Patterns in Prehistory Humankind's First Three Million Years

by Wenke, Robert J.; Olszewski, Deborah I.

• ISBN13: 9780195169287
• ISBN10: 019516928X
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-08-02
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Who are we? How did the world become what it is today? What paths did humanity traverse along the way? Patterns in Prehistory, Fifth Edition, is a comprehensive and engaging survey of humanity's past three million years. It brings together theories and archaeological examples to pose questions about who we are and the means by which humanity evolved into what it is today. Ideal for introductory courses in world prehistory and origins of complex societies, Patterns in Prehistory, Fifth Edition, offers a unified and thematic approach to the four great transformations--or patterns--that characterize humanity's past: the origins and evolution of culture; the origins of modern humans and human behaviors; the origins of agriculture; and the origins of complex societies, civilizations, and pre-industrial states. Integrating theoretical approaches with archaeological data from the Middle East, Mesoamerica, North and South America, Egypt, China, the Indus Valley, and temperate Europe, Patterns in Prehistory, Fifth Edition, reveals how archaeologists decipher the past. It demonstrates how theory and method are combined to derive interpretations and also considers how interpretations evolve as a result of accumulating data, technological advances in recording and analyzing data sets, and newer theoretical perspectives. This new edition of Patterns in Prehistory provides: * Fresh insights with the addition of coauthor Deborah Olszewski, who has carefully reviewed and revamped the material with an eye toward making the text clearly understandable to today's students * Updated discussions throughout, including expanded information on post-processual archaeology, current methodologies, and technological advances * Approximately 250 illustrations and maps, more than half of which are new to this edition * Groundbreaking research on new discoveries of hominin fossils, genetic research, prehistoric migrations, the peopling of the Americas, and theories of the origins of agriculture and the origins of complex societies * Timelines for all relevant chapters as well as an overarching timeline for the entire book to help students place events in context * Extensively updated chapter bibliographies and chapter endnotes

