A story of defiance and determination by a controversial scientist, this is Lee Berger's own take on finding Homo naledi, an all-new species on the human family tree and one of the greatest discoveries of the 21st century.In 2013, Berger, a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, caught wind of a cache of bones in a hard-to-reach underground cave in South Africa. He put out a call around the world for petite collaborators--men and women small and adventurous enough to be able to squeeze through 8-inch tunnels to reach a sunless cave 40 feet underground. With this team of "underground astronauts," Berger made the discovery of a lifetime: hundreds of prehistoric bones, including entire skeletons of at least 15 individuals, all perhaps two million years old. Their features combined those of known prehominids like Lucy, the famous Australopithecus, with those more human than anything ever before seen in prehistoric remains. Berger's team had discovered an all new species, and they called it Homo naledi.The cave quickly proved to be the richest primitive hominid site ever discovered, full of implications that shake the very foundation of how we define what makes us human. Did this species come before, during, or after the emergence of Homo sapiens on our evolutionary tree? How did the cave come to contain nothing but the remains of these individuals? Did they bury their dead? If so, they must have had a level of self-knowledge, including an awareness of death. And yet those are the very characteristics used to define what makes us human. Did an equally advanced species inhabit Earth with us, or before us? Berger does not hesitate to address all these questions.Berger is a charming and controversial figure, and some colleagues question his interpretation of this and other finds. But in these pages, this charismatic and visionary paleontologist counters their arguments and tells his personal story: a rich and readable narrative about science, exploration, and what it means to be human.

    But archaeological and historical evidence challenges this narrative. The first agrarian states, says James C. Scott, were born of accumulations of domestications: first fire, then plants, livestock, subjects of the state, captives, and finally women in the patriarchal family—all of which can be viewed as a way of gaining control over reproduction.   Scott explores why we avoided sedentism and plow agriculture, the advantages of mobile subsistence, the unforeseeable disease epidemics arising from crowding plants, animals, and grain, and why all early states are based on millets and cereal grains and unfree labor. He also discusses the “barbarians” who long evaded state control, as a way of understanding continuing tension between states and nonsubject peoples.

    Urged to tell what he was seeing through the small opening he had cut in the door to the tomb, the Egyptologist famously replied, "I see wonderful things." Carter's fabulous discovery is just one of the many spellbinding stories told in Three Stones Make a Wall.Written by Eric Cline, an archaeologist with more than thirty seasons of excavation experience, Three Stones Make a Wall traces the history of archaeology from an amateur pursuit to the cutting-edge science it is today by taking the reader on a tour of major archaeological sites and discoveries, from Pompeii to Petra, Troy to the Terracotta Warriors, and Mycenae to Megiddo and Masada. Cline brings to life the personalities behind these digs, including Heinrich Schliemann, the former businessman who excavated Troy, and Mary Leakey, whose discoveries advanced our understanding of human origins. The discovery of the peoples and civilizations of the past is presented in vivid detail, from the Hittites and Minoans to the Inca, Aztec, and Moche. Along the way, the book addresses the questions archaeologists are asked most often: How do you know where to dig? How are excavations actually done? How do you know how old something is? Who gets to keep what is found?Taking readers from the pioneering digs of the eighteenth century to the exciting new discoveries being made today, Three Stones Make a Wall is a lively and essential introduction to the story of archaeology.

    Five decades ago, Native American leaders launched a crusade to force museums to return their sacred objects and allow them to rebury their kin. Today, hundreds of tribes use the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act to help them recover their looted heritage from museums across the country. As senior curator of anthropology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Chip Colwell has navigated firsthand the questions of how to weigh the religious freedom of Native Americans against the academic freedom of scientists and whether the emptying of museum shelves elevates human rights or destroys a common heritage. This book offers his personal account of the process of repatriation, following the trail of four objects as they were created, collected, and ultimately returned to their sources: a sculpture that is a living god, the scalp of a massacre victim, a ceremonial blanket, and a skeleton from a tribe considered by some to be extinct. These specific stories reveal a dramatic process that involves not merely obeying the law, but negotiating the blurry lines between identity and morality, spirituality and politics. Things, like people, have biographies. Repatriation, Colwell argues, is a difficult but vitally important way for museums and tribes to acknowledge that fact—and heal the wounds of the past while creating a respectful approach to caring for these rich artifacts of history.

