Why the West Rules--For Now (110 page)

1. BEFORE EAST AND WEST

Defining the West: Pomeranz 2000, pp. 3–10. History of the universe: Steinhardt and Turok 2007. Humanity’s place in it: Christian 2004, Morowitz 2002.

Klein 2009 is the definitive survey of human evolution, covering all the topics in this chapter, and Wrangham 2009, the most readable brief account. Principles of evolution generally: Coyne 2009.

Workings of the brain: Zeman 2008. Reiteration and the FOXP2 gene: P. Lieberman 2007.

Movius Line: Norton and Bae 2008; Petraglia and Shipton 2008. Dmanisi: Lordkipanidze
et al.
2007.

Zhoukoudian: Boaz and Ciochon 2004. Flores tools: Brumm
et al.
2010. Flores “hobbits”: Morwood and van Osterzee 2009, Tocheri 2007, Jungers
et al.
2010. Chimpanzee intelligence: Savage-Rumbaugh and Lewin 1994. Central Asian “yeti”: Krause
et al.
2010.

Neanderthals: Mithen 2005. Distribution: Krause
et al.
2007a. Bone breakage and rodeo riders: Berger and Trinkaus 1995. FOXP2 gene: Krause
et al.
2007b.
Clan of the Cave Bear:
Auel 1980. Gibraltar: Finlayson
et al.
2006. Spiritual life: Renfrew and Morley 2009.

Homo sapiens:
Mithen 1996, Fleagle and Gilbert 2008. African Eve: Cann
et al.
1987, Ingman
et al.
2000. African Adam: P. Underhill
et al.
2001.

Body lice: Kittler
et al.
2003. A newer DNA study (Kitchen
et al.
2010), however, suggests that lice evolved 190,000 years ago, with Neanderthals.

Baby Steps Forward: McBrearty and Brooks 2000, with new evidence in Bouzouggar
et al.
2007, Morean
et al.
2007, Morgan and Renne 2008, and Vanaeren
et al.
2006. Demography and fully modern culture: Powell
et al.
2009.

Against
Homo sapiens
/Neanderthal interbreeding: Krings
et al.
1997; Caramelli
et al.
2003. In favor: Zilhao 2006. Genome evidence: R. Green
et al.
2010. Continuing human evolution: Cochran and Harpending 2009, Jakobsson
et al.
2008, Voight
et al.
2006, E. Wang
et al.
2007. Movement out of Africa: Gunz
et al.
2009. Dates of migration: Endicott
et al.
2009, O’Connell and Allen 2004. First modern humans in China: Shen
et al.
2002, 2007, Shang
et al.
2007.

Multiregional model: Wolpoff 1996, Wolpoff and Caspari 2002, Cochran and Harpending 2009. New Zhoukoudian finds: Shang
et al.
2007. New Xuchang finds:
http://www.chinadaily.com/cn/opinion/2008-01/28/content_6424452.htm
, with comments
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5inq53Ltnn7sNiN7mspQ6tDxCqQOA
. Statistical analysis of bones: Manica
et al.
2007.

First humans in America: Dillehay
et al.
2008, Gilbert
et al.
2008, Goebel
et al.
2008.

Ancient climate: N. Roberts 1998. Ice core data: EPICA 2004.

Lewis-Williams 2002 provides a lively interpretation of Ice Age cave art and Bahn and Vertut 1997 collect the evidence with fine illustrations. Altamira dates:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/specials/artistic_spain/article5904206.ece
. Hohle Fels figurine: Conrad 2009. Xuchang bird:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/28/content_11274877.htm
.

2. THE WEST TAKES THE LEAD

There is a vast literature on the origins of agriculture. The good news is that archaeologists have recently produced several excellent global surveys (especially Mithen 2003, Bellwood 2005, Barker 2006, Fuller 2007, and Cohen
et al.
2009), which discuss most of the sites I mention in this chapter. The bad news (in a sense, anyway) is that this field moves so quickly that these works are already out of date. I cite additional works below on details or to update the surveys.

Black Sea flood: Major
et al.
2006; Yanko-Hombach
et al.
2007.

Energy and history: Smil 1994 remains the classic. Plants and photosynthesis: Morton 2007.

Lost civilizations: Hancock 2003.

Earliest pottery: Boaretto
et al.
2009, Kuzmin 2006.

Comets and the Younger Dryas: Kennett
et al.
2009.

Nightfall: Asimov 1941.

