04193nam 22008895 450 991082733640332120230126214711.09780520966369(electronic bk.)0520966368(electronic bk.)978052029312010.1525/9780520966369(CKB)3710000000892346(MiAaPQ)EBC4700088(DE-B1597)521174(OCoLC)960276363(DE-B1597)9780520966369(EXLCZ)99371000000089234620200424h20162016 fg 0engurcn#||||||||rdacontentrdacontentrdamediardacarrierThe Fifth Beginning What Six Million Years of Human History Can Tell Us about Our Future /Robert L. KellyBerkeley, CA :University of California Press,[2016]©20161 online resource (149 pages) map0-520-30348-2 0-520-29312-6 Includes bibliographical references and index.Front matter --Contents --Preface --1. The End of the World as We Know It --2. How Archaeologists Think --3. Sticks and Stones: The Beginning of Technology --4. Beads and Stories: The Beginning of Culture --5. Bread and Beer: The Beginning of Agriculture --6. Kings and Chains: The Beginning of the State --7. Nothing Lasts Forever: The Fifth Beginning --Notes --Bibliography --Index"I have seen yesterday. I know tomorrow." This inscription in Tutankhamun's tomb summarizes The Fifth Beginning. Here, archaeologist Robert L. Kelly explains how the study of our cultural past can predict the future of humanity. In an eminently readable style, Kelly identifies four key pivot points in the six-million-year history of human development: the emergence of technology, culture, agriculture, and the state. In each example, the author examines the long-term processes that resulted in a definitive, no-turning-back change for the organization of society. Kelly then looks ahead, giving us evidence for what he calls a fifth beginning, one that started about AD 1500. Some might call it "globalization," but the author places it in its larger context: a five-thousand-year arms race, capitalism's global reach, and the cultural effects of a worldwide communication network. Kelly predicts that the emergent phenomena of this fifth beginning will include the end of war as a viable way to resolve disputes, the end of capitalism as we know it, the widespread shift toward world citizenship, and the rise of forms of cooperation that will end the near-sacred status of nation-states. It's the end of life as we have known it. However, the author is cautiously optimistic: he dwells not on the coming chaos, but on humanity's great potential.CivilizationCultureSocial historyactivist.agriculture.ancient world.archaeologist.archaeology.arms race.capitalism.citizenship.communication.cultural history.culture.evidence.fifth beginning.global.globalization.government.history of culture.history.human development.human history.international.life changing.long term.modern world.nation states.politics.potential.society.technology.wartime.Civilization.Culture.Social history.909Kelly Robert L.1957-authttp://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut981275DE-B1597DE-B1597BOOK9910827336403321The Fifth Beginning4025783UNINA