    Two of history’s great mysteries—the fate of the Knights Templar and the truth about the Oak Island treasure—reveal themselves in this fascinating saga of hidden history. "The book we've all been waiting for!" says Rick Lagina, star of History Channel's Curse of Oak Island.

    The oldest secret order on earth has just woken up... They want nothing less than the world... They are the Hidden Hand... The race is on to find an ancient power and stop the greatest sacrifice in history… With the same high-octane pace and thrills of the Joe Hawke series, Raiders is an archaeological and historical action-adventure featuring a great new team and a terrible new enemy. Former soldier Jed Mason is working as an asset recovery specialist – retrieving kidnapped people and stolen goods in a dog-eat-dog world of international crime, violence and ransoms. Nearly killed on a dangerous mission, he must deal with a terrible personal tragedy, but when a mysterious private consortium briefs him on a violent kidnapping he quickly discovers when one door shuts, another opens. Why was the head of the Vatican’s secret archive murdered in Rome? Why was a leading American archaeologist snatched? Mason must lead his old team on a new adventure to stop a truly terrifying enemy intent on the sacrifice of millions. Drawing on the same fast-paced action as the world of Joe Hawke, Raiders introduces a new series with an exciting and compelling band of brothers – and sisters – who must stand together in the face of adversity or die one by one.

    When she stopped running, she found herself on the other side of the world in a little town called Cable Bay, New Zealand. Now she runs a bar, and tells herself that living up to people’s expectations is overrated. Archaeologist Ryan Sanders has never settled anywhere. Travelling the world, he thinks that settling down is for little people who can’t see beyond their own front door. When he’s sent to investigate a report of fossils discovered in Cable Bay, he thinks it’ll be simple; done in a few days, and then on to the next job. Problem is, the fossils are directly underneath Cat’s bar, and she’s not about to see it demolished without a fight. Sometimes it takes digging up the past to open your eyes to the future.‘The Cat’s Pajamas’ is an 80K romantic comedy with a little bit of steam, a cast of quirky characters, and a guaranteed HEA!

    Archaeologist Joshua Agar makes a stunning discovery when on one of his excavation sites, they unearth an ancient ossuary, untouched since the day it was buried. Evidence and analysis reveals that the contents of the find appear to be the six of the Seven Seals mentioned in the bible's Book of Revelation.The Seventh is missing.Meanwhile, a mysterious man has been walking the earth for millennia. He waits... amassing knowledge and power, seeking to bring about the one event that would release him from his endless existence. With the discovery in Tel Aviv, his waiting might soon be over.Joshua Agar and his team, Professor Simon Rockwell and Dr. Rachel Carver soon realises the significance of their find. An ancient society known as The Keepers awakens, and they are after the Seven Seals. For it has been told, that whosoever breaks the seven seals will have unimaginable power and control over the new world promised through the Second Coming of Christ.The frantic hunt for the Seventh Seal begins. Through dusty caves, ancient churches, and even within the most secretive vault on earth, they search for clues to the possible resting place of the missing seal.The archaeologists are not alone. Another ancient secret brotherhood called the Guardians have long protected the Seven Seals, since the time John of Patmos entrusted to them the Seventh. Using their resources, they attempt to discover the identity of The Grand Keeper and impede his plans for global upheaval.As scientists, the archaeologists perceive their discovery as a historical relic and not a religious find. But with the forces aroused by the unearthing of the artefact, they start to question if there is indeed truth in the story.The Patmos Enigma will take you on a journey of wonders and thrills as it hurtles from dark truths to enlightening revelations as the war between science and mysticism commences.

