{"id":36791,"date":"2019-05-14T13:54:30","date_gmt":"2019-05-14T17:54:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cgs\/cgs-citl-isoc\/"},"modified":"2019-06-25T22:58:50","modified_gmt":"2019-06-26T02:58:50","slug":"isoc","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cgs\/citl-opportunities\/isoc\/","title":{"rendered":"Institute for the Study of the Origins of Civilization"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Institute for the Study of the Origins of Civilization (ISOC) at Boston University\u2019s College of General Studies is dedicated to the investigation of the deep foundations that underlie the rise of civilization. The standard paradigm, still accepted implicitly (as well as explicitly) by many scholars and laypersons, follows the thinking outlined by V. Gordon Childe in the middle of the last century: that humanity has progressed through a series of stages (\u201crevolutions\u201d) from savagery (foragers, hunters, and gatherers) to barbarism (early agriculture and husbandry associated with village life \u2013 the \u201cNeolithic Revolution\u201d) to civilization (recognized by such attributes as monumental stone architecture, literacy, cooperative social behavior guided by centralized authority, and cities \u2013 the \u201cUrban Revolution\u201d). In terms of chronology, according to the traditional paradigm, the stage of civilization was first reached during the fourth millennium BCE in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus Valley. Independently, thousands of years later, civilization was achieved in the New World. (See: V. Gordon Childe, 1950, \u201cThe Urban Revolution.\u201d The Town Planning Review<\/em>, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 3-17.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

New discoveries, as well as theoretical reevaluations, have questioned the standard paradigm, both in terms of chronology and the driving factors leading to civilization. Work in Egypt, namely examining the origins of dynastic Egypt, initially through reevaluating the age of the core body of the Great Sphinx (the head is a dynastic re-carving), demonstrates that the great civilization of the Nile has roots going back thousands of years further than originally believed. The discovery of the sophisticated archaeological complex of G\u00f6bekli Tepe in modern southeastern Turkey (northern Mesopotamia), the oldest portions of which date to the tenth millennium BCE or earlier, demonstrates that monumental stonework and other attributes of civilization existed prior to the end of the last ice age (that is, prior to circa 9700 BCE). At G\u00f6bekli Tepe in particular, there is physical evidence of turmoil and collapse, and the site was intentionally buried circa the ninth millennium BCE. This site, as well as other evidence accumulating from around the world (for example, the late ice age site of Gunung Padang on modern Java, Indonesia, which was located on the edge of the now submerged subcontinent of Sunda\/Sundaland), support the contention that there was a cycle of civilization that collapsed during the catastrophic Earth changes and accompanying turmoil at the end of the last ice age.<\/p>\n

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The Great Sphinx, Giza, Egypt. (Photo credit: R. Schoch and C. Ulissey.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Overview of the archaeological complex of G\u00f6bekli Tepe, southeastern Turkey. (Photo credit: R. Schoch and C. Ulissey.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Scholars associated with the Institute for the Study of the Origins of Civilization are exploring and critically evaluating new narratives of the rise and demise of civilization. Fundamental questions of concern include:<\/p>\n

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Statue of a man (\u201cUrfa Man\u201d) dating back to the time of G\u00f6bekli Tepe. This statue was found during excavations beneath the old town section of Urfa, which is the closest major city to G\u00f6bekli Tepe. (Photo credit: R. Schoch and C. Ulissey.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n