Early Civilizations Research Articles

Perspectives on Early Andean Civilization in Peru: Interaction, Authority, and Socioeconomic Organization during the First and Second Millennia B.C. ed. by Richard L. Burger et al. (review).

Perspectives on Early Andean Civilization in Peru: Interaction, Authority, and Socioeconomic Organization during the First and Second Millennia B.C. ed. by Richard L. Burger et al. (review).

The oldest civilization in South America? Phenomenon of Norte Chico: approaches and research problems

The article is devoted to the analysis of approaches to the study of Norte Chico culture (3000 – 1800 BC) located in in the north of the central part of the Pacific coast of Republic of Peru. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of paleoeconomic processes and politogenesis in the Late Preceramic Period of Peru to determine the nature of the origin of early civilizations in the region. Substantiates compliance paleoeconomic model Norte Chico atypical way "Neolithic revolution" in the region and offers a hypothesis about the characteristics of the type of political organization. The article substantiates the correspondence of the Norte-Chico paleoeconomic model to the atypical way "Neolithic revolution" in the region and offers a hypothesis about the characteristics of the type of political organization.

Silver isotope and volatile trace element systematics in galena samples from the Iberian Peninsula and the quest for silver sources of Roman coinage

Abstract Silver played a key role in the progressive monetization of early Mediterranean civilizations. We combine Pb and Ag isotopes with volatile trace elements (Bi, Sb, and As) to assess whether, during the Roman occupation of Iberia, galena constituted a significant source of silver. We find that the Pb and Ag isotopic compositions of 47 samples of galena from eight different Iberian mining provinces, many of them exploited during Roman times, are uncorrelated. This indicates that their respective isotopic variabilities depend on different petrogenetic processes. Moreover, the range of Ag isotopic abundances is approximately six times wider than that displayed worldwide by silver coins in general and Roman silver coins in particular. Although galena from the Betics provides the best fit for Pb isotopes with Roman coins, their fit with Ag isotopic compositions is at best sporadic. We suggest that, together with Sb, Bi, and As, silver is primarily derived from fluids boiled off from differentiated mantle-derived magmas. These fluids, in turn, reacted with preexisting galena and functioned as a silver trap. Lead sulfides with ε109Ag of ~0 and unusually rich in Ag, Sb, Bi, and As were the most probable sources of ancient silver, whereas samples with ε109Ag departing significantly from ~0 reflect low-temperature isotopic fractionation processes in the upper crust.

Medieval Canon Lawyers and European Legal Tradition. A Brief Overview

The Roman Church was a leading public institution of the Middle Ages and its law, canon law, belonged to most powerful factors of European legal history. Today’s lawyers have hardly any awareness of the canonist origins of several current legal institutions. Together with Roman law, canon law constituted the system of “both laws” (utrumque ius) which were the only laws acknowledged as “learned” and, consequently, taught at medieval universities. The dualism of secular (imperium) and spiritual power (sacerdotium), symbolized by so-called two swords doctrine, conferred to the Western legal tradition its balance and stability. We analyze the most important institutional achievements of the medieval canon lawyers: acquisitive prescription, the Roman-canonical procedure, the theory of just war, marriage and family law, freedom of contract, the inheritance under will, juristic personality, some institutions of constitutional law, in particular those based on the concept of representation, and finally commercial law. Last not least, the applicability of canon law defined the territorial extension of medieval and early modern Christian civilization which exceeded by far the borders of the Holy Roman Empire, where Roman law was effective as the law of the ruler. Hence, the first scholar to associate Roman law with (continental) Europe as a relatively homogeneous legal area, Paul Koschaker, committed in his monograph Europa und das römische Recht, published in 1947, the error of taking a part for the whole. In fact, Western legal tradition was based, in its entirety, not on Roman, but rather on canon law; embracing the common law of England, it represented – to cite Harold Joseph Berman – the first great “transnational legal culture”. At the end, some structural features of canon law are discussed, such as the frequent use of soft-law instruments and the respect for tradition, clearly visible in the approach to the problem of codification.

