tthe

human
hum
m
past
World Prehistory
& the Development of
Human Societies

Edited by Chris Scarre

With 788 illustrations, 296 in color

THIRD EDITION
Half-title Two dancers, carved from ivory and originally part of the
decoration of the back of chair; from Begram, Afghanistan, c. 1st–3rd
century AD, now in the Musée Guimet, Paris.
Title page Detail of painted mural at the Moche site of Huaca Cao
Viejo, Trujillo, Peru.
Acknowledgments
I should like, first and foremost, to acknowledge the individual
contributors to this volume, who have provided an excellent series of
texts and have patiently responded to a seemingly endless sequence
of questions and comments. The success of the book is a testimony
to this teamwork. My thanks go to them also for their ongoing
commitment to the project, and for their co-operation, inspiration,
and hard work. In preparing this new edition it is my pleasant
duty to record once again my gratitude to all the team at Thames &
Hudson for their support and hard work. I also owe a large vote of
thanks to my colleagues at Durham for their knowledge and advice,
and for providing a lively academic environment. I would like in
particular to thank Dr Kate Sharpe for her assistance.

Copyright © 2005, 2009, 2013 Thames & Hudson Ltd, London

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced

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mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any other
information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission
in writing from the publisher.

First published in 2005 in paperback in the United States

of America by Thames & Hudson Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue,
New York, New York 10110
thamesandhudsonusa.com

Third edition 2013

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2012939666

ISBN 978-0-500-29063-7

Printed and bound in China by C&C Offset Printing Co. Ltd.

 years ago
variable scale millions of years ago

0
00
0,
80
6

4
7

2
3
5

1
“Lucy” ●
CHAPTER 2 Sahelanthropus tchadensis Ardipithecus
helanthropus tchadens Oldowan
o
Ardipithecus First stone
on tools ●
AFRICAN Orrorin ● kadabba ramidus
ORIGINS m rudolfensis to Homo
Homo m habilis
● Bipedalism (walking
n on two legs) A
Australopithecines
CHAPTER 3
HOMININ DISPERSALS Evolution of Ho
Homo erectus in eastern
rn Asia? ●
Homo ergasterr
IN THE OLD WORLD
Oldest
e archaeological ●
Possible use of fire in
P n Africa ● site/s in Europe
CHAPTER 4
THE RISE OF MODERN
HUMANS

20,000 bc 10,000 bc 9000 bc 8000 bc 7000 bc 6000 bc

CHAPTER 6 Domesticated
e rye at Abu Hureyra ●
Aceramic Neolithic
t Ceramic Neolithic
EARLY SOUTHWEST
ASIA Epipaleolithic hunter-gatherers
a Domesticated wheatt and barley found widely in Hilly Flanks zone
●

Domestication of sheep,
e
Toward sedentary
r villages ● Pre-domestication
o goat, cattle and pig Çatalhöyük
CHAPTER 7
● Jomon po
pottery, Japan
EAST ASIAN Transition to rice and
n millet agriculture
AGRICULTURE
Settled
t agricultural villages ●

CHAPTER 8
HOLOCENE AUSTRALIA
AND THE PACIFIC BASIN

CHAPTER 9 ● Clovis
v peoples ● Domesticated pepo and
d bottle gourd, Mesoameri
Mesoamerica
THE HOLOCENE
IN THE AMERICAS Dogs, eastern North
r America ●
Later
Paleoindians
al ● Rock art, Pedra
e Pintada, Brazil ● Mummies, South America
r

CHAPTER 10
HOLOCENE AFRICA Possible earliest ● Kharga Oasis: ●
domesticated cattle, wild cereals
Sahara

CHAPTER 11 ● First farmers, Crete

HOLOCENE St Carr, Mesolithic
Star
EUROPE hunter-gatherer
u camp, Bandkeramik
a farmers,
England First farmers,
e Greece ●
central Europe
ce

CHAPTER 12
LATER SOUTHWEST ASIA (for
or this early time period see Chapter 6 above)
Irrigation
n●

CHAPTER 13
THE MEDITERRANEAN (for
or this early time period see Chapters 6, 11, & 12 above)
WORLD

CHAPTER 14
SOUTH ASIA ● First villages
e
● Domestication
t
of zebu
CHAPTER 15
LATER EAST AND
SOUTHEAST ASIA (for
or this early time period see Chapter 7 above)

CHAPTER 16
MESOAMERICAN (for
or this early time period see Chapter 9 above)
CIVILIZATION

CHAPTER 17
SOUTH (for
or this early time period see Chapter 9 above)
AMERICA

CHAPTER 18
NORTH (for
or this early time period see Chapter 9 above)
AMERICA

22
 bc
0

00
00

00
00

00
00
00

00

00
,0
0,

,0
0,

,0
,0
0,

0,

,0
60
60

40
40

20
80
20

10

10
● Archaic e evolves
Homo sapiens

Homo ● Pre-Neanderthals evolve

e
heidelbergensis ● Possible use of fire in Europe

Classic
Modern Homo sapiens evolves Neanderthals ● Earliest archaeological
chaeological sites in Australia
A
●
Colonization
ization of the Americas
Americ ● ● Clovis
C
Lascaux cave paintings
n ● peoples
e
5000 BC 4000 bc 3000 bc 2000 BC 1000 bc bc–ad ad 1000 AD 2000

● Spread of mmillet ● Expansion oof farmers ● Establishment

li of rice-farming
cultivation across into southern
r China villages
e in Thailand Yayoi culture,
tu Japan
Korean peninsula
n ● Rice cultivation
ul and
metallurgy,
u Japan
● Beginningg of Austronesian colonization
z of Oceania
● Agricultural systems ● Agriculture in ● Rice in Sarawak ● Outrigger canoes ● Colonization
zation of Eastern Polynesia
Polynes
in New Guinea Taiwan
highlands Lapita cultural
r complex ● Colonization of
Dogs
gs introduced to Australia ● ● Colonization of Tonga and
a Samoa New Zealand

