History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The Dawn of Civilization : Earliest Times to 700 B.C.: 001

History of the Civilizations of Central Asia #1

by Ahmad Hasan Dani (Editor), V.M. Masson (Editor)

The present volume deals with the ancient period in the history of civilizations in Central Asia, when the earliest human cultures emerged and determined to a considerable extent the later developments of local cultures and peoples. At the same time, the main trends in historical developments, namely, the steady progress in the cultural evolution as a general rule as well as regional diversities, become evident even in the case of these most ancient times.

Genres: History

538 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1993

About the author

Ahmad Hasan Dani was a Pakistani intellectual, archaeologist, historian, and linguist. He is considered an authority on Central Asian and South Asian archaeology and history. He introduced archaeology as a discipline in higher education in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Throughout his career, Dani held various academic positions and international fellowships, apart from conducting archaeological excavations and research. He is particularly known for archaeological work on pre-Indus Civilization and Gandhara sites in Northern Pakistan. He was also the recipient of various civil awards in Pakistan and abroad. He was able to speak 35 local and international languages and dialects.

Reviews

[Richard Newton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have taken a comparatively long time to read this book, which sat even longer in my "to read" pile. I have a sincere interest in central Asia, developed from various travels there and from a love of the idea of the steppe. I am though in the category of interested amateur, rather than real specialist.

As such I found this book to be interesting, but very dry. An academic researcher may rate it more highly, but for the lay reader, even a moderately knowledgeable one, this is not easy going. The chapters all have different authors and their styles vary - some chapters are much more engaging than others. Mostly they read as long series of facts - mainly archaeological ones. This may not be surprising given how far in the remote past this volume deals with, but you are mostly left with a head reeling with facts rather than a image of the civilisations of central Asia at that time.

The book comes out from a project started over 40 years ago at the UN. And I think one of the issues is that styles of writing have changed over that time - even scientific writing tends to be more engaging nowadays. Certainly not a bad book, but one for the real specialist rather than the keen dabbler! At sometime, I will try volume 2 and see if that is more engaging.