Liver disease: at the heart of public health challenges for Europe in the 21st century

Early civilisations considered the liver the source of the soul before modern medicine and culture elevated the heart to the centre of life.1 Although cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death and disability in Europe, liver disease continues to gain importance and is now the second leading cause of years of working life lost in the region.2 Compared with the liver, no other single organ is affected by a range of diseases for which control and prevention are dependent on such a wide array of complex public health policies.

Mid-East Cultures With Common Roots Imply Reconstructed Common Origin Myth

The relation between the most ancient civilizations in the mid-east (aside from obvious political ones) is often understated. However, non-obvious connections can have spiritual implications not easily recognized. This paper surveys the cultures of the five earliest civilizations (Sumerian, Egyptian, Chinese, Hindu, and Hebrew) from a broader perspective for a more unified picture of the past than is at first apparent. Things that might lead to cultural commonality – geographic proximity, trade relations, or political affiliations – can disseminate ideas that are later assimilated into established tradition. However, the degree of linguistic closeness of different groups might also be an indicator of earlier common heritage and tradition that evolved during isolation following migration dispersal with time and distance. Evidence of this common root can hint at a unified base for their origin mythologies. The older unifying background is considered here, and comparisons of their mythic traditions are used to reconstruct a hypothetical “Common Origin Myth”. The outline of the reconstruction is based on Genesis 1: because, that can be reconciled with the modern scientific record, indicating an ancient “common source” possessed historical truth – not “just” symbolic analogy.

V. Gordon Childe and Arnold Hauser on the social origins of the artist

Vere Gordon Childe’s theory of craft specialisation was an important influence on Arnold Hauser’s book The Social History of Art, published in 1951. Childe’s Marxist interpretation of prehistory enabled Hauser to establish a material foundation for the occupation of the artist in Western art history. However, Hauser’s effort to construct a progressive basis for artistic labour was complicated by art’s ancient connections to religion and superstition. While the artist’s social position and class loyalties were ambiguous in Childe’s accounts of early civilisations, Hauser consigned artists to the lower echelons of society. This relegation did not imply that Hauser had a low regard for artistic skills. Quite the opposite, the artist’s inferior social status enabled Hauser to distance artists from the ruling class, and consequently, to separate artistic handiwork from the dominant ideology that works of art manifested.

Origins and spread of formal ceremonial complexes in the Olmec and Maya regions revealed by airborne lidar.

City plans symbolizing cosmologies have long been recognized as a defining element of Mesoamerican civilizations. The origins of formal spatial configurations are thus the key to understanding early civilizations in the region. Assessment of this issue, however, has been hindered by the lack of systematic studies of site plans over broad areas. Here, we report the identification of 478 formal rectangular and square complexes, probably dating from 1,050 to 400 BC, through a lidar (laser imaging, detection and ranging) survey across the Olmec region and the western Maya lowlands. Our analysis of lidar data also revealed that the earlier Olmec centre of San Lorenzo had a central rectangular space, which possibly provided the spatial template for later sites. This format was probably formalized and spread after the decline of San Lorenzo through intensive interaction across various regions. These observations highlight the legacy of San Lorenzo and the critical role of inter-regional interaction.

Leaving hypnosis behind?

ABSTRACT Our consciousness and our practice of hypnosis co-evolve. From earliest civilizations to the present, we can think of the source of our abilities and knowledge, along with our self-awareness, as progressing from external and imperative to internal and autonomous. This perspective aligns with Jaynes’ thesis on the origin of consciousness and its trajectory from a bicameral mind, to increasing self-efficacy, and on toward higher consciousness. With the ongoing emergence of our subjective and narrative consciousness comes shifting and multiplying resources for rational, shared, compassionate, and creative self-determination. However, the formal practice of therapeutic hypnosis – especially within reductive and diagnosis-based biomedical and psychological models – has lagged behind the evolution of consciousness. Most of the history of hypnosis has adhered to the bicameral paradigm. We have reserved a place for the authority of an externalized, revered entity whom we credit nonconsciously with our innate and extraordinary abilities. The creative applications of hypnosis by Erickson and the expansion of that work by Rossi signaled a fundamental emergence from that paradigm that encourages self-authorization and moves hypnosis practice toward a more evocative, systematic, and numinous horizon.