    In Jamestown, the Truth Revealed, William Kelso takes us literally to the soil where the Jamestown colony began, unearthing footprints of a series of structures, beginning with the James Fort, to reveal fascinating evidence of the lives and deaths of the first settlers, of their endeavors and struggles, and new insight into their relationships with the Virginia Indians. He offers up a lively but fact-based account, framed around a narrative of the archaeological team's exciting discoveries.Unpersuaded by the common assumption that James Fort had long ago been washed away by the James River, William Kelso and his collaborators estimated the likely site for the fort and began to unearth its extensive remains, including palisade walls, bulwarks, interior buildings, a well, a warehouse, and several pits. By Jamestown's quadricentennial over 2 million objects were cataloged, more than half dating to the time of Queen Elizabeth and King James.Kelso's work has continued with recent excavations of numerous additional buildings, including the settlement's first church, which served as the burial place of four Jamestown leaders, the governor's rowhouse during the term of Samuel Argall, and substantial dump sites, which are troves for archaeologists. He also recounts how researchers confirmed the practice of survival cannibalism in the colony following the recovery from an abandoned cellar bakery of the cleaver-scarred remains of a young English girl. CT scanning and computer graphics have even allowed researchers to put a face on this victim of the brutal winter of 1609-10, a period that has come to be known as the "starving time."Refuting the now decades-old stereotype that attributed the high mortality rate of the Jamestown settlers to their laziness and ineptitude, Jamestown, the Truth Revealed produces a vivid picture of the settlement that is far more complex, incorporating the most recent archaeology and using twenty-first-century technology to give Jamestown its rightful place in history, thereby contributing to a broader understanding of the transatlantic world.

    With her only weapon the swollen, dripping appendage strapped to her thigh, Moans journeys across the Middle East, dodging traps, scarabs, and undead creatures, while battling foes from home and abroad.All in pursuit of a forbidden relic that will unlock the key to her futanari transformation, and give her the power to reclaim a future denied her by one government’s shocking betrayal. It's a frantic scramble to an explosive climax, a deliciously messy finish dictated by the magic of the Mummy’s Hand.Packed with 11,000 words of pulp futa adventure, complete with a taboo side of monster erotica, this introduction to the world of Futanari Moans is superbly silly, and scandalously sexy!

    Spanning the dawn of human civilization through the present, it provides a tour of every site of key archaeological importance. From the prehistoric cave paintings of Lascaux to Tutankhamun's tomb, from the buried city of Pompeii to China's Terracotta Army, all of the world's most iconic sites and discoveries are here. So too are the lesser-known yet equally important finds, such as the recent discoveries of our oldest known human ancestors and of the world's oldest-known temple, Gobekli Tepe in Turkey. A masterful combination of succinct analysis and driving narrative, this book also addresses the questions that inevitably arise as we gradually learn more about the history of our species. Written by an international team of archaeological experts and richly illustrated throughout, Archaeology: A Comprehensive Guide to Our Human Past offers an unparalleled insight into the origins of humankind.

    Together with Long Shot, an AI unit stationed at the site to help him analyze the materials he finds, Jack recalls the events that lead him to this place in his life. All the while, a religious cult, the Svechi, are determined to stop Jack (and the Revelation) at any cost.

    For years the myriad factors contributing to the loss of many of the ships remained a mystery, subject only to speculation and theory.In this book, marine archaeologist and historian Dr. Innes McCartney reveals for the first time what became of the warships that vanished on the night of May 31, 1916, examining the circumstances behind the loss of each ship and reconciling what was known in 1916 to what the archaeology is revealing today. The knowledge of what was present was transformed in 2015 by a groundbreaking survey using the modern technology of multi-beam. This greatly assisted in unraveling the details behind several Jutland enigmas, not least the devastating explosions which claimed five major British warships, the details of the wrecks of the thirteen destroyers lost in the battle, and the German warships scuttled during the night phase.This is the first book to identify the locations of many of the wrecks, and--scandalously--how more than half of these sites have been illegally plundered for salvage, despite their status as war graves. An essential and revealing read for anyone interested in naval history and marine archaeology.

    These objects tell the story of the origin of the Roman state (Latium) from the Early Iron Age cultures of Etruria and the pseudo-historical “period of the kings” (753–509 BCE), through to the end of the Late Empire in the West in 476 CE. Over a period of more than 1,000 years, Roman culture evolved administratively, socially, and politically, with many elements still recognizable in the sociopolitical infrastructure of the modern Western world.Richly illustrated with detailed photographs of every object, the informative text reveals how each artifact is a key object in its own right—a creation that commemorates a great event or heralds the start of a new era in creativity or politics. From coins of the fifth century BCE to pottery made at the time of the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE, all the objects reveal an important insight into this highly influential ancient civilization.

