The first English-language, multivolume reference work on ancient Egypt that spans all fields--archaeology, biography, history, language, social history, and more--combined with the imprint of arguably the world's most famous name in reference publishing results in work that, not surprisingly, should find its way to the shelves of virtually all public, academic, and even some secondary-school libraries. The ancient Egyptian civilization is one that has fascinated people from all walks of life for centuries, but it is only now that we have an English-language reference work that does justice to all aspects of this fascinating civilization.

本书反映了作者在考古学研究中的关心点。这个目标，可以说是作者多年的追求。记得早在大学生时代起，就最注意用考古学来探索古代社会面貌的问题。大概正因为这个愿望的根深蒂固，写文章时似乎总是愿意朝这个方向多作些分析或推测。至于书名的开头为什么不加上“中国”二字，则是因为书中的头几篇文章和最末的二文，其讨论内容都不是以“中国”为主的。
44篇论文的顺序，大体是按照如下的想法来编排的。开头的几篇是论述全人类或全中国的具有普遍性质的、并作了长时段考察而认识到的问题。随后的文章，前面的一大部分是按照论述内容的时代早晚为序编排的，即是从新石器时代晚期起，经夏、商、周三代和东周，下及秦、汉至两晋。再下面的文章，则依所述古文化的区域性而分类编排，其前面一部分是自长江三峡至成都平原的古文化研究，后面一部分是从东北至西北地区若干古文化中的一些具体物品的研究。全书最末的两篇文章是讨论秦代至魏晋时期日本古坟发生同中国古文化影响有怎样的关系的，这是日本考古学研究中的热点问题，既然说了自己的新看法，当然应该收入本书之中。
对这个编排，需要稍加说明的是，其中讨论辽东城图的一文，研究对象虽然出在朝鲜平安南道顺川郡龙凤里的古墓中，但墓中壁画所绘的辽东城，却是在我国辽宁省的辽阳市境内，因而还是当作研究中国古文化的材料来安排论文的顺序。

First Farmers: the Origins of Agricultural Societies offers readers an understanding of the origins and histories of early agricultural populations in all parts of the world.
Uses data from archaeology, comparative linguistics, and biological anthropology to cover developments over the past 12,000 years
Examines the reasons for the multiple primary origins of agriculture
Focuses on agricultural origins in and dispersals out of the Middle East, central Africa, China, New Guinea, Mesoamerica and the northern Andes
Covers the origins and dispersals of major language families such as Indo-European, Austronesian, Sino-Tibetan, Niger-Congo and Uto-Aztecan

本书汇集了原中国历史博物馆馆长、考古学家俞伟超先生1982年 以来有关考古学理论的论述、对话录共十六篇。编成本书后，俞伟超先生曾对其中若干文章的内容，作过少量修改。这期间是他学术思想变化的重要阶段。读者从中不仅能看到他对考古学内涵理解的逐渐变化情况及其一系列看法，而且从中也能了解到考古学以外的一些东西，特别是一位学者对人生对事业不断探求的心境地。俞伟超先生是我国很有影响的考古学家，他的学术思想，特别是近几年关于新考古学理论的探索，在学术界产生了较大反响。

“印度河流域的土地是伟大的印度河的产物，许多世纪以来， 印度河给这片土地带来了繁衍、交流、方向和联合， 它既构成了亚欧地理上的分割线， 同时也成为了它们的链接。
大约三千年以前，地中海和西亚的部落及军队移居巴基斯坦的西北部， 他们的希腊式政治体制和文明传统与佛教信仰体系的亚洲根源相结合。这一融合形成了辉煌的犍陀罗文明，随后影响了远至东部中国的佛教艺术。”
——巴基斯坦大使马苏德.汗
“犍陀罗艺术的最大贡献是创造了希腊化风格的犍陀罗佛像。佛像的出现与公元1世纪以后印度大乘佛教的兴起有关，大乘佛教把佛陀神化、人格化的观念，恰恰符合犍陀罗地区流行的希腊、罗马文化的“拟人说”即“神人同形”的造像传统。于是犍陀罗艺术家开始打破印度早期佛教雕刻的惯例，仿照希腊、罗马神像直接雕刻出佛陀本身人形的形象，创造了希腊化风格的犍陀罗佛像。犍陀罗佛像的造型，来源于印度佛教的观念，采用了希腊化艺术的形式，可以说犍陀罗佛像等于希腊化艺术的写实人体加印度佛教的象征标志。”
——中国艺术研究院研究员王镛