Changes in Mesopotamian Wetlands: Investigations Using Diverse Remote Sensing Datasets

Early civilizations have inhabited areas with stable water resources that supported living needs and activities. The Mesopotamian marshes have experienced dramatic changes during the past five decades. The aim of this study is to observe, analyse and report the extent of changes in these marshes from 1972 to 2020. Data from various sources were acquired through Google Earth Engine (GEE) including climate variables, land cover, surface reflectance, and surface water occurrence collections. Additionally, streamflow data was also analysed. Methods were based on diagnostic analysis to monitor and evaluate the causes and results of the total environmental dynamism. Results show a clear wetlands dynamism over time, a decrease of incoming flow to the region due to the damming of upstream tributaries, and a significant loss in marshlands extent, even though no significant long-term change was observed in lumped rainfall from 1982, and even during periods where no meteorological drought had been recorded. Human interventions have disturbed the ecosystems, which is evident when studying water occurrence changes. These show that the diversion of rivers and the building of a new drainage system caused the migration and spatiotemporal changes of marshlands. Nonetheless, restoration plans (after 2003) and strong wet conditions (period 2018–2020) have helped to recover the ecosystems, these have not led the marshlands to regain their former extent. Further studies should pay more attention to the drainage network within the study area as well as the neighbouring regions and their impact on the streamflow that feeds the marshes.

Analytical Study of the Socio- Religious Condition of Early Ancient Egyptian Civilization

This paper is primarily deals and highlights the main characteristics of the Egyptian civilization which is considered the mother civilizations of the world. The world has been making progress for thousands of years and the people became gradually civilized. We found few major civilizations of the world. Among them Egyptian Civilization is one of them which considered the most historic and early civilization as compared to its contemporary civilizations i.e. Mesopotamian, Indus and Chinese civilizations of the world. Although it’s a common perception about the people of ancient time that they were savages and had no sense of life. But when we observe them they looked very elegant people who introduced the different socio-political concepts regarding way of life, education, living, philosophy, socio-cultural norms along with religious traditions and political thoughts. In this context we look the ancient Egyptian civilization as cradle of civilizations of the world which consequently given a birth to other civilizations. It was the influence of this civilization which created the opportunities of trade, harmony and mutual cooperation among the people. This research paper is an attempt to explore the prominent feature of the ancient Egyptian civilization and how this civilization nourished.

Rare-Earth Doped Upconverting Nanophosphors for Light-Mediated Biocidal Surface Development

Since the earliest civilization, diminishing the occurrence and subsequent transmission of pathogenic microorganisms in the indoor environment has been one of the utmost priorities to the human society. In line with intensive research towards the surface disinfection through the use of several photocatalytic processes, rare-earth doped upconverting nanophosphors (UCNPs) have recently drawn a great attention on the basis of their purely optical phenomenon of directly converting visible light into germicidal ultraviolet radiation (namely ultraviolet C) via the unique photoluminescence process namely ‘upconversion’. The efficient upconversion of abundant visible light into ultraviolet photons in the germicidal range and, consequently, effective biocidal action while coated onto surfaces enable UCNPs as a potential candidate to be used for inhibiting germ spreading through the inanimate surface in public places, hospitals and so forth.

エジプトにおける世界遺産保護問題 ―アラブの春以降― World Heritage Conservation Issues in Egypt -After the Arab Spring-

Egypt (Arab Republic of Egypt) retains many material cultures from the early ancient civilization to the Islamic civilization and has a deep connection with the universal world religion, but since modern times, it has become a border with Western colonialism. The aim of this study is to consider the relationship between world heritage and the nation by unraveling a part of the cultural administration of Egypt, recognizing that the problems that Egyptian society has are not those of the past, but are deeply related to the course of the present society. In this paper, I will present Egypt as the case of study, focus on trends after 2011, and explore their position. First of all, I would like to look back on the big flow of the World Heritage Conservation Administration and position the recent trends. Next, examples of the Arab spring and the looting and damage of world heritage sites are shown. Then, considering the modern Egyptian awareness of the affiliation of World Heritage Sites and the latest movements to protect Egyptian World Heritage Sites, the researcher has proposed that the protection of World Heritage Sites would not be possible without the cooperation of local residents and Egyptians.

