The making of the Middle Sea : a history of the Mediterranean from the beginning to the emergence of the classical world..
- Farnborough: Thames & Hudson Ltd., 2013.
- 672 p. : ills (some coloured), maps ; 26 cm.
Tertiary/Undergraduate, General. Cyprian Broodbank is John Disney Professor of Archaeology at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, and the author of An Island Archaeology of the Early Cyclades (winner of the 2002 AIA James R. Wiseman award).
Includes bibliographical references (p. 630-653) and index.
A barbarian history -- Provocative places -- The speciating sea (1.8 million-50,000 years ago) -- A cold coming we had of it (50,000 years ago-10,000 BC) -- Brave new worlds (10,000-5500 BC) -- How it might have been (5500-3500 BC) -- The devil and the deep blue sea (3500-2200 BC) -- Pomp and circumstance (2200-1300 BC) -- From sea to shining sea (1300-800 BC) -- The end of the beginning (800-500 BC) -- De profundis.
Thanks to unrivalled depth and breadth of exploration, Mediterranean archaeology is one of the world's richest sources for the reconstruction of ancient societies. This book is the first to draw in equal measure on ideas and information from the European, western Asian and African flanks, as well as the islands at the Mediterranean's heart, to achieve a truly innovative focus on the varied trajectories and interactions that created this maritime world. Extensively illustrated with maps and hundreds of unusual photographs, and ranging across disciplines, subject matter and chronology from early humans and the origins of farming and metallurgy to the rise of civilizations - Egyptian, Levantine, Minoan, Mycenaean, Phoenician, Etruscan, early Greek, and ulimately pre-Mediterranean - 'The Making of the Middle Sea' has already been recognized in pre-publication reviews as a seminal work. The Mediterranean has been for millennia one of the global cockpits of human endeavour. World-class interpretations exist of its Classical and subsequent history, but there has been remarkably little holistic exploration of how its societies, culture and economies first came into being, despite the fact that almost all the fundamental developments originated well before 500 bc. This book is the first full, interpretive synthesis for a generation on the rise of the Mediterranean world from its beginning, before the emergence of our own species, up to the threshold of Classical times. Extensively illustrated and ranging across disciplines, subject matter and chronology from early humans and the origins of farming and metallurgy to the rise of civilizations Egyptian, Levantine, Hispanic, Minoan, Mycenaean, Phoenician, Etruscan, early Greek the book is a masterpiece of archaeological and historical writing. Review: "Best since Braudel." --Tyler Cowen, The New York Times Magazine"I liked Cyprian Broodbank's The Making of the Middle Sea for its vitality, range and appreciation of the sidelined 'barbarians' without whom the 'great civilizations' of antiquity are intelligible."--Felipe Fernandez-Armeston, The Making of the Middle Sea"An outstanding book: the best contribution to Mediterranean history in the sixty-plus years since Braudel's 'The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II.' I suspect that this is immediately going to become the standard work and will transform the way we think about the prehistoric and ancient Mediterranean." --Ian Morris, Jean and Rebecca Willard Professor of Classics and Professor of History, Stanford University, and author of Why the West Rules -- For Now"Cyprian Broodbank gives us a masterly synthesis of the complex narratives of the deeper Mediterranean past based on a dazzling array of information from many disciplines. This is the Middle Sea brought alive through its people and its natural history, a brilliant 'longue duree' that shows us just how much Greece, Rome and other later societies owed to earlier millennia. Beautifully written, up-to-date and elegantly argued, The Making of the Middle Sea is a superb exercise in multidisciplinary scholarship which amplifies and expands the classic histories of Fernand Braudel and others and will stand proudly beside them." --Brian Fagan, Professor Emeritus of Archaeology, University of California Santa Barbara, and author of The Attacking Ocean and Beyond the Blue Horizon"'Only connect', urged E.M. Forster--he could have had Cyprian Broodbank's Mediterranean cultures specifically in mind, since connectivity is a key theme of this brilliant volume in which the Professor of Mediterranean Archaeology at UCL expertly tracks over the very long term the complex traits and processes conducive to the emergence of a Mediterranean