They Were Here Before Us: Stories from the First Million Years. This item is unavailable.They Were Here Before Us: Stories from the First Million Years

Tracing our ancestor's footsteps through history, this revolutionary book from two leading archaeologists highlights the important sites and discoveries in Israel which shed new light on the evolution of mankind and the important role this prehistoric corridor between Africa and Europe played.

Equipped with knowledge, curiosity and humour, Eyal Halfon and Ran Barkai follow the footsteps of our ancestors, looking at the forests, deserts and mountains in which they lived, the tools they used, the animals they hunted and the monumental buildings they built.

They Were Here Before Us focuses its archaeological attention on Israel, arguing it was a prehistoric corridor connecting the African continent with Europe and Asia. Those who walked out of the heart of Africa roughly two million years ago had to pass through Israel. They stopped here, hunted here and left their footprints. The earliest evidence of human use of fire was found north of the Sea of Galilee, a tower was built here before the term “tower” was even coined and hunter-gatherers became farmers here long before almost anywhere else on earth.

Following the evolution of mankind, this book will explore ten key themes, from death and burial rights, to the importance of stones and minerals, to the introduction of social hierarchies and the relations with animals and dependence on them. This provocative and panoramic book shows readers what they can learn from their ancestors, and how their unwavering ability to survive and thrive can continue into the present.

Eyal Halfon is a screenwriter and movie director. He holds a master’s degree in Archaeology from Tel Aviv University, and his thesis was on the material and mental ramifications of the disappearance of animals on human beings, past and present.

Ran Barkai is a professor of prehistoric archaeology and former chair of the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures at Tel Aviv University. For the past twenty years, he has co-directed the excavations and research at Middle Pleistocen Qesem Cave.