In ancient monuments as far apart as Egypt’s Great Sphinx, the strange Andean ruins of Tihuanaco, and Mexico’s awe-inspiring Temples of the Sun and Moon, he reveals not only the clear fingerprints of an as-yet-unidentified civilization of remote antiquity, but also startling evidence of its vast sophistication, technological advancement, and evolved scientific knowledge. A record-breaking number one bestseller in Britain, Fingerprints of the Gods contains the makings of an intellectual revolution, a dramatic and irreversible change in the way that we understand our past—and so our future.And Fingerprints of the Gods tells us something more. As we recover the truth about prehistory, and discover the real meaning of ancient myths and monuments, it becomes apparent that a warning has been handed down to us, a warning of terrible cataclysm that afflicts the Earth in great cycles at irregular intervals of time—a cataclysm that may be about to recur.

    Charlotte Roberts and Keith Manchester offer a vivid picture of ancient disease and trauma by combining the results of scientific research with information gathered from documents, other areas of archaeology, art, and ethnography. The book contains information on congenital, infectious, dental, joint, endocrine, and metabolic diseases. The authors provide a clinical context for specific ailments and accidents and consider the relevance of ancient demography, basic bone biology, funerary practices, and prehistoric medicine. This fully revised third edition has been updated to and encompasses rapidly developing research methods of in this fascinating field.

    Coauthored by his son, Francesco, the book answers age-old questions such as: Was there a mitochondrial Eve? Did the first humans originate in Africa or in several spots on the planet at about the same time? How did humans get onto North America, the tip of South America, and Australia?

    The strength of this volume lies in its breadth - it looks at archaeology, language, literature, towns, warfare, rural life, art, religion and myth, trade and industry, political organisations, society and technology. The Celtic World draws together material from all over pagan Celtic Europe and includes contributions from British, European and American scholars. Much of the material is new research which is previously unpublished. The book addresses some important issues - Who were the ancient Celts? Can we speak of them as the first Europeans? In what form does the Celtic identity exist today and how does this relate to the ancient Celts? For anyone interested in the Celts, and for students and academics alike, The Celtic World will be a valuable resource and a fascinating read.

    Today we can see a recreation of the making of the Laetoli footprints at the American Museum of Natural History, in a stunning diorama which depicts two of our human forebears walking side by side through a snowy landscape of volcanic ash. But how do we know what these three-million-year-old relatives looked like? How have we reconstructed the eons-long journey from our first ancient steps to where we stand today? In short, how do we know what we think we know about human evolution? In The Fossil Trail, Ian Tattersall, the head of the Anthropology Department at the American Museum of Natural History, takes us on a sweeping tour of the study of human evolution, offering a colorful history of fossil discoveries and a revealing insider's look at how these finds have been interpreted--and misinterpreted--through time. All the major figures and discoveries are here. We meet Lamarck and Cuvier and Darwin (we learn that Darwin's theory of evolution, though a bombshell, was very congenial to a Victorian ethos of progress), right up to modern theorists such as Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould. Tattersall describes Dubois's work in Java, the many discoveries in South Africa by pioneers such as Raymond Dart and Robert Broom, Louis and Mary Leakey's work at Olduvai Gorge, Don Johanson's famous discovery of Lucy (a 3.4 million-year-old female hominid, some 40% complete), and the more recent discovery of the Turkana Boy, even more complete than Lucy, and remarkably similar to modern human skeletons. He discusses the many techniques available to analyze finds, from fluorine analysis (developed in the 1950s, it exposed Piltdown as a hoax) and radiocarbon dating to such modern techniques as electron spin resonance and the analysis of human mitochondrial DNA. He gives us a succinct picture of what we presently think our family tree looks like, with at least three genera and perhaps a dozen species through time (though he warns that this greatly underestimates the actual diversity of hominids over the past two million or so years). And he paints a vivid, insider's portrait of paleoanthropology, the dogged work in the broiling sun, searching for a tooth, or a fractured corner of bone, amid stone litter and shadows, with no guarantee of ever finding anything. And perhaps most important, Tattersall looks at all these great researchers and discoveries within the context of their social and scientific milleu, to reveal the insidious ways that the received wisdom can shape how we interpret fossil findings, that what we expect to find colors our understanding of what we do find. Refreshingly opinionated and vividly narrated, The Fossil Trail is the only book available to general readers that offers a full history of our study of human evolution. A fascinating story with intriguing turns along the way, this well-illustrated volume is essential reading for anyone curious about our human origins.

    Pharaohs and Kings unveils the historical reality of such biblical personalities as Moses, David, and Solomon, and such archaeological wonders as the desecrated statue of Joseph in his coat of many colors. Basis of a series on The Learning Channel in January 1996. Photos.

    Like many of their contemporaries throughout the Nile Valley, these people embalmed their dead and then painted commemorative portraits of them, usually on wood or linen, to be placed over the mummies. Looking into the well-preserved, startlingly lifelike faces collected in this beautiful volume, one can trace the earliest roots of portraiture as it began in these Greco-Roman Fayum, or mummy, portraits, and continued through the Renaissance to the present. Despite their ancient history, the stylized portraits appear strikingly modern and painterly, with echoes of Modigliani and Matisse. Having experimented with them herself, Euphrosyne Doxiadis describes in detail the painting techniques and materials. Also included are fascinating notes on the clothing, jewelry, and hairstyles of the period.

    This practical guidebook deals comprehensively with the stone circles of Britain and Ireland and with the cromlechs and megalithic horseshoes of Brittany.

