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600 pp.
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ISBN-13:
9780190930127

Copyright Year:
2020

Imprint: OUP US

Archaeology and Humanity's Story

A Brief Introduction to World Prehistory, Second Edition

Deborah I. Olszewski

This student-friendly textbook introduces the archaeological past from approximately seven million years ago through later politically complex societies. Now fully updated in its second edition, Archaeology and Humanity's Story: A Brief Introduction to World Prehistory does not attempt to discuss every archaeologically important site and development in prehistory and early history. Rather, it presents key issues from earlier prehistory and then organizes the chapters on politically complex societies using a similar framework. This allows students to easily compare and contrast different geographical regions. Each of these chapters also highlights a specific case study in which similar themes are examined, such as the written word; resource networks, trade, and exchange; social life; ritual and religion; and warfare and violence. Each chapter includes several sidebar boxes, a timeline showing the chronology relevant to that chapter, and "The Big Picture," "Peopling the Past," and "Further Reflections" features.

Readership : This is for undergraduate students taking courses in prehistory or introduction to archaeology.

Reviews

"The approach of Archaeology and Humanity's History is thoughtful, well organized, and appropriately inclusive of archaeological topics. The extent and depth of the coverage is excellent for an introductory class."
--John A. Nadolski, Sierra College
"What distinguishes Archaeology and Humanity's History is the emphasis on political complexity as the driving force to explain change in the past. There are also some good nods to making archaeology relevant for students living in the contemporary world."
--Jane Eva Baxter, DePaul University
"Olszewski has done a good job of showing many different perspectives for some of the major issues in archaeology. I appreciated the very current--and often cutting-edge--information she provides. I also found the inclusion of more modern theory refreshing."
--Christopher Barrett, Washtenaw Community College

