
The Evolution of Urban Society
Early Mesopotamia and Prehispanic Mexico
Robert McC. Adams(Author)
Routledge (Publisher)
1st Edition
Published on 17. July 2017
Book
Hardback
204 pages
978-1-138-53554-1 (ISBN)
Description
The Evolution of Urban Societyis concerned with the presentation and analysis of regularities in the two best-documented examples of early, independent urban society: Mesopotamia and central Mexico. It provides a systematic comparison of institutional forms and trends of growth that are to be found in both of them. Emphasizing basic similarities in structure rather than the many acknowledged formal features by which each culture is rendered distinguishable from all others, it demonstrates that both societies can usefully be regarded as variants of a single process.Generalizing, comparative analyses of the origins of ancient civilizations in early anthropological studies emphasized the diversity of their cultures rather than their similarities. As this volume illustrates, early societies, in actuality, provide a significant example of broad regularities in human behavior. The emergence of states - of stratified, politically organized societies based upon a complex division of labor - is one of those great transformations that have punctuated human civilization. Adams shows why the study of societal evolution is so significant, and why it has remained a durable and attractive anthropological focus of interest.Originally published in 1966, The Evolution of Urban Society is based on a series of lectures at the University of Rochester in honor of the esteemed anthropologist Lewis Henry Morgan. It remains required reading for students of anthropology, ethnography, ancient civilizations, and world history. As Elizabeth Carter noted in Science at the time: "Adams's The Evolution of Urban Society set the agenda for contemporary research into early urbanism in the [Mesopotamian] region."
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
454 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-138-53554-1 (9781138535541)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
07/2017
Routledge
€68.49
Available for download

E-Book
07/2017
Routledge
€68.49
Available for download

Book
06/2005
1st Edition
AldineTransaction
€74.10
Shipment within 10-15 days
Person
Robert McC. Adams
Content
I: The Problem and the Evidence; II: Subsistence and Settlement; III: Kin and Class; IV: Parish and Polity; V: Conclusion