Origin of Civilized Societies

Origin of Civilized Societies PDF Author: Rushton Coulborn
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400878349
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
The receding of the ice in the last Pleistocene Ice Age, the resulting dessication, and the emigration of peoples into river valleys and other places where control of water required new forms of civilization are here seen as the chief causes of the origin of the seven primary societies-Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Indian, Cretan, Chinese, Middle American, and Andean. Professor Coulborn presents clearly and convincingly a number of significant conclusions concerning the formation of civilized societies as well as an abundantly documented and an analysis of the pertinent data drawn from archaeology, anthropology, and history. He shows how a new religion in each case gave the settlers the needed courage to survive the hazards of difficult physical environment, and he concludes that religious acts occupied a central place in the formation and initial development of all the primary societies. Originally published in 1959. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Origin of Civilized Societies

Origin of Civilized Societies PDF Author: Rushton Coulborn
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400878349
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
The receding of the ice in the last Pleistocene Ice Age, the resulting dessication, and the emigration of peoples into river valleys and other places where control of water required new forms of civilization are here seen as the chief causes of the origin of the seven primary societies-Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Indian, Cretan, Chinese, Middle American, and Andean. Professor Coulborn presents clearly and convincingly a number of significant conclusions concerning the formation of civilized societies as well as an abundantly documented and an analysis of the pertinent data drawn from archaeology, anthropology, and history. He shows how a new religion in each case gave the settlers the needed courage to survive the hazards of difficult physical environment, and he concludes that religious acts occupied a central place in the formation and initial development of all the primary societies. Originally published in 1959. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The Origins of Civilization

The Origins of Civilization PDF Author: Peter Roger Stuart Moorey
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
This collection of essays by leading scholars of archaeology and prehistory examines the emergence of permanent human settlements and the social, political, and religious ideas that may have accompanied this development. Two introductory lectures sketch the emergence of man and his development as hunter, farmer, and fisherman. Then, taking civilization in its most precise sense, separate essays review the evolution of urban societies in the Near East, Europe, China, and Mesoamerica. Final lectures address the role of religion in early human societies, and the development of writing in the Old World. This disinguished and highly accessible collection will appeal to both the specialist and the interested general reader.

What Makes Civilization?

What Makes Civilization? PDF Author: D. Wengrow
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199699429
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
A vivid new account of the 'birth of civilization' in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia where many of the foundations of modern life were laid

Energy and Civilization

Energy and Civilization PDF Author: Vaclav Smil
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262536161
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 564

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Book Description
A comprehensive account of how energy has shaped society throughout history, from pre-agricultural foraging societies through today's fossil fuel–driven civilization. "I wait for new Smil books the way some people wait for the next 'Star Wars' movie. In his latest book, Energy and Civilization: A History, he goes deep and broad to explain how innovations in humans' ability to turn energy into heat, light, and motion have been a driving force behind our cultural and economic progress over the past 10,000 years. —Bill Gates, Gates Notes, Best Books of the Year Energy is the only universal currency; it is necessary for getting anything done. The conversion of energy on Earth ranges from terra-forming forces of plate tectonics to cumulative erosive effects of raindrops. Life on Earth depends on the photosynthetic conversion of solar energy into plant biomass. Humans have come to rely on many more energy flows—ranging from fossil fuels to photovoltaic generation of electricity—for their civilized existence. In this monumental history, Vaclav Smil provides a comprehensive account of how energy has shaped society, from pre-agricultural foraging societies through today's fossil fuel–driven civilization. Humans are the only species that can systematically harness energies outside their bodies, using the power of their intellect and an enormous variety of artifacts—from the simplest tools to internal combustion engines and nuclear reactors. The epochal transition to fossil fuels affected everything: agriculture, industry, transportation, weapons, communication, economics, urbanization, quality of life, politics, and the environment. Smil describes humanity's energy eras in panoramic and interdisciplinary fashion, offering readers a magisterial overview. This book is an extensively updated and expanded version of Smil's Energy in World History (1994). Smil has incorporated an enormous amount of new material, reflecting the dramatic developments in energy studies over the last two decades and his own research over that time.