    We are not particularly fast and have no natural weapons. Yet Homo sapiens currently number nearly 7.5 billion and are set to rise to nearly 10 billion by the middle of this century. We have influenced almost every part of the Earth system and as a consequence are changing the global environmental and evolutionary trajectory of the Earth. So how did we become the worlds apex predator and take over theplanet?Fundamental to our success is our intelligence, not only individually but more importantly collectively. But why did evolution favour the brainy ape? Given the calorific cost of running our large brains, not to mention the difficulties posed for childbirth, this bizarre adaptation must have given our ancestors a considerable advantage. In this book Mark Maslin brings together the latest insights from hominin fossils and combines them with evidence of the changing landscape of the East AfricanRift Valley to show how all these factors led to selection pressures that favoured our ultrasocial brains. Astronomy, geology, climate, and landscape all had a part to play in making East Africa the cradle of humanity and allowing us to dominate the planet.

    The dark interiors of caves, wherever they may be found, seem to have had a powerful draw for ancient peoples, who littered the cave floors with objects they had made. Later, they adorned cave walls with sacred symbols and secret knowledge, from the very first abstract symbols and handprints to complex and vivid arrangements of animals and people. Often undisturbed for many tens of thousands of years, these were among the first visual symbols that humans shared with each other, though they were made so long ago that we have entirely forgotten their meaning. However, as archaeologist Bruno David reveals, caves decorated more recently may help us to unlock their secrets.David tells the story of this mysterious world of decorated caves, from the oldest known painting tools to the magnificent murals of the European Ice Age. Showcasing the most astounding discoveries made in more than 150 years of archaeological exploration, Cave Art explores the creative achievements of our remotest ancestors and what they tell us about the human past.

    They established a rich nomadic culture originating in southern Siberia and extending to northern China and as far as the northern Black Sea. Mobility and mastery of local resources were central to their culture and their achievements. Forerunners of the Sarmatians, the Huns, the Turks, and the Mongols, the Scythians were feared adversaries and respected neighbors of the Assyrians, Persians, and ancient Greeks. They left no written records of their own and historians have previously relied on the descriptions by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, but archaeological research now adds considerable new information about their origins and lifestyle.This book offers unique insights into the life and funerary customs of the Scythians with exceptionally well preserved organic objects buried in conditions of permanent frost in the high Altai mountains. Some of the objects are from new excavations and others come from the famous Siberian Collection of Peter the Great. They include many rare finds of personal garments and possessions made from gold, leather, fur, and felt and reveal the impact and achievements of one of the earliest great nomadic peoples.

    Illustrated with full-color photos, charts, and maps, this handbook provides readers with a wealth of information that complements and supplements the historical context of the Bible. The Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archaeology includes an introduction to the field of archaeology for readers who might not be familiar with the methods, practices, and importance of this area of study. Included in this section is an annotated bibliography of important biblical archaeological reports, books, and journal articles for further study. The rest of the handbook is devoted to a book-by-book (Genesis through Revelation) presentation of the most significant archaeological discoveries that enhance our understanding of the biblical text, including a section on the intertestamental period. A rich array of visual images including photos of excavations sites, coins, maps, artifacts, and historic structures allows readers to immerse themselves in the world of the Bible. This monumental work gives readers the opportunity to visit ancient sites and historical places while remaining in the comfort of their own home.

    

    It charts the emergence of the new emphasis on relations as well as engaging with other current theoretical trends and the thinkers archaeologists regularly employ. Bringing together different strands of global archaeological theory and placing them in dialogue, the book explores the similarities and differences between different contemporary trends in theory while also highlighting potential strengths and weaknesses of different approaches.Written in a way to maximise its accessibility, in direct contrast to many of the sources on which it draws, Archaeological Theory in the New Millennium is an essential guide to cutting-edge theory for students and for professionals wishing to reacquaint themselves with this field.

    Illustrated with full-color photos, charts, and maps, this handbook provides readers with a wealth of information that complements and supplements the historical context of the Bible. The Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archaeology includes an introduction to the field of archaeology for readers who might not be familiar with the methods, practices, and importance of this area of study. Included in this section is an annotated bibliography of important biblical archaeological reports, books, and journal articles for further study. The rest of the handbook is devoted to a book-by-book (Genesis through Revelation) presentation of the most significant archaeological discoveries that enhance our understanding of the biblical text, including a section on the intertestamental period. A rich array of visual images including photos of excavations sites, coins, maps, artifacts, and historic structures allows readers to immerse themselves in the world of the Bible. This monumental work gives readers the opportunity to visit ancient sites and historical places while remaining in the comfort of their own home.

