Ancient Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization
The Evolution of an Urban Landscape
Ancient Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization
The Evolution of an Urban Landscape
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.
248 pages | 10 halftones, 9 maps, 6 line drawings, 1 figure, 1 table | 6 x 9 | © 2008
History: Ancient and Classical History, Middle Eastern History
Reviews
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Chapter 1. The Sumerian Takeoff
Natural and Created Landscapes
A Reversal of Fortune
Forthcoming Discussions
Chapter 2. Factors Hindering Our Understanding of the Sumerian Takeoff
The Material Limits of the Evidence
Conceptual Problems
Methodological Problems
Chapter 3. Modeling the Dynamics of Urban Growth
Growth as Diversification
Growth as Specialization
Growth Situated
Growth Institutionalized
Chapter 4. Early Mesopotamian Urbanism: Why?
Environmental Advantages
Geographical Advantages
Comparative and Competitive Advantage
Chapter 5. Early Mesopotamian Urbanism: How?
The Growth of Early Mesopotamian Urban Economies
The Uruk Expansion
Multiplier Effects
Chapter 6. The Evidence for Trade
Chapter 7. Early Mesopotamian Urbanism in Comparative Perspective
Evidentiary Biases
Florescent Urbanism in Alluvial Mesopotamia
The Primacy of Warka: Location, Location, Location
Aborted Urbanism in Upper Mesopotamia
Chapter 8. The Synergies of Civilization
Propinquity and Its Consequences
Technologies of the Intellect
The Urban Revolution Revisited
Chapter 9. Conclusion: The Mesopotamian Conjuncture
Epilogue: Early Sumerian Civilization: A Research Agenda
Agency
Paleoenvironment
Trade
Households and Property
Excavation and Survey
Paleozoology
Mortuary Evidence
Chronology
The Early Uruk Problem
Appendix 1. Early/Middle Uruk Sites in the Mesopotamian Alluvium Organized by Size and Presumed Functional Category
Appendix 2. Late Uruk Sites in the Mesopotamian Alluvium Organized by Size and Presumed Functional Category
Notes Reference List Source List Index