Big History: The Big Bang, Life on Earth, and the Rise of Humanity

Fernandez-Armesto, The World, chap. 3.

Nissen, The Early History of the Ancient Near East.

Trigger, Early Civilizations.

1. What were the most important “emergent properties” of the earliest
   Agrarian civilizations?


2. What were the crucial preconditions for the appearance of the ¿ rst
   tribute-taking states about 5,000 years ago?

Supplementary Reading

Questions to Consider