New Light on the Most Ancient East

by Vere Gordon Childe

This book offers a detailed survey on major archeological discoveries in the Near & Middle East. This classic account focuses on the findings in three great centers of ancient Egypt, Sumer & the Indus valley. Prof. Childe discusses the excavation of the three cities of Mohenjo-daro & Chanhu-daro on the Indus & Harappa on the Ravi, & what these sites have revealed about Indian civilization in the 3rd millennium BCE. He describes the findings at the numerous tells between Mesopotamia & the Indus basin, & in the three provinces of the Fertile Crescent; the succession of cultures in pre-dynastic Egypt & the rise of the Pharaohs; the findings at Ur & Kish & the development of an urban civilization in Mesopotamia. Throughout the text, the author sets forth the step-by-step gathering of precise archeological evidence, relating these findings both to the context of their particular culture & to the larger context of the origins of European history.

Genres: History

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1934

About the author

Vere Gordon Childe, better known as V. Gordon Childe, was an Australian archaeologist and philologist who specialised in the study of European prehistory. A vocal socialist, Childe accepted the socio-economic theory of Marxism and was an early, though unorthodox, proponent of Marxist archaeology. Childe worked for most of his life as an academic in the United Kingdom, initially at the University of Edinburgh, and later at the Institute of Archaeology, London. He also wrote a number of groundbreaking books on the subject of archaeology and prehistory, most notably Man Makes Himself (1936) and What Happened in History (1942).

Reviews

[Mer Less]

despite being a very old publication, still stand for itself and better, and clearly express all the ideas and communicates the ancient East (well whatever means in modern terms) simply in comparison to many modern versions.