● Domesticated
cated maize, Mesoameric
Mesoamerica
● Watson Brake ● Pottery, Mesoamerica ● Pottery, SW North America
e
mounds Poverty Point
● Domesticated
d llama and alpaca, South America
● Domesticated
d sheep/goats, Sahara ● Giza pyramids
d ● Domesticated
a millet, West Africa
Aksum
Predynastic Egypt Great Zimbabwe
● Wheat and barley
a Dynastic Egypt
cultivated, Nile
i Valley ● First Egyptian writing ● Iron smelting
● Early use ● Farming, southern Scandinavia
n
of metals Bell beakers
ke
● The
h “Iceman” ● Trundholm sun
n chariot La Tène
● Plow agriculture
ul
● Varna
V Stonehengee ● Etruscan city-states
e
cemetery ● Farming, Britain and Ireland
re

● First cities Troy ● Hammurabi Neo-Assyrian

e empire
Ubaid Law Code
Uruk Mari Achaemenid
m (Persian) empire
First writing ● ● Ebla archive Hittites Neo-Babylonian
o empire
Eruption of Thera Building off Parthenon ●
● ● Eruption of Vesuvius
● Olympic games
Uluburun wreck ● ● Destruction
U s Roman
o empire
of M
Mycenaean
Minoan civilization, Crete
r palaces
a Alexander the Great
A G ● Sack of Rome

● Indus cities Buddha ●

Mehrgarh
● Iron
Mohenjo-daro Mauryan empire
p
Planned towns ●
● Indus script ● Coins

Xia Dynasty
W. and E. Zhou n Dynasty Yamato
Han A
Angkor

Shang Dynastyy Qin Dynasty Great Silla,Korea

a,
Koguryo,
o Korea

First widespread
a villages ●
● First recorded Maya kings
ki
Olmecs Aztecs
First ball court ●
F Teotihuacán
First
s cities and ●
irst widespread chiefs and elite monuments ● early
First a writing Maya collapse
Tikal

Wari Incas
Chavín
a de Huántar
Tiwanaku S
Santarem/Konduri

Moche Chimu
h empire

Adena Cahokia
● Craig Mound
d
Chaco ● Crow Creek
Hohokam

23
 2 AFRICAN ORIGINS

AFRICAN ORIGINS TIMELINE

million
years ago

4
6

2
5
7

1
STONE INDUSTRIES
Oldowan
Acheulean

HOMININ TAXA
Australopithecus africanus Homo ergaster
Sahelanthropus Australopithecus
afarensis Homo erectus
● Orrorin ● Australopithecus
garhi Homo habilis
Australopithecus
anamensis
Homo rudolfensis

Ardipithecus Ardipithecus Kenyanthropus Australopithecus

kadabba ramidus platyops aethiopicus Australopithecus robustus

Australopithecus boisei

MAJOR SITES ● Laetoli

footprints Gona
● “Lucy” ● Chesowanja
Omo
● Fetej
● Hadar East Turkana
● West Turkana
● Kanjera

Olduvai

Peninj

Sterkfontein

Swartkrans

EVENTS
Stone tools/cutmarks

Bipedalism (walking on two legs)

Encephalization (enlargement of the brain)

Darwin was not able to explain why such variation existed,
or how novel traits (“sports,” now called mutations) emerged
in populations, but we now understand the genetic basis for
inheritance that underlies the evolutionary changes observed
in species. Evolution occurs at microscopic or genotypic levels,
with changes in genes, chromosomes, or gene frequencies,
as well as at macroscopic or phenotypic (visible) levels, with
changes in such features as structure, size, or pigmentation.
Models of Evolutionary Change
Various models have emerged to describe the mode and tempo
by which evolutionary changes have occurred in species. A
model that had been employed by many researchers since
Darwin’s time is sometimes called gradualism, in which the
gradual, rather slow and steady accumulation of small changes
over a long period of time finally produces major changes in
the descendants of a species. A more recent model for species
change, at least for some species and at certain times, is called
punctuated equilibrium, in which periods of more rapid, dra-
matic evolution over short periods of time are separated by longer
periods of little change (or stasis). The latter model could apply
to certain periods of dramatic environmental change, during
which species underwent more significant natural selection pro-
cesses, followed by periods of relative environmental stability,
during which less profound evolutionary changes occurred.
Although tracing the evolutionary history of any single
living species back in time may make it appear that it evolved
in a single, unilinear trajectory, this is generally not the case.

48
 3 HOMININ DISPERSALS IN THE OLD WORLD

HOMININ DISPERSALS IN THE OLD WORLD TIMELINE

millions of years ago thousands of years ago

0
0

0
0

,0 0
0
0

50 00
00

00
00

00
00

00

10 000
00
00

40 00

00
0
0,

0,
0,

0,
0,

0,
0,
0,

0,
,0
0

1.4

,
90
1.7

60
1.0
1.2

80
1.5
1.8

20
40
1.6

1.1

30
1.3

50
70

10
2.

OLDOWAN EARLY ACHEULEAN LATE ACHEULEAN MIDDLE LATER

STONE AGE STONE AGE

AFRICA

Omo-Kibish
Ndutu, Kapthurin,
KNM-ER
3883

Konso

Klasies River
Main
KNM-ER
1808 & 3733

Nariokotome III

Florisbad
Olduvai Hominid 9
KNM-WT
15000

Broken Hill,

Herto
Olduvai Olduvai Cave of Hearths
H. ergaster

Hominids Hominid 23
H. habilis

12 & 28 Bodo Elandsfontein

heidelbergensis
Buia

H. sapiens
H. ergaster
Irhoud
Koobi Fora Daka
Kébibat

H.
Swartkrans Olorgesailie

MOUSTERIAN
TE9 (Atapuerca) (?Homo antecessor)

EUROPE AND ACHEULEAN (MIDDLE

WESTERN ASIA (LATE ACHEULEAN) PALEOLITHIC)

TD-6 (Atapuerca)
Homo antecessor
Ceprano
UPPER
PALEO-
Boxgrove, Mauer, Sima de Le Lazaret LITHIC
los Huesos Castel di Guido,
Fontana Ranuccio, Petralona
Homo species

La-Chapelle-
Swanscombe, aux-Saints,
Steinheim, Arago & La Ferrassie,
Dmanisi
Bilzingsleben Krapina,

H. heidelbergensis

neanderthalensis
Some possible Tabun,
archaeological sites Shanidar
Vértesszöllös & other
● ●
Neanderthals
Oldest archaeological
site/s (culture undefined)

H.
EASTERN ASIA EAST ASIAN FLAKE-AND-CHOPPER TRADITION

? Trinil & Djetis ?

