Ancient Civilizations (4^th Ed.)

Ancient Civilizations offers a comprehensive and straightforward account of the world?s first civilizations and how they were discovered, drawing on many avenues of inquiry including archaeological excavations, surveys, laboratory work, highly specialized scientific investigations, and both historical and ethnohistorical records. This book covers the earliest civilizations and the great powers in the Near East, moving on to the first Aegean civilizations, the Mediterranean world in the first millennium, Imperial Rome, northeast Africa, the divine kings in southeast Asia, and empires in East Asia, as well as early states in the Americas and Andean civilization.

Ancient Civilizations includes a number of features to support student learning: a wealth of images, including several new illustrations; feature boxes which expand on key sites, finds and written sources; and an extensive guide to further reading.?? With new perceptions of the origin and collapse of states, including a review of the issue of sustainability, this fourth edition has been extensively updated in the light of spectacular new discoveries and the latest theoretical advances.

Examining the world?s pre-industrial civilizations from a multidisciplinary perspective and offering a comparative analysis of the field which explores the connections between all civilizations around the world, Scarre and Fagan, both established authorities on world prehistory, provide a valuable introduction to pre-industrial civilizations in all their brilliant diversity.

PART I  BACKGROUND   
CHAPTER 1 THE STUDY OF CIVILIZATION   
CHAPTER 2 THEORIES OF STATES   

PART II  THE FIRST CIVILIZATIONS  
CHAPTER 3 MESOPOTAMIA: THE FIRST CITIES (3500–2000 B.C.)  
CHAPTER 4 EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION   
CHAPTER 5 SOUTH ASIA: HARAPPAN AND LATER CIVILIZATIONS   
CHAPTER 6 THE FIRST CHINESE CIVILIZATIONS   

PART III GREAT POWERS IN THE NEAR EAST   
CHAPTER 7 NEAR EASTERN KINGDOMS (2000–1200 B.C.)   
CHAPTER 8 THE NEAR EAST IN THE FIRST MILLENNIUM B.C.   
PART IV  THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD   
CHAPTER 9 THE FIRST AEGEAN CIVILIZATIONS 
CHAPTER 10 THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD IN THE FIRST MILLENNIUM (1000–30 B.C.)   
CHAPTER 11 IMPERIAL ROME   

PART V NORTHEAST AFRICA AND ASIA   
CHAPTER 12 NORTHEAST AFRICA: KUSH, MEROE, AND AKSUM  
CHAPTER 13 DIVINE KINGS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA   
CHAPTER 14 KINGDOMS AND EMPIRES IN EAST ASIA (770 B.C.–A.D. 700)   

PART VI EARLY STATES IN THE AMERICAS  
CHAPTER 15 LOWLAND MESOAMERICA   
CHAPTER 16 HIGHLAND MESOAMERICA   
CHAPTER 17 THE FOUNDATIONS OF ANDEAN CIVILIZATION  
CHAPTER 18 ANDEAN STATES
CHAPTER 19 EPILOGUE  

CHRIS SCARRE is an archaeologist specializing in the prehistory of Europe and the Mediterranean, with a particular interest in the archaeology of Atlantic façade. He has participated in fieldwork projects in Britain, France, Greece, and India, and has directed excavations at Neolithic sites in France, Portugal and the Channel Islands. Formerly Deputy Director of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, he is now Professor of Archaeology at Durham University, UK, and editor of the leading international journal of archaeology Antiquity.

BRIAN FAGAN is one of the world’s leading archaeological writers and an internationally recognized authority on world prehistory. He is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he specialized in writing and lecturing about archaeology to wide audiences. Professor Fagan has written several best-selling textbooks: Ancient Lives: An Introduction to Archaeology and Prehistory; Archaeology: A Brief Introduction; Archaeology and You; In the Beginning: An Introduction to Archaeology; A Brief History of Archaeology: Classical Times to the Twenty-First Century; People of the Earth; and World Prehistory: A Brief Introduction.