Preface
PART 1: THE BASICS OF ARCHAEOLOGY
1. Acquiring and Interpreting Data in Archaeology
Why Archaeology Is Important
Survey and Excavation Methods
Research Design
Finding and Recording Sites
The Big Picture: Archaeological Survey in Practice
Excavating Sites
The Big Picture: Archaeological Excavation in Practice
Multidisciplinary Data Sets
How Old Is It?
Relative Dating Methods
Absolute Dating Methods
Time Scales in Dating
Theories and Interpretations
Timeline: The Development of Archaeology
Who Owns the Past?
Peopling the Past: Indigenous Archaeology
Summary
Endnotes
PART 2: PREHISTORY BEFORE POLITICAL COMPLEXITY
2. Humanity's Roots
A Word About Classification
Timeline: Early Hominins
Bipedalism and the Earliest Hominins
Why Is Bipedalism Important?
--ADVANTAGES OF BIPEDALISM
--ORIGINS OF BIPEDALISM
Evolutionary Processes
"Cousins" in the Early Hominin Lineage
Tool Use and Manufacture
Peopling the Past: Culture in the Prehistoric Record
Stone Tools
The Big Picture: Oldowan Industrial Complex
Which Hominins Made and Used Stone Tools?
Early Hominin Culture
Peopling the Past: Hunting versus Scavenging
Further Reflections: The Place of Ardipithecus ramidus in Human Evolution
Summary
Endnotes
3. Becoming Human
Pleistocene Ice Ages
Early Waves of Out of Africa
Timeline: Later Hominins
The Earliest Movement Out of Africa
Meanwhile, Back in Africa
The Big Picture: Acheulian, Middle Stone Age, and Middle Paleolithic Traditions
Later Movement Out of Africa
Modern Humans, Neandertals, and Homo floresiensis
Multiregionalism, Recent Single Origin, and Assimilation Models
--MULTIRETIONALISM?
--RECENT SINGLE ORIGIN
--ASSIMILATION MODEL?
Peopling the Past: Genetics, Neandertals, and Modern Humans
Isolation and a New Species
The Origins of Modern Behaviors
Peopling the Past: Defining and Identifying Modern Behavior
Middle Stone Age Africa
Language
Middle Paleolithic and Chatelperronian Europe
Disappearance of the Neandertals
Further Reflections: Was There an Out of Africa Before 1.9 Million Years Ago?
Summary
Endnotes
4. A World of Modern Humans
Modern Humans as Hunter-Gatherer-Foragers
Timeline: Hunter-Gatherer-Foragers
Later Stone Age Africa
The Big Picture: Later Stone Age and Upper Paleolithic Technologies and Tools
Upper Paleolithic Europe
--EARLY UPPER PALEOLITHIC?
--MID-UPPER PALEOLITHIC?
Peopling the Past: The Role of Art in Late Pleistocene Cultures
--LATE UPPER PALEOLITHIC?
--INTERPRETING UPPER PALEOLITHIC CAVE ART?
Worldwide Expansion
Australia/New Guinea
The Americas
Paleoamericans
Peopling the Past: Megafaunal Extinctions
Clovis and Related Groups
Later Paleoamericans
Further Reflections: Megafauna in Australia
Summary
Endnotes
5. Hunting, Gathering, Foraging, Farming, and Complexity
The End of the Ice Ages
Timeline: Late Hunter-Gatherer-Foragers
The Old World
Middle East
--EARLY EPIPALEOLITHIC?
--MIDDLE EPIPALEOLITHIC?
Peopling the Past: Aggregation Sites in the Levantine Epipaleolithic
--LATE EPIPALEOLITHIC
Transition to Food Production in the Middle East
--PRE-POTTERY NEOLITHIC A
--PRE-POTTERY NEOLITHIC B
Peopling the Past: Ritual in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic
Asia
Africa
Europe
The New World
North America
Mexico/Central America
South America
Why Food Production?
Ideas
The Big Picture: Niche Construction Theory and the Origins of Food Production
Complexity in the Archaeological Record
Social Complexity
Political Complexity
Social and Political Complexity in Pre-Contact Hawai?i
The Rise of Political Complexity
--THE AGENCY AND ECODYNAMICS FRAMEWORKS
--THE NETWORKS AND BOUNDARIES FRAMEWORK
Themes in Politically Complex Societies
The Individual and the Group
Cornering the Market
Ideology
Further Reflections: Thinking About Food Production
Summary
Endnotes
PART 3: ON THE THRESHOLD OF POLITICAL COMPLEXITY
6. Prehistoric Europe North of the Mediterranean
Timeline: Prehistoric Europe
Early Holocene Hunter-Gatherer-Foragers
Ertebølle Culture
Early Food Production
Cardial Ware Culture
Linear Pottery Culture
Funnel Beaker Culture
Neolithic Megaliths and Other Monument Building
Peopling the Past: Building Stonehenge
--INTERPRETATIONS OF NEOLITHIC MEGALITHS AND OTHER MONUMENTS IN GREAT BRITAIN
Bronze Age Europe
Resource Networks, Trade, and Exchange
Social Life
Peopling the Past: Bronze Age Elites
Warfare and Violence
Peopling the Past: Violence, Ritual or Both in the Bronze Age?
Iron Age Europe
Hallstatt Culture
La Tène Culture
Further Reflections: Characterizing Social and Political Organization
7. The North American Southwest
Early Food Production
Timeline: The North American Southwest
The Late Archaic Period
The Basketmaker Phases of Ancestral Pueblo
--BASKETMAKER II
--BASKETMAKER III
Pithouse-To-Pueblo Transition
The Chaco Phenomenon
Resource Networks, Trade, and Exchange
Peopling the Past: Chaco Canyon and Mesoamerican Connections
Social Life
Peopling the Past: The Roles of Men and Women in Chaco Canyon
Warfare and Violence
The Late Bonito Phase in Chaco Canyon
Ancestral Pueblo After the Chaco Phenomenon
Peopling the Past: Oral Traditions and Archaeology in the North American Southwest
Pueblo IV and Later
Hohokam and Mogollon: Contemporaries of the Ancestral Pueblo
Hohokam
Mogollon
Further Reflections: Elite Lineage at Pueblo Bonito
Summary
Endnotes
8. Eastern North America
