The Origin of Civilization

By: Scott MacEachern, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Scott MacEachern

Length: 24 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

What defines a civilization? How did the first states emerge? How were the world's ancient states similar and different? Answer these and other dramatic questions with this grand 48-lecture course that reveals how human beings around the world transitioned from small farming communities to the impressive cultural and political systems that would alter the course of history.

Taking a gripping archaeological and historical approach to formative states such as the ancient Egyptians, the Chinese, and the Maya, Professor MacEachern completes your understanding of the history of civilization by exploring it at its earliest stages. Unlike traditional surveys of ancient civilizations, which tend to focus only on the glorious achievements of these cultures, you'll look at those first all-important steps that the world's first civilizations would take on the road to glory.

You'll investigate places such as Mesopotamia, where agriculture laid the foundation for groundbreaking experiments in social and political development in places like Uruk and Sumer; the eastern Mediterranean, where expanding maritime trade during the Bronze Age increasingly knit the different societies of these islands into a web of political and economic relationships; and Mesoamerica, where the indigenous states in and around what are now Mexico, Honduras, and Nicaragua reveal the full flowering of Olmec and Maya civilization.

You'll also take an engaging look at what archaeologists have learned from some of the world's oldest and most intriguing sites. In the end, these lectures will leave you awestruck at the diverse ways that ancient people crafted complex systems - systems whose broad strokes remain with us even today.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2010 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2010 The Great Courses

by design, a less-narrative presentation.

this is about the 8th or 9th of these history oriented great courses that I have listened to. They are all wonderful in their own way and I've enjoyed them all. It was great to listen to this one after I had listened to several others, because this gave me an analytical framework for looking at the information that I had received from the other courses. It is more analytical, and less narrative, so it's different from the other courses. but I think that's a good feature and I enjoyed it. this is important subject matter and I encourage people to give it a good listen.

Good content, bad reader

Good content and interesting topic, but very painful to listen to; slow, too many pauses and dead time every few words... I usually listen at 1.1x or 1.2x speed, for this one I had to go to 1.3x and even tried 1.4x.
Deninitely needs a good edit and some silence trimming

Global survey finds

I was sold on this course when the first review I saw remarked--fairly--that it'd be more interesting to someone who brings some grounding in ancient history to it than to the total novice. I do recommend this lecture course if you are interested in the details of archaeological theory and the details of peoples not easily accessible in popular and audio literature. Should my reader be interested primarily in the most famous cases such as Egypt or China, Great Courses specializing in them may be well recommended, in my experience. Whereas anyone seeking specifically for bold or comprehensive theses on how and why some people invent the state might listen elsewhere.

The strength of this course is in its (2008-2009) compilation of archaeological cases. Dr. MacEachern (as well as the course guide) gives substantial attention to less popularly studied as well as to the most famous cases of "ancient" (read something akin to Before Encountering States of Other Origins) state formations. Not every region or case one could possibly expect is covered, but the ratio of breadth to depth in the survey seems quite reasonable. The inclusion of four Sub-Saharan and one South East Asian lectures, not to mention over a dozen on Meso- and South American peoples, in the 40 civilization-focused lectures are in no way to be taken for granted in surveys of world civilization! Similarly, this course is an interesting source for another "rare pick," if you will, in its his extensive discussions of the archaeological theory, its aims, methods, and limitations. I love world history and I don't know now how many comparative works I've read from how many angles: I didn't know everything here (if you did, I accuse you of being an archaeologist).

Another commendation, Dr. MacEachern's personal passion for Sub-Saharan archaeology is truly remarkable even among the compelling lecturers I've heard from the Great Courses. One hears in his voice in his African lectures, he would feel truly gratified if he did well to make his listener appreciate some of the unsung African variants of ancient civilization. I respected the depth of his conviction greatly. I believe he succeeds.

On the other hand, I think that no one shall scold Dr. MacEachern for overreaching in his conclusions. Much of the time, he seems intent to inform us what not to think as what to think. Often he's probably right to ward off unexamined biases from days gone by. But sometimes it's a little amusing that he thinks we all know enough about South East Asian historiography, say, to require lengthy convincing to stop conceptualizing it through the term 'mandala' ;)

He can make himself sound a little One Darn Thing After Another in his resistance of bringing conclusions too hastily from his data. He does argue, ultimately, that there are no simple answers to how and why states arise generally: flood plains, urbanization, distance trade in elite goods, specialist non-food-producers and social stratification, intensive agriculture, starchy crops, and numerous other phenomena MAY be associated with early states. But Dr. MacEachern's survey finds that none is present in EVERY case, and so none is necessary, and no general explanation of the causation of states is anticipated. Amusingly, it would appear that the one thing we can count on archaeologists' finding in early states is a budding ideology to justify the state; this, though archaeologists have rather a hard time digging up ideologies.