Hilly Flanks: in addition to the surveys already mentioned, see Cappers and Bottema, eds. 2002; Akkermans and Schwartz 2003; Bar-Yosef 2004.

Domestication of dogs: Savolainen
et al.
2002. Garbage and sedentism: Hardy-Smith and Edwards 2004. Eastern sedentism: Liu 2010.

Abu Hureyra: A. Moore
et al.
2000; rye and the Younger Dryas, Hillman
et al.
2001, Willcox
et al.
2008.

Archaeology of religion: Renfrew 1985. Evolutionary psychology of religion: Boyer 1999, Dennett 2007.

Early religious sites in the Hilly Flanks: Baumgarten 2005. Longwangcan: X. Wang 2008.

Fig trees: Kislev
et al.
2006. Earliest granaries: Kuijt and Finlayson 2009.

Farming and birth-spacing: Bocquet-Appel and Bar Yosef 2008.

çatalhöyük: Hodder 2006;
http://www.catalhoyuk.com
. People domesticating themselves: Hodder 1990.

Marriage, inheritance, and farming: Goody 1976 remains a classic.

Violence in prehistory: LeBlanc and Register 2003, Otterbein 2004. Jericho fortifications: McClellan 2006. Doubts about the original affluent society: D. Kaplan 2000.

Agricultural dispersal across Europe: emphasizing colonization, Renfrew 1987; Cavalli-Sforza
et al.
1994; Bellwood 2005. Some essays in Renfrew and Boyle 2000 and Bellwood and Renfrew 2003 move toward consensus.

Inevitability of agriculture: Richerson
et al.
2001.

Domestication: Diamond 1997 is the classic account, and Fuller 2007 the most up-to-date. Peru: Dillehay
et al.
2007. Oaxaca: Pohl
et al.
2007. Indus Valley: Fuller 2006. New Guinea: Denham
et al.
2005. Sahara: Marshall and Hildebrand 2002. Bottle gourds: Erickson
et al.
2005.

East Asia: in addition to the global surveys, see L. Liu 2004; Chang and Xu 2005, pp. 27–83; Stark 2006, pp. 77–148. Chang’s
Archaeology of Ancient China
(1986) has long been the only detailed overview, but Liu and Chen 2010 now supersedes it. Japan: Habu 2004. Korea: Nelson 1993. Barnes 1999 covers China, Korea, and Japan. Bryan Gordon of Carleton College maintains a website on the origins of rice (
http://http-server.carleton.ca/~bgordon/Rice/paper_database.htm
).

Yangzi Delta sites: Jiang and Liu 2006, Jiang 2008. Pigs: Yuan and Flad 2002, Yuan 2008. Wei valley agricultural tools: Chang and Xu 2005, pp. 60–64. I largely follow Fuller 2007 and Fuller
et al.
2007 on Chinese domestication, although G. Lee
et al.
2007 and Liu
et al.
2007 challenge these arguments (the debate continued in the 2008 online edition of the journal
Antiquity).

Rice paddies: Zong
et al.
2007.

Jiahu: J. Zhang
et al.
2004, X. Li
et al.
2003. Early Chinese writing: Keightley 2006. ‘Ain Ghazal: Schmandt-Besserat 1998. Shamans: Chang 1983. Tarim Basin mummies: Barber 1999. Ancestor worship: Liu 2000.

East Asian agricultural expansion: Bellwood 2005, pp. 128–45; Barker 2006, pp. 199–230; Stark 2006, pp. 77–118; Sanchez-Mazan 2008.

Early farmers’ skeletons: C. Larsen 1995, 2006; Armelagos and Harper 2005. Elite cuisines: Goody 1982.

Malinowksi’s
A Diary in the Strict Sense of the Term
(1976) describes his time in the Trobriand Islands; Kuper 1983 explains his place in the history of anthropology.

3. TAKING THE MEASURE OF THE PAST

Herbert Spencer: Francis 2007. Trigger 1995 is the best account of the history of archaeology. On archaeology and social evolution more generally: Sanderson 2007, Trigger 1998. Pluciennek 2005 presents the case against evolutionism.

Talcott Parsons’s
Societies: Evolutionary and Comparative Perspectives
(1966) is the most important neo-evolutionary study, but archaeologists refer more to Service 1962 and Fried 1967. Social development indices: Naroll 1956 and Carneiro 1962, 1968, and 1970.

