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Ideas abound as to why certain complex societies collapsed in the past, including environmental change, subsistence failure, fluctuating social structure and lack of adaptability. Why Did Ancient Civilizations Fail? evaluates the current theories in this important topic and discusses why they offer only partial explanations of the failure of past civilizations. This engaging book offers a new theory of collapse, that of social hubris. Through an examination of Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Roman, Maya, Inca, and Aztec societies, Johnson persuasively argues that hubris blinded many ancient peoples to evidence that would have allowed them to adapt, and he further considers how this has implications for contemporary societies. Comprehensive and well-written, this volume serves as an ideal text for undergraduate courses on ancient complex societies, as well as appealing to the scholar interested in societal collapse.
Maya hieroglyphic writing may seem impossibly opaque to beginning students, but scholar Scott A. J. Johnson presents it as a regular and comprehensible system in this engaging, easy-to-follow textbook. The only comprehensive introduction designed specifically for those new to the study, Translating Maya Hieroglyphs uses a hands-on approach to teach learners the current state of Maya epigraphy. Johnson shows readers step by step how to translate ancient Maya glyphs. He begins by describing how to break down a Mayan text into individual glyphs in the correct reading order, and then explains the different types of glyphs and how they function in the script. Finally, he shows how to systematical...
"An insightful collection, rich in new data and insights; at once the harvest of a generation of fieldwork and the foundation for work to come."--Mary E. Miller, coauthor of The Spectacle of the Late Maya Court: Reflections on the Murals of Bonampak "Reminds us that there are always new things to learn about iconic places like Chichen Itza and that we can fall in love with them all over again."--Jennifer P. Mathews, coeditor of Lifeways in the Northern Maya Lowlands: New Approaches to Archaeology in the Yucatan Peninsula "Long overdue. Brings together new data and interpretations about Chichen Itza through a refreshing mix of art history and archaeology, particularistic interpretation, and c...
The story of Africa is a ghost story with two plots. One is foreign or imported and the other indigenous or local. The foreign plot has its origin in colonial history. The indigenous plot is African in origin. But both plots end in the same place: African trauma and culture complex. These narratives create in modern Africa a splintered consciousness and the political and economic conditions that lead to physical and psychological violence. Unmasking the African Ghost is both a theological exploration of the reasons the political and economic systems in African countries have failed and a proposal for the paths toward recovery, anchored in the belief that Africa is a continent continuously tr...
This book investigates the causes and consequences of image-based sexual abuse in a digital era. Image-based sexual abuse refers to the taking or sharing of nude or sexual photographs or videos of another person without their consent. It includes a diversity of behaviours beyond that of "revenge porn", such as the secret trading of nude or sexual images online; "upskirting", "downblousing" and other "creepshots"; blackmail or "sextortion" scams; the use of artificial intelligence to construct "deepfake" pornographic videos; threats to distribute photographs and videos without consent; and the taking or sharing of sexual assault imagery. This book investigates the pervasiveness and experience...
Digital Technologies in Modeling and Management: Insights in Education and Industry explores the use of digital technologies in the modeling and control of complex systems in various fields, such as social networks, education, technical systems, and their protection and security. The book consists of two parts, with the first part focusing on modeling complex systems using digital technologies, while the second part deals with the digitalization of economic processes and their management. The book results from research conducted by leading universities' teaching staff and contains the results of many years of scientific experiments and theoretical conclusions. The book is for a wide range of readers, including the teaching staff of higher educational institutions, graduate students, students in computer science and modeling, and management technologies, including economics. It is also a valuable resource for IT professionals and business analysts interested in using digital technologies to model and control complex systems.
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Examines how architecture and other aspects of the built environment, such as hearths, burials, and earthen mounds, formed center places within the Cherokee cultural landscape In Center Places and Cherokee Towns, Christopher B. Rodning opens a panoramic vista onto protohistoric Cherokee culture. He posits that Cherokee households and towns were anchored within their cultural and natural landscapes by built features that acted as “center places.” Rodning investigates the period from just before the first Spanish contact with sixteenth-century Native American chiefdoms in La Florida through the development of formal trade relations between Native American societies and English and French c...
In this lively survey, Guy D. Middleton critically examines our ideas about collapse - how we explain it and how we have constructed potentially misleading myths around collapses - showing how and why collapse of societies was a much more complex phenomenon than is often admitted.