Table Of ContentAncient Lives
Focusing on sites of key significance and the world’s first civilizations, Ancient Lives is an accessible and
engaging textbook which introduces complete beginners to the fascinating worlds of archaeology and
prehistory. Drawing on his impressive combined experience of the field and the classroom, the author uses a
jargon-free narrative style to enliven the major developments of more than 3 million years of human life.
First introducing the basic principles, methods, and theoretical approaches of archaeology, the book then
provides a summary of world prehistory from a global perspective, exploring human origins and the reality of
life in the prehistoric world. Later chapters describe the development of agriculture and animal domestication,
and the emergence of cities, states, and preindustrial civilizations in widely separated parts of the world. With
this new edition updated to reflect the latest discoveries and research in the discipline, Ancient Lives continues
to be a comprehensive and essential introduction to archaeology.
Brian M. Fagan is one of the world’s leading archaeological writers and an internationally recognized
authority on world prehistory. He is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa
Barbara.
2
Ancient Lives
An Introduction to Archaeology and Prehistory
SIXTH EDITION
Brian M. Fagan
3
First published 2016
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 100172016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2016 B. M. Fagan (as the Lindbriar Corporation)
The right of Brian M. Fagan (as the Lindbriar Corporation) to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested.
ISBN: 978-1-138-18879-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-64208-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Palatino
by Sunrise Setting Ltd., Brixham, UK
4
To
Carol Ellick
with affection because
she rescued me from writer’s block
and
Nancy Roberts
also with affection
and with thanks for many kindnesses
and the “Eureka moment” that resulted in Ancient Lives
5
Brief Contents
PART I Archaeology: Studying Ancient Times
1 Introducing Archaeology and Prehistory
2 The Record of the Past
3 Acquiring the Record
4 How Did People Live?
PART II Ancient Interactions
5 Individuals and Interactions
6 Studying the Intangible
7 Explaining the Past
PART III The World of the First Humans
8 Human Origins
9 African Exodus
PART IV Modern Humans Settle the World
10 The Great Diaspora
PART V The First Farmers and Civilizations
11 The Earliest Farmers
12 The First Civilizations
13 Early Asian Civilizations
PART VI Ancient America
14 Maize, Pueblos, and Earthwork Builders
15 Mesoamerican Civilizations
16 Andean Civilizations
PART VII On Being an Archaeologist
17 So You Want to Become an Archaeologist
6
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Preface
About Ancient Lives
The Philosophy Behind Ancient Lives
Special Features and Changes in the Sixth Edition
Acknowledgments
Author Notes
PART I Archaeology: Studying Ancient Times
SPECIAL FEATURE: CONSERVATION OF SITES AND FINDS
1 Introducing Archaeology and Prehistory
How Archaeology Began
Archaeology and Prehistory
Prehistory and World Prehistory
Major Developments in Human Prehistory
Why Are Archaeology and World Prehistory Important?
Who Needs the Past?
Summary
Key Terms and Sites
Critical-Thinking Questions
Further Reading
2 The Record of the Past
The Goals of Archaeology
The Process of Archaeological Research
What Is Culture?
The Archives of the Past: The Archaeological Record
Preservation Conditions
Summary
Key Terms and Sites
Critical-Thinking Questions
Further Reading
3 Acquiring the Record
How Do You Find Archaeological Sites?
Back to (Real) Earth: Ground Survey
How Old Is It?
