Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean

Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean PDF Author: K. N. Chaudhuri
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521285421
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
Before the age of Industrial Revolution, the great Asian civilisations constituted areas not only of high culture but also of advanced economic development.

Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean

Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean PDF Author: K. N. Chaudhuri
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521285421
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
Before the age of Industrial Revolution, the great Asian civilisations constituted areas not only of high culture but also of advanced economic development.

Civilization Before Greece and Rome

Civilization Before Greece and Rome PDF Author: H. W. F. Saggs
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300174168
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
For many centuries it was accepted that civilization began with the Greeks and Romans. During the last two hundred years, however, archaeological discoveries in Egypt, Mesopotamia, Crete, Syria, Anatolia, Iran, and the Indus Valley have revealed that rich cultures existed in these regions some two thousand years before the Greco-Roman era. In this fascinating work, H.W.F Saggs presents a wide-ranging survey of the more notable achievements of these societies, showing how much the ancient peoples of the Near and Middle East have influenced the patterns of our daily lives. Saggs discussesthe the invention of writing, tracing it from the earliest pictograms (designed for account-keeping) to the Phoenician alphabet, the source of the Greek and all European alphabets. He investigates teh curricula, teaching methods, and values of the schools from which scribes graduated. Analyzing the provisions of some of the law codes, he illustrates the operation of international law and the international trade that it made possible. Saggs highlights the creative ways that these ancient peoples used their natural resources, describing the vast works in stone created by the Egyptians, the development of technology in bronze and iron, and the introduction of useful plants into regions outside their natural habitat. In chapters on mathematics, astronomy, and medicine, he offers interesting explanations about how modern calculations of time derive from the ancient world, how the Egyptians practiced scientific surgery, and how the Babylonians used algebra. The book concludes with a discussion of ancient religion, showing its evolution from the most primitive forms toward monotheism.

Before Civilization

Before Civilization PDF Author: Lord Colin Renfrew
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1446466965
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 386

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Book Description
The refinement of radiocarbon dating using the information form tree-ring counts has raised serious doubts about the accepted theoretical frameowkr of European prehistory. Monuments in Central and Western Europe have proved to be considerably older than their supposed Near-Eastern forerunners, and the record must be almost completely rewritten in the light of these new dates. Before Civilsation is a preliminary attempt to do this with the help of analogies from more recent and well-documented primitive societies. The more glaring inconsistencies in the old theory are re-examined and Professor Renfrew shows convincingly how the baffling monuments of prehistoric Europe, like Stonehenge, could have been built without recourse to help from the 'more civilized' Near East.

Trade before Civilization

Trade before Civilization PDF Author: Johan Ling
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316514684
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 447

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Book Description
Trade before Civilization explores the role that long-distance exchange played in the establishment and/or maintenance of social complexity, and its role in the transformation of societies from egalitarian to non-egalitarian. Bringing together research by an international and methodologically diverse team of scholars, it analyses the relationship between long-distance trade and the rise of inequality. The volume illustrates how elites used exotic prestige goods to enhance and maintain their elevated social positions in society. Global in scope, it offers case studies of early societies and sites in Europe, Asia, Oceania, North America, and Mesoamerica. Deploying a range of inter-disciplinary and cutting-edge theoretical approaches from a cross-cultural framework, the volume offers new insights and enhances our understanding of socio-political evolution. It will appeal to archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, conflict theorists, and ethnohistorians, as well as economists seeking to understand the nexus between imported luxury items and cultural evolution.