Eddington’s experiments: Isaacson 2007, pp. 256–62.

Criteria for evaluating traits and indices: Naroll 1956, Gerring 2001.

The UN Human Development Programme’s annual reports can be downloaded from
http://hdr.undp.org/
. Ray 1998, pp. 27–29, neatly summarizes the criticisms.

Contemporary statistics: United Nations Organization 2006, Food and Agriculture Organization 2006, Institute for International Strategic Studies 2009. Earlier energy statistics rely on very scattered data, but Maddison 2003, Allen 2006b, and Allen
et al.
2005 and 2007 are valuable. On agriculture, Perkins 1969 and Slicher van Bath 1963 are indispensable. Early industry: Crafts 1985, Mokyr 1999, Morris-Suzuki 1994. Smil 1991 and 1994 are outstanding overviews. Generally, see
http://www.ianmorris.org
.

Roman pollution: de Callatay 2005 summarizes the evidence then available; more recent studies include Boutron
et al.
2004, Kylander
et al.
2005, and Schettler and Romer 2006, covering the various sources of evidence.

Robert Hartwell’s papers from the 1960s remain the standard treatments of Chinese iron and coal, particularly Hartwell 1967. Donald Wagner (2001a, 2001b, 2008) criticizes Hartwell’s assumptions and use of evidence but generally accepts his results. I would like to thank Professor Wagner for discussing the issues with me.

Roman consumption: Jongman 2007a.

4. THE EAST CATCHES UP

There are some excellent recent overviews. For Mesopotamia: van de Mieroop 2007, Snell 2007. Egypt: Kemp 2005. Kuhrt 1995 treats both core areas. China: Liu 2004, Chang 1986, and Chang and Xu 2005 are invaluable.

More focused studies:

West—Early Mesopotamia: Postgate 1993. Susa and Eridu: Potts 1999, Pollock 1999. Uruk: Liverani 2006, Rothman 2001. Tell Brak: Ur
et al.
2007. Early Egypt: Wilkinson 2003, Wengrow 2006. Pyramids: Lehner 1997. Akkad: Liverani 1993. Syria: Akkermans and Schwartz 2003. Hittites: Bryce 1998, 2002. Aegean: Shelmerdine 2008. Trojan War: Latacz 2004, Strauss 2006. International Age: Liverani 2001. European periphery: Kristiansen and Larsson 2005.

East—Three Dynasties Chronology Project: Y. K. Lee 2002, X. Zhang
et al.
2008. Shandong survey: A. Underhill
et al.
2002. Chinese music: von Falkenhausen 1993a. Shamanism: Chang 1983, 1989, 1994. Taosi monument: He 2005. Debates over the Xia: von Falkenhausen 1993b, Liu and Xu 2007. Erlitou and early Shang: Liu and Chen 2003. Environmental change: Qiao 2007, A. Rosen 2007. Shang: Thorp 2006. Anyang bronze foundry: Yinxu Team 2008. Oracle bones: Keightley 2000 (with references to that author’s many important studies), Flad 2008, A. Smith 2008. Peter Hessler’s
Oracle Bones
(2006) is a wonderful personal account of China, weaving historical analysis (particularly of the oracle bones themselves) with pointed reporting. Shang kingship: Puett 2002,
Chapter 1
, discussing rival theories. On chariots there is great controversy; I generally follow Shaughnessy 1988.

Chariots of the Gods?:
von Däniken 1968.

Domestication of the horse: A. Outram
et al.
2009.

Disruptions generally: Diamond 2005. McAnany and Yoffee 2010 provide opposed views. G. Schwartz 2006 reviews several of the disruptions of 2200–1200
BCE.
Sing 2007 argues that all Western disruptions had ecological causes.

Western disruptions have been studied more than Eastern. Liu 2004,
Chapter 2
, reviews China’s climatic record, and Chapters 6 and 7 look at case studies. For the 2200–2000
BCE
Western disruption, see Dalfes
et al.
1997. Weiss
et al.
1993 discuss Tell Leilan; Cooper 2006 downplays climate change. 1750–1550
BCE:
Drews 1988. Hurrians: Wilhelm 1989. Hyksos: Redford 1992. 1200–1000
BCE:
Drews 1993 for military factors; Nur and Cline 2000 on earthquakes; Fagan 2004a,
Chapter 9
, and Sing 2007, pp. 84–89, for references to the numerous discussions of climate.

5. NECK AND NECK