David Wengrow, Professor of Comparative Archaeology, University College London

David Wengrow is Professor of Comparative Archaeology at the UCL Institute of Archaeology. He also held positions at Christ Church, University of Oxford, the Warburg Institute, and the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. He has conducted fieldwork in Africa and the Middle East, most recently in Iraqi Kurdistan, and writes widely on the early cultures and societies of those regions, including their role in shaping modern political identities.

"For any student studying the question of what civilisation actually is this is valuable reading." - John Bulwer, Euroclassica

"Convincingly concludes that the parallel development of Mesopotamia and Egypt demonstrates the deep attachment of human societies to the concepts they live by, and the inequalities they are prepared to endure in order to preserve those guiding principles." - Nature

"What Makes Civilization? [...] is expertly grounded, thoughtfully written and discreetly radical in its findings." - Dominic Green, Minerva

"What Makes Civilization? is well written for a student or educated lay-person audience...when the past is being employed to understand the present or predict the future of human societies, archaeologists must be part of the discussion." - Current Anthropology

"This book promises a lot and delivers even more...It guides readers into the heart of the sources of civilization." - Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institue

"Provocative....stimulating..." - Steven Snape, History Today

"Lively and insightful work." - Geoff Ward, Western Daily Press