The Ancient Indus

Wright, Rita P.:
The ancient Indus : urbanism, economy, and society / Rita P. Wright. - Cambridge [u.a.] : Cambridge Univ. Press, 2010. - xix, 396 S. : Ill., graph. Darst., Kt. - (Case studies in early societies)
ISBN 978-0-521-57219-4 (Hardback)
£ 45,00
ISBN 978-0-521-57652-9 (Paperback)
£ 15,99
DDC: 934

Beschreibung
This early civilisation was erased from human memory until 1924, when it was rediscovered. Our understanding of the Indus has been partially advanced by textual sources from Mesopotamia that contain references to Meluhha, a land identified by cuneiform specialists as the Indus, with which the ancient Mesopotamians traded and engaged in battles. In this volume, Rita P. Wright uses both Mesopotamian texts but principally the results of archaeological excavations and surveys to draw a rich account of the Indus civilisation's well-planned cities, its sophisticated alterations to the landscape, and the complexities of its agrarian and craft-producing economy. She focuses principally on the social networks established between city and rural communities; farmers, pastoralists, and craft producers; and Indus merchants and traders and the symbolic imagery that the civilisation shared with contemporary cultures in Iran, Mesopotamia, Central Asia, and the Persian Gulf region. Her study emphasises the interconnected nature of early societies. [Verlagsinformation]

Inhalt
List of Figures, Tables, and Boxes. xiii
Acknowledgments. xvii
1. A Long-Forgotten Civilization. 1
2. Geographical and Environmental Settings. 25
3. From Foraging to Farming and Pastoralism. 45
4. An Era of Expansion and Transformation. 79
5. Urbanism and States: Cities, Regions, and Edge Zones. 106
6. Agropastoral and Craft-Producing Economies I – Intensification and Specialization. 145
7. Agropastoral and Craft-Producing Economies II – Diversification, Organization of Production, and Distribution. 179
8. The Lure of Distant Lands. 215
9. Landscapes of Order and Difference – The Cultural Construction of Space, Place, and Social Difference. 233
10. Models for Indus Religious Ideologies. 274
11. The Decline and Transformation and the Comparative Study of Early States. 308
Notes. 339
Bibliography. 345
Index. 385

Autorin
RITA P. WRIGHT is associate professor of anthropology at New York University. A John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellow, she has conducted archaeological field research in Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan. She is the editor of Gender and Archaeology and coeditor, with Cathy L. Costin, of Craft and Social Identity. Profile page

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