Summary
Key Terms and Sites
Critical-Thinking Questions
Further Reading
7
4 How Did People Live?
Technologies of the Ancients
Subsistence: Making a Living
Summary
Key Terms and Sites
Critical-Thinking Questions
Further Reading
PART II Ancient Interactions
SPECIAL FEATURE: MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS IN ARCHAEOLOGY SINCE 1798
5 Individuals and Interactions
An Individual: Ötzi the Ice Man
Social Ranking
Gender: Men and Women
Ethnicity and Inequality
Trade and Exchange
Summary
Key Terms and Sites
Critical-Thinking Questions
Further Reading
6 Studying the Intangible
A Framework of Common Belief
Ethnographic Analogy and Rock Art
The Archaeology of Death
Artifacts: The Importance of Context
Artifacts and Art Styles
Sacred Places
Astroarchaeology and Stonehenge
Southwestern Astronomy and Chaco Canyon
Summary
Key Terms and Sites
Critical-Thinking Questions
Further Reading
7 Explaining the Past
Culture History
Constructing Culture History
Analogy
Archaeology by Observation and Experiment
Explaining Cultural Change
People, Not Systems
Change and No Change
Summary
Key Terms and Sites
Critical-Thinking Questions
Further Reading
PART III The World of the First Humans
SPECIAL FEATURE: THE ARCHAIC WORLD
8
8 Human Origins
The Great Ice Age (c. 2.5 Million to 15,000 Years Ago)
Early Primate Evolution and Adaptation
The Fossil Evidence for Human Evolution (7 Million to 1.5 Million Years Ago)
All Kinds of Australopithecines (3 Million to 2.5 Million Years Ago)
Early Homo: Homo habilis (2.5 Million to Million Years Ago)
Who Was the First Human?
The Earliest Human Technology
Hunters or Scavengers?
Plant Foraging and Grandmothering
The Earliest Human Mind
The Development of Language
The Earliest Social Organization
Summary
Key Terms and Sites
Critical-Thinking Questions
Further Reading
9 African Exodus
Ice Age Background
Homo ergaster in Africa
Homo erectus (c. 1.9 Million to c. 200,000 Years Ago)
The Lifeway of Homo erectus
Archaic Homo sapiens (c. 400,000 to 130,000 Years Ago)
The Neanderthals (c. 200,000 to 30,000 Years Ago)
The Origins of Modern Humans (c. 180,000 to 150,000 Years Ago)
Out of Tropical Africa
Summary
Key Terms and Sites
Critical-Thinking Questions
Further Reading
PART IV Modern Humans Settle the World
SPECIAL FEATURE: THE SPREAD OF MODERN HUMANS TO 12,000 YEARS AGO
10 The Great Diaspora
The Late Ice Age World (50,000 to 15,000 Years Ago)
The Peopling of Southeast Asia and Australia (c. 50,000 to 15,000 Years Ago)
Late Ice Age Europe: The Cro-Magnons (45,000 to 15,000 Years Ago)
Hunter-Gatherers in Eurasia (35,000 to 15,000 Years Ago)
East Asia (35,000 to 15,000 Years Ago)
Early Human Settlement of Siberia (Before 20,000 to 15,000 Years Ago)
The First Americans (Before 15,000 Years Ago to 11,000 B.C.)
The Clovis People (c. 11,200 to 10,900 B.C.)
Summary
Key Terms and Sites
Critical-Thinking Questions
Further Reading
PART V The First Farmers and Civilizations
9
SPECIAL FEATURE: EARLY FOOD PRODUCTION
11 The Earliest Farmers
After the Ice Age
Changes in Hunter-Gatherer Societies
Origins of Food Production
Consequences of Food Production
The First Farmers in Southwestern Asia
Early Agriculture in South and East Asia
Navigators and Chiefs in the Pacific (2000 B.C. to Modern Times)
Summary
Key Terms and Sites
Critical-Thinking Questions
Further Reading
12 The First Civilizations
SPECIAL FEATURE: OLD WORLD CIVILIZATIONS
What Is a State-Organized Society?
Theories of the Origins of States
The Collapse of Civilizations
Early Civilization in Mesopotamia (5500 to B.C.)
Ancient Egyptian Civilization (c. B.C. to B.C.)
Summary
Key Terms and Sites
Critical-Thinking Questions
Further Reading
13 Early Asian Civilizations
South Asia: The Indus Civilization (c. to B.C.)
South Asia after the Indus Civilization (1700 to B.C.)
The Origins of Chinese Civilization (2600 to B.C.)
The War Lords (1100 to B.C.)
Southeast Asian Civilization (A.D. to 1500)
Summary
Key Terms and Sites
Critical-Thinking Questions
Further Reading
PART VI Ancient America
SPECIAL FEATURE: NATIVE AMERICAN CIVILIZATIONS
14 Maize, Pueblos, and Earthwork Builders
North America after First Settlement
The Story of Maize
The North American Southwest (300 B.C. to Modern Times)
Earthwork Builders in Eastern North America (2000 B.C. to A.D. 1650)
Summary
Key Terms and Sites
Critical-Thinking Questions
Further Reading
10
