A portrait of the recently excavated Catal Huyuk, a city that existed at least 3000 years before those of early Mesopotamia.

Covers the period from the dark prehistory of the Paleolithic Age to the development of the earliest centers of civilization in Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley.

Veteran science writer Michael Balter skillfully weaves together many threads in this fascinating book about one of archaeology’s most legendary sites— Çatalhöyük. First excavated forty years ago, the site is justly revered by prehistorians, art historians, and New Age goddess worshippers alike for its spectacular finds dating almost 10,000 years ago. Archaeological maverick Ian Hodder, leader of the recent re-excavation at this Turkish mound, designated Balter as the project’s biographer. The result is a skillful telling of many stories about both past and present: of the inhabitants of Neolithic Çatalhöyük and the development of human creativity and ingenuity, as revealed in the recent excavation; of James Mellaart, the original excavator, whose troubles off the mound eventually overshadowed his incisive work at the site; of Hodder and his intense, brilliant crew who marveled and squabbled over the meaning of finds in dusty trenches while attempting to reintepret Mellaart’s work; and of the recent history of the theory and methods of archaeology itself. Part story of the human past, part soap opera of modern scholarly life, part textbook on the practice of modern archaeology, this book should appeal to general readers and archaeological students alike.

Complied as a reference source for students, this Reader is divided into three main sections, presenting key readings on: Ancient Cities, Medieval and Early Modern Cities, and Pre-Industrial Cities in China and Africa.

An intriguing study on families and their changing roles, Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Families, Work, and Change provides fresh viewpoints on factors that have an impact on family life and relationships. This thematic volume, with chapters from scholars in Italy, Australia, Israel, Jordan, West Germany, Yugoslavia, Norway, and Finland, is truly international and covers a variety of substantive concerns. Among these is the concern for new familial models which will meld both the individual and the whole into a viable family entity capable of providing for the wishes, needs, and aspirations of the whole and individual members of a family. Discussing various concepts relating to family structure in lieu of the recent shift toward gender equity and the greater acceptance of varied forms of families and lifestyles, this book carefully links the most supportive and nurturing components of modern society with tried and true components of traditional cultures and systems. The chapters take a conceptual approach, focusing on applications and future needs, policies, and problems surrounding the family. Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Families, Work, and Change represents the increasing shift of mothers to professionals with chapters on increasing female employment and its effect on family life. The much-needed search for explanations of family and society change and for new family models is a common thread throughout the book. In reading this insightful work, family and marriage counselors, students and academicians in family studies, researchers, social workers, and psychologists will see new ways of perceiving families in their critical roles over generations of time.

The discipline of linguistics is a perfect example of the limitations of the modern academy. The combination of social taboos that make certain subject matter unfit for general knowledge and discovery, and the ever-narrowing specialization of scientists leaves us with an intellectual institution that can no longer do anything but apply, repair, and justify the dogma of Victorian Cosmology that is the rule all must follow. Linguistics should be one of the most interesting subjects, considering it is the study of our most valuable and revealing cultural asset, language. However, recent publications from the linguistic department for public consumption have been some of the most trivial and boring intellectual expositions that have ever been put between two covers. Using the entire database of science, we look at the acquisition of language and how it forms our cultural perspective on life, including theories of language evolution. We develop the theory of the evolution of language from song, one of the few suppositions that Charles Darwin actually got right. From this basis we move on to the roots of Proto-Indo-European, which we call Bhear Tongue. Bhear Tongue is essentially the Eurasian language family dimly perceived by one of the greatest linguists of the twentieth century, Joseph Greenberg. From this perspective we can now retell the tribal stories from Iberia to Siberia, showing a common origin and motivation for human science and religion.