An eminent archeologist and prehistorian looks back at the earliest civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, and China in the Old World, and Mexico, Yucatan, and Peru in the New. What were the origins of the first urban literate societies that came into being? Did the process of civilization take place only once in human history, or did it occur independently in various parts of the world, furthered at certain periods by contacts among different cultures? The answers to these questions are based in archeology, and this classic study draws on a wealth of evidence to discover the truth.