Dějiny světa 1

Dějiny světa 1 opens a six-volume project with an account of humanity's earliest past. Edited by archaeologist Albrecht Jockenhövel, the volume is subtitled Od počátku do roku 1200 př. Kr. It connects human development and prehistoric ways of life with the emergence of settlements and civilizations. Its geographical scope extends from Africa through Europe and Asia to the Americas and the Arctic. Readers can compare different environments and trace changes in subsistence and social organization. The Czech e-book is available as a PDF.

Reading the first volume shifts attention between two scales: humanity's long development and the specific forms of the earliest cultures. The opening areas concern human physical and mental development, the Stone Age, and the spread of human settlement. Hunting and gathering and gradual changes in subsistence form part of the question of how conditions for new forms of social life arose.

Another thread is the emergence of larger settlements and the earliest civilizations. The book covers Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Indus basin, and the Mediterranean, but its scope does not end there. Cultures from other parts of Africa, China, the Americas, and the Arctic add to the comparison. Social, economic, and cultural history broadens the perspective beyond a single civilizational area.

The volume can be a starting point for readers who want to follow early history through connections between regions. It is a collective historical publication organized by an editor, with individual chapters by different authors. The electronic edition from 2020 should be distinguished from the print version, which the publisher records in 2019.

Following early history across continents allows different environments to be compared without restricting the account to a single line of civilization. Settlement, changes in subsistence, and the emergence of communities are interconnected questions. Readers gain a framework for understanding the long-term transformations that preceded the histories of familiar states and empires.

Book themes
Human development: The earliest history is placed within humanity's physical and mental development.
Subsistence and settlements: Ways of obtaining food and changes in settlement underpin social transformations.
The earliest civilizations: The book compares the emergence and forms of advanced cultures in several parts of the world.
Geographical diversity: Its broad scope also includes regions beyond the best-known centers of antiquity.

Who the book is for
Readers interested in prehistory, archaeology, and the earliest civilizations who seek a historical account with a broad geographical scope.

Edition context
The first volume of the Czech Dějiny světa belongs to a project based on the German WBG Weltgeschichte. Albrecht Jockenhövel is the editor of this collective volume.