    Known today as Tell Abu Shahrain or in the ancient world as Eridu, this site contains some of best examples of the Ubaid culture, and it was one of the first urban centers of civilization in southern Mesopotamia, if not the first itself. Many famous stories came from the mythical landscapes of Iraq’s deep south. In the literature of ancient Sumer, Eridu was regarded as the primordial city, the first urban center, believed to have existed long before the great mythical Flood that wiped out human culture in the Book of Genesis and other earlier traditions. It was to places like this that Western explorers first came in the 19th century, searching for the origins of the lands which the Bible described as the cradle of the human race. In doing so, they discovered that Eridu was also a real place. The astonishing site is located about 8 miles southwest of the Sumerian city of Ur, and when it was first excavated in the mid-19th century, Western archaeologists were confused as to how a city as large as this could have existed in such a vast and waterless desert. But Eridu is positioned on the edge of the great alluvial plain of Sumer, a wild and beautiful marshland where the Tigris and the Euphrates meet. This was the Biblical “Garden of Eden”, an ancient landscape that was renowned for its fertility in the past. To many Westerners, Iraq’s history and culture were a blank before 1991, but ironically, as war engulfed the region, it helped underscore the importance and influence of the area on Western civilization. It was here, in the ferocious landscape of south Iraq, old Sumer, that the first laws, science, and cities came into being. Eridu is a place of extraordinary significance for the study of the earliest stages of civilization in history, and it is one of the best examples of cultural continuity in Mesopotamia, from the earliest prehistoric stages in which settlements emerged to the later historic periods. Eridu had a special status, not as the residence of a ruling dynasty of kings but for its religious significance; a series of temples were built there, devoted to the patron god of the city, Enki. Each one was built upon the ruins of its predecessor, and each one represents the architectural, religious, and social changes that occurred at the site throughout its history. Eridu: The History and Legacy of the Oldest City in Ancient Mesopotamia examines the tumultuous history of one of the most important cities of antiquity. Along with pictures depicting important people, places, and events, you will learn about Eridu like never before.

    Dever offers a welcome perspective on ancient Israel and Judah that prioritizes the archaeological remains to render history as it was--not as the biblical writers argue it should have been. Drawing from the most recent archaeological data as interpreted from a nontheological point of view and supplementing that data with biblical material only when it converges with the archaeological record, Dever analyzes all the evidence at hand to provide a new history of ancient Israel and Judah that is accessible to all interested readers"--

    The excavations captured in this innovative book - the governor's palace, military barracks and mansions of the rich - chart the empire's history from its expansion in the early 9th century BC to its dramatic fall three centuries later, providing insights into the daily lives of both the commoners and Assyrian elites who inhabited this ancient frontier city.Fieldwork over 18 seasons uncovered areas of both the lower town and the great mound of Ziyaret Tepe which looms 22 metres above it, a record of thousands of years of human occupation. Today in southeast Turkey, near the Syrian border, Tushan yielded exceptional finds, such as elaborate wall paintings, a hoard of luxury items burned in a cremation ritual 2,800 years ago, and a cuneiform tablet that hints at a previously unknown language. The story of the project is told by the specialists who dedicated years of their lives to it. Geophysicists, ceramicists, readers of cuneiform, experts in weaving, board games and Neo-Assyrian politics joined archaeologists, zooarchaeologists, archaeobotanists and many others. But this is no dry field book of dusty digging. Both accessible and scholarly, it is a lively, copiously illustrated record of teamwork, a compelling demonstration of the collaboration - the science, artistry and imaginative reconstruction - that makes modern archaeology so absorbing.

    Vesuvius in 79 CE-and its implications for urbanism in the Roman empire. Eric E. Poehler, an authority on Pompeii's uniquely preserved urban structure, distills over five hundred instances of street-level "wear and tear" to reveal for the first time the rules of the ancient road. Through a thorough, yet lively, investigation of every facet of the infrastructure, from the city's urban grid and the shape of the streets to the treatment of their surfaces and the individual elements of construction, the intricacies of the Pompeian traffic system and the changes to its operation over time emerge in vivid detail. Though archaeological expertise forms the backbone of this book, its findings have equally important historical and architectural implications. Later chapters probe how the street design and infrastructure affected social roles and hierarchies among property owners in Pompeii, illuminating the economic forces that push and pull upon the shape of urban space. The final chapters set the road system into its broader context as one major infrastructural and administrative artifact of the Roman empire's deeply urban culture. Where does Pompeii's system fit within the history of Roman traffic control? Is it unique for its innovation, or only for the preservation that permitted its discovery? Poehler marshals evidence from across the Roman world to examine these questions. His measured and thoroughly researched answers make The Traffic Systems of Pompeii a critical step forward in our understanding of infrastructure in the ancient world.