(classic Javan)
H. erectus Yunxian Hexian Ngandong,
Sambungmacan,
Jianshi & various other & Ngawi
? Nihewan Chinese sites
archaeological Dali, Xujiayao,
sites Gongwangling Zhoukoudian & Maba
H. erectus

Locality I
Nanjing

Lake Turkana in northern Kenya, which date to 1.8–1.5 million The Turkana Boy All the specimens from Lake Turkana have
years ago. The dating depends mainly on replicated potassium- contributed to an understanding of Homo ergaster, but the West
argon determinations [see Dating Early Hominins box, pp. Turkana skull and associated skeleton are most important,
74–75], and is remarkably secure. The principal specimens are because they allow unambiguous statements about body size
two skulls, nine incomplete mandibles, a partial skeleton, and and form (Ruff and Walker 1993). Skull robusticity and the
some isolated limb bones from Koobi Fora on the eastern side of shape of the sciatic notch (which permits passage of the sciatic
the lake, and a skull and associated skeleton from Nariokotome nerve to the legs) on the pelvis indicate that the owner was male,
III on the western side (Walker and Leakey 1993a). The individ- while dental eruption (the appearance of teeth in pre-adults) and
ual fossils are commonly designated by serial numbers attached limb bone formation show that he was immature. His discov-
to an abbreviation for the Kenya National Museum (KNM) and erers therefore dubbed him the “Turkana Boy,” and specialists
to abbreviations for the two main regions: ER for East Turkana refer to him both this way and by his serial number, KNM WT
(formerly East Rudolf) and WT for West Turkana. 15000 [see box: The Discovery of the Turkana Boy, p. 89].

86
 4 THE RISE OF MODERN HUMANS

years ago THE RISE OF MODERN HUMANS TIMELINE

0
0

00

00
00

00

00
00
00

00
00

00
00

00
00

,0

,0
,0

,0

,0
,0
0,

,0
,0

,0
0,

0,
0,

90

10
80

70

40
60
20

20
50

30
15

10
25

MIDDLE STONE AGE LATE STONE AGE

AFRICA AND
NEAR EAST Herto crania Howieson’s Qafzeh
Poort Upper Paleolithic
Earliest Homo sapiens Ngaloba (Laetoli LH 18)
(see Chapter 3) cranium Ksar Akil, Lebanon
Taramsa ?burial
Florisbad Omo (Kibish) I and II
partial cranium ● Üçagizli, Turkey
Amud, Kebara Aurignacian
Singa Neanderthals

Jebel Irhoud Katanda?

Probable time of
Skhu-l and Qafzeh
●
coalescence of Shanidar Neanderthals
modern human
MtDNA and Y ● Tabun CI
chromosome Neanderthal

Blombos Cave, ocher, bone points

Coastal adaptations
e.g. Sea Harvest Cave,
Hoedjies Punt
? ?
Klasies River Mouth

ASIA AND
AUSTRALASIA
Niah Cave,
“Deep Skull”
Dali, Jinniushan, Xujiayo, Maba
Earliest convincing ● ● Colonization of
archaeological sites New Guinea and
in Australia Tasmania

Lake Mungo
burials

MIDDLE/UPPER
MIDDLE PALEOLITHIC UPPER PALEOLITHIC
PALEOLITHIC TRANSITION

EUROPE ● Last glacial

Mousterian Neanderthal
● maximum
Tata, extinctions
Early pre-Neanderthals Hungary St. Césaire
● ● Lascaux,
burial Altamira
Late pre-Neanderthals, Proto Neanderthals, Classic Neanderthals, Vindija G1
●

e.g. Bilzingsleben, Steinheim, e.g. Ehringsdorf, Krapina C, e.g. La Ferrassie, La Chapelle, Guattari
● Lagar Velho
La Chaise La Chaise BD, Saccopastore boy
Le Moustier Transitional Terminal Pleistocene
burial industries hunter-gatherers

Aurignacian Solutrean

Gravettian

Dolní Vĕstonice Magdalenian

AMERICAS Pedra Furada ●

Folsom ●

N O S E T T L E M E N T
Clovis, Shawnee Minisink
?
Meadowcroft
Monte Verde MVI ? ●
Monte Verde MVII ●
6 FROM FORAGERS TO COMPLEX SOCIETIES IN SOUTHWEST ASIA

bc EARLY SOUTHWEST ASIA TIMELINE

bc
00
0

00

00
00

00
0
00

00
00

00
00

00

00

00

00
00
,0
,0

,0
,0

,0
,0

,0
,0

,0
,

90
12

70

60
19

80
13

10
20

11
16
18

15
17

14
CERAMIC
EPIPALEOLITHIC ACERAMIC NEOLITHIC
NEOLITHIC

Last Glacial
Maximum Recovery Younger Dryas Recovery Early Holocene
Optimum

ISRAEL, PALESTINE,
AND JORDAN Natufian, PPNA, and PPNB

Ohalo II Neve David Eynan WF16 ’Ain Ghazal

Jericho

WESTERN SYRIA, LEBANON,

AND CYPRUS Abu Hureyra 1 Abu Hureyra 2

Jerf el Ahmar

Dja’de
Akrotiri
Shillourokambos

SOUTHEAST TURKEY, NORTHEAST Hallan Çemi

SYRIA, AND NORTHERN IRAQ
Qermez Dere

Çayönü

Göbekli Tepe

Nevalı Çori

ZAGROS, NORTHEAST
IRAQ, AND WESTERN IRAN Shanidar
Jarmo
Zarzian
Ali Kosh
Khorramabad Valley

CENTRAL ANATOLIA Asıklı Höyük

Çatalhöyük

EVENTS AND INNOVATIONS Cult buildings Skull cult

Burial within the settlement,
Grinding and Harvesting and storing of cereals and pulses and retrieval of skulls Special sites Copper tools
pounding Broad-spectrum hunting and fishing
equipment Toward sedentary villages

semi-arid parts of Southwest Asia mobile hunter-gatherers
could continue to operate, living in small groups at very low
population densities; but for farmers, the annual variabil-
ity around the 250-mm (10-in) average made farming risky.
Semi-sedentary and sedentary hunter-gatherers were more like
farmers than like the mobile foragers; relying on harvests of
wild cereals and legumes, they were subject to the same risks
as farmers, and since they lived in larger groups in permanent
or seasonal villages, they lacked the mobility and flexibility of
the classic hunter-gatherers. The “hilly flanks” environments
with annual winter rainfall of more than 250 mm (10 in) suited
hunter-gatherers harvesting plant foods, and the farmers that
they became.
There is an additional, complicating factor in mapping the
environmental resources used by the early hunter-harvesters
and first farmers. The story starts at the time of the Last Glacial

