A review by jmckendry
Origins of Great Ancient Civilizations by Kenneth W. Harl

informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

Another amazing set of lectures from Great Courses! One of the coolest things I learned was that the discovery of pottery in civilizations often immediately preceded smelting, and creating metals like bronze and gold. This is because the ovens used to bake pottery are able to get to decently high temperatures, and once you have that, extracting metals from ore using immense heat is never far behind.

Of course there were so many other cool things in these lectures, which discussed the rise and fall of Egypt, the Assyrians, the Sumerians, and more. So cool!