    The history of Egyptology is the story of the people, famous and obscure, who constructed the picture of ancient Egypt that we have today, recovered the Egyptian past while inventing it anew, and made a lost civilization comprehensible to generations of enchanted readers and viewers thousands of years later. This, the third of a three-volume history of Egyptology, follows the progress of the discipline from the trauma of the First World War, through the vicissitudes of the twentieth century, and into Egyptology's new horizons at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Wonderful Things affirms that the history of ancient Egypt has proved continually fascinating, but it also demonstrates that the history of Egyptology is no less so. Only by understanding how Egyptology has developed can we truly understand the Egyptian past.

    The Old Testament in Archaeology and History combines the most significant of these archaeological findings with those of modern historical and literary analysis of the Bible to recount the history of ancient Israel and its neighboring nations and empires.Eighteen international authorities contribute chapters to this introductory volume. After exploring the history of modern archaeological research in the Near East and the evolution of biblical archaeology as a discipline, this textbook follows the Old Testament's general chronological order, covering such key aspects as the exodus from Egypt, Israel's settlement in Canaan, the rise of the monarchy under David and Solomon, the period of the two kingdoms and their encounters with Assyrian power, the kingdoms' ultimate demise, the exile of Judahites to Babylonia, and the Judahites' return to Jerusalem under the Persians along with the advent of Jewish identity. Each chapter is tailored for an audience new to the history of ancient Israel in its biblical and ancient Near Eastern setting.The end result is an introduction to ancient Israel combined with and illuminated by more than a century of archaeological research. The volume brings together the strongest results of modern research into the biblical text and narrative with archaeological and historical analysis to create an understanding of ancient Israel as a political and religious entity based on the broadest foundation of evidence. This combination of literary and archaeological data provides new insights into the complex reality experienced by the peoples reflected in the biblical narratives.--John R. Barker "The Bible Today"

    It lies in a burial ground which contains all the elements of archaeological mystery: seventeen mounds, buried treasure, and sacrificed horses. In this very accessible book, Martin Carver explains what we know of this site, at which the leaders of the Dark Age kingdom of East Anglia signalled the pagan and maritime nature of their court. This is the story not only of this dramatic place, but also of its exploration over half a century, which amounts to a potted history of British archaeology.

    The book takes us on a voyage through time, to the first beginnings of archaeology with the development of early museums, and Napoleon's ground-breaking scientific expedition to Egypt. Egypt-mania prompted the first major flourishing of the discipline we now know, but the Egypt of the day was also populated by a fascinating sprinkling of rogues, vandals and villains. Aaltonen uncovers mysteries ancient and modern as she takes readers on an exciting adventure into the politics of archaeology, from the archaeologist spies of the First World War and the strange, twisted world of twentieth century Nazi Germany, to more modern attempts to understand the peopling of the Americas. She also looks at developments in the modern day, exploring exciting new techniques and technologies - and asks what these new advances will mean for our understanding of human h istory.

    Written by two leading authorities in the fields of physical anthropology andmolecular evolution, Processes in Human Evolution presents a reconsidered overview of hominid evolution, synthesising data and approaches from a range of inter-disciplinary fields. The authors pay particular attention to population migrations - since these are crucial in understanding the origin anddispersion of the different genera and species in each continent - and to the emergence of the lithic cultures and their impact on the evolution of cognitive capacities.Processes in Human Evolution is intended as a primary textbook for university courses on human evolution, and may also be used as supplementary reading in advanced undergraduate and graduate courses. It is also suitable for a more general audience seeking a readable but up-to-date and inclusivetreatment of human origins and evolution.