202
7 EAST ASIAN AGRICULTURE AND ITS IMPACT

BC
EARLY EAST ASIA TIMELINE

d
00

00
00

00

00
00

00
00

00

00

–a
00

00
00

00

0
90

30
60

50

20
80

40

bc
50
65

45

25
35

10
55

15
LONGSHAN
CHINA YELLOW RIVER VALLEY
Peiligang, Cishan, Baijia
XICHUAN

Transition to Yangshao
agriculture: millet Dadiwan Dawenkou Xia Shang W. E. W.
Zhou Zhou Han

Erlitou

Zhengzhou
Spring

Anyang
YANGZI RIVER VALLEY
and
Pengtoushan Autumn
Tianluoshan see Warring

TOUSHAN
Chapter 15 States

CHENG-
JIAHU

Sanxingdui
Qujialing
Transition to
agriculture: rice
Daxi Liangzhou Chu
DIAOTONGHUAN
YUCHAN

ZENGPIYAN
XIANRENDONG

Yinshanling
Dian Shizhaishan
LINGNAN/YUNNAN, SOUTHERN CHINA

Bronze Age I
Bronze
Middle Middle Shixla Late
Early
“Neolithic”
Inland
foragers

Age II
“Neolithic” “Neolithic” Late Neolithic I Neolithic II
I II

COASTAL VIETNAM

Quynh Van

Lung Hua
Xom Ren

Viet Khe
Dong Son Chau Can
Xuan Lu
Phung Nguyen

Dong Dau
Go
Hoabinhian
inland
foragers

Coastal
“Neolithic”
HOABINHIAN

Con Co Ngua

Mun
Go Trung

Cai Beo
Bau Du

Da But

CHAO PHRAYA VALLEY (BANGKOK PLAIN, THAILAND)

Coastal sedentary
settlement
Nong Nor I

Ban Don Ta Phet

Non Pa Wai II

Ni Kham Haeng
Nong Nor II
Khok Phanom Di
Non Pa Wai I

Probable
Hoabinhian
inland
foragers

coastal
settlement
in area now
drowned

MEKONG VALLEY, VIETNAM (-8 m below sea level)

Ban Prasat II
Noen U-Loke II
Phu Lon
Ban Chiang EP
Non Nok Tha
Ban Na Di
Noen U-Loke I
Dadunzi
Baiyangcun

Hoabinhian
inland
foragers
probably in
uplands
EARLY JOMON

JAPAN Jomon Yayoi

hunter-gatherers
CHULMUN

cultivation

Hunamni

KOREA Chulmun Lelang

Osanni

Millet

Rice

Culture

Neolithic Bronze Iron

Age Age

236
8 AUSTRALIA AND THE PACIFIC BASIN DURING THE HOLOCENE

AUSTRALIA AND THE AUSTRONESIANS TIMELINE

bc

00
00
00

00
00

00
00

d
00

00
00

–a

20
30
60

50
70

20
40
80

10
10

bc
COASTAL REGIONS Introduction of dog
Reorganization of territory Increased use Increased
along the coast of standardized island use
Settlement
AUSTRALIA

technology and
INLAND REGIONS population
Introduction of dog Expansion Greater reorganization
Increased use of trade use of
of standardized networks deserts
technology
TASMANIA
Abandonment Cessation of Increased
Isolation of of islands fishing? use of inland
Tasmania resources

TAIWAN Pebble (Rice) Dabenkeng Yuanshan (Iron Chinese

Drowning and flake Neolithic Beinan Age) colonization
of Taiwan industries Chaolaiqiao
Strait
PHILIPPINES Nephrite trade
Pebble (Rice) Chinese
ISLAND REGIONS

Maitum jars
and flake Northern (Iron Age) ceramic
industries Philippine imports
Neolithic
EASTERN INDONESIA Pebble Toalian Uattamdi Dong Son drums
and flake microliths Bukit (Bronze–Iron)
industries Tengkorak

WESTERN INDONESIA Hoabinhian Holocene flake ? Pejeng and

in northern industries in Dong Son drums
Sumatra Java (Bronze–Iron)

NEW GUINEA HIGHLANDS

Horticulture Swamp Intermittent Taro Sweet
Highland cave at Kuk gardens utilization of monocropping potato
occupation swamps
Banana, taro

ISLAND MELANESIA
Lapita Regional
No human settlement east of Solomon Islands pottery styles

MICRONESIA
OCEANIA

No human settlement Marianas Settlement Marianas

Red Ware of Eastern latte
Micronesia

WESTERN POLYNESIA
Lapita Aceramic Tongan
No human settlement langi

EASTERN POLYNESIA First NZ pa

settlement heiau
No human settlement Rapa Nui
statues

Spread of Metallurgy
Neolithic (bronze
cultures and iron)

of Aboriginal occupation had been long established, the con-
tinuous modification of the environment throughout the last
10,000 years triggered a series of economic and social altera-
tions that are revealed in the archaeological evidence from
Holocene sites across Australia.
Early Foragers in a Changing Landscape
Many of these modifications to cultural practice reflect res-
ponses to changes in the environment in which people were
foraging. During the earlier part of the Holocene, sea levels
rose and both temperatures and precipitation were higher than

266
 9 ORIGINS OF FOOD - PRODUCING ECONOMIES IN THE AMERICAS

THE HOLOCENE IN THE AMERICAS TIMELINE

bc

00
00
00

d
00
00
00

00

00
00
00

00

00
00
00

–a
,0
,0
,0

10
70
90

50

40
60
80

bc
20
10

15
10
30
11
12

LATE PALEOINDIAN EARLY ARCHAIC MIDDLE ARCHAIC LATE ARCHAIC

● Generalized collectors – probably accompanied by dogs – European ●

colonized all areas of the Americas contact

ARCHAIC see Chapter 16

MESOAMERICA
● Pepo gourd and bottle ● Maize ● Cushaw squash ● Common bean
gourd
● Pottery ● Turkeys

