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Why Did Ancient Civilizations Fail?

Scott A J Johnson
€192.20
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A01=Scott A J Johnson
Above Ground
ancient agricultural systems
Ancient Societies
anthropogenic environmental change
Author_Scott A J Johnson
Case Study
Category=NHC
Category=NK
civilizational collapse
comparative archaeology
competitive
Competitive Exclusion Principle
complex
cyclone
Dense
Develop Trade
Earth's Orbital Cycles
Earth’s Orbital Cycles
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
exclusion
field
ITCZ
Large Families
Late Preclassic
Le Ba
Manioc
Maya Area
Northern Lowlands
Overburden
principle
raised
resilience theory
Roman Heartland
Si Te
social hubris in ancient societies
Social Organization
Social System
society
sociopolitical adaptation
Soil Fertility
Southern Lowlands
state
State Level Societies
Terminal Classic
tropical
Van De Mieroop
Yangtze River

Product details

  • ISBN 9781629582825
  • Weight: 730g
  • Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
  • Publication Date: 14 Oct 2016
  • Publisher: Left Coast Press Inc
  • Publication City/Country: US
  • Product Form: Hardback
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Description

Ideas abound as to why certain complex societies collapsed in the past, including environmental change, subsistence failure, fluctuating social structure and lack of adaptability. Why Did Ancient Civilizations Fail? evaluates the current theories in this important topic and discusses why they offer only partial explanations of the failure of past civilizations. This engaging book offers a new theory of collapse, that of social hubris. Through an examination of Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Roman, Maya, Inca, and Aztec societies, Johnson persuasively argues that hubris blinded many ancient peoples to evidence that would have allowed them to adapt, and he further considers how this has implications for contemporary societies. Comprehensive and well-written, this volume serves as an ideal text for undergraduate courses on ancient complex societies, as well as appealing to the scholar interested in societal collapse.

About Scott A J Johnson
Scott A. J. Johnson is a Maya archaeologist who also studies ancient writing and subsistence.  Since receiving his Ph.D. in anthropology from Tulane University in 2012, he has taught at various colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.  Johnson writes extensively on archaeological methods and the Maya, authoring Translating Maya Hieroglyphs. He is currently the director of the Emal Archaeological Project in Yucatan and a Research Associate at Washington University in Saint Louis.

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