Understand major developments of human prehistory People of the Earth: An Introduction to World Prehistory 14/e, provides an exciting journey though the 7-million-year-old panorama of humankind's past. This internationally renowned text provides the only truly global account of human prehistory from the earliest times through the earliest civilizations. Written in an accessible way for beginning students, People of the Earth shows how today's diverse humanity developed biologically and culturally over millions of years against a background of constant climatic change.
This book was originally published in 1954. Grahame Clark's excavations at Star Carr from 1949 to 1951 have long been regarded as a model of how archaeological investigation should be conducted. In addition to this, the importance of the site itself, the first early mesolithic site in Europe from which a full complement of bone, antler, wood and other organic material was recovered alongside the flint industry, has established for this report on the excavations a permanent place in all archaeological libraries. The book is now reissued.
Ever since the discovery of fossil remains of extinct animals associated with flint implements, bones and other animal remains have been providing invaluable information to the archaeologist. In the last 20 years many archaeologists and zoologists have taken to studying such "archaeofaunal" remains, and the science of "zoo-archaeology" has come into being. What was the nature of the environment in which our ancestors lived? In which season were sites occupied? When did our earliest ancestors start to hunt big game, and how efficient were they as hunters? Were early humans responsible for the extinction of so many species of large mammals 10-20,000 years ago? When, where and why were certain animals first domesticated? When did milking and horse-riding begin? Did the Romans influence our eating habits? What were sanitary conditions like in medieval England? And could the terrible pestilence which afflicted the English in the seventh century AD have been plague? These are some of the questions dealt with in this book. The book also describes the nature and development of bones and teeth, and some of the methods used in zoo-archaeology.
This title develops a systematic approach to materials at a time when there has been a call for a greater focus on materials in material culture studies. It establishes a new perspective on the meaning and significance of materials, particularly those involved in mundane, daily usage.
A comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to all the archaeological periods covering Britain from early prehistory to the industrial revolution. It provides a one-stop textbook for the entire archaeology of Britain.
The study of hunter-gatherers has had a profound impact on thinking about human nature and about the nature of society. The subject has especially influenced ideas on social evolution and on the development of human culture. Anthropologists and archaeologists continue to investigate living hunter-gatherers and the remains of past hunter-gatherer societies in the hope of unearthing the secrets of our ancestors and learning something of the natural existence of humankind. Hunter-Gatherers in History, Archaeology and Anthropology provides a definitive overview of hunter-gatherer historiography, from the earliest anthropological writings through to the present day. What can early visions of the hunter-gatherer tell us about the societies that generated them? How do diverse national traditions, such as American, Russian and Japanese, manifest themselves in hunter-gatherer research? What is the most up-to-date thinking on the subject and how does it reflect current trends within the social sciences? This book provides a much-needed overview of the history of thought on one of science's most intriguing subjects. It will serve as a landmark text for anthropologists, archaeologists and students researching anthropological theory or the history of social anthropology and related disciplines.
Focusing on sites of key significance and the world’s first civilizations, Ancient Lives is an accessible and engaging textbook which introduces complete beginners to the fascinating worlds of archaeology and prehistory. Drawing on their impressive combined experience of the field and the classroom, the authors use a jargon-free narrative style to enliven the major developments of more than 3 million years of human culture. First introducing the basic principles, methods, and theoretical approaches of archaeology, the book then provides a summary of world prehistory from a global perspective. This latest edition provides an up-to-date account of human evolution and the origins of modern humans. It explores the reality of life in the prehistoric world. Later chapters describe the development of agriculture and animal domestication, and the emergence of cities, states, and preindustrial civilizations in widely separated parts of the world. Our knowledge of these is changing thanks to revolutionary developments in LIDAR (light detection and ranging) technology and other remote-sensing devices. With this new edition updated to reflect the latest discoveries and research in the discipline, Ancient Lives continues to be a comprehensive and essential introduction to archaeology. It will be ideal for students looking for an accessible guide to the subject.
This short account of the discipline of archaeology tells of spectacular discoveries and the colorful lives of the archaeologists who made them, as well as of changing theories and current debates in the field. Spanning over two thousand years of history, the book details early digs as well as covering the development of archaeology as a multidisciplinary science, the modernization of meticulous excavation methods during the twentieth century, and the important discoveries that led to new ideas about the evolution of human societies. A Brief History of Archaeology is a vivid narrative that will engage readers who are new to the discipline, drawing on the authors’ extensive experience in the field and classroom. Early research at Stonehenge in Britain, burial mound excavations, and the exploration of Herculaneum and Pompeii culminate in the nineteenth century debates over human antiquity and the theory of evolution. The book then moves on to the discovery of the world’s pre-industrial civilizations in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Central America, the excavations at Troy and Mycenae, the Royal Burials at Ur, Iraq, and the dramatic finding of the pharaoh Tutankhamun in 1922. The book concludes by considering recent sensational discoveries, such as the Lords of Sipán in Peru, and exploring the debates over processual and postprocessual theory which have intrigued archaeologists in the early 21st century. The second edition updates this respected introduction to one of the sciences’ most fascinating disciplines.
