The Emergence of Civilisation : The Cyclades and the Aegean in the Third Millennium BC

Unavailable for too long, this new edition reprints the original text of Renfrew's groundbreaking study, supplemented with a new introduction by the author and a foreword by John Cherry (Joukowsky Family Professor of Archaeology, Brown University), in order to make this landmark publication available once again to the scholarly community HISTORY / Ancient / General Cover 1 Title 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 List of Illustrations 10 Notes to the Illustrations 14 Site map 19 Foreword, by John Cherry (2010) 22 Preface and Introduction (2010) 28 Preface (1972) 52 Acknowledgements (1972) 54 Introduction 56 1 Civilisation 58 2 The Explanation of Culture Change 70 3 The Multiplier Effect 82 4 The Minoan-Mycenean Civilisation and its Origins 100 Part I Culture Sequence 116 5 The Neolithic Background 118 6 Crete in the Third Millennium BC 136 7 Mainland Greece in the Third Millennium BC 154 8 The Third Millenium BC in the Eastern Aegean 176 9 The Early Cycladic Culture Sequence 190 10 The Grotta-Pelos Culture 207 11 The Keros-Syros Culture 225 12 The Phylakopi I Culture 241 13 Aegean Interrelations and Chronology in the Third Millennium BC 251 Part II Culture Process 278 14 Patterns of Settlement and Population in the Prehistoric Aegean 280 15 Natural Environment and the Subsistence Subsystem 320 16 The Development of Aegean Metallurgy 363 17 Craft Specialisation and the Transformation of the Physical Environment 394 18 Social Systems 417 19 Symbolic and Projective Systems 459 20 Trade, Communication and Innovation 495 21 The Multiplier Effect in Action 531 Appendixes 560 APPENDIX 1 562 Gazetteer of Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Sites in the Cycladic Islands 562 APPENDIX 2 581 Local Groups with the Grotta-Pelos and Keros-Syros Cultures of the Cyclades 581 APPENDIX 3 594 Data for the Matrix Analysis of the Early Cycladic Cemeteries 594 Bibliography 604 Full Captions to the Plates 644 Index 648 Plates 658 The Emergence of Civilisation describes in detail the processes at work during the millennium which preceded the development of prehistoric Aegean civilisation and, using the framework of a systems model, offers insight into the forces transforming an early farming society into a full civilisation, possessing a social organisation, craft technology and palatial centres far beyond the scope of a simple subsistence economy Part I (Culture Sequence) presents a detailed survey of Aegean archaeology and chronology in the third millennium BC. Special attention is given to the Cycladic Islands. The ensuing study of Culture Process (Part II) focuses successively on population, farming and subsistence, metallurgy, craft technology, social organisation, symbolic systems (language, art, religion) and communication. --Book Jacket