Best of
Prehistory

2003

Our Family Tree: An Evolution Story


Lisa Westberg Peters - 2003
    The roots of our family tree reach back millions of years to the beginning of life on earth. Open this family album and embark on an amazing journey. You'll meet some of our oldest relatives--from both the land and the sea--and discover what we inherited from each of them along the many steps of our wondrous past. Complete with an illustrated timeline and glossary, here is the story of human evolution as it's never been told before.

Britain BC: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans


Francis Pryor - 2003
    If you want to be introduced painlessly to the fascinating debates surrounding our British past, then Britain BC is the book for you - Barry Cunliffe, New ScientistFrancis Pryor is a modern field archaeologist with a reputation second to none. He has written a book as successful and exciting as its ambition is huge...lucid and engaging - Alan Garner, The TimesSplendid...a remarkable, imaginative and persuasive account of those other Britons before that [Roman] enslavement: its enthusiastic and confident approach deserves to be very influential - Christopher Chippendale, Times Literary Supplement

From Lava to Life: The Universe Tells Our Earth Story


Jennifer Morgan - 2003
    Gorgeous and ethereal illustrations and a story that brings children into a state of connectedness with the universe makes this an amazing book for parents and teachers who want to instill in kids a deep appreciation for themselves, their community, and the need to protect this planet that we all reside.When we take the time to learn about the beginnings of the universe, the miraculous conditions that make our existence possible, and how we are physically part of everything around us, a sense of connection forms and hopefully results in a desire to do good for the world around us and everyone in it."Once upon a time" meets science in a children's picture book that tells the thrilling story of how life began on Earth. This book, the second in Universe trilogy, picks up the story where Born With A Bang: The Universe Tells Our Cosmic Story left off, with the first appearance of life on Earth. It's a thrilling story about how Earth triumphs over crisis to become bacteria, jellyfish, flowers . . . even dinosaurs!A perfect series of kids books for:teachers and librarians looking for a series of books that explains the story of our universe.parents and teachers following Montessori's cosmic curriculum.long time fans of Dawn Publications starting with the classic Sharing Nature With Children.

After the Ice: A Global Human History, 20,000-5000 BC


Steven Mithen - 2003
    After the Ice is the story of this momentous period--one in which a seemingly minor alteration in temperature could presage anything from the spread of lush woodland to the coming of apocalyptic floods--and one in which we find the origins of civilization itself.Drawing on the latest research in archaeology, human genetics, and environmental science, After the Ice takes the reader on a sweeping tour of 15,000 years of human history. Steven Mithen brings this world to life through the eyes of an imaginary modern traveler--John Lubbock, namesake of the great Victorian polymath and author of Prehistoric Times. With Lubbock, readers visit and observe communities and landscapes, experiencing prehistoric life--from aboriginal hunting parties in Tasmania, to the corralling of wild sheep in the central Sahara, to the efforts of the Guila Naquitz people in Oaxaca to combat drought with agricultural innovations.Part history, part science, part time travel, After the Ice offers an evocative and uniquely compelling portrayal of diverse cultures, lives, and landscapes that laid the foundations of the modern world.

Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus


Joan Aruz - 2003
    This illustrated work highlights one of the most important and creative periods in the history of art: a time marked by the appearance of the city states of the Sumerians, the citadel of Troy, the splendid royal tombs at Ur, and the monumental cities at Mohenjodaro and Harappa.

Raptor Pack


Robert T. Bakker - 2003
    Bakker tells the amazing story of a day in the life of a pack of Deinonychus (a.k.a.“raptor”) dinosaurs. Readers follow the creatures as they single out, kill, and devour an injured tenontosaur; climb up into a tree; fall asleep; and are themselves stalked by a giant predator. Includes an explanation of how scientists study rocks and minerals; fossil roots, claws, teeth, and bones; and modern predators to understand raptor behavior.

The Best Book of Early People


Margaret Hynes - 2003
    Step-by-step illustrations and captions explore ancient villages and the work of the scientists who find and catalog their discoveries.

Lowly Origin: Where, When, and Why Our Ancestors First Stood Up


Jonathan Kingdon - 2003
    Once our ancestors could walk on two legs, they began to do many of the things that apes cannot do: cross wide open spaces, manipulate complex tools, communicate with new signal systems, and light fires. Titled after the last two words of Darwin's Descent of Man and written by a leading scholar of human evolution, Lowly Origin is the first book to explain the sources and consequences of bipedalism to a broad audience. Along the way, it accounts for recent fossil discoveries that show us a still incomplete but much bushier family tree than most of us learned about in school.Jonathan Kingdon uses the very latest findings from ecology, biogeography, and paleontology to build a new and up-to-date account of how four-legged apes became two-legged hominins. He describes what it took to get up onto two legs as well as the protracted consequences of that step--some of which led straight to modern humans and others to very different bipeds. This allows him to make sense of recently unearthed evidence suggesting that no fewer than twenty species of humans and hominins have lived and become extinct. Following the evolution of two-legged creatures from our earliest lowly forebears to the present, Kingdon concludes with future options for the last surviving biped.A major new narrative of human evolution, Lowly Origin is the best available account of what it meant--and what it means--to walk on two feet.

Prehistoric Art: The Symbolic Journey of Humankind


Randall White - 2003
    In fact, remains left by prehistoric men and women are far more numerous and have been found over a much greater territory - including Eurasia, Africa, Australia and the Americas - than most people are aware. These remains include paintings and engravings in caves and rock shelters, but also decorated tools, weapons, statuettes, personal ornaments and even musical instruments made of stone, ivory, antler, shell, bone and fired clay. starting with the first explosion of imagery that occurred approximately 40,000 years ago but also including the creations of essentially prehistoric peoples living as recently as the early 20th century. Drawing on up-to-date research, White places these discoveries in context and discusses possible uses and meanings for the objects and images.

Return to Chauvet Cave: Excavating the Birthplace of Art: The First Full Report


Jean Clottes - 2003
    The incredible age of the paintings, which dated back 35,000 years, and their exceptionally high quality were the source of both astonishment and admiration, and the images of mammoths, rhinoceroses, lions, bears, horses and bison have since been seen around the world.

The Cambridge History of Scandinavia, Volume 1: Prehistory to 1520


Knut Helle - 2003
    Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Greenland share a common geographic, historic and socio-cultural distinctness that differs from the rest of Europe. This distinctness provides the rationale for compiling a comprehensive and comparative history of Scandinavia. The first volume in the series will be followed by two others.

Dinosaurs


Christopher Brochu - 2003
    The field guide section provides a species-by-species portrait of individual dinosaurs and the sites in which they were found. Also includes practical advice about where to see and find dinosaur remains.Time-Life presents an informative field guide and natural history of dinosaurs that neither oversimplifies its subject nor sacrifices pictorial splendor. DINOSAURS is a comprehensive volume, featuring the best of both scientific fact and colorful lore. From the first discovery of fossils to our current understanding of dinosaur biology and behavior, this book gives a wide audience access to the latest in research. Divided by era, a variety of prehistoric creatures is depicted in both captivating image and thoughtful text Chapters include Reading the Past, The World in the Age of Dinosaurs, Meet the Dinosaurs, Our Relationship With Dinosaurs, Dinosaur Sites, and a Resource Directory. Dinosaur field guide, with more than 75 species showcased List of recommended sites and museums to visit, organized geographically Introduction written by expert in field

Prehistoric Orkney


Anna Ritchie - 2003
    An evocative look at the ancient Scottish monuments, and what they reveal about the Orcadian way of life, from the earliest farmers around 4000 BC, to the Viking onslaught of AD 800.