Early Farming in Central
and Southern Africa
Movements of Bantu-Speaking Peoples
Ironworking Farmers
Key Controversy: The Origins of African Ironworking
Key Discovery: Nok: Unique Sculptures by Forgotten People
Domesticated Plants and Animals
Interaction between Hunter-Gatherers
and Farmers
Urbanization and Social Complexity in
Ancient Egypt
The Predynastic Period
The Early Dynastic Period
The Old Kingdom
The First and Second Intermediate Periods
and the Middle Kingdom
Key Discovery: Insights from the Pyramids
The New Kingdom and After
Key Theme: Urbanization The Concept of Urbanization in Africa
Urbanization and State Formation
in the Rest of Africa
Nubia and Ethiopia
Kerma
Napata and Meroë
Aksum
North and West Africa
Key Sites: Ethiopia’s Rock-Cut Churches
Key Site: Old Jarma: Urbanism in the Middle
of Nowhere
Eastern, Southern, and Central Africa
The Swahili Coast
Key Site: Great Zimbabwe
The Zimbabwe Plateau
Remoter Parts of Central Africa
Africa and the World
The Mediterranean, Southwest Asia,
and the Red Sea
The Indian Ocean
Key Site: Igbo-Ukwu
Key Site: Quseir al-Qadim and the
Indian Ocean Trade
The Atlantic Coast
Summary and Conclusions
Further Reading and Suggested Websites
12 Holocene Europe: Chris Scarre, Durham University
From Foraging to Farming
After the Ice: Europe Transformed
Key Site: Star Carr: A Mesolithic Campsite in Northeast England
Farming Comes to Europe
Key Theme: Migration The Spread of Farming to Europe
Southeastern Europe
The First Neolithic Settlements,
c. 6600–6000 bce
Developing Societies, c. 6000–3200 bce
Key Theme: Migration Incursions from the Steppes
Copper, Gold, and Secondary Products
Key Site: The Varna Cemetery
The Mediterranean Zone
Social Distinctions in Mediterranean Europe,
c. 3500–2500 bce
Central Europe
Key Discovery: The “Iceman”
The Bandkeramik Culture, c. 5600–5000 bce
Regional Diversification, c. 5000–3000 bce
Key Discovery: The Talheim Death Pit
Atlantic Europe
Monuments and Society
Polished Stone Axes
Key Controversy: Stonehenge: Symbolism and Ceremony
Northern Europe
Monuments and Ritual
Toward Complexity: Europe from c. 2500 bce
to the Roman Empire
Later Prehistoric Societies in Central and
Western Europe
Beaker Pottery and Metalwork
Chiefly Elites and Long-Distance Contact
Key Controversy: Rock Art—Representation of Myth or Reality?
Key Theme: Social Inequality Centers of Power in Late Hallstatt Europe
“Princely Centers”
Later Prehistoric Societies in Eastern Europe
The Earlier Bronze Age in Eastern Europe,
c. 2300–1300 bce
Urnfields, c. 1300–700 bce
European Society at the Dawn of History
European Societies beyond the Mediterranean
The So-Called “Celtic” Societies
Bog Bodies
Key Controversy: Who Were the Celts?
