Ancient Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization: The Evolution of an Urban Landscape

by: Guillermo Algaze (Author)

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Edition: 1st

Publication Date: 2008/11/15

Language: English

Print Length: 246 pages

ISBN-10: 0226013774

ISBN-13: 9780226013770

Book Description

The alluvial lowlands of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in southe Mesopotamia are widely known as the “cradle of civilization,” owing to the scale of the processes of urbanization that took place in the area by the second half of the fourth millennium BCE.             In Ancient Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization, Guillermo Algaze draws on the work of mode economic geographers to explore how the unique river-based ecology and geography of the Tigris-Euphrates alluvium affected the development of urban civilization in southe Mesopotamia. He argues that these natural conditions granted southe polities significant competitive advantages over their landlocked rivals elsewhere in Southwest Asia, most importantly the ability to easily transport commodities. In due course, this resulted in increased trade and economic activity and higher population densities in the south than were possible elsewhere. As southe polities grew in scale and complexity throughout the fourth millennium, revolutionary new forms of labor organization and record keeping were created, and it is these socially created innovations, Algaze argues, that ultimately account for why fully developed city-states emerged earlier in southe Mesopotamia than elsewhere in Southwest Asia or the world.

About the Author

The alluvial lowlands of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in southe Mesopotamia are widely known as the “cradle of civilization,” owing to the scale of the processes of urbanization that took place in the area by the second half of the fourth millennium BCE.             In Ancient Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization, Guillermo Algaze draws on the work of mode economic geographers to explore how the unique river-based ecology and geography of the Tigris-Euphrates alluvium affected the development of urban civilization in southe Mesopotamia. He argues that these natural conditions granted southe polities significant competitive advantages over their landlocked rivals elsewhere in Southwest Asia, most importantly the ability to easily transport commodities. In due course, this resulted in increased trade and economic activity and higher population densities in the south than were possible elsewhere. As southe polities grew in scale and complexity throughout the fourth millennium, revolutionary new forms of labor organization and record keeping were created, and it is these socially created innovations, Algaze argues, that ultimately account for why fully developed city-states emerged earlier in southe Mesopotamia than elsewhere in Southwest Asia or the world.