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Ancient Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization
The Evolution of an Urban Landscape
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eBook - PDF
About this book
The alluvial lowlands of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in southern Mesopotamia are widely known as the "cradle of civilization," owing to the scale of the processes of urbanization that took place in the area by the second half of the fourth millennium BCE.
In Ancient Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization, Guillermo Algaze draws on the work of modern economic geographers to explore how the unique river-based ecology and geography of the Tigris-Euphrates alluvium affected the development of urban civilization in southern Mesopotamia. He argues that these natural conditions granted southern polities significant competitive advantages over their landlocked rivals elsewhere in Southwest Asia, most importantly the ability to easily transport commodities. In due course, this resulted in increased trade and economic activity and higher population densities in the south than were possible elsewhere. As southern polities grew in scale and complexity throughout the fourth millennium, revolutionary new forms of labor organization and record keeping were created, and it is these socially created innovations, Algaze argues, that ultimately account for why fully developed city-states emerged earlier in southern Mesopotamia than elsewhere in Southwest Asia or the world.
In Ancient Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization, Guillermo Algaze draws on the work of modern economic geographers to explore how the unique river-based ecology and geography of the Tigris-Euphrates alluvium affected the development of urban civilization in southern Mesopotamia. He argues that these natural conditions granted southern polities significant competitive advantages over their landlocked rivals elsewhere in Southwest Asia, most importantly the ability to easily transport commodities. In due course, this resulted in increased trade and economic activity and higher population densities in the south than were possible elsewhere. As southern polities grew in scale and complexity throughout the fourth millennium, revolutionary new forms of labor organization and record keeping were created, and it is these socially created innovations, Algaze argues, that ultimately account for why fully developed city-states emerged earlier in southern Mesopotamia than elsewhere in Southwest Asia or the world.
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Yes, you can access Ancient Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization by Guillermo Algaze in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & Ancient History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Publisher
University of Chicago PressYear
2009Print ISBN
9780226142371, 9780226013770eBook ISBN
9780226013787Table of contents
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- Prologue
- Chapter 1. The Sumerian Takeoff
- Chapter 2. Factors Hindering Our Understanding of the Sumerian Takeoff
- Chapter 3. Modeling the Dynamics of Urban Growth
- Chapter 4. Early Mesopotamian Urbanism: Why?
- Chapter 5. Early Mesopotamian Urbanism: How?
- Chapter 6. The Evidence for Trade
- Chapter 7. Early Mesopotamian Urbanism in Comparative Perspective
- Chapter 8. The Synergies of Civilization
- Chapter 9. Conclusion: The Mesopotamian Conjuncture
- Epilogue Early Sumerian Civilization: A Research Agenda
- Appendix 1.
- Appendix 2.
- Notes
- Reference List
- Source List
- Index