EARLY
EARLY, MIDDLE, AND LATE ARCHAIC AGRICULTURAL
BASKETMAKER

PRECERAMIC
SOUTHWEST
NORTH AMERICA ● Pottery
● Squash and maize ● Turkeys

MIDDLE/LATE
EARLY ARCHAIC MIDDLE ARCHAIC LATE ARCHAIC EARLY WOODLAND
WOODLAND

EASTERN
NORTH AMERICA ● Dogs ● Earthen mound ● Sunflower ● Chenopod ● Maize
complexes and
sumpweed
● Pepo gourd ● Maygrass
● Pottery

EARLY, MIDDLE, AND LATE ARCHAIC see Chapter 17

SOUTH AMERICA
Pacific Coast
● Mummies complex chiefdoms

● Pottery Quinoa
● Bottle gourd ●

and squash ● Camelids

of bison physiology and behavior, by maneuvering and trap- spectacularly large communal kills, such as Olsen-Chubbuck
ping the animals in box canyons or high-walled sand dunes, [9.2] and Jones-Miller (both in eastern Colorado), in which
or running them into stream channels or arroyos (dry water- hundreds of bison were slaughtered in a single episode. The
courses) The oft-envisioned image of bison hurtling down difficult-to-control nature of these large kills meant that often-
artificial drive lines and then over a cliff to their deaths was not times more animals were killed than could be utilized. At
part of the Paleoindian hunting repertoire, but only occurred in Olsen-Chubbuck, for example, Joe Ben Wheat (1972) found
much later prehistoric and historic times (Byerly et al. 2005). that 16 percent of the 190 animals killed were only partially
Paleoindian bison kills commonly involved relatively few
animals, the kills likely made by small task groups of hunters
6 cm
(Andrews et al. 2008). However, there are a small number of
5
Hell Gap
9.1 Select North American Paleoindian projectile point forms found
4
on the Plains: the basal edges of Paleoindian points were intentionally Goshen
ground from their base to about their mid-portion; the Folsom point 3 Folsom
shown was heavily re-sharpened before being discarded. Points were
likely ground along their lower edges for several reasons, not least that 2
this is where the point was bound by sinew or plant fibers to a bone or
1
wooden spearshaft, and the grinding served to dull the edges so they
would not cut their bindings when under the stress of use as projectiles 0
or cutting tools. These points are generally older to younger left to right. Clovis Plainview Agate Basin Alberta/
Cody
308
10 HOLOCENE AFRICA

HOLOCENE AFRICA TIMELINE

bc
00

d
00

00
00
00

00

00
00
00

00

00
00

–a
,0

10

20
70
90

50

40
60
80

bc
20

10
30
10

NORTH AFRICA AND ● Kharga Oasis:

THE SAHARA wild cereals Phoenician and
Greek colonies
Intensified hunter-gathering and
early pastoralism in Eastern Sahara Roman Trans-Saharan
colonies camel trade
Dakhleh Oasis:
stone-based huts Saharan rock art

NILE VALLEY
Merimde: Kerma Napata Meroë Christian Nubia
early farming

Predynastic Egypt Dynastic Egypt

● Jebel Sahaba: burial ● Kom Ombo Plain: ● Early Khartoum: ● Esh Shaheinab:
evidence of conflict wild grasses bone harpoons domesticated
possibly gathered and pottery goats and cattle

ETHIOPIA AND ● Asa Koma:

NORTHEAST AFRICA Linguistic domesticated Quseir al-Qadim
evidence cattle
suggests Earliest cattle on Pre-Aksumite Christian
early farming Ethiopian plateau? Ethiopia
Aksum

WEST AFRICA ● Dufuna boat ● Karkarichinkat: domesticated ● Igbo-Ukwu

cattle and sheep/goats

Iwo Eleru Daima

Kintampo Nok Ife

Jenné-jeno

Benin City

EAST AFRICA ● Dongodien:

domesticated cattle
Lowasera: bone harpoons and sheep/goats

Enkapune Ya Muto: Coastal

domesticated goats cities
by 1000 BC ● Njoro River Cave

CENTRAL AND Drakensberg rock art

SOUTH AFRICA
● Wonderwerk Cave:
engraved stones Urewe Upemba
Depression

Oakhurst Complex Wilton Complex

Bantu movements Great

Zimbabwe

EVENTS AND INNOVATIONS
Earliest pottery
in Sahara
● Wheat and barley ● First Egyptian ● First domesticated
first cultivated in writing millet in West Africa
● Possible earliest Nile Valley
domesticated ● Domesticated sheep
cattle in Sahara and pottery reach
● Domesticated ● First Egyptian cities southern tip of Africa
sheep/goats
in Sahara ● Earliest iron-smelting

352
 11 HOLOCENE EUROPE

HOLOCENE EUROPE TIMELINE

bc

d
00
00

00

00
00
00
00

00

00
00
00
00

0
–a
00
00

10
25
60

40

10
20
45
90

65

50
30
50
55
70

bc
15
35
NEOLITHIC COPPER AGE BRONZE AGE IRON AGE

SOUTHEAST ● Early 5th ● 3000 BC Aegean Bronze Age

EUROPE Lepenski Vir Iron Gates millennium BC see Chapter 13
Mesolithic settlement Varna cemetery
● 7000 ● 6500 BC First tell
BC First settlements of Thessaly
farmers,
Crete

EARLY URNFIELD LA TÈNE

NEOLITHIC
BRONZE AGE CULTURES IRON AGE

CENTRAL TUMULUS HALLSTATT

EUROPE Bandkeramik Funnel beaker (TRB) groups BRONZE AGE IRON AGE
farmers
Celtic raids on Italy and Greece

SCANDINAVIAN
NEOLITHIC IRON AGE
BRONZE AGE

NORTHERN ● 1650 BC Trundholm

EUROPE Late Mesolithic Ertebølle Funnel beaker sun chariot
(TRB) groups
● 4000 BC Farming in ● 738 BC Biskupin
southern Scandinavia Iron Age town

NEOLITHIC ITALIAN BRONZE AGE IRON AGE

MEDITERRANEAN 3300 BC Iceman: ● 800 BC ● ●

EUROPE Beginning of Italian 1600 BC Croce del ●
Etruscan 264 BC
Tavoliere enclosures Copper Age Papa destroyed Roman
city-states
6000 BC Farming enclaves ● ● Early 5th millennium BC unification
in southern Iberia First copper working 600 BC Greek ● of Italy
in Almeria colony of Massalia

