这是一篇最新的对世界范围文明与早期国家探源进展所做的综述,在当今欧美后现代语境中重新强调了探究社会通则与特殊进化研究同样重要而不可偏废的看法,向我们展示了这项研究的沿革、探索的视野、采纳的方法、关注的问题、争议的所在以及努力的方向。这对于我们目前仍在尝试中的中国文明与早期国家探源工程无疑有很大的借鉴意义,同时也对我们田野考古工作应该关注和解决哪些问题,采取什么样的策略和寻找什么样的证据和材料有很大的启发和帮助。研究文明起源不单是着眼于早期国家在何时何地诞生,其实是要探究人类社会整个漫长的复杂化进程。从旧石器时代到成文的历史时期,我们要了解不同地区人类群体的分分合合、潮起潮落、兴亡盛衰,寻找那些没有文字记载社群的历史踪迹。考古工作者就是要将他们发现的各个零星片段整合起来,参照民族学资料或有限的文字记载,将其拼复成一幅波澜壮阔的社会发展史。就像生物进化的间断平衡一样,人类社会的发展也表现出长期稳定的发展过程中伴有突然的变革和转型,逐渐从游群、平等分节社会向等级社会发展,最后进化到文明的国家社会。虽然人类社会的整体发展趋势是向上的,但是就具体个案而言,不同社会会表现出超前、停滞、倒退乃至轮回或衰亡的特点,所以必须弄清造成这些具体发展进程和个案差异的原因。因此,生态环境、人口规模、经济形态、技术特点、社会结构、宗教意识和首领人物的作用等各种因素或变量的线索都必须加以收集和综合考虑。为了弥补考古研究的自身弱点,作者强调了这项研究与民族学、民族志学和历史学结合和互补的重要性。马库斯是美国著名考古学家肯特·弗兰纳利的夫人,毕业于哈佛大学,执教于密西根大学,主要从事中美洲史前文化和文明探源研究,以研究玛雅文明而闻名,并在墨西哥的瓦哈卡河谷和秘鲁安第斯山区从事田野工作。扎实的理论素养和丰富的实践经验,使她的研究和观点在国际文明探源的领域中占有十分重要的地位。 This is the latest review of the progress made in world-wide civilizations and the origins of early nations. In today’s post-modern European and American contexts, it re-emphasizes the notion that the exploration of social norms is as important as that of special evolutionary studies and can not be ignored. The evolution of the study, the horizons of exploration, the approaches adopted, the issues of concern, the location of the controversy, and the direction of efforts. This is undoubtedly of great reference to the Chinese civilization and the exploration project of the early state which we are still trying to make. At the same time, it also expounds what problems we should pay attention to and solve in our field archeology work, what tactics we should adopt and what kind of evidence we should look for And materials are great inspiration and help. The origin of the study of civilization is not only to focus on when and where the early countries were born, but to explore the long and complicated process of human society. From Paleolithic to written history, we need to understand the sub-division of human groups in different parts of the country, the ebb and flow, rise and fall, looking for those without a documented history of the community traces. Archeologists want to integrate all the sporadic fragments they have discovered into one with a magnificent history of social development based on ethnographic data or limited written records. Just like the intermittent balance of biological evolution, the development of human society also shows that there is a sudden change and transformation in the process of long-term and steady development. Gradually, it has developed from a group of tourists, an equal and sectoral society to a hierarchical society, and finally to a civilized country society. Although the overall trend of development in human society is upward trend, in the specific case, different societies will show the characteristics of advance, stagnation, retrogression and even reincarnation or decline. Therefore, it is necessary to find out the reasons for these specific development processes and case differences. Therefore, clues of various factors or variables such as the ecological environment, population size, economic form, technical characteristics, social structure, religious awareness and the role of leader should all be collected and considered. To compensate for the weaknesses of archaeological research, the author emphasizes the importance of combining and complementing the research with ethnology, ethnography and history. Marcus is a famous American archeologist Kent Flannery’s wife, graduated from Harvard University, coached at the University of Michigan, mainly in Central American prehistoric culture and the origin of civilization, known for studying Maya civilization, and at Field work in the Oaxaca Valley in Mexico and in the Andes Mountains of Peru. A solid theoretical knowledge and rich practical experience make her research and ideas occupy a very important position in the field of international civilization.