    The real thrill of archaeology is the way in which it has unearthed the everyday lives of our ancestors, ordinary people not unlike ourselves. Any given discovery—from a fragment of fossilized bone to a shard of pottery—has the potential to radically alter our picture of the past.This beautifully illustrated volume presents 100 of the world's greatest archaeological discoveries—from rock art to tattooed ice maidens, from mammoth bone houses to Assyrian palaces, from fossil hominids to writing systems, and from caves to shipwrecks. And with the growing battery of tools and techniques, who knows what will be revealed about our past in the years ahead?

    Antonio Loprieno discusses the hieroglyphic system and its cursive varieties, and the phonology, morphology and syntax of Ancient Egyptian, as well as looking at its genetic ties with other languages of the Near East. This book will be indispensable for both linguists and Egyptologists.

    Their impressive cities, tall pyramids, shining goldwork, and intricate textiles constitute one of the greatest artistic traditions in history.For the second edition, Rebecca Stone-Miller has added new material covering the earliest mummification in the world at Chinchorros, wonderful new Moche murals and architectural reconstructions, the latest finds from the Chachapoyas culture, and a greater emphasis on shamanism. Throughout, Stone-Miller demonstrates how the Andean peoples adapted and refined their aesthetic response to an extremely inhospitable environment.

    Argues that mummification was invented in Arica-Camerones region to insure continuity

    Here, the story continues through the fourth century B.C. to the days of Alexander the Great. The innovations of the period are discussed, such as the female nude and portraiture, along with many important monuments including the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus and several of the great names such as Praxiteles and Lysippus who were lionized by later generations. The volume also presents Greek sculpture made in the colonies of Italy and Sicily from the Archaic period onwards, as well as that made for eastern, non-Greek rulers. A final section considers the role of Greek sculpture in moulding western taste to the present day.

    De Soto and his army of over 600 men, including 200 cavalry, spent four years traveling through what is now Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas. For anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians the surviving De Soto chronicles are valued for the unique ethnological information they contain. These documents, available here in a two volume set, are the only detailed eyewitness records of the most advanced native civilization in North America—the Mississippian culture—a culture that vanished in the wake of European contact.

    An expert in marine geology and underwater adventurer recounts his greatest discoveries, including the canyons and plateaus of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the wreck of the Bismarck, the lost ships of Guadalcanal, and the remains of the Titanic.

    Stunning photographs and illustrations, plus detailed cutaways, maps and diagrams.

    This book is a study of the rock art in the Petrified Forest region.

    This book traces the full history of Beckett's bones', from their alleged destruction by Henry VIII's commissioners during the Reformation to the present day. Includes fascinating observations, such as the unexpected discovery by workmen in 1865 of Dante's bones concealed in a wooden box a short distance from his empty tomb.

    Designed as much more than a manual on skeletal analysis, this book is as concerned with the foundations for the morphologies that osteologists typically study as with the analysis of the morphologies themselves. This book includes much more basic morphology than other osteology texts, and it also places emphasis on understanding the development of adult morphology, from the cellular levels of bone and tooth formation to the theoretical aspects of the determination of size and shape of these structures. Another area of concentration deals with how sexual difference, normal variation, and certain pathological conditions can be better understood in a developmental context. Because of this integrated presentation, particular information (for example, on variation in facet or foramen number, abnormalities in bone growth and regulation, sexually dimorphic features, and supernumerary structures) is included in the descriptions and discussions of individual bones and regions so that a fuller perspective of our own species, Homo sapiens, can be achieved. In addition to offering practical aspects of analysis--such as determining age or sex, or taking measurements for the calculation of various indices--the author intersperses the text with theoretical discussions of the relevance of pursuing osteological analyses. Most importantly, whether in discussing the morphology and development of individual bones, the criteria often employed in the determination of age, sex, and populational affinity, or the differential diagnosis of diseases, Skeleton Keys accomplishes much more than providing background information. Useful and accessible for students and researchers in physical, biological, medical, and methods anthropology, forensic pathology, and archaeology, Skeleton Keys presents osteology as a vibrant field with a plethora of research avenues waiting to be pursued, thereby encouraging readers to imagine and aspire to future possibilities in research and stu

    Bees.

    But to date, no such consensus has existed on the riddle of Neanderthals' disappearance. The Last Neanderthal, written by one of the most respected authorities he subject and supported by a dazzling wealth of material, paints the first full portrait of the most familiar and haunting of human relatives. Drawing on the latest findings and sophisticated new techniques of analysis, Ian Tattersall marshals the best available evidence to unravel the mysteries of the Neanderthals -- who they were, how they lived, how they succeeded for so long. Drawing on his own research and the work of others, Tattersall takes on the most fascinating question of all -- what happened to them? This revised edition is fully updated to include information on Tattersall's recent survey of all known Neanderthal fossils and cutting-edge work with Neanderthal DNA.

    The excavators found evidence of a well-established agriculture, trade, and religion, all dating back to near the end of the Stone Age.Other archaeologists' efforts in Turkey have resulted in the discovery of the ancient empire of the Hittites, lost to history for centuries.These and several other little-known and understood civilizations are described.Numerous full-color photographs and illustrations add an extra dimension to the text.-David N. Pauli, Missoula Public Library, MT

    Using material gleaned from the Cincinnati Expedition & from his own scholarship, Blegen takes us through seven Troy "settlements" covering the period 3000 to 1000 B.C., analyzing the archaeological evidence (architectural ruins, pottery, weapons, etc.) to provide us with a vivid account of everyday Trojan life. Along the way we learn that the fabled wall encircling the citadel was a feature from the beginning, & that the city was ruined & rebuilt three times before its final destruction by invaders who looted it & put it to the torch. Beginning with a discussion of the Homeric Troy and concluding with a penetrating study of the 7th Troy settlement that must be viewed as the historical city, this book re-creates the enchantment of a lost civilization.

    Full color.