Suggested Readings

Chapter 12: The Rise of Cities and Civilization

Diamond, J. (1997). Guns, Germs and Steel. New York: Norton.

Also recommended in the last chapter, this book has an excellent discussion of the relation among diseases, social complexity, and social change.

Marcus, J., & Flannery, K. V. (1996). Zapote Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. New York: Thames & Hudson.

With its lavish illustrations, this looks like a book for coffee table adornment, but it is in fact a thoughtful and serious work on the rise of a pristine civilization. In it, the authors present their action theory.

Meltzer, D., Fowler, D., & Sabloff, J. (Eds.). (1986). American Archaeology: Past and future. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.

This collection of articles contains one by Henry Wright, “The Evolution of  Civilization,” an excellent comparative consideration of the subject.

Pfeiffer, J. E. (1977). The Emergence of Society. New York: McGraw-Hill.

This is a comprehensive survey of the origins of food production and the world’s first cities. In order to write the book, the author traveled to archaeological sites throughout the world and consulted with numerous investigators. The book is notable for its readability.

Redman, C. E. (1978). The Rise of Civilization: From early farmers to urban society in the ancient Near East. San Francisco: Freeman.

One of the best-documented examples of the rise of urban societies is that of Greater Mesopotamia in the Middle East. This clearly written textbook focuses on that development, presenting the data, discussing interpretations of those data, as well as problems.

Sabloff, J. A. (1997). The Cities of Ancient Mexico (Rev. ed.). New York: Thames & Hudson.

This well-written and lavishly illustrated book describes the major cities of the Olmecs, Zapotecs, Maya, Teotihuacanos, Toltecs, and Aztecs. Following the descriptions, Sabloff discusses the question of origins, the problems of archaeological reconstruction, and the basis on which he provides vignettes of life in the ancient cities. The book concludes             with a gazetteer of 50 sites in Mesoamerica.

Sabloff, J. A., & Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C. (Eds.). (1974). The Rise and Fall of Civilizations, modern archaeological approaches to ancient cultures. Menlo Park, CA: Cummings.

The emphasis in this collection of articles is theoretical or methodological rather than purely descriptive. Special emphasis is on Mesopotamia and Mesoamerica, but papers are included on Peru, Egypt, the Indus Valley, China, and Europe.