Table of Contents

Preface	xii
Chapter 1: Prehistory, History, and Archaeology	1	(40)
What Are Archaeologists Looking For? (The Meaning of the Past)	2	(3)
Archaeology as the Reconstruction of Extinct Cultures and Their Histories	5	(6)
Archaeology as a Body of Theories and Methods for Explaining the Past	11	(1)
A Short History of Attempts to Understand the Past	12	(20)
Summary and Conclusions	32	(9)
Chapter 2: Fundamentals of Archaeology	41	(42)
Archaeologists and the Practice of Archaeology	41	(2)
The Basic Data of the Past	43	(14)
Analyses of the Past	57	(8)
Dating the Past	65	(7)
Summary and Conclusions	72	(11)
Chapter 3: The Origins of Culture	83	(49)
The Problem of Cultural Origins	83	(1)
The Nature of Culture	84	(13)
The Ecological Context of Cultural Origins	97	(18)
Models of Cultural Origins	115	(7)
Summary and Conclusions	122	(10)
Chapter 4: The Origins of Homo sapiens sapiens	132	(62)
Human Evolution and Radiation: 1.8? million to Circa 300,000 Years Ago	133	(12)
Homo sapiens: Models of Origins	145	(12)
The Middle to Upper Paleolithic Period	157	(15)
Human Colonization of the World: Circa 30,000-10,000 Years Ago	172	(7)
Summary and Conclusions	179	(15)
Chapter 5: The First Americans	194	(34)
Routes for the Initial Colonization of the Americas	196	(11)
Evidence for the First Americans	207	(10)
Early Paleoindian Economies	217	(5)
Summary and Conclusions	222	(6)
Chapter 6: The Origins of Agriculture	228	(51)
Agriculture, Domestication, and Sedentary Communities	231	(4)
Hypotheses About the Origins of Domestication, Agriculture, and Sedentary Communities	235	(8)
Early Domestication and Agriculture: The Post-Paleolithic Background	243	(3)
The Origins of Domestication, Agriculture, and Sedentary Communities in Southwest Asia	246	(14)
Other Old World Domesticates	260	(2)
Agricultural Origins in the New World	262	(7)
Summary and Conclusions	269	(10)
Chapter 7: The Evolution of Complex Societies	279	(45)
Social Complexity and Human Values	284	(2)
Traditional Sociocultural Typologies	286	(4)
Contemporary Approaches to Sociocultural Typology	290	(2)
The Archaeology of Complex Societies	292	(6)
Explaining the Evolution of Civilizations: The Search for Causes	298	(18)
Summary and Conclusions	316	(8)
Chapter 8: Origins of Complex Societies in Southwest Asia	324	(44)
The Ecological Setting	325	(3)
Fundamentals of the Southwest Asian Archaeological Record	328	(1)
The Neolithic Origins of Southwest Asian Civilization	329	(5)
Initial Cultural Complexity	334	(7)
Early States: The Uruk and Jemdet Nasr Periods	341	(8)
The Early Dynastic Period	349	(7)
Southwest Asia After 2350 B.c.	356	(2)
Summary and Conclusions	358	(10)
Chapter 9: The Origins of Complex Societies in Egypt	368	(37)
The Ecological Setting	370	(3)
Early Egyptian Agriculture	373	(2)
The Predynastic Period	375	(2)
The Archaic, Old Kingdom, and First Intermediate Periods	377	(7)
The Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Periods	384	(1)
The New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Periods	385	(4)
Ancient Egyptian Art and Thought	389	(2)
Egyptian Writing and Literature	391	(4)
Who Were the Ancient Egyptians?	395	(1)
Summary and Conclusions	396	(9)
Chapter 10: The Evolution of Complex Societies in the Indus Valley	405	(27)
The Ecological Setting	407	(2)
The Neolithic Background to South Asian Cultural Complexity	409	(2)
The Neolithic–Urban Transition	411	(1)
Early Harappan Culture	412	(3)
Mature Harappan Civilization	415	(7)
The Decline of Harappan Civilization	422	(2)
Summary and Conclusions	424	(8)
Chapter 11: The Evolution of Complex Societies in China	432	(24)
The Ecological Setting	434	(1)
Early Farmers	435	(2)
Regional Neolithic Developments in North China	437	(3)
Early Complex Chinese Societies	440	(3)
Erh-li-t'ou Culture	443	(2)
Shang Civilization and Its Contemporaries	445	(4)
Early Imperial China	449	(2)
Summary and Conclusions	451	(5)
Chapter 12: Later Complex Societies of the Old World	456	(25)
Temperate Europe	458	(10)
A Brief Overview of Other Later Old World Complex Societies	468	(3)
Colonization of the Western Pacific Islands	471	(4)
Summary and Conclusions	475	(6)
Chapter 13: The Evolution of Complex Societies in Mesoamerica	481	(52)
The Ecological Setting	484	(1)
Early Mesoamerican Farming	485	(1)
The Archaeological Record of Early Complex Mesoamerican Societies	486	(10)
The Archaeological Record of Mesoamerican States in the Valleys of Mexico and Oaxaca	496	(5)
The Maya	501	(15)
Postclassic Mesoamerica	516	(7)
The Spanish Conquest	523	(1)
Summary and Conclusions	523	(10)
Chapter 14: The Evolution of Complex Societies in Andean South America	533	(32)
The Ecological Setting	536	(1)
Early Hunters and Gatherers	537	(1)
The Agricultural Basis of Andean Civilization	538	(1)
The First Complex Societies in Andean South America	539	(7)
The Early Horizon	546	(3)
The Early Intermediate Period: Early States	549	(3)
The Middle Horizon: Competing States	552	(2)
The Late Intermediate Period: Early Empires	554	(1)
The Late Horizon: The Imperial Transformation	554	(3)
The European Conquest	557	(1)
Summary and Conclusions	558	(7)
Chapter 15: Early Cultural Complexity in North America	565	(36)
The Ecological Setting	568	(1)
The North American East	569	(14)
The North American Southwest	583	(11)
Summary and Conclusions	594	(7)
Chapter 16: Prehistory in Perspective	601	(10)
Our Intellectual Heritage	601	(5)
Lessons of Prehistory	606	(3)
The Future of Archaeology	609	(2)
Art Credits	611	(4)
Index	615