    Two million visitors annually now walk the paved streets which re-emerged, miraculously preserved, from their layers of volcanic ash. Yet for all the fame and unique importance of the site, there is a surprising lack of a handy archaeological guide in English to reveal and explain its public spaces and private residences. This compact and user-friendly handbook, written by an expert in the field, helpfully fills that gap. Illustrated throughout with maps, plans, diagrams and other images, Pompeii: An Archaeological Guide offers a general introduction to the doomed city followed by an authoritative summary and survey of the buildings, artefacts and paintings themselves. The result is an unrivalled picture, derived from an intimate knowledge of Roman archaeology around the Bay of Naples, of the forum, temples, brothels, bath-houses, bakeries, gymnasia, amphitheatre, necropolis and other site buildings-including perennial favourites like the House of the Faun, named after its celebrated dancing satyr.

    As such, they offer direct insight into the worldview of the Inka--a view that differs from European thought as much as khipus differ from alphabetic writing, which the Inka did not possess. Scholars have spent decades attempting to decipher the Inka khipus, and Gary Urton has become the world's leading authority on these artifacts.In Inka History in Knots, Urton marshals a lifetime of study to offer a grand overview of the types of quantative information recorded in khipus and to show how these records can be used as primary sources for an Inka history of the empire that focuses on statistics, demography, and the "longue duree" social processes that characterize a civilization continuously adapting to and exploiting its environment. Whether the Inka khipu keepers were registering census data, recording tribute, or performing many other administrative tasks, Urton asserts that they were key players in the organization and control of subject populations throughout the empire and that khipu record-keeping vitally contributed to the emergence of political complexity in the Andes. This new view of the importance of khipus promises to fundamentally reorient our understanding of the development of the Inka state and the possibilities for writing its history.

    The geography of Barbados was ideally suited to sugar plantations and there were enormous fortunes to be made for British royalty and ruling elites from sugar produced by enslaved, “disposable” workforce, fortunes that secured Britain’s place as an imperial superpower. The inhumane legacy of plantation society has shaped modern Barbados and this history must be fully understood by the inheritors on both sides of the power dynamic before real change and reparatory justice can take place.

    Belkis, his doting daughter, and his granddaughter with a thirst for knowledge that rivals his own, set out to examine documents found in the recently discovered Hall of Records. They aren’t alone. An adversary lurks in the shadows, waiting for his opportunity to claim the discovery as his own. Will Belkis and his family safely return with their prize, or will evil prevail? This short story prequel to the Genesis Rising series will keep you on the edge of your seat.

    Presenting the newest research on the Book of the Dead through text and elaborate imagery, one learns what the Book of the Dead meant to ancient Egyptians and how they sought to live forever as gods. There are nearly 400 illustrations, including the famous Papyrus Milbank.

    Because of its nonrecognized status, the Chinook Indian Nation often faces challenges in its efforts to claim and control cultural heritage and its own history and to assert a right to place on the Columbia River.Chinook Resilience is a collaborative ethnography of how the Chinook Indian Nation, whose land and heritage are under assault, continues to move forward and remain culturally strong and resilient. Jon Daehnke focuses on Chinook participation in archaeological projects and sites of public history as well as the tribe's role in the revitalization of canoe culture in the Pacific Northwest. This lived and embodied enactment of heritage, one steeped in reciprocity and protocol rather than documentation and preservation of material objects, offers a tribally relevant, forward-looking, and decolonized approach for the cultural resilience and survival of the Chinook Indian Nation, even in the face of federal nonrecognition.A Capell Family Book

      More than a hundred centuries separate the time that Ice Age hunters are conventionally thought to have crossed a land bridge from Asia into North America and the arrival of Columbus in the Bahamas in 1492. Traditional belief has long held that earth’s two hemispheres were essentially cut off from one another as a result of the post-Pleistocene meltwater-fed rising oceans that covered that bridge. The oceans, along with arctic climates and daunting terrestrial distances, formed impermeable barriers to interhemispheric communication. This viewpoint implies that the cultures of the Old World and those of the Americas developed independently.   Drawing on abundant and concrete evidence to support his theory for significant pre-Columbian contacts, Jett suggests that many ancient peoples had both the seafaring capabilities and the motives to cross the oceans and, in fact, did so repeatedly and with great impact. His deep and broad work synthesizes information and ideas from archaeology, geography, linguistics, climatology, oceanography, ethnobotany, genetics, medicine, and the history of navigation and seafaring, making an innovative and persuasive multidisciplinary case for a new understanding of human societies and their diffuse but interconnected development.