http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300201529
Nearly 4,000 years ago, the ancient Chinese made a discovery that would determine the course of their history and culture for two millennia—the alloy of tin and copper known as bronze. Bronze was used for tools and weapons and even musical instruments, but the Great Bronze Age of China has come down to us mainly in the ritual vessels that symbolized power and prestige for China's first three dynasties: the Xia, the Shang, and the Zhou. Passed on to successive conquerors, used to honor the ancestors, and buried—along with other grave goods and sacrificial victims or in storage pits by fleeing members of defeated dynasties—these exquisite bronzes reveal more about the character of life in ancient China than any other artifacts. As Chinese legend tells us, whoever held the bronze vessels held the power.
Recent archaeological excavations and recent diplomatic ties between the People's Republic and the United States have combined to make possible a unique exhibition of Bronze Age artifacts. Eighty-five bronzes—including vessels that range from the simplest wine cup to huge cauldrons, elaborate bird- and elephant-shaped containers, bells, and a standard top—are seen together for the first time on a generous loan from the People's Republic to five United States museums. Included are some objects so treasured that it was at first thought that they would not be permitted to leave China. Perhaps the most stunning objects are those from one of the most remarkable finds in the history of archaeology: in 1974, more than 7,000 life-size figures—a veritable army of warriors, cavalry, and chariots complete with horses and drivers—were discovered still standing, rank after rank, guarding the burial mound of China's first emperor, Qin Shihuangdi, who died in 210 B.C. Eight of them, six men and two horses, are included here, the first to be placed on exhibit outside China. Richly carved jades and an iron belt hook make up the remainder of the 105 objects presented. To document this extraordinary exhibition, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, sent a special advance team of researchers and a photographer to China in 1979, led by director Philippe de Montebello. Represented in this catalogue are the results of that journey—color-plate illustrations of all of the objects in the show, including many details, supplemented by black and white photographs—most of them supplied by China's Cultural Relics Bureau—along with many drawings, charts, and maps. [This book was originally published in 1980 and has gone out of print. This edition is a print-on-demand version of the original book.]

This book explores the roles of agricultural development and advancing social complexity in the processes of state formation in China. Over a period of about 10,000 years, it follows evolutionary trajectories of society from the last Palaeolithic hunting-gathering groups, through Neolithic farming villages and on to the Bronze Age Shang dynasty in the latter half of the second millennium BC. Li Liu and Xingcan Chen demonstrate that sociopolitical evolution was multicentric and shaped by inter-polity factionalism and competition, as well as by the many material technologies introduced from other parts of the world. The book illustrates how ancient Chinese societies were transformed during this period from simple to complex, tribal to urban, and preliterate to literate.
• Covers major topics including the roles of agricultural development, advancing social complexity and state formation in ancient China • Considers the origins of archaic states in the Yellow River valley • Includes discussion of regional interactions within China and between China and the outside world

姓氏制度是属于文化史的范畴，姓氏制度如何往往牵涉或影-向到当时社会上各个方面的面貌或形态。诸如政治制度、社会结构、血缘组织等方面的因革、变化，以及民族融合、婚姻习俗、社会思想等，无不与之有密切联系。因之，历代学者很早就对姓氏制度给以足够的重视和研究。他们的著作，今天所能见到的最古莫如成书于战国晚期的《世本》之《氏姓篇》，继之则有东汉时期班固所撰《白虎通·姓名篇》，王符的《潜夫论·志氏姓》，东汉末年应劭的《风俗通义》也有专论。

这是一本享誉世界的考古学名著，这又是一本信达雅的考古学译著，这还是一本作者和译者奉献给中国考古学界的学术经典。
科林·伦福儒、保罗·巴恩编著的《考古学：理论、方法与实践（第6版全彩）》这部当代世界考古学发展最权威、最全面、最简明扼要的通识性著作，对我国学生和学者的启迪是巨大的。全书涵盖了考古学的历史、理论、方法、技术和实践等多个方面和多个层次。100多个专题专栏文字涉及从水下考古到碳14测年、从农业起源到文明衰退等诸多领域，并简要总结了30个有影响的发掘实例，展示了考古学理论方法在实际中的应用。每章节后附有深入阅读资料指南，书后附有考古学专业名词解释及大量的参考文献，方便有兴趣的读者按图索骥。
无论是考古学的初学者还是资深教授，本书都是一部不可替代的、有指导性的必读书。
此次翻译主要针对原著增补和修改的部分，并纠正第三版中翻译的不当之处。其中涉及专业性较强的章节，如断代、食谱和动植物考古的特定内容，将请原来翻译该章的学者把关校阅，以进一步保证翻译质量。