Ronald Wallenfels

This may be the catalog for an exhibition at the MET, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2003), but it is also a pretty good introduction to some of the earliest civilizations. The entire area of Mesopotamia in particular is extensively depicted, even literally. Curiously enough, the attention for the Nile Valley is limited to just 1 contribution (this was not really an urban society, certainly not in the 3rd millennium BCE). What was new to me was the attention given to the Intercultural style, which was recognizable between 2600 and 2200 BCE – especially in pottery – in the wide region of the Near East. At first glance, the article about the Central Asian routes seemed very innovative to me; the authors point out the importance of the settlements in this area “like stepping-stones they connected the Near East with the heartland of Asia”, but they clearly seem to have gone wrong by presenting the urbanization in that area as being as extensive as in Mesopotamia; as yet there is no archaeological evidence for this. By the way: this book is completely downloadable, see https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/Art_of_the_First_Cities_The_Third_....
More in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5074675556.… (meer)