    Most of the features that render living human beings unique among all forms of life evolved or developed with Homo sapiens, and in Modern Humans, John F. Hoffecker argues that humans represent a "major transition" in evolution with respect to the storage, transmission, and translation of information, as well as a quantum leap in living-system complexity.Modern Humans synthesizes data from genetics (including the rapidly growing body of ancient DNA), the human fossil record, and archaeology relating to the African origins and global dispersal of anatomically modern people. The book begins by placing humans into the broad context of the evolution of life, emphasizing the fundamental role of genetic and nongenetic forms of information in living systems, and how changes in information are tied to "major transitions" in evolution. For more than a hundred thousand years, a diverse "near modern" human population, characterized by the retention of some archaic skeletal traits and possibly lacking the full suite of cognitive faculties found in living people, occupied the African continent and expanded briefly into the adjoining Arabian Peninsula and Levant. The immediate ancestors of all living maternal and paternal lineages possibly emerged from within this population, spreading initially throughout Africa before beginning a second--and ultimately global--dispersal no later than 60,000 years ago. The later chapters of this book recount their rapid expansion into southern Asia and Australia, northern Eurasia and Beringia, and throughout the Americas.

    Wilkie, coauthor of Sampling Many Pots:An Archaeology of Memory and Tradition at a Bahamian Plantation   “Turner’s unique hybrid approach makes this book a valuable resource in the study of the African diaspora.”—Rosalyn Howard, author of Black Seminoles in the Bahamas   Established by a black community in the eighteenth century during British colonization of the Bahamas, the Northern Burial Ground of St. Matthew’s Parish was an important expression of the group’s African cultural identity. Analyzing the landscape and artifacts found at the site, Grace Turner shows how the community used this separate space to maintain a sense of social belonging despite the power of white planters and the colonial government.             Turner points to the cemetery’s location near water, trees planted at the heads of graves, personal items left with the dead, and evidence of food offerings as African cultural features. According to Turner, these African-influenced ways of memorializing the dead illustrate W. E. B. Du Bois’s idea of “double consciousness”—the experience of existing in two irreconcilable cultures at the same time. Comparing the burial ground with others in Great Britain and the American colonies, Turner demonstrates how Africans in the Atlantic diaspora did not always adopt European customs but often created a separate, parallel world for themselves.     A volume in the Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P. Bullen Series

    In this lively survey, Guy D. Middleton critically examines our ideas about collapse - how we explain it and how we have constructed potentially misleading myths around collapses - showing how and why collapse of societies was a much more complex phenomenon than is often admitted. Rather than positing a single explanatory model of collapse - economic, social, or environmental - Middleton gives full consideration to the overlooked resilience in communities of ancient peoples and the choices that they made. He offers a fresh interpretation of collapse that will be accessible to both students and scholars. The book is an engaging, introductory-level survey of collapse in the archaeology/history literature, which will be ideal for use in courses on the collapse of civilizations, sustainability, and climate change. It includes up-to-date case studies of famous and less well-known examples of collapses, and is illustrated with 25 black and white illustrations, 3 line drawings, 16 tables and 18 maps.

    She then carries us along the Silk Road in central Asia, and tells of roads built for war in Persia, the Andes, and the Roman Empire. She then sails across the seas, and introduces the first railways, all before plunking us down in the middle of a massive, modern freeway. The book closes with a view from the end of the road, literally and figuratively: asking, can we meet the challenges presented by a mode of travel dependent on hydrocarbons, or will we decline, as so many civilizations have in the past?

    An ancient curse. A real-life archaeological adventure.Since the 1800s rumours have circulated about an ancient pyramid, built on an immense scale, hidden deep in the jungles of Samoa. Evidence perhaps of a great forgotten Pacific Empire. And yet there is no mention of the pyramid in the entire pantheon of Samoan myth. Samoan society is steeped in tradition but the local legends are silent on the subject of the pyramid."A bold and gutsy adventure" -Christopher Dunn - Author of the Giza Power PlantWhen one woman digging into the archives discovers an outlier in the dataset of Pacific history, it is the catalyst for an adventure that takes us on a treasure hunt deep into the jungles of Samoa. The Samoan Pyramid interweaves the spellbinding stories behind archaeology’s centuries-long quest to find the forgotten pyramid with the author's own journey into the jungles of Samoa as she unravels one of the greatest archaeological mysteries of the Pacific.Buy the Samoan Pyramid and uncover the secret today.