War Before Civilization

War Before Civilization PDF Author: Lawrence H. Keeley
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199880700
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
The myth of the peace-loving "noble savage" is persistent and pernicious. Indeed, for the last fifty years, most popular and scholarly works have agreed that prehistoric warfare was rare, harmless, unimportant, and, like smallpox, a disease of civilized societies alone. Prehistoric warfare, according to this view, was little more than a ritualized game, where casualties were limited and the effects of aggression relatively mild. Lawrence Keeley's groundbreaking War Before Civilization offers a devastating rebuttal to such comfortable myths and debunks the notion that warfare was introduced to primitive societies through contact with civilization (an idea he denounces as "the pacification of the past"). Building on much fascinating archeological and historical research and offering an astute comparison of warfare in civilized and prehistoric societies, from modern European states to the Plains Indians of North America, War Before Civilization convincingly demonstrates that prehistoric warfare was in fact more deadly, more frequent, and more ruthless than modern war. To support this point, Keeley provides a wide-ranging look at warfare and brutality in the prehistoric world. He reveals, for instance, that prehistorical tactics favoring raids and ambushes, as opposed to formal battles, often yielded a high death-rate; that adult males falling into the hands of their enemies were almost universally killed; and that surprise raids seldom spared even women and children. Keeley cites evidence of ancient massacres in many areas of the world, including the discovery in South Dakota of a prehistoric mass grave containing the remains of over 500 scalped and mutilated men, women, and children (a slaughter that took place a century and a half before the arrival of Columbus). In addition, Keeley surveys the prevalence of looting, destruction, and trophy-taking in all kinds of warfare and again finds little moral distinction between ancient warriors and civilized armies. Finally, and perhaps most controversially, he examines the evidence of cannibalism among some preliterate peoples. Keeley is a seasoned writer and his book is packed with vivid, eye-opening details (for instance, that the homicide rate of prehistoric Illinois villagers may have exceeded that of the modern United States by some 70 times). But he also goes beyond grisly facts to address the larger moral and philosophical issues raised by his work. What are the causes of war? Are human beings inherently violent? How can we ensure peace in our own time? Challenging some of our most dearly held beliefs, Keeley's conclusions are bound to stir controversy.

Asia Before Europe

Asia Before Europe PDF Author: K. N. Chaudhuri
Publisher: CUP Archive
ISBN: 9780521316811
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 520

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Book Description
This book explores the dynamic interaction between economic life, society and civilisation in the regions around and beyond the Indian Ocean during the period from the rise of Islam to 1750. Within a distinctive theory of comparative history, Professor Chaudhuri analyses how the identity of different Asian civilisations was established. He examines the structural features of food habits, clothing, architectural styles and housing; the different modes of economic production; and the role of crop raising, pastoral nomadism, and industrial activities for the main regions of the Indian Ocean. In an original and perceptive conclusion, the author demonstrates how Indian Ocean societies were united or separated from one another by a conscious cultural and linguistic identity. However, there was a deeper structure of unities created by a common ecology, technology, technology of economic production, traditions of government, theory of political obligations and rights, and a shared historical experience. His theory enables the author to show that the real Indian Ocean was an area that extended historically from the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf to the sea which lies beyond Japan.

Trade, Tribute, and Transportation

Trade, Tribute, and Transportation PDF Author: Ross Hassig
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780806125633
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description


Trade and Civilisation

Trade and Civilisation PDF Author: Kristian Kristiansen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108425410
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 567

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Book Description
Provides the first global analysis of the relationship between trade and civilisation from the beginning of civilisation until the modern era.

Human Mobility and Technological Transfer in the Prehistoric Mediterranean

Human Mobility and Technological Transfer in the Prehistoric Mediterranean PDF Author: Evangelia Kiriatzi
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316798925
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 499

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Book Description
The diverse forms of regional connectivity in the ancient world have recently become an important focus for those interested in the deep history of globalisation. This volume represents a significant contribution to this new trend as it engages thematically with a wide range of connectivities in the later prehistory of the Mediterranean, from the later Neolithic of northern Greece to the Levantine Iron Age, and with diverse forms of materiality, from pottery and metal to stone and glass. With theoretical overviews from leading thinkers in prehistoric mobilities, and commentaries from top specialists in neighbouring domains, the volume integrates detailed case studies within a comparative framework. The result is a thorough treatment of many of the key issues of regional interaction and technological diversity facing archaeologists working across diverse places and periods. As this book presents key case studies for human and technological mobility across the eastern Mediterranean in later prehistory, it will be of interest primarily to Mediterranean archaeologists, though also to historians and anthropologists.

The Substance of Civilization

The Substance of Civilization PDF Author: Stephen L. Sass
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing Inc.
ISBN: 1611454018
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Demonstrates the way in which the discovery, application, and adaptation of materials has shaped the course of human history and the routines of our daily existence.