Timeline: Eastern North America
Early Food Production
Poverty Point Culture
Shell Ring Complexes
Woodland Period
Early Woodland
Middle Woodland
--HOPEWELL INTERACTION SPHERE?
Late Woodland
Cahokia and the Early Mississippian Period
Resource Networks, Trade, and Exchange
Peopling the Past: Resources, Trade, and Exchange at Cahokia
Social Life
Peopling the Past: High-Status Burials at Cahokia
Warfare and Violence
The Mississippian After Cahokia
The Late Mississippian
Peopling the Past: Symbols in the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
Further Reflections: Cahokia: Paramount Chiefdom or State?
Summary
Endnotes
Part 4 Politically Complex Societies
9. Early Dynastic Mesopotamia
Timeline: Mesopotamia
Early Food Production
Pre-Pottery Neolithic
Pottery Neolithic
Before the Early Dynastic
The Uruk Period
Early Dynastic Mesopotamia
The Big Picture: Early Dynastic Political Organization
The Written Word
Resource Networks, Trade, and Exchange
--SUPPLY, DEMAND, AND WEALTH?
Social Life
Peopling the Past: Roles of Women and Men in Mesopotamia
Ritual and Religion
The Big Picture: Ideology and Art in the Early Dynastic
Warfare and Violence
Later Mesopotamia
Further Reflections: Archaeology and Politics
Summary
Endnotes
10. Pharaonic State and Old Kingdom Egypt
Timeline: Egypt
Early Food Production
The Nabta Playa
Predynastic
Pharaonic State
Old Kingdom Egypt
The Written Word
Resource Networks, Trade, and Exchange
--SUPPLY, DEMAND, AND WEALTH
Peopling the Past: Building the Pyramids of Egypt
Social Life
The Big Picture: Political Organization in Old Kingdom Egypt
Ritual and Religion
The Big Picture: Art and Ideology in Old Kingdom Egypt
Warfare and Violence
After the Old Kingdom
Further Reflections: Egypt's Multiple Rises and Falls
Summary
Endnotes
11. Shang China
Timeline: China
Early Food Production
Before Shang
Yangshao Culture
Longshan Culture
Erlitou Culture
Shang China
The Big Picture: Political Organization in the Shang Period
The Written Word
Peopling the Past: Oracle Bones, Divination, and the Origins of Writing
Resource Networks, Trade, and Exchange
Social Life
Ritual and Religion
The Big Picture: Art and Ideology in Shang China
Warfare and Violence
After Shang
Further Reflections: Consolidating the Western Zhou State Identity
Summary
Endnotes
12. The Indus Valley
Timeline: The Harappan
Early Food Production
Early Harappan
The Mature Harappan
The Written Word
Peopling the Past: Deciphering the Indus Script
Resource Networks, Trade, and Exchange
The Big Picture: Trade and Exchange in the Mature Harappan
Ideology
Urbanization and Its Consequences
The Big Picture: Urbanism in the Mature Harappan
After the Mature Harappan
Further Reflections: Importance of Trade and Exchange Networks
Summary
Endnotes
13. Mesoamerica, the Classic Maya, and the Aztec Empire
Timeline: Mesoamerica
Early Food Production
Formative Mesoamerica
The Olmec in the South Gulf Coast Lowlands
Early and Middle Preclassic Maya
The Valley of Oaxaca
The Basin of Mexico
Late Preclassic Maya
The Lowlands Classic Maya
The Maya Written Word
Maya Resource Networks, Trade, and Exchange
Social Life
The Big Picture: Political Organization in the Classic Maya
Maya Ritual and Religion
The Big Picture: Art and Ideology in the Classic Maya
Maya Warfare and Violence
Peopling the Past: Politics and Warfare
After the Classic Maya
Terminal Classic and Postclassic Maya
The Aztec Empire
The Triple Alliance
Aztec Trade and Exchange Networks
Aztec Social Life
Aztec Religion and Ritual
Aztec Warfare and Violence
Arrival of the Spanish
Further Reflections: Warfare and the Classic Maya
Summary
Endnotes
14. Andean South America and the Inka Empire
Timeline: The Andean Region
Early Food Production
Late Preceramic Period
Initial Period
Before The Inka
Early Horizon
Early Intermediate Period/Early Middle Horizon
Middle Horizon
--WARI EMPIRE?
--TIWANAKU EMPIRE?
--LATE INTERMEDIATE PERIOD?
The Inka Empire
The Nonwritten or Written (?) Word
Resource Networks, Trade, and Exchange
Peopling the Past: The Inka Road System
Social Life
The Big Picture: Political Organization in the Inka Empire
The Big Picture: Art and Ideology in the Inka Empire
Ritual and Religion
Warfare and Violence
After the Inka
Further Reflections: Challenges to the State / Empire
Summary
Endnotes
15. Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe in Africa
Timeline: Southeast Africa
Food Production
Metallurgy
The Rise of Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe
Resource Networks, Trade, and Exchange
The Big Picture: Trade and Exchange in the Shashe-Limpopo and Plateau Region
Social Life
Ritual and Religion
The Big Picture: Art and Ideology at Great Zimbabwe
Oral Traditions
Peopling the Past: The Role of Oral History and Historical Documents
After Great Zimbabwe
Further Reflections: The Bantu Expansion
Summary
Endnotes
PART 5: EPILOGUE
Epilogue
All Good Things Come to an End
Lessons From the Past?
Summary
Endnotes
Glossary
References
Credits
Index

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Deborah I. Olszewski is Adjunct Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. She is coauthor, with Robert J. Wenke, of Patterns in Prehistory: Humankind's First Three Million Years, Fifth Edition (OUP, 2006).

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