01859cam a2200265 a 4500001001700000005001700017008003900034020002500073035002600098040001300124050002200137082001000159245009600169260003800265300004400303490002600347504006400373520094900437650002801386650003901414651003401453651003901487700002101526830004601547991015110960340620260116060255.0260116s2008    enkab    b    001 0 eng  a9781740480758 (hbk.)  a(julac-retro)15767016  aUKMcNBS 4aDS62.2b.M53 200804a939.404aThe Middle East :bthe cradle of civilization revealed /cchief consultant, Stephen Bourke.  aLondon :bThames & Hudson,c2008.  a368 pages :bill. (chiefly col.), maps.1 aAncient civilizations  aIncludes bibliographical references (p. 355-356) and index.1 a"Today, the politically volatile Middle East sits above two-thirds of the planet's oil reserves and holds our attention as never before. However, the ancient Middle East was just as important to the world of its day, for it was here that permanent settlement first took root, and the first complex societies emerged onto the world stage. These cultures produced the earliest agriculture, metalworking and writing systems, as well as the earliest centralized governments and legal systems, priesthoods and kings, and large-scale organized warfare." "The Middle East: The Cradle of Civilization Revealed synthesizes the latest research and information from a range of disciplines to tell the compelling story, from the Neolithic period through the Arab conquest, of how a group of linguistically disparate, nomadic tribes responded to specific social, economic and environmental factors to form the world's first complex societies."--BOOK JACKET. 0aEthnologyzMiddle East. 0aArchaeologyzMiddle EastxHistory. 0aMiddle EastxHistoryyTo 622. 0aMiddle EastxCivilizationyTo 622.1 aBourke, Stephen. 0aAncient civilizations (Thames and Hudson)