Book Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of figures -- List of maps -- List of tables -- Acknowledgements -- Preliminary -- Chapter one Introduction -- 1 The disciplines of archaeology and anthropology -- 2 Social evolution and anthropology -- 3 Social science and archaeology -- Chapter two The premisses of social succession -- 1 The relationship of demography and technology to social structure -- 2 Is population pressure an historical constant? -- 3 Is agriculture the outcome of technological discoveries? -- 4 Mutation and succession -- Chapter three The ecology of the Zagrosian Arc -- 1 Physical geography -- 2 Neothermal conditions -- 3 The advent of Homo sapiens sapiens -- 4 Post-glacial conditions in the Near East -- 5 The cereal revolution -- 6 Cereals as the basis of a self-amplifying system -- Chapter four The origin and growth of villages -- 1 The Levant -- 2 Tell Mureybet -- Phase IA -- Phase IB -- Phase II -- Phase III -- Phase IVA and IVB -- Site, situation, and subsistence -- 3 The Zagros -- 4 Khuzistan -- Bus Mordeh Phase: 8,200-7,200 BC -- Ali Kosh Phase: 7,200-6,400 BC -- Mohammed Jaffar Phase: 6,400-6,100 BC -- Sabz Phase: 5,200-4,800 BC -- Chogha Mami Transitional Phase (Chogha Sefid site): 5,400-5,100 BC -- Sabz Phase (Chogha Sefid site): 5,200-5,000 BC -- Khazineh Phase 5,000-4,800 BC -- Mehmeh Phase: 4,860-4,400 BC -- Bayat at Phase: 4,400-3,900 BC -- 5 The crystallization of the village as a type -- 6 Demography in the Pristine Neolithic -- Chapter five The heartland of cities -- 1 Periodization and the beginnings of history -- 2 City genesis -- 3 Jemdet Nasr to Dynastic periods -- 4 Subordination and theories of stratification -- Chapter six The institutions of urbanism -- 1 Ecology and oikos -- 2 Corporate citizenship -- 3 Ensi and lugal as heads of state -- 4 Monarchic initiatives -- 5 Monarchy to proto-empire.

6 The norms of rulership -- 7 Organization of the economy -- 8 Grain productivity and its stability -- 9 The Old Babylonian period and the end of the ration system -- Chapter seven Theories of the state -- 1 Evolutionary underpinning to theories of the state -- 2 Models of state formation -- A: Managerialism -- (i) Service -- (iia) Flannery -- (iib) Wittfogel -- B: Stress models -- (i) Competition and conquest -- (ii) The stratification model -- 3 Relations of production and the advent of the state in Mesopotamia -- Chapter eight From status to state -- 1 Status as the prerequisite of all social roles and offices -- 2 Intrinsic sources of rank -- 3 Loci of authority in the conditions of reproduction -- 4 The 'Asiatic' mode of stratification by conical clans -- 5 Divergent Neolithics -- Chapter nine Modelling societies: modes of production -- The Asiatic mode -- Chapter ten Ideology and political economy of the Mesopotamian state -- 1 Order and law -- 2 The political terrain -- Chapter eleven Summary and overview -- Appendix A The pantheon of the Sumerian city-state -- Appendix B Inanna and Dumuzi of the dates -- Appendix C The spread of farming from the Near East -- Appendix D Support of and from the early temple -- Appendix E The interactive evolution of alphabetic script -- Appendix F The Ages System -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.

The Emergence of Civilisation is a major contribution to our understanding of the development of urban culture and social stratification in the Near Eastern region. Charles Maisels argues that our present assumptions about state formation, based on nineteenth century speculations, are wrong. His investigation illuminates the changes in scale, complexity and hierarchy which accompany the development of civilisation. The book draws conclusions about the dynamics of social change and the processes of social evolution in general, applying those concepts to the rise of Greece and Rome, and to the collapse of the classical Mediterranean world.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.