In this new paperback edition of Early Civilizations of the Old World, Charles Keith Maisels traces the development of some of the earliest and key civilizations in history. In each case the ecological and economic background to growth, geographical factors, cross-cultural intersection and the rise of urbanism are examined, explaining how particular forms of social structure and cultural interaction developed from before the Neolithic period to the time of the first civilizations in each area. This volume challenges the traditional assumption of a band-tribe-chiefdom-state sequence and instead demonstrates that large complex societies can flourish without social classes and the state, as dramatically shown by the Indus civilization. Such features as the use of Childe's urban revolution theory as a means of comparison for each emerging civilization and the discussion of the emergence of archaeology as a scientific discipline, make Early Civilizations of the Old World a valuable, innovative and stimulating work.

在这本新的平装版《旧世界的早期文明》中，查尔斯-凯斯-梅塞尔（Charles Keith Maisels）追溯了历史上一些最早和关键的文明的发展。在每个案例中，都对增长的生态和经济背景、地理因素、跨文化交叉和城市化的兴起进行了研究，解释了从新石器时代之前到每个地区的第一个文明时代，特定形式的社会结构和文化互动是如何发展的。本卷挑战了传统的 "部落-酋长-国家 "顺序的假设，而是证明了大型复杂社会在没有社会阶层和国家的情况下也能繁荣发展，印度河文明就很好地证明了这一点。诸如使用Childe的城市革命理论作为每个新兴文明的比较手段，以及对考古学作为一门科学学科的出现的讨论，使《旧世界的早期文明》成为一部有价值的、创新的和刺激性的作品。