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia PDF Author: Britannica Educational Publishing
Publisher: Britannica Educational Publishing
ISBN: 1615302085
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
Celebrated for numerous developments in the areas of law, writing, religion, and mathematics, Mesopotamia has been immortalized as the cradle of civilization. Its fabled cities, including Babylon and Nineveh, spawned new cultures, traditions, and innovations in art and architecture, some of which can still be seen in present-day Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey. Readers will be captivated by this ancient culture’s rich history and breadth of accomplishment, as they marvel at images of the magnificent temples and artifacts left behind.

The Origins of Civilization

The Origins of Civilization PDF Author: James Henry Breasted
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Civilization
Languages : en
Pages : 142

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Book Description


The Dawn of Everything

The Dawn of Everything PDF Author: David Graeber
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 0374721106
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A dramatically new understanding of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution—from the development of agriculture and cities to the origins of the state, democracy, and inequality—and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation. For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike—either free and equal innocents, or thuggish and warlike. Civilization, we are told, could be achieved only by sacrificing those original freedoms or, alternatively, by taming our baser instincts. David Graeber and David Wengrow show how such theories first emerged in the eighteenth century as a conservative reaction to powerful critiques of European society posed by Indigenous observers and intellectuals. Revisiting this encounter has startling implications for how we make sense of human history today, including the origins of farming, property, cities, democracy, slavery, and civilization itself. Drawing on pathbreaking research in archaeology and anthropology, the authors show how history becomes a far more interesting place once we learn to throw off our conceptual shackles and perceive what’s really there. If humans did not spend 95 percent of their evolutionary past in tiny bands of hunter-gatherers, what were they doing all that time? If agriculture, and cities, did not mean a plunge into hierarchy and domination, then what kinds of social and economic organization did they lead to? The answers are often unexpected, and suggest that the course of human history may be less set in stone, and more full of playful, hopeful possibilities, than we tend to assume. The Dawn of Everything fundamentally transforms our understanding of the human past and offers a path toward imagining new forms of freedom, new ways of organizing society. This is a monumental book of formidable intellectual range, animated by curiosity, moral vision, and a faith in the power of direct action. Includes Black-and-White Illustrations

History of Ancient Civilization

History of Ancient Civilization PDF Author: Charles Seignobos
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Civilization
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description


First Civilizations

First Civilizations PDF Author: Robert Chadwick
Publisher: Equinox Publishing Ltd.
ISBN: 9781904768784
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
First Civilizations is the second edition of a popular student text first published in 1996 in Montreal by Les Editions Champ Fleury. This much updated and expanded edition provides an introductory overview of the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. It was conceived primarily for students who have little or no knowledge of ancient history or archaeology. The book begins with the role of history and archaeology in understanding the past, and continues with the origins of agriculture and the formation of the Sumerian city-states in Mesopotamia. Three subsequent chapters concentrate on Assyrian and Babylonian history and culture. The second half of the book focuses on Egypt, begining with the physical environment of the Nile, the formation of the Egyptian state and the Old Kingdom. Subsequent chapters discuss the Middle Kingdom, the Hyksos period, and the 18th Dynasty, with space devoted to Hatshepsut, Akhenaten, the Ramesside period. The text ends with the Persian conquest of Mesopotamia and Egypt. First Civilizations also contains sections on astronomy, medicine, architecture, eschatology, religion, burial practices and mummification, and discusses the myths of Gilgamesh, Isis and Osiris. Each chapter has a basic bibliography which emphasizes English language encyclopedias, books and journals specializing in the ancient Near East.

The Evolution of Civilizations

The Evolution of Civilizations PDF Author: Carroll Quigley
Publisher: Indianapolis : Liberty Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 454

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Book Description
Carroll Quigley was a legendary teacher at the Georgetown School of Foreign Service. His course on the history of civilization was extraordinary in its scope and in its impact on students. Like the course, The Evolution of Civilizations is a comprehensive and perceptive look at the factors behind the rise and fall of civilizations. Quigley examines the application of scientific method to the social sciences, then establishes his historical hypotheses. He poses a division of culture into six levels from the abstract to the more concrete. He then tests those hypotheses by a detailed analysis of five major civilizations: the Mesopotamian, the Canaanite, the Minoan, the classical, and the Western. Quigley defines a civilization as "a producing society with an instrument of expansion." A civilization's decline is not inevitable but occurs when its instrument of expansion is transformed into an institution--that is, when social arrangements that meet real social needs are transformed into social institutions serving their own purposes regardless of real social needs.