The Expansion of Roman Control
Summary and Conclusions
Further Reading
13 Peoples and Complex Societies of Ancient Southwest Asia: Roger Matthews, University of Reading
Farmers of the Early Chalcolithic: The Halaf
and Ubaid Periods, c. 6000–4200 bce
The Halaf Period, c. 6000–5400 bce
The Ubaid Period, c. 5900–4200 bce
Eridu
Ubaid Sites beyond Lower Mesopotamia
Key Discovery: Early Steps toward Social Complexity
on the Iranian Plateau
Urban Communities of the Late Chalcolithic:
The Uruk Period, c. 4200–3000 bce
The Lower Mesopotamian Site of Uruk:
The “First City”
Key Theme: Urbanization The World’s First True Cities
The Invention of Writing
Cylinder Seals
Uruk Expansion and Trade
City States, Kingdoms, and Empires of the
Early Bronze Age, c. 3000–2000 bce
Sumerian City States
Upper Mesopotamian, Iranian, and
Anatolian Communities
Kingdoms and Empires of the Later Third
Millennium bce
Key Site: Ebla
Commerce and Conflict in the Middle Bronze Age,
c. 2000–1650 bce
Lower Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf
Upper Mesopotamia and the Levant
Upper Mesopotamia and Anatolia,
c. 2000–1650 bce
Empires and States at War and Peace:
The Late Bronze Age, c. 1650–1185 bce
Anatolia and the Hittites
Key Site: Hattusa, Capital of the Hittites
The Levant in the Late Bronze Age
Ugarit
Upper Mesopotamia and Syria: Hurrian Mittani
Key Discovery: The Uluburun Shipwreck
The Rise of Assyria
Lower Mesopotamia: Kassite Babylonia
Elam
The End of the Late Bronze Age
New and Resurgent Powers of the Iron Age,
c. 1185–330 bce
The Levant: Philistines, Phoenicians, Neo-Hittites
The Philistines
The Phoenicians
The Neo-Hittites
The Assyrian Empire
The Levant: Israel and Judah
Anatolian States
Babylonia
The Achaemenid Empire and the Conquest
of Southwest Asia
Key Theme: Migration Small and Large Movements across Southwest Asia
Summary and Conclusions
Further Reading and Suggested Websites
14 The Mediterranean World: Susan E. Alcock and John F. Cherry, Brown University
Defining the Mediterranean, Redefining
Its Study
The Bronze Age, c. 3500–1000 bce
The Aegean Early Bronze Age
Crete
Key Theme: Social Inequality The Emergence of Social Inequality in the Mediterranean
The Cyclades
Key Controversy: Early Cycladic Marble Figures
The Greek Mainland and Troy
Minoan Crete: The Palace Period
The Palace at Knossos
Peak Sanctuaries
Life outside the Palaces
Key Site: Troy
The End of the Minoan Palaces
Mycenaean Greece: Mycenae and the
Mycenaean Kingdoms
Key Discovery: Linear B
Other Mycenaean Palaces
Overseas Influence
The End of the Aegean Bronze Age
Cultural Variety in the First Millennium bce
Greece and the Aegean
The Early Iron Age
The Orientalizing and Archaic Periods
Key Theme: Migration Human Trafficking in the Mediterranean World
The Classical Period
Key Sites: Olympia and Other Panhellenic Sanctuaries
Features of the Classical City
Key Controversy: What Did Greek Sculptures Really Look Like?
Greek Colonization
Key Site: The Necropolis at Metapontum
The Phoenicians and Phoenician Expansion
The Etruscans and the Italian Peninsula
Growing Powers, Growing Territories
Alexander and the East
The Conquests of Alexander
The Hellenistic World
Carthage and the Carthaginian Empire
Key Site: Alexandria-by-Egypt
The Rise of Rome
Growth and Crisis
A Mediterranean Empire
Rome, Center of the World
The Provinces and Frontiers
Reactions to Roman Annexation
Key Controversy: Pompeii—All Problems Solved?
Key Discovery: The Mahdia Shipwreck
The Roman Army
The Later Empire
Summary and Conclusions
Further Reading and Suggested Websites
15 South Asia: From Early Villages to Buddhism: Robin Coningham, Durham University
Land and Language
The Foundations, c. 26,000–6500 bce
Western India
The Ganga Plain
Central India
Sri Lanka
Seasonality and Mobility
Early Neolithic Villages: The First Food Producers
Western Pakistan
Kashmir and the Swat Valley
Key Site: Mehrgarh: An Early Farming Community
The Ganga Basin
Peninsular India
An Era of Regionalization: Early Harappan
Proto-Urban Forms
Kot Diji and Early Pointers toward the