Industrial Modernism and the Hegelian Dialectic in Winslow Homer

This paper looks at the themes of nature, humanity, and military and industrial development in the nineteenth century American painter Winslow Homer through the lens of the Hegelian theory of art. Robert Pippin's After the Beautiful (2015) has recently put the Hegelian framework to very fruitful use in understanding pictorial modernism. This study of Homer follows a similar approach but argues that Homer's canvases represent a development in the modern spirt which, in many ways, goes beyond the canvases of Manet – a very tight modernist contemporary of Homer's. Homer communicates a presentment of the immense and, in certain profound respects, horrifying power of humanity's growing industrialization. I trace the development of this idea over the course of his career, from this early Civil War canvases to his final seascapes and argue that an understanding of Homer's work is important for understanding the modern spirit of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

KUALA MUDA HISTORICAL SITE IN FULFILL REQUIREMENT OF TOURISM INDUSTRY IN KEDAH

Archaeological research in the district of Kuala Muda since the 1980s until now have enabled several historical sites to be identified and studies conducted to complete the historical chronology that has occurred in this district. As a result, 52 archeological sites of early civilizations and 26 historical sites have been successfully classified, identified and developed such as the Sungai Batu Archaeological Complex, Pengkalan Bujang Archaeological Complex and Bukit Batu Pahat Archaeological Complex. Due to the need for the development of the district tourism sector, there are seven tourism packages such as Package 1: Pusat Interpretasi Pelancongan Kuala Muda (PIPKM), Package 2: Puncak Jerai, Package 3: Rekreasi Air Terjun Kuala Muda, Package 4: Mineral Kuala Muda, Package 5: Kedah Tua, Package 6: Bakau Sungai Merbok and Package 7: Galeri Tsunami dan Pasar Bisik were established to strengthen the tourism sector in Kuala Muda district with the Kuala Muda Tourism Interpretation Center (PIPKM) being made a one-stop tourism center for the district.

Global drought monitoring with drought severity index (DSI) using Google Earth Engine

Unlike most disasters, drought does not appear abruptly. It slowly builds over time due to the changes in different environmental and climatological factors. It is one of the deadly disasters that has plagued almost every region of the globe since early civilization. Droughts are scientifically being studied with the help of either simple or composite indices. At 500-m spatial resolution, this study presents global scale drought severity index (DSI), a composite index using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), 8-day temporal resolution evapotranspiration (ET), potential evapotranspiration (PET), and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). This index is mainly used to identify meteorological droughts and also has proven reliable for studying agriculture droughts. In this study, Google Earth Engine (GEE), a cloud-based geospatial data computational platform, is used for drought mapping and monitoring from 2001 to 2019. For annual DSI spatial maps, the statistical median is computed ranging from − 1 to + 1, which means drought struck or dry regions have values closer to negative, and wet zones have values near to positive. For the validity of DSI results, the findings are compared with available records of droughts struck in previous years. This study declares that continent-wise, Australia, Africa, and Asia have the most extreme and frequent drought events while South America and North America come a close second. Europe is the least affected by this particular weather event when compared to other continents.

Law Philosophical Foundations of the Early Eastern States

The article is devoted to the elucidation of the ideological foundations of the law of the states of the early civilizations of the East, which last from the VII millennium BC (Sumer and Akkad, Babylon, India, China and Egypt). The spontaneously formed mythical, religious, moral and rational components of the worldview, as well as elements of philosophical doctrines are analyzed, traced as the unity of the notions of the gravity of sin and sinful behavior and even the community as a whole, caste character based on the idea of the inevitability of social inequality, the subordinate position of women, and significant differences in different legal systems, based on the specifics of economic structure and political system, civilizational and cultural differences, historical features of state formation, as well as worldviews of peoples, their understanding of the world, world order, natural and terrestrial laws. It is concluded that the general primary basis of the legal worldview of the peoples of the early states of the East are mythical and religious beliefs of peoples (as, incidentally, in all other early states), which served to explain the world order and justify the general laws of nature, and also served as a criterion for evaluating human actions.These ideas were based on common to all civilizations moral ideas about good and evil, justice and injustice, truth and injustice, moral and immoral. In philosophical treatises, in some literary and legal sources of the ancient East, one can find key common moral postulates that take long from the most ancient beliefs and religions and moral rules, known to science, and then reflected in Hinduism, Christianity, Islam. From the point of view of social and state ideology, the ruling elite was interested in spreading and affirming the notions of the sanctity and inviolability of the supreme power of rulers, who often combined religious and secular power. The laws of the rulers were also proclaimed by the commands of the gods, the highe rpowers, which must be strictly observed by all. This view of laws was reinforced by a system of severe punishments for violating them. Although this together helped to centralize the early states, to establish more effective protection against external enemies, and from the point of view of internal organization to keep the people firmly in subjection, it did not contribute to the development of ideals of individual freedom.