NEOLITHIC BRONZE AGE IRON AGE

WESTERN ● 4500 BC 3100 BC ● 1010 BC ● 59–51 BC ●

EUROPE Mesolithic cemeteries Farming in Knowth and Stonehenge Cortaillod- Roman
of Tévic and Hoedic Brittany Newgrange Est conquest of
Gaul
● 8770–8460 BC 4000 BC Farming ● 700 BC Iron Age ●
Star Carr Tagus shell Bell beakers
in Britain and
middens Ireland

EVENTS AND 5000 BC Early ●

Roman conquest
INNOVATIONS use of metals of Italy
Spread of bronze
● 4500 BC Plow metallurgy
agriculture Celtic
migrations
Spread of agriculture
Expansion
of Roman
empire

forest-adapted species – aurochs (wild cattle), red deer, and wild
pig. The warmer conditions and more abundant vegetation
allowed human communities in postglacial Europe to place
increasing reliance on plant foods as a source of nutrition,
along with marine and riverine resources of fish and shellfish.
Many of the most significant postglacial hunting and forag-
ing settlements were beside coasts, lakes, and wetlands, which
offered a wide range of both marine or freshwater and terrestrial
resources. At Franchthi Cave in southern Greece, occupation
began in the Paleolithic and continued through the Neolithic
period, and the frequency and species of shellfish in successive
layers illustrate the changing character of the local shoreline,
which drew progressively closer to the site as rising sea level
flooded the lowland plain (Shackleton and Van Andel 1980).

394
 12 PEOPLES AND COMPLEX SOCIETIES OF ANCIENT SOUTHWEST ASIA

LATER SOUTHWEST ASIA TIMELINE

bc

00
00

00

00

00

00
00
00

00
00
00

00
00

00
00

0
0

0
0
0

60
20

90
60

40
40

19

50
80
14

10
30

70
50

15
16
17

12
18

11
13
EARLY
CHALCOLITHIC MIDDLE BRONZE AGE LATE BRONZE AGE IRON AGE
BRONZE AGE
UPPER MESOPOTAMIA Amorites Aramaeans
Ninevite 5 Mittani
Halaf Hurrians
Ubaid Middle Neo-Assyrian
Assyrian empire
Uruk Mari
Dark Age
Ashur Nineveh

LOWER MESOPOTAMIA Amorite Dynasties

A C H A E M E N I D
Sumerian Kassites Dark Age
city-states Isin-Larsa
Ubaid Neo-Babylonian
Babylon
Uruk empire
● Akkadian empire
● Ur III empire Babylon

IRAN ● Proto-Elamite ● Chogha Zanbil

Saar

P E R S I A N
Late Ubaid Susa Neo-Elamite
Old Elamite Middle Elamite Medes
Uruk
Tepe Yahya

ANATOLIA Early

E M P I R E
Trans- Kanesh Dark Age Urartu
Late Ubaid Caucasian
Old Assyrian Hittite state ● Collapse
Trade Phrygia
Uruk-related ● Alaca Hattusa
Lydia
Neo-Hittites
Troy

LEVANT Khirbet Relations with Egypt Sea Israel Judah

Megiddo Peoples
Philistines Assyrian
Kerak
domination
● Ebla archive Phoenicians
Byblos Ugarit ● Collapse Neo-Hittites

EVENTS AND INNOVATIONS

“International Age” Assyrian supremacy
● 3500 First cities
● 3200 First writing
● 3000 Uruk collapse ● 1770 Hammurabi Law Code
Village farming Old Collapse of ●
● 2900 First dynasties ● 1360s Amarna letters Testament Achaemenid
● c. 6000 1595 Fall of empire
● 2350 First empires ●
Irrigation Babylon to ● Regional
● 2200 Collapse Hittites collapse

1983; Matthews 2000) [12.2]. These sites are characterized by a
distinctive package of material culture attributes, including cir-
cular buildings, high-quality painted pottery, female figurines,
stone stamp seals, obsidian objects, and clay sling bullets. The
distribution of Halaf sites is notable, situated as they are in
rolling, hilly country with sufficient rainfall for dry farming.
A great many Halaf sites were founded as new settlements,
not overlying earlier human occupation, and this fact suggests
a new peopling of sparsely inhabited areas, as farming tech-
niques improved and populations increased.

434
 13 THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD

THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD TIMELINE

bc

d
00
00
00
00

0
–a

0
0
0

0
0

0
0

0
0

40
20

30

50
60
90

50

40
10
20

20
30

80

30
70
40

10
10

bc
EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN ● Eruption
of Thera Phoenician Hellenistic Age Early Roman empire
Troy II exploration and Alexander
colonization the Great ● 31 BC Battle Late Roman empire
of Actium
● Uluburun ● Foundation of Division
wreck Greek Alexandria
●

colonization of Roman
● Siege of
Alexander empire
●
Masada
reaches India

Crete and Cyclades

“Prepalatial” ● Destruction
Early Minoan of Knossos
First Palace
period

Early Cycladic Second

Palace period

Greek Mainland Building of the

Parthenon

Early and Mycenaean “Dark Age” Archaic period Classical

Middle Helladic period period
● 146 BC Sack of
House of the ● ● Destruction ● First Olympic ● 490 BC Battle Corinth
Tiles, Lerna of Mycenaean Games of Marathon
palaces ● Homer ● 338 BC Battle of Chaeronea
Peloponnesian
War

WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN
Greek colonization Punic Early Roman empire
Wars
Phoenician exploration ● 146 BC Sack of Late Roman empire
and colonization Carthage
Division of Roman ●
● Foundation empire
of Carthage Reign of Traditional end of the ●
Augustus Western empire

Italy AD 79 Eruption ● ● AD 313 Edict

Etruscan civilization of Vesuvius of Milan
753 BC Foundation ● ● AD 112 Forum
of Rome Roman republic of Trajan
Regal period, ● c. 500 BC Portonaccio temple, AD 410 Sack ●
Rome Veii; Capitolium, Rome of Rome
● Foundation of ● 396 BC Roman
Metapontum conquest of Veii

relatively clear, although the effects of tectonic activity continue
(the eastern end of the island of Crete, for example, is slowly
sinking). Locating the cultural boundaries of the Mediterranean
world is far more problematic, and various indices have been
employed – one, for instance, revolving around the rainfall and
temperature patterns that allow olive cultivation, for the olive
and olive oil are key elements (with grains and the grapevine)
in the so-called “Mediterranean triad” of food staples [13.2]. A
flexible interpretation of what comprises the Mediterranean
is adopted in this chapter, a reading that embraces the littoral
territories of the inland sea in all directions. This vagueness
of boundaries, and the resulting inevitable overlaps with other
cultural regions, are very much part of the Mediterranean story.
Another reason for the relative neglect of the region taken
as a whole, ironically, is the sheer fame of certain parts of its
history – not least “the glory that was Greece and the gran-
deur that was Rome,” in Edgar Allan Poe’s famous phrase. To
modern Western audiences, the Mediterranean world is best