Indus Civilization
Key Controversy: Foreign Contact and State Formation 1: The Indus Cities
An Era of Integration: The Indus Civilization,
c. 2600–1900 bce
A Hierarchy of Settlement Forms
Key Controversy: The Decipherment of the Indus Script
Key Theme: Social Inequality Uniformity within the Indus Civilization
Key Sites: Mohenjo-daro and Harappa
Character of the Indus Civilization
Subsistence and Trade
The Western Borderlands
An Era of Localization: The Eclipse of
the Indus Civilization, c. 1900 bce
The Core Cities
Key Theme: Migration The Aryan Migration and the End of the Indus Cities
Peripheral Areas
Gandharan Grave Culture
The Ganga–Yamuna Doab
The Western Deccan
The Re-Emergence of Regionalized Complexity,
c. 1200–500 bce
Developments in the Northwest and East
Painted Gray Ware
Key Controversy: Foreign Contact and State Formation 2: The Early Historic Cities
“Great Territories”
Southern India and Sri Lanka
Reintegration: The Early Historic Empires,
c. 500 bce–320 ce
The Mauryan Empire
Key Controversy: Early Historic Hierarchy and Heterarchies
Post-Mauryan Dynasties
The Kushan, Satavahana, and Later Dynasties
Key Controversy: Roman Contact and the Origins of Indian Ocean Trade
Summary and Conclusions
Further Reading and Suggested Websites
16 Complex Societies of East and Southeast Asia: Charles Higham, University of Otago
Early States of China
The Longshan Culture, c. 3000–1900 bce
The Xia Dynasty, c. 2070–1500 bce
The Shang Dynasty, c. 1500–1045 bce
Key Site: Zhengzhou: A Shang Capital
Key Discovery: The Origins of Chinese Writing
Southern Rivals to Shang Culture
The Western Zhou Dynasty, 1045–771 bce
Key Site: Sanxingdui
Western Zhou Bronzeworking
The Eastern Zhou Dynasty, 770–221 bce
Technological and Social Changes
Key Controversy: Confucianism and Buddhism
Key Site: Tonglushan: A Copper Mining Site
Imperial China
The Qin Dynasty, 221–207 bce
Key Controversy: The Origins of Chinese Metallurgy
The Han Dynasty, 206 bce–220 ce
Administration
Key Theme: Urbanism Feeding a State
Agriculture
Religious Beliefs
KEY Site: Mawangdui
Korea
Koguryo, 37 bce–668 ce
Paekche, 18 bce—680 ce
Silla, 37 bce–668 ce
Great Silla, 668–918 ce
Japan
Early Yamato
The Growth of Yamato Power
Decline and Civil War
The Asuka Enlightenment
The Transition from Yamato to Nara
Silk Roads
The Central Asian Silk Road
Khotan
A Maritime Silk Road
Funan, the Mekong Delta
Angkor, Cambodia
The Pyu of Burma
Key Controversy: Khao Sam Kaeo and the Origins of Southeast Asian Indianized States
The Dvaravati of Thailand
The Cham of Vietnam
Key Theme: Social Inequality Social Status and the Built Environment
Summary and Conclusions
Further Reading
17 Mesoamerican Civilization: David Webster and Susan Toby Evans, The Pennsylvania State University
The Landscape and Its Peoples
Key Discovery: The Mesoamerican Ball Game
The Spread of Agriculture and the Rise of Complex
Societies in Preclassic Mesoamerica
Early Sedentism
Key Theme: Domestication Social Consequences of Agriculture
Key Site: Paso de la Amada and the Emergence of Social Complexity
The Olmecs, c. 1200–400 bce (Early to Middle
Preclassic)
San Lorenzo and La Venta
Key Controversy: The Olmecs: Mesoamerica’s “Mother Culture”?
West Mexican Polities, c. 1500 bce–400 ce
Late Preclassic Mesoamerica, c. 400 bce–250 ce
Key Controversy: Metallurgy in Mesoamerica
Calendars and Writing
Kings, Courts, and Cities
Key Discovery: The Mesoamerican Calendar
Key Controversy: Who Invented Mesoamerican Writing?
Monte Albán
Teotihuacán
Key Site: Teotihuacán
The Classic Period: Teotihuacán and
Its Neighbors
Key Controversy: The Teotihuacán Writing System
Teotihuacán’s Wider Influence: The Middle
Horizon
Key Site: Classic Monte Albán
Cholula, Cantona, and the Teuchitlan Cultural
Tradition—Independent Polities?
The Demise of Teotihuacán
Epiclassic Mesoamerica, c. 600–900 ce
The Classic Maya
Kingdoms and Capitals
Key Theme: Urbanism Defining a City in Mesoamerica
Maya Society
Royalty
Key Site: Tikal
Lords and Officials
Commoners
Key Controversy: How Sudden Was the “Collapse” of Maya Civilization?
