World Prehistory and Archaeology

World Prehistory and Archaeology provides an integrated discussion of world prehistory and archaeological methods, presenting an up-to-date perspective on what we know about our human prehistory and how we come to know it. A cornerstone of World Prehistory and Archaeology is the discussion of prehistory as an active process of discovery. Methodological issues are addressed throughout the text to engage readers. Archaeological methods are introduced, following which the question of how we know the past is discussed. This fifth edition involves readers in the current state of archaeological research, revealing how archaeologists work and interpret what they find. Through the coverage of various new research, author Michael Chazan shows that archaeology is truly a global discipline. In this edition there is a particular emphasis on the relevance of archaeology to contemporary society and to the major issues that face us today. This edition will provide students with a necessary grounding in the fundamentals of archaeology, before engaging them with the work that goes into understanding world prehistory. They will be given the tools to place this knowledge in the context of the modern world, acknowledging the relevance of archaeology to the concerns of today.

Michael Chazan is a professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Toronto, Canada. He earned his PhD in anthropology at Yale University, USA. Before coming to Toronto, Professor Chazan was a postdoctoral fellow with the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris, France, and at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel. His field experience includes excavations in New Jersey, France, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and South Africa. Professor Chazan is the author of The Reality of Artifacts: An Archaeological Perspective published by Routledge. He co-directs the Wonderwerk Cave Research Project in the Northern Cape Province, South Africa.

PART ONE THE PAST IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY: GETTING FROM HERE TO THERE; Chapter 1 GETTING STARTED IN ARCHAEOLOGY; Chapter 2 PUTTING THE PICTURE TOGETHER; PART TWO HUMAN EVOLUTION; Chapter 3 EARLY HOMININS; Chapter 4 FROM Homo erectus TO NEANDERTHALS; Chapter 5 THE ORIGIN OF MODERN HUMANS; Chapter 6 THE PEOPLING OF AUSTRALIA AND THE NEW WORLD; PART THREE PERSPECTIVES ON AGRICULTURE; Chapter 7 TOWERS, VILLAGES, AND LONGHOUSES; Chapter 8 MOUNDS AND MAIZE; Chapter 9 A FEAST OF DIVERSITY; PART FOUR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL COMPLEXITY; Chapter 10 COMPLEXITY WITHOUT THE STATE; Chapter 11 CITIES, PYRAMIDS, AND PALACES: Early States of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Aegean; Chapter 12 LOCATING THE SOURCE OF AUTHORITY: Early States in Asia; Chapter 13 FROM CITY TO EMPIRE: Social Complexity in Mesoamerica; Chapter 14 BRINGING THE FOUR PARTS TOGETHER: States and Empire in the Andes; Epilogue BRINGING IT BACK HOME