The third edition of this popular text has been extensively revised to incorporate the latest research, including new material from North and South America, Australia, Europe, China, Africa and Russia.*Highlights astonishing new discoveries including new dinosaurs and Mesozoic birds from China*features a new chapter on how to study fossil vertebrates*provides an increased emphasis on the cladistic framework with cladograms set apart from the body of the text and full lists of diagnostic characters*includes new molecular evidence on early mammal diversification*new features aid study including new functional and developmental feature spreads, key questions and extensive references to useful web sites*strong phylogenetic focus making it an up-to-date source of the latest broad-scale systematic data on vertebrate evolution

    (Volumes 2 and 3, previously announced, will not now be published.) This book introduces the geographical setting of Inner Asia and follows its history from the paleolithic era to the rise of the Mongol empire in the thirteenth century. From earliest times Inner Asia has linked and separated the great sedentary civilizations of Europe and Asia. In the pre-modern period it was definable more as a cultural than a geographical entity, its frontiers shifting accORD international scholars who have pioneered the exploration of Inner Asia's poorly documented past, this book chronologically traces the varying historical achievements of the disparate population groups in the region. These include the Scythians and Sarmatians, the Hsiung-nu, the Huns and Avars, the people of the Russian steppes, the Turk empire, the Uighurs and the Tibetan empire. It is the editor's hope that this book will bring Inner Asia more closely into the fabric of world history.

    Such finds are made throughout northern and western Europe and characterize the entire sequence from the Mesolithic to the early historical period. Although these finds are well known and the objects themselves have been studied for many years, less attention has been paid to the circumstances in which they came into the archaeological record, and it is this omission that the book seeks to redress. Sacrifices and votive offerings have an extraordinarily long history, but their actual character seems to have changed from one period to another and may also exhibit striking regional variations between different parts of Europe.