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Ancient West Asian Civilization

Geoenvironment and Society in the Pre-Islamic Middle East

  • Scrutinizes the interaction between environment and human society in ancient West Asia

  • Utilizes natural science and humanities, field work and documentary sources, toward the comprehensive understanding of West-Asian civilizations

  • Points out the commonness of Asia and European civilizations to overcome the global antagonism symbolized by the theory of "Clash of civilizations"

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Table of contents (15 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-viii
  2. Environment and People of Ancient West Asia

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 13-13
    2. Geology Based Culture?

      • Ken-ichiro Hisada
      Pages 15-38
    3. A Brief Review of the Geology of West Asia

      • Seyed A. Aghanabati
      Pages 39-50
  3. Great Transformations in Prehistory

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 85-85
    2. The Origins of Agriculture

      • Ken-ichi Tanno, Osamu Maeda
      Pages 87-98
    3. The “Commodification” of Animals

      • Hans-Peter Uerpmann, Margarethe Uerpmann
      Pages 99-113
    4. The Beginnings of Metal Use in West Asia

      • Ăśnsal Yalçın
      Pages 115-130
  4. Urbanization and Change in Human Societies

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 131-131
  5. Synthesis

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 219-219

About this book

This book explores aspects of the ancient civilization in West Asia, which has had a great impact on modern human society—agriculture, metallurgy, cities, writing, regional states, and monotheism, all of which appeared first in West Asia during the tenth to first millennia BC.
The editors specifically use the term "West Asia" since the "Middle East" is seen as an Eurocentric term. By using this term, the book hopes to mitigate potential bias (i.e. historical and Western) by using a pure geographical term. However, the "West Asia" region is identical to that of the narrower "Middle East," which encompasses modern Iran and Turkey from east to west and Turkey and the Arabian Peninsula from north to south.
This volume assembles research from different disciplines, such as the natural sciences, archaeology and philology/linguistics, in order to tackle the question of which circumstances and processes these significant cultural phenomena occurred in West Asia. Scrutinizing subjects such as the relations between climate, geology and human activities, the origins of wheat cultivation and animal domestication, the development of metallurgy, the birth of urbanization and writing, ancient religious traditions, as well as the treatment of cultural heritage, the book undertakes a comprehensive analysis of West Asian Civilization that provided the common background to cultures in various areas of the globe, including Europe and Asia.
These contributions will attempt to demonstrate a fresh vision which emphasizes the common cultural origin between Europe and West Asia, standing in opposition to the global antagonism symbolized by the theory of "Clash of Civilizations."


Editors and Affiliations

  • Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan

    Akira Tsuneki, Shigeo Yamada

  • Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan

    Ken-ichiro Hisada

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Ancient West Asian Civilization

  • Book Subtitle: Geoenvironment and Society in the Pre-Islamic Middle East

  • Editors: Akira Tsuneki, Shigeo Yamada, Ken-ichiro Hisada

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0554-1

  • Publisher: Springer Singapore

  • eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2017

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-981-10-0553-4Published: 30 August 2016

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-981-10-9191-9Published: 22 April 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-981-10-0554-1Published: 19 August 2016

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: VIII, 230

  • Number of Illustrations: 51 b/w illustrations, 69 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Archaeology, Cultural Heritage, Geoecology/Natural Processes, Climate Change

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access