474
14 SOUTH ASIA : FROM EARLY VILLAGES TO BUDDHISM

SOUTH ASIA TIMELINE

70 bc

d
00

00
00

00

00
00

00

00
00

00
00
00

00

–a
00

00
0
0
40

30

50
80

50
60

20
45

10

bc
50

10
25
55

15
35

11
BALUCHISTAN
Kili Gul Muhammad Edith Shah

Mehrgarh

Shahr-i-Sokhta Pirak

INDUS VALLEY
Amri Kot Diji

Harappa Taxila

Kalibangan Jhukhar

Mohenjo-daro Cemetery H

NORTHERN VALLEYS
Burzahom Timargarha
Kalako-deray

Charsadda

GANGES VALLEY AND

CENTRAL INDIA Bhimbetka
● 3000 BC Chopani Hastinapura
● 8000 BC Sarai Mando
Nahar Rai
Kausambi
present
Pataliputra

WESTERN INDIA Bagor

Dholavira

Inamgaon

PENINSULAR INDIA AND

SRI LANKA Utnur Brahmagiri Arikamedu

Anuradhapura

INDUS TRADITION
6500–1900 BC Localization
Indus Era
Neolithic civilization
Early Food Producing Regionalization Era Integration
Era Era

EARLY HISTORIC TRADITION

1900 BC–AD 320 Localization Regionalization Integration Era
Era Era
Mauryan empire

EVENTS AND 3300 BC ● 2600 BC ● 1300 BC Iron ● ● 544–340 BC Buddha

INNOVATIONS Planned Indus 1200 BC Towns ● ● 326 BC Alexander the Great

towns cities
350 BC Early Brahmi script ● ●
● 6500 BC Villages 250 BC Asoka
400 BC Coins ● ● AD 50 Roman trade
● 6500 BC Domestication of zebu ● 2600 BC
Indus 520 BC ● ● 500 BC
script Darius I Cities

520
 15 COMPLEX SOCIETIES OF EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA

COMPLEX SOCIETIES OF EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA TIMELINE

bc

d
00
00

00

00
00

00
00

00

00
00

–a

30
0

0
20
60

40

30
80

50

50
70

10

50
bc

10
14
15
HUNTER-
GATHERERS NEOLITHIC

CHINA ● 221–207 BC
Middle Neolithic Xia Anyang c. 770–481 BC Qin Dynasty
Yangshao Dynasty (Late Shang) Spring and
Autumn
Early Neolithic
Pengtoushan 206 BC–AD 9
Longshan Early/ Western Han
Culture Middle Shang

c. 1045–771 BC c. 481–221 BC AD 9–220

Western Zhou Warring States Eastern Han

HUNTER-GATHERER NEOLITHIC BRONZE AGE IRON AGE

KOREA
c. 108 BC–AD 313
Lelang

c. 37 BC–AD 668 c. 37 BC–AD 668

Koguryo Silla

c. 18 BC–AD 660 AD 668–918

Paekche Great Silla
AD 918 ●
c. AD 50–550
Kaya Koryo

HUNTER-GATHERER NEOLITHIC BRONZE AGE IRON AGE

SILK ROAD c. 150 BC–AD 800

Khotan
c. 50 BC–AD 450
Shan-shan

HUNTER-GATHERERS NEOLITHIC BRONZE AGE IRON AGE

SOUTHEAST ASIA
c. 150 BC–AD 550 c. AD 550–800
Funan Chenla

c. 150 BC–AD 900

Pyu

c. AD 500–900
Dvaravati

c. AD 800–1430
Angkor

YAYOI
HUNTER-GATHERERS
EARLY LATE
JAPAN
c. AD 300–700
Yamato

The Hongshan Culture There are several groups of sites in
central and northern China that reveal trends toward social
complexity similar to those in the Yangzi Valley. The Hongshan
culture of Liaoning Province and adjacent Inner Mongolia, for
example, features ritual sites associated with rich burials dating
to c. 4700–2900 BC (Nelson 1995). Niuheliang is notable for
its spirit temple surrounded by an extensive area of mounded
tombs [15.3]. The temple itself covers 22 × 9 m (72 × 30 ft),
and was constructed of wooden-framed walls on stone founda-
tions; the inner walls were plastered and painted. Several clay
female figures were found within, as well as representations of
dragons and birds. Burial mounds clustering around the sacred

554
 16 MESOAMERICAN CIVILIZATION

MESOAMERICAN CIVILIZATION TIMELINE

BC

d
00
00

00

00
00

00

–a
00

00

00
00

00

15 0
00
0

0
0
0
0

19
0
0

0
20

20

90
80
60

60
50

30

30

50
70

bc

70
40

40
10
10

10

14
12

13

15
11
LATE TERMINAL EARLY LATE
ARCHAIC PRECLASSIC EARLY CLASSIC POSTCLASSIC
CLASSIC CLASSIC POSTCLASSIC

EARLY HORIZON MIDDLE HORIZON LATE HORIZON

Olmecs Teotihuacán Aztecs

CENTRAL MEXICAN HIGHLANDS

Teotihuacán Tula

Chalcatzingo Cacaxtla Tenochtitlán

Xochicalco

VALLEY OF OAXACA
Monte Albán
Mesoamerica’s ●
earliest dated
maize San José Various Mixtec and Zapotec kingdoms
macrofossils Mogote

GULF COAST AND Olmecs

RELATED AREAS San Lorenzo, La Venta
Early ●
maize Epi-Olmec cultures El Tajín
pollen
Matacapan

MAYA REGION Copán

Tikal Mayapan
First indications First Puuc centers
of agriculture recorded
kings Chichén Itzá

