This book offers the first detailed comparative study of the seven best-documented early civilizations: ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, Shang China, the Aztecs and adjacent peoples in the Valley of Mexico, the Classic Maya, the Inka, and the Yoruba. Unlike previous studies, equal attention is paid to similarities and differences in their sociopolitical organization, economic systems, religion, and culture. Many of this study's findings are surprising and provocative. Agricultural systems, technologies, and economic behaviour turn out to have been far more diverse than was expected. These findings and many others challenge not only current understandings of early civilizations but also the theoretical foundations of modern archaeology and anthropology. The key to understanding early civilizations lies not in their historical connections but in what they can tell us about similarities and differences in human behaviour.

http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/samples/cam034/2002074052.pdf

Understanding early civilizations : a comparative study

Ancient market activities are dynamic in the economies of most ancient states, yet they have received little research from the archaeological community. This is the first book to address the development, change, and organisational complexity of ancient markets from a comparative archaeological perspective. Drawing from historical documents and archaeological records from Mesoamerica, the U.S. Southwest, East Africa, and the Andes, this volume reveals the complexity of ancient marketplace development and economic behaviour both in hierarchical and non-hierarchical societies. Highlighting four principal themes -- the defining characteristics of market exchange; the recognition of market exchange archaeologically; the relationship among market, political, and other social institutions; and the conditions in which market systems develop and change -- the book contains a strong methodological and theoretical focus on market exchange. Diverse contributions from noted scholars show the history of market exchange and other activities to be more dynamic than scholars previously appreciated. This book will be of interest to archaeologists, anthropologists, material-culture theorists, economists, and historians.

Archaeological Approaches to Market Exchange in Ancient Societies

List of Figures List of Maps List of Tables Preface Foreword 1. Ancient Collasuyu 2. The Evolution of Political Economies 3. The Geography and Paleoecology of the Titicaca Basin 4. The Ethnography and Ethnohistory of the Titicaca Basin 5. The History of Archaeological Research in the Titicaca Basin 6. The Origins and Elaboration of Rank in the Early and Middle Formative Periods 7. The Rise of Competitive Peer Polities in the Upper Formative Period 8. The First State of Tiwanaku 9. The Rise of Complex Agro-Pastoral Societies in the Altiplano Period 10. Conquest from Outside: The Inca Occupation of the Titicaca Basin 11. The Evolution of Social Power in the Titicaca Basin Appendix: Selected Terms from the 1612 Aymara Dictionary of Ludovico Bertonio Notes References Cited Index

Ancient Titicaca: The Evolution of Complex Society in Southern Peru and Northern Bolivia

Understanding Early Civilizations

Dental caries and antemortem tooth loss (AMTL) are investigated in a Classic Maya sample obtained from the sites of Calakmul, Dzibanche, and Kohunlich (Mexico). This study aims at assessing the effect that sex and social status had on the prevalence of oral pathologies. The lack of a direct relationship between caries, AMTL, and age-at-death led us to interpret the results in terms of the biological, socioeconomic, and behavioral conditions prevailing in these ancient Maya settlements. Benefits related to sex and social status are evident in the frequency of carious lesions, which appear less frequently in elite males than in low-status individuals of both sexes and in elite females. Individuals from problematic mortuary contexts and isolated bone assemblages, who could not be ascribed to any status group, showed the highest rates of caries. Sex discrimination in dietary preferences appears in the elite sample, while the homogeneity encountered between sexes in the low-status segment suggests a more uniform access to resources. Tooth loss clearly distinguishes elite individuals from commoners, regardless of sex, with the former bearing a much higher rate of loss. In individuals from the undefined mortuary assemblages and sacrificial contexts, it was even more pronounced than in the other groups, although its interpretation is problematic due to a lack of associated funerary data. The overall evidence from oral pathologies is interpreted to be the result of deficient oral hygiene coupled with a softer and more refined diet in the high-status population, particularly males. Whereas elite males' subsistence was apparently based more on animal proteins and relatively soft and refined foods, a diet relying on carbohydrates may account for the observed rate of oral pathologies in elite females and commoners.

Dental caries and antemortem tooth loss in the Northern Peten area, Mexico: a biocultural perspective on social status differences among the Classic Maya.

In this paper we summarize more than a decade of interdisciplinary work at Calakmul, including (1) the mapping project, which has covered more than 30 km2; (2) the excavation project, which has uncovered major structures and tombs in the center of the city; (3) the epigraphic project, whose goal is to study the hieroglyphic texts and relate them to the archaeological evidence; (4) the analysis of the architecture, ceramics, and chipped stone to define sacred and secular activity areas and chronological stages; and (5) a focus on the ecology, hydrology, and paleoclimatology of Calakmul and its environs with the aim of understanding more fully its periods of development and decline.

Calakmul: New Data from an Ancient Maya Capital in Campeche, Mexico

The 200-year period from A.D. 230 to 430 witnessed the transition from chiefdom to state in the Maya Lowlands and the founding of several early political dynasties. Considerable information on that era is known for major cities like Tikal and Copan, but we knew less about the Calakmul area until recently. Previously, Calakmul's earliest dated monument was Stela 43, carved at A.D. 514. On the other hand, Tikal's earliest text dated to A.D. 292, and its ruling dynasty claimed that its founding date was A.D. 230. The ruling dynasties of most other cities that eventually became Maya regional capitals were evidently founded later, between A.D. 330 and 430. With the 1994 discovery of Stela 114 at Calakmul, we can now push Calakmul's written record back to A.D. 431. The oldest stela in Calakmul’s realm was erected in A.D. 406 at Balakbal, to document the reign of a Balakbal ruler who was a contemporary of the Tikal ruler Curl Snout. Some 25 years later, Calakmul erected Stela 114 to commemorate a Calakmul ruler who was a contemporary of the Tikal ruler Stormy Sky. Even though we had expected Calakmul's dynasty to have greater time depth than A.D. 514, it was not until the discovery of Stela 114 that we were able to confirm that point.

Extending the calakmul dynasty back in time: a new stela from a maya capital in campeche, mexico

The last 20 years have seen a great increase in the awareness of and interest in ancient Maya graffiti. Such graffiti have recently been rediscovered at the site of Plan de Ayutla, in the Lacanja river basin of Chiapas, and add to the known Maya corpus. The Plan de Ayutla graffiti exhibit a diversity similar to that found at other Maya sites, including production by specialists as well as non-specialists, and themes ranging from daily activities to ceremonial events.

The maya graffiti of plan de ayutla, chiapas

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Calakmul: New Data from an Ancient Maya Capital in Campeche, Mexico

Extending the calakmul dynasty back in time: a new stela from a maya capital in campeche, mexico

The maya graffiti of plan de ayutla, chiapas