The Evolution of urban society

1965 | Lewis Henry Morgan lectures | Pdf | 191 p | Eng | 0202330168 | 27.2 MB

The Evolution of Urban Society-Early Mesopotamia and Prehispanic Mexico
by ROBERT McC. ADAMS

This comparative analysis of the two best-documented examples of "pristine" state societies examines the validity of the theory of cultural evolution by demonstrating essential similarities in the evolutionary patterns of early Mesopo
tamia and Prehispanic Mexico during their "careers to statehood."

The author first provides a critical discussion of conceptual tools useful in the study of early civilizations and then examines the similarities and differences in
the underlying ecological variables and modes of subsistence which characterize these two societies.

A number of striking parallels are traced in the organization of these early states and in their development from theocratic to political control over whole societies, culminating in the establishment of trade and tribute states which extended their domination over wide regions