EVENTS AND ● 1600 BC First widespread villages

INNOVATIONS
● 1400 BC First ball court
Incipient ● 1200 BC First widespread AD 1350 ●
domestication
chiefs and elite monuments Decline of Maya Tenochtitlán
Teotihuacán collapse founded
● 500 BC First cities
and early writing
AD 1519 ●
● AD 150 First ● AD 600 Early “Aztec” Spaniards
Spread of agriculture Maya dynasties use of metals migrations arrive

by hunting, fishing, or foraging. Equally distinctive is that an
impressive array of domesticated plants was poorly supple-
mented by domestic animals; particularly lacking were large
herd animals. Introduction of Old World livestock after the
Spanish conquest stimulated rapid and dramatic ecosystem
transformations (many of them deleterious), and drastically
affected social and economic behavior (Mann 2011). Old World
livestock allowed humans to exploit zones marginal or unsuit-
able for agriculture, thus enlarging their effective niches.
Varying degrees of pastoralism not only affected diet (animal
fat in particular was highly desirable), but also created patterns
of group mobility and territoriality, divisions of labor, capital
accumulation, and exchange that were very different from any-
thing seen in pre-hispanic Mesoamerica.
Northern and southern boundaries of Mesoamerica marked
the limits within which maize could reliably be grown, sup-
porting extensive settlement by village farmers. These limits
shifted somewhat over time, from climatic change, popula-
tion movements, and cultural interactions, but wherever their
location, Mesoamerica was not isolated. To the north, native

596
 17 FROM VILLAGE TO EMPIRE IN SOUTH AMERICA

SOUTH AMERICA TIMELINE

d
00

00

00
00

00

00

00
–a

00

15 0
00
00
0
0

0
0

0
0

33
0
0

0
40

30

90
30

70
40
20

50
50

20

60

80
bc

10
10

10

14
12

15
13
11
INITIAL EARLY INTERMEDIATE PERIOD LATE INTERMEDIATE PERIOD
PRECERAMIC PERIOD

EARLY HORIZON MIDDLE HORIZON LATE HORIZON

Caral Chavín de Huantar Wari Inca

ANDEAN HIGHLANDS

La Galgada Pukara Tiwanaku Choque Pukio

ANDEAN COAST
Nazca Batán Grande
* Earliest ●
village Rio Supe sites
Gallinazo Chimu empire
Chinchorro Sechín Alto Moche Chan Chan

FORMATIVE

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTAL CLIMAX

NORTHERN LOWLANDS
* Gavan
Dubali
Corozal/Saladoid-Barrancoid Camoruco/Arauquinoid

AMAZON RIVER
UPPER Tivicundo Cumancaya Napo (AP) Caimito (AP)
Tupaboniba
Hupa-iya
Camani/Early Méidote Nofurei/Late Méidote
Tutishcainyo (AB) (to 1650)
CENTRAL
Açutuba Manacapuru (AB) Guarita (AP)

Paredão
LOWER
Marajoara
(AP)
Santarem/Konduri

SOUTHERN AMAZON
Llanos de Mojos (Bolivia)

Geoglyphs (Acre)

Xinguano

* Real Alto and Dubulay AB Amazonian Barrancoid AP Amazonian Polychrome

arose later, supported by the presence of widely spaced streams Amazonia

and rivers that carry seasonal runoff from the high sierra down
to the sea. The runoff was diverted into canal systems and used
to create irrigated valley oases, where a great variety of crops
could grow year-round if scant water supplies endured. The
largest irrigated valleys lie in northern Peru, which formed the
demographic nexus of coastal civilization. Valleys decrease in
size to the south and are small west of Lake Titicaca, which
is the largest mountain basin and the demographic center of
high-altitude civilization.
The moist Neotropics of South America, generally referred to
as Amazonia, are dominated by the Amazon, Orinoco, and
other large rivers [17.2]. The region, the largest major eco-
logical zone of the continent, is predominantly high tropical
rainforest, but is interspersed with diverse other forest types
(seasonal deciduous forests, floodplain and gallery forests, the
cloud or montaña forest), varied savannas and parklands, and a
wide range of riparian (riverbank) settings and other wetlands
(Moran 1993). The Amazon basin was once characterized as

642
18 COMPLEX SOCIETIES OF NORTH AMERICA

NORTH AMERICA TIMELINE

00
–a

00
00

00
00

00

00
00

00
0
0
0

0
0

0
0

0
0

0
0

0
0

0
0

90
50
30

40
30

70
40

20
70

20
80

80
60

50

bc

60

10
10

16
10
18

14
12

13

15
13

11
LATE ARCHAIC EARLY WOODLAND MIDDLE WOODLAND LATE WOODLAND MISSISSIPPIAN

EASTERN
NORTH AMERICA Adena and Hopewell Cahokia ● Craig
Mound
Native cultigens

Chiefdoms

Spiro

Maize

ARCHAIC BASKETMAKER OR FORMATIVE PUEBLO PUEBLO II PUEBLO PUEBLO IV

I III
SOUTHWEST COLORADO PLATEAU
Chaco
Maize

HOHOKAM
EARLY AGRICULTURAL OR FORMATIVE HOHOKAM PRECLASSIC
CLASSIC
SOUTHWEST SOUTHERN ARIZONA

LATE PLAINS ARCHAIC PLAINS WOODLAND PLAINS VILLAGE

PLAINS ● Crow
Creek

Maize

MIDDLE PACIFIC LATE PACIFIC

PACIFIC COAST NORTHWEST COAST

PACIFIC COAST SANTA BARBARA, CA

Chiefdoms

PRE-DORSET DORSET THULE

ARCTIC AND SUBARCTIC

Thule expansion

Norse occupation
L’Anse aux Meadows ●

While the full range of North American societies is not
covered in this chapter, enough are discussed to illustrate
the great variation in how people lived. The largest and most
organizationally complex societies developed in the Eastern
Woodlands. The distinctive Southwestern pueblos, especially
the picturesque cliff dwellings, are perhaps the most widely
recognized evidence of prehistoric life in the continent. The
hunters of the far north are of particular interest because of
their sophisticated adaptation to a harsh and frigid environ-
ment. They were the first to meet Europeans – small groups
of Norse who sailed to North America 1000 years ago. Over
500 more years would pass before the continent’s other native
peoples would find they were not alone in the world, in an
encounter that left them reeling from devastating population
loss, cultural disintegration, and forced migration.
In this chapter, the most organizationally complex societies
in their respective culture areas are emphasized, those com-
monly referred to as tribes or chiefdoms (except the northern
hunters). (For formal definitions, see Chapter 1.) Exactly what
took place during the emergence of these societies, and why it
did so, are matters of lively debate.

680