The Uruk Expansion: Cross-cultural Exchange in Early Mesopotamian Civilization [with Comments and Reply]

Algaze, Guillermo; Brenties, Burchard; Knapp, A. Bernard; Kohl, Philip L.; Kotter, Wade; Lamberg‐Karlovsky, C. C.; Schwartz, Glenn M.; Weiss, Harvey; Wenke, Robert J.; Wright, R. P.; Zagarell, Allen

doi:10.1086/203786

Cited by 131 publications

(45 citation statements)

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“…Recent scholarship has discussed the importance of major cities to the creation and maintenance of such systems (see Smith 1995;Sassen 2001Sassen , 2002Abrahamson 2004). The nature of such global systems has even spread into prominent debate within Mesopotamian studies as such scholars as Algaze (1989Algaze ( , 1993 and others have argued for a fourth millennium BCE global system based in southern Mesopotamia (specifically on Uruk), with a periphery extending into western Iran and as far north as southern Turkey. Others have questioned the appropriateness of this analogy (Joffe 1994; see also the readings in Rothman 2001 for a discussion).…”

Section: A World-systems Approach To Urbanizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urbanization before Cities: Lessons for Social Theory from the Evolution of Cities

Thomas

2012

JWSR

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Section: A World-systems Approach To Urbanizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urbanization before Cities: Lessons for Social Theory from the Evolution of Cities

Thomas

2012

JWSR

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“…He further argued that there has been only one world system since the fourth millennium B.C., with a shifting core first in Southwest Asia (Bronze Age), subsequently in the Far East (Iron Age until the modern era), briefly in Europe, and now shifting back to East Asia (Frank 1993, see also Frank and Gills 1993). Most archaeologists have argued that there is little support for Frank and colleagues' single world system before the premodern era (Stein 1999), but some advocate the cautious use of regionally focused core-periphery ideas to understand prehistoric political economies of Uruk Mesopotamia and Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Spain (Algaze 1989;Rowlands et al 1987).…”

Section: Archaeology Of Trade: Power and The Elitementioning

confidence: 99%

The Archaeology of Trading Systems, Part 1: Towards a New Trade Synthesis

2008

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After almost three centuries of investigations into the question of what it means to be human and the historical processes of becoming human, archaeologists have amassed a huge volume of data on prehistoric human interactions. One of the largest data sets available is on the global distribution and exchange of materials and commodities. What still remains insufficiently understood is the precise nature of these interactions and their role in shaping the diverse cultures that make up the human family as we know it. A plethora of theoretical models combined with a multitude of methodological approaches exist to explain one important aspect of human interaction-trade-and its role and place in shaping humanity. We argue that trade parallels political, religious, and social processes as one of the most significant factors to have affected our evolution. Here we review published literature on archaeological approaches to trade, including the primitivist-modernist and substantivist-formalist-Marxist debates. We also discuss economic, historical, and ethnographic research that directly addresses the role of traders and trade in both past and contemporary societies. In keeping with the complexities of interaction between trade and other aspects of human behavior, we suggest moving away from the either/or perspective or strong identification with any particular paradigm and suggest a return to the middle through a combinational approach to the study of trade in past societies.

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“…Anyway, the quantity of metal objects rises steeply by the periods, especially during the transition from the Chalcolithic to EBA, which means that in EBA the Sumerian city-states had established a stable system of delivery of metal from the outside. This was possible under the condition of the Uruk urban civilisation with its developed system of trade relationships (Algaze 1989).…”

Section: Distribution Of Materials By the Chronological Periods Is Shomentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional models of metal production in Western Asia in the Chalcolithic, Early and Middle Bronze Ages

Avilova

2008

Trab. prehist.

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The objective of this work is the reconstruction and comparative analysis of regional models of metal production in the Chalcolithic, Early and Middle Bronze Ages. The work is based on the statistical analysis of unique computer database on archaeological metal finds from four regions of the Near East: Anatolia, Mesopotamia, the Levant, and Iran. The materials are analysed by four indicators: distribution by the chronological periods, artefacts' function, proportion of used metals and copper-based alloys. The author presents a series of conclusions concerning the preconditions for the beginnings of metal production in Western Asia and the pioneering role of Iran in its emergence, the important role the piedmont territories played in the development of metal production, the leap-like pattern of production dynamics shown by the periods, and its relation to the spread of a producing economy, long-distance exchange, and the emergence of the early civilizations. RESUMEN El objetivo de este trabajo es la reconstrucción y aná-lisis comparativo de modelos regionales de producción metalúrgica del Calcolítico y la Edad del

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The Uruk Expansion: Cross-cultural Exchange in Early Mesopotamian Civilization [with Comments and Reply]

Cited by 131 publications

References 0 publications

Urbanization before Cities: Lessons for Social Theory from the Evolution of Cities

Urbanization before Cities: Lessons for Social Theory from the Evolution of Cities

The Archaeology of Trading Systems, Part 1: Towards a New Trade Synthesis

Regional models of metal production in Western Asia in the Chalcolithic, Early and Middle Bronze Ages

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