Warfare
Postclassic Mesoamerica
The Rise of the Toltecs
The Postclassic Maya
The Puuc Florescence
Chichén Itzá
Mayapan
Mesoamerica Contacted: What the Spaniards
Found
The Maya of the Early Sixteenth Century
The Aztecs and the Late Horizon: History
and Myth
The Aztec Empire in 1519
Key Site: Tenochtitlán: The Aztec Capital
Aztec Society
The Spanish Conquest
Summary and Conclusions
Further Reading and Suggested Websites
18 From Village to Empire in South America: Michael E. Moseley and Michael J. Heckenberger, University of Florida
A Continent of Extremes
The Andes
Amazonia
Coasts
Floodplains
Uplands
Preceramic (Prepottery) Civilization in the Andes,
c. 3000–1800 bce
Temple Mounds and Sunken Courts
Key Controversy: The Maritime Hypothesis
The Initial Period and the Early Horizon,
c. 1800–400 bce: Civilization Reconfigured
The Initial Period, c. 1800–400 bce
Key Site: Sechín Alto
The Early Horizon, c. 400–200 bce
Paracas
Pukara
The Early Intermediate Period, c. 200 bce–650 ce:
Andean Confederacies and States
Key Site: Sipán and the Presentation Theme
The Moche
The Temples of the Sun and the Moon
Nazca and the South Coast
Nazca Lines
The Rise and Fall of the Andean Empires
The Middle Horizon, c. 650–1000 ce: Tiwanaku
and Wari
Key Theme: Social Inequality Descent and the Kurakas
The Late Intermediate Period, c. 1000–1476 ce:
Lambayeque and Chimor
Chimor and Chan Chan
Lambayeque and Batán Grande
The Late Horizon, 1476–1533: Cuzco and the Incas
Origins and Expansion
Cuzco and the Trappings of Empire
Key Site: The Sacred Valley of the Incas and Machu Picchu
Amazonia
The Amazonian Formative Period,
c. 1000 bce–500 ce
The Linguistic Evidence
The Archaeological Evidence
Key Controversy: The Rank Revolution
Regionalism and Complexity in Amazonia,
c. 1–1500 ce
The Lower Amazon
Key Controversy: Amazonian Mound Builders
Key Controversy: “Amazonian Dark Earths” and Anthropogenic Landscapes
Key Theme: Urbanism Amazonian Urbanism?
The Central Amazon
The Upper Amazon
The Orinoco and the Caribbean
The Southern Amazon
Summary and Conclusions
Further Reading
19 Complex Societies Of North America: George R. Milner, The Pennsylvania State University, and W. H. Wills, University of New Mexico
Eastern Woodlands
Adena and Hopewell: The Early and Middle Woodland
Period, c. 800 bce–400 ce
Pervasive Intergroup Connections
Key Site: Hopewell
Establishing Food-Producing Economies
Late Woodland Period, c. 400–1000 ce
Changes in Social Relationships and Diets
Mississippian Period, c. 1000–1650 ce
Integral Roles of Mounds and Burials
Key Controversy: The Size and Influence of Cahokia
How People Lived
Northern and Eastern Periphery, c. 1000–1650 ce
Southwest
Preclassic and Classic Hohokam, c. 700–1450 ce
Key Discovery: Hohokam Ball Courts
Key Theme: Social Inequality Identifying Social Distinctions in North America
Pueblo Villages on the Colorado Plateau
Agricultural Foundations
Key Theme: Migration Movement and Abandonment in North America
Pueblo I, c. 750–900 ce
The Great Kiva
Pueblo II, c. 900–1150 ce
The Chaco Phenomenon
Key Discovery: Chocolate at Pueblo Bonito
Pueblo III, c. 1150–1300 ce
Pueblo IV, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries ce:
Abandonment of the Colorado Plateau
Pottery Innovations and Group Expression
Population Decline
Plains
Village Life
Widespread Exchange
Pacific Coast
Southern California
Pacific Northwest
Life in Villages
Key Site: Ozette
Warfare and Population Loss
Arctic and Subarctic
Dorset and Thule Cultures
Key Site: L’Anse aux Meadows
Two Worlds Collide
Summary and Conclusions
Further Reading and Suggested Websites
20 The Human Past: Retrospect and Prospect: Chris Scarre, Durham University
Demographic Increase
Intensification and Degradation
Biological Exchange
Climate Change and Human Society
The Wider Relevance of Archaeology
Climate Change
Domestication
Urbanization
Social Inequality
Migration
Glossary
References
Sources of Illustrations
Index
