Bücher von Mark Hudson

The essays in this volume explore questions relating to human dispersals and exchange across the varied environments of Eurasia. Part One focuses on the Neolithic and how agriculture led to new adaptive niches for human societies. This process involved population and linguistic expansion, but could also be expressed through exploitation of the environment in new ways. In Part Two, the emphasis shifts to exchange between east and west across Eurasia in the Bronze Age and Middle Ages. Chapters in the book discuss topics as varied as J¿mon plant cultivation, linguistic borrowings by agropastoral groups, the spread of gold and silverwares across the steppes, and customs related to feasting in medieval northern China. The volume will be of interest to archaeologists and historical linguists alike, particularly those working on long-term social change across Eurasia.

Recent interdisciplinary studies, combining scientific techniques such as ancient DNA analysis with humanistic re-evaluations of the transcultural value of bronze, have presented archaeologists with a fresh view of the Bronze Age in Europe. The new research emphasises long-distance connectivities and political decentralisation. 'Bronzisation' is discussed as a type of proto-globalisation. In this Element, Mark Hudson examines whether these approaches can also be applied to East Asia. Focusing primarily on Island East Asia, he analyses trade, maritime interactions and warrior culture in a comparative Eurasian framework. He argues that the international division of labour associated with Bronze Age trade provided an important stimulus to the rise of decentralised complexity in regions peripheral to alluvial states. Building on James Scott's work, the concept of the 'barbarian niche' is proposed as a way to model the longue duree of premodern Eurasian history. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.