{"product_id":"advancement-in-ancient-civilizations-9781476679891","title":"Advancement in Ancient Civilizations","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e   Traditional scholarship on how ancient civilizations emerged is outmoded and new insights call for revision. According to the well-established paradigm, Mesopotamia is considered the cradle of civilization. Following the cliche of \u003ci\u003eex oriente lux\u003c\/i\u003e (light from the East) all major achievements of humankind spread from the Middle East. Modern archaeology, cultural science and historical linguistics indicate civilizations did not originate from a single prototype. Several models produced divergent patterns of advanced culture, developing both hierarchical and egalitarian societies. This study outlines a panorama of ancient civilizations, including the still little-known Danube civilization, now identified as the oldest advanced culture in Europe. In a comparative view, a new paradigm of research and a new cultural chronology of civilizations in the Old and New Worlds emerges, with climate change shown to be a continual influence on human lifeways.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eList of Maps\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eList of Figures \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIntroduction: The Organic Whole of Human Existence and the Quality of Life\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e1. The Life Cycle of Cultures: Trajectories of Interaction Between Human Beings and Their Environment\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eArbitrators of socio-cultural change: The challenge of changing environmental conditions for adaptive skills\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eClimate-induced changes in human ecology: The origins of the Black Sea\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEnvironmental ecology and how human beings adapt to local conditions of existence\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe role of older cultural patterns in the formation process of advanced cultures\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e2. Timeline: The Ancient Civilizations in Light of a Differential Model of Cultural Advancement\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Mesopotamian bias and the Greek myth of the German romantics in the early 19th century\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe significance of the incubation stage for the emergence of advanced cultures\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e3. Early Achievements: Elementary Innovations as the Driving Force of Progress in Technological Domains\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePrototypes of the plough\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePyrotechnology for the production of ceramic ware and prototypes of the potter's wheel\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFurnaces and metal-working\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe ancient traditions of shipbuilding and seafaring\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e4. The Wheel, the Wagon and the Chariot: Dynamics of Technological Transfer in Antiquity\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe significance of the wheel\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe impact of steppe people on transport technology and the origins of Indo-European terminology\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe input of ancient European technology in the context of collaboration with Indo-European pastoralists\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe advent of wheel and wagon in Mesopotamia\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe chariot: Technological breakthrough in the Eurasian steppes\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe absence of the wheel as a practical device in pre–Columbian civilization: A mysterious case of a \"missing link\"\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e 5. The Economic Foundations: Trade Routes, Centers and Networks\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTrade routes, centers and networks in the commonwealth of Old Europe\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe movement of trade goods, technological know-how and ideas between Old Europe and Mesopotamia\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe early network of Middle Eastern trade routes: Sumerian cities interconnected with Dilmun and the Indus Civilization\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGift exchange to build trust among trading partners and enhance harmony in social relations\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEarly trading networks in pre–Columbian Mesoamerica: The proliferation of Olmec goods and ideas\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e 6. Settlement Planning: From Villages to Urban Agglomerations\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe model of urbanization evolving from egalitarian villages\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe model of urbanization in a milieu of stratified society\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e 7. Architecture: Houses, Workshops and Temples\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHouses and forms of accommodation in agrarian communities83\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSacral architecture\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFamous temple monuments of antiquity vis-à-vis cultural memory: Between oblivion and iconicity\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e 8. Social Networking: Models of Community Life, the Fabric of the Common Good\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe œcumene model of ancient civilization—The archaeological record\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe rise of the state model of civilization, associated with social hierarchy and stratified society\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSocioeconomic models of ancient civilizations in a comparative view\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e 9. Religion and Worldview: Anthropomorphic and Zoomorphic Images of the Divine, Sanctuaries and Holy Precincts\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eArchaic forms of spirituality\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrom spirit to female divinity\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDivinities relating to plant cultivation\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe personification of individual divine agents and the origins of monumental statuary\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe emergence of divinities in the context of pre–Columbian civilization\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFigurines as a lingua franca of ritual life\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e10. Human Activity Between Life and Afterlife: The Intergenerational Chain in Light of Cultural Memory\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe world of public entertainment: Did the ancient Greeks invent theater?\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFashion and dress-codes: Between social constraints and individual choice\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe place of the dead in cultural memory\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eConnecting with the ancestors in the world of shamanism\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e11. Specialized Systems for Communication: Writing Numbers\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe beginnings of numerical and calendrical notation\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWriting numbers in pre–Columbian Mesoamerica and South America\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWriting numbers in pre–Columbian South America\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe interrelation of numerical notation and writing: The special case of the Sumerians\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e12. Specialized Systems for Communication: The Visual Recording of Ideas and Writing Language\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWriting technology and its significance for the construction of civilization \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWriting systems in the ancient civilizations\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWriting systems of the Old World\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWriting systems of the New World (pre–Columbian): The Olmec script (ca. 1500–600 bce)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWriting technology as a vehicle of progress\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e13. Intellectual Domains: What Was the Driving Force for Science and How Did Philosophy Originate?\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePre-Socratic philosophers as the first to reflect on cosmology and the natural world\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePicking up the threads: The rope model of repetitive continuity of ideas\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePhilosophy as a tool for rationalizing mythic truths and for organizing community life\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e14. Art and Aesthetics: Artistic Genres in Their Cultural Context\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe cultural meaning of sculptures in the Old European, Native American and Mesopotamian context\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eClassical Greek philosophy and art: Plato's concept of aesthetics\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAncient civilizations as inspirational sources of modern art\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEpilogue: Cultural Memory\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBibliography\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIndex\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"McFarland \u0026 Co Inc","offers":[{"title":"Default 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