All told, if you want to hear the very diverse descriptions of numerous famous and "rarer" early civilizations, with intellectually honest and careful attention paid to the limitations of archaeological theory, listen up!

Great summary of prehistory with passion

Loved it but please I just have to note that "efflorescence" means "flowering or blooming"; not "fluorescence ".

knowing the past will guide us in the future

we should look for parallels from fallen civilizations to predict the outcome of our current civilization.

Great course

Great course covering the origins of civilization. Each lecture covers a new civilization from a different part of the world and is extremely entertaining. Worth the listen!

Great course - take it, pay for it too!

What I love about it -
It treats ALL civilizations, Peoples and geographies the same.
MacEachern is a member of a very small scientist, archeologist and anthropologist that study the diverse Human groups with in the same framework, meaning, he is not applying the Western superiority or the well-worn path as "the way",

IMO - the "western path" it is the better documented, and all the rest were "undocumented" by the west.

True science calls for challenging all the taboos.

Civilization is old, it evolves in different rates and path from one people to the other, the wieners wrote the popular history; let Science re-write history and uncover truths.

This course is a great was to start the journey of learning the truth.

really needs an edit to remove dead air

takes a while to get going, but info is good. REALLY needs to be edited to remove long pauses in speech as the prof takes a lot of long breaks

Bueller....Bueller....Bueller.....

I was so excited when I got the email from Audible about The Great Courses series. I love lectures and there's a lot to choose from in this collection. I was a little bit overwhelmed by the prices, though. So I decided to pick something that I love, but would like to know more about.

As an art student in college, I learned about ancient civilizations through beautiful works they created. But I've always wanted to know more. I want to know what they wore, what they talked about, what they worried about, how they lived and what they held sacred. This lecture promised to tell me all of those things. And it did.

In the first few lectures, Scott MacEachern talks about archeological theory. It's boring and interesting at the same time. It's a tedious topic, but something that I was previously unaware of. He talks about getting away from researching grand structures and, instead, looking at how commoners lived. That's very much what I wanted to know. He also stressed that we make a mistake when we compare ancient cultures to modern. They lived and thought in completely different ways than we do. I'm not sure why, but it's very hard for me to think of it in that way, as I'm sure it is for many others, including those that study such things.

There were some things that I didn't like about this lecture series, and one thing I absolutely loved. First, dislikes. Professor MacEachern is from Canada, so I expected him to say things in a "Canadian" way, and I was willing to overlook it. What bothered me about the way he spoke is that he often used words improperly and in the wrong context. (It's been awhile since I finished listening to these lectures, so I can't think of any specifics.) If you're looking up to someone as an expert, it's disappointing when they misuse grammar in such a fundamental way. Another thing that bothered me is something that has bothered me about other lectures that I've taken in the past. Namely, lack of enthusiasm. One of my art history professors in college was soooo.... boring that no one wanted to take her class. In fact, art is the thing I love most in life, and I could barely stay awake in her class. But, if you spoke to her one on one, her passion for art was clear. She lit up. I've always wondered why people who obviously love what they're talking about, and want you to love it too, can't make the subject more enjoyable. There was a point in this lecture, near the end, when Professor MacEachern got fired up. But it was too, little too late.

Now for what I did love about it. I think that experts are often too certain of themselves and what they think. They present their ideas and things that are currently known as hard, solid fact. But the truth is, facts are relative and constantly changing as we discover new and wonderful things. It's rare and refreshing to hear someone in authority say, "This is what we know right now, but it might change as we research this topic further." I really appreciated that aspect of this lecture.

Overall, I'm satisfied with this lecture series. I learned quite a few things. But, I may wait awhile to listen to another of these lectures. Even though it didn't cost as much as an actual college course, and I could listen to them in my pajamas, they are still rather expensive.

Dude works in Chad

He will make this known. You’d think he would put it on your final for 30% of your grade by the amount of times he mentions it. Reminds me of that episode of Big Bang Theory when Howard comes back from space and won’t stop talking about being an astronaut.