Ancient Mesopotamia

by Susan Pollock

• ISBN13: 9780521575683
• ISBN10: 0521575680
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-06-13
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book is an in-depth treatment of the antecedents and first florescence of early state and urban societies in the alluvial lowlands of Mesopotamia over nearly three millennia, from approximately 5000 to 2100 BC. Susan Pollock's approach is explicitly anthropological, and draws on contemporary theoretical perspectives to enrich our understanding of the ancient Mesopotamian past. It explores the ways people of different genders and classes contributed and responded to changes in political, economic, and ideological realms. The interpretations are based on studies of regional settlement patterns, faunal remains, artifact distributions and activity patterning, iconography, texts and burials.

Table of Contents

List of figures	vii
List of tables	x
Acknowledgments	xii
Introduction	1	(27)
An overview	3	(7)
Archaeological work in Mesopotamia	10	(12)
Theoretical framework	22	(3)
Discussion	25	(3)
Geographic setting and environment	28	(17)
Landforms and climate	29	(5)
The changing environment	34	(5)
Neighboring regions and resource disparities	39	(5)
Summary	44	(1)
Settlement patterns	45	(33)
Cities	46	(5)
Villages	51	(1)
Mounds and settlement patterns	52	(23)
Summary	75	(3)
Making a living: tributary economies of the fifth and fourth millennia	78	(39)
The tributary economy	79	(2)
Ubaid economy	81	(12)
Fourth-millennium economy	93	(22)
Summary	115	(2)
A changing way of life: the oikos-based economy of the third millennium	117	(32)
The oikos	117	(6)
A case study: the Diyala region	123	(15)
Comparisons with other regions	138	(2)
Further insights from the study of animal and plant remains	140	(7)
Summary	147	(2)
The growth of bureaucracy	149	(24)
The decipherment of cuneiform script	150	(4)
Record-keeping technologies	154	(11)
Origins of writing	165	(2)
Further development of writing	167	(2)
The power of writing	169	(2)
Discussion	171	(2)
Ideology and images of power	173	(23)
Ideology	173	(1)
Monuments	174	(12)
Religion	186	(8)
Summary	194	(2)
Death and the ideology of community	196	(22)
Death: the great leveler	199	(5)
Radical change in the fourth millennium	204	(1)
Conspicuous consumption in death	205	(11)
Summary	216	(2)
Conclusions	218	(6)
Political economy, feminism, and ancient Mesopotamia	218	(5)
Future directions	223	(1)
Bibliographical essay	224	(4)
Bibliography	228	(22)
Index	250