THE ARCHITECTURAL OF ANCIENT PORT IN SIXTH CENTURY BCE EARLY WORLD CIVILIZATION

Archaeological research of early civilizations has proven that trade activities using the sea route took place much earlier than the first century AD. The evidence was obtained through archaeological research of the ancient port which is still dated to be used since the 31st Century BCE in Niuserre (Abu Gurab), West Asia, the 26th Century BCE in Dholavira, India, 18th Century BCE at Phalasarna in Europe and the 16th Century BCE in Honduras, Mesoamerica. However, this discussion only discusses the evidence of the ancient port dated at least since the sixth Century BCE for the early civilizations that have a contemporary dating with the discovery of the SB2D port structure in the Sungai Batu Complex, Lembah Bujang, Kedah.

John Pym and Libellous Politics in Early Civil War England

AbstractThis article explores the royalist libels that afflicted the parliamentarian leader John Pym during the early 1640s to argue that the period marked an important turning point in English libellous politics. First, like many of the political libels circulating in early Civil War England, royalist attacks against Pym transitioned unsteadily from manuscript to cheap print and then finally into official court-sponsored publications throughout the period as contemporaries grew more comfortable with openly libellous language. That medial transformation, in turn, was informed by a broader personalization of politics that drew on early Stuart modes of ‘politic thinking’ to frame the nascent military conflict as a battle of rival political personalities. Both contexts informed the creation and dissemination of the most vicious anti-Pym libel of the period: an allegation that Pym's mother had once committed the act of bestiality with a horse, and that Pym himself was the miscegenated result of their illicit union. Rather than a spurious invention, moreover, the horse libel in fact possessed tangible roots in an embarrassing episode of Pym's family history thirty years prior. Consequently, it demonstrates the importance of oral and scribal transmission alike in shaping and sustaining the vitriolic libellous politics of early Civil War England.

THE HISTORY OF MINERALOGY AND GEMOLOGY IN IRAN

Iran is home to some of the world’s earliest civilizations. The Ashkanian dynasty (550–330 BCE) unified Iran as a superpower empire. It was the largest empire yet seen and the first world empire where the Great Cyrus ruled from the Balkans to North Africa and Central Asia. Subsequently, Iran was invaded by the Macedonians, Arabs, Turks and the Mongolians over the course of its history. During those times, Iran lost much of its territory until a reduced Iran was formed in the nineteenth century CE. Despite the invasions, Iran did not lose its heritage from its previous civilizations, but rather incorporated aspects of the new civilizations into its cultural fabric. Iran has always played an effective role in the natural sciences, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, philosophy and also in mineralogy and gemology. At times, Iran was at the forefront of science and technology, including mineralogy and gemology, which went through stages of development. The first and second stages occurred before and after the introduction of Islam, respectively. More than 30 books were written about minerals and gems during the ancient and Islamic Iranian periods. Those books can be classified into three main groups where the first group included accounts of precious stones, minerals, gems and metals. The second group of books focused on natural history, chemistry and precious stones. The third group of books discussed medicine, pharma-chemistry and medical properties of minerals. The most famous texts were written by early Iranian scientists such as Avicenna, Biruni, Jabir Ibn Hayan, Kandi and Razi. Iran’s role at the forefront of science and technology (including mineralogy and gemology) declined after the collapse of the Safavid dynasty (1501–1736 CE). But recently, during the past 50 years, Iran has made considerable advances in science and technology through education, training and research. This will open a new age of development for Iran in the twenty-first century in science and technology as well as in mineralogy and gemology