Author: Gregory L. Possehl Publisher: ISBN: Category : History Languages : en Pages : 1244
Book Description
"Part Four is a culture history of the peoples of the Indus Age from the beginnings of food production and domestication of plants and animals to the threshold of civilization in the region."--BOOK JACKET.
Author: Gregory L. Possehl Publisher: Rowman Altamira ISBN: 0759116423 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 289
Book Description
The Indus Civilization of India and Pakistan was contemporary with, and equally complex as the better-known cultures of Mesopotamia, Egypt and China. The dean of North American Indus scholars, Gregory Possehl, attempts here to marshal the state of knowledge about this fascinating culture in a readable synthesis. He traces the rise and fall of this civilization, examines the economic, architectural, artistic, religious, and intellectual components of this culture, describes its most famous sites, and shows the relationships between the Indus Civilization and the other cultures of its time. As a sourcebook for scholars, a textbook for archaeology students, and an informative volume for the lay reader, The Indus Civilization will be an exciting and informative read.
Author: Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia Publisher: Oxbow Books ISBN: 1789258642 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 313
Book Description
The organization and characteristics of early and ancient states have become the focus of a renewed interest from archaeologists, ancient historians and anthropologists in recent years. On the one hand, neo-evolutionary schemas of political transformation find it difficult to define some of their most basic concepts, such as chiefdom, complex chiefdom and state, not to mention the transition between them. On the other hand, teleological interpretations based on linear dynamics, from less to increasingly more complex political structures, in successive steps, impose biased and too rigid views on the available evidence. In fact, recent research stresses the existence of other forms of socio-political organization, less vertically integrated and more heterarchical, that proved highly successful and resilient in the long term in tying together social groups. What is more, such forms quite often represented the basic blocks on which states were built and that managed to survive once states collapsed. Finally, nomadic, maritime and mountain populations provide fascinating examples of societies that experienced alternative forms of political organization, sometimes on a seasonal basis. In other cases, their consideration as marginal populations that cultivated specialized skills ensured them a certain degree of autonomy when living either within or at the borders of states. This book explores such small-scale socio-political organizations, their potential and the historical trajectories they stimulated. A selection of historical case studies from different regions of the world may help rethink current concepts and views about the emergence and organization of political complexity and the mechanisms that prevented, occasionally, the emergence of solid polities. They may also cast some light over trajectories of historical transformation, still poorly understood as are the limits of effective state power. This book explores the importance of comparative research and long-term historical perspectives to avoid simplistic interpretations, based on the characteristics of modern Western states abusively used retrospectively.
Author: Alice Albinia Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company ISBN: 0393338606 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 401
Book Description
Albinia follows the Indus River in Asia, one of the largest rivers in the world, through 2,000 miles of geography and back to a time 5,000 years ago when a string of sophisticated cities grew on its banks. Illustrations.
Author: Sanu Kainikara Publisher: From Indus to Independence - A Trek Through Indian ISBN: 9789385563157 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
This is the second volume of the series of books being written on Indian history. This volume covers the approximate period between 200 B.C. and 600 A.D., a time that can be considered the Classical Age in Indian history.
Author: Gregory L. Possehl Publisher: Rowman Altamira ISBN: 9780759101722 Category : India Languages : en Pages : 292
Book Description
A brief introduction to the history, archaeology, art, language, and culture of the Indus Valley civilization, written by the leading North American Indus archaeologist.
Author: Andrew Robinson Publisher: Reaktion Books ISBN: 1780235410 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 192
Book Description
When Alexander the Great invaded the Indus Valley in the fourth century BCE, he was completely unaware that it had once been the center of a civilization that could have challenged ancient Egypt and neighboring Mesopotamia in size and sophistication. In this accessible introduction, Andrew Robinson tells the story—so far as we know it—of this enigmatic people, who lay forgotten for around 4,000 years. Going back to 2600 BCE, Robinson investigates a civilization that flourished over half a millennium, until 1900 BCE, when it mysteriously declined and eventually vanished. Only in the 1920s, did British and Indian archaeologists in search of Alexander stumble upon the ruins of a civilization in what is now northwest India and eastern Pakistan. Robinson surveys a network of settlements—more than 1,000—that covered over 800,000 square kilometers. He examines the technically advanced features of some of the civilization’s ancient cities, such as Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, where archaeologists have found finely crafted gemstone jewelry, an exquisite part-pictographic writing system (still requiring decipherment), apparently Hindu symbolism, plumbing systems that would not be bettered until the Roman empire, and street planning worthy of our modern world. He also notes what is missing: any evidence of warfare, notwithstanding an adventurous maritime trade between the Indus cities and Mesopotamia via the Persian Gulf. A fascinating look at a tantalizingly “lost” civilization, this book is a testament to its artistic excellence, technological progress, economic vigor, and social tolerance, not to mention the Indus legacy to modern South Asia and the wider world.
Author: Gregory L. Possehl
Author: Gregory L. Possehl
Author: Gregory L. Possehl
Author: Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia
Author: Alice Albinia
Author: Sanu Kainikara
Author: Gregory L. Possehl
Author: Andrew Robinson
Author: Norman Yoffee
Author: Pennsylvania. Commission of Soldiers' Orphan Schools