The Human Past: World Prehistory and the Development of Human Societies - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0500294208 ISBN 13: 9780500294208

Publisher: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 2018

Synopsis

Here is a new, fourth edition of this authoritative introductory survey of world prehistory, spanning the past 3,000,000 years and written by a team of twenty-four expert authors. This edition has been radically updated to be more thematic and accessible: chapters are connected by new key themes boxes (climate change, domestication, migration, social inequality and urbanism), which link global regions and encourage big-picture thinking. The text has been streamlined and the book s design completely revamped: it is now in full colour throughout, with more than 50% more colour images than the previous edition. There is increased coverage of the Americas, with a brand-new chapter, The Origins and Dispersal of the First Americans. Revisions take into account the latest sites and discoveries, including Homo naledi and the new LiDAR surveys of Angkor Wat. Each chapter begins with a newly designed, easier-to-use timeline, and features boxes on key sites, key discoveries, key controversies and, as above, key themes. All of the key methods boxes from the previous edition have been consolidated into the Introduction and now offer an up-front primer of archaeological methods and practices. Tables and maps are simplified and easier to use.

About this title

Review:

'What an accomplishment!... Each chapter provides an incisive, up-to-date summary of its subject that will remain an authoritative source for years to come' - Professor Richard A. Diehl, author of The Olmecs; 'A brilliant synthesis and the best single account of the state of archaeological knowledge about our past' --Professor Ezra Zubrow

The perfect textbook...this is the kind of book we wish we'd had --How it Works

The updates made to create the fourth edition really cement its position as the go-to primer text for World Prehistory --The Archaeological Journal

I look forward to many happy hours of delving into the latest information on familiar sites and exploring the prehistory of new and far-flung parts of the globe --Neil Pinchbeck, Chartered Institute for Archaeologists

About the Author:

Chris Scarre is Deputy Director of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, and editor of the Cambridge Archaeological Journal. He is co-author with Brian Fagan of the textbook Ancient Civilizations.

About this edition

• Publisher: Thames and Hudson Ltd
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 0500294208
• ISBN 13: 9780500294208
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 4
• Number of pages: 768
• Editor: Scarre Chris