In addition to fieldwork and traditional methods, paleoanthropologists and archaeologists now draw upon genetics and other cutting-edge scientific techniques. In fifty chapters, Prehistoric Investigations tells the story of the many thought-provoking discoveries that have transformed our understanding of the distant past.

    Photographs and diagrams point out specific details and typical examples to help the curious Spotter ‘ get their eye in’ and understand what they’ re looking at, or looking for. Specially commissioned illustrations bring to life the processes that shaped the landscape (from medieval ploughing to Roman road building).  Stand-alone capsules explore interesting aspects of history (like the Highland Clearances or the coming of Christianity), and text boxes provide definitions of jargon or handy references as required (like a glossary of what different field names mean).   Each chapter culminates in a checklist of key details to look for, other things it might be, and gives details of where to find some of the best examples in Britain.

    While other books focus on particular sites and surveys, Clottes’s work is a contemplative journey across the world, a personal reflection on how we have viewed these paintings in the past, what we learn from looking at them across geographies, and what these paintings may have meant—what function they may have served—for their artists. Steeped in Clottes’s shamanistic theories of cave painting, What Is Paleolithic Art? travels from well-known Ice Age sites like Chauvet, Altamira, and Lascaux to visits with contemporary aboriginal artists, evoking a continuum between the cave paintings of our prehistoric past and the living rock art of today. Clottes’s work lifts us from the darkness of our Paleolithic origins to reveal, by firelight, how we think, why we create, why we believe, and who we are.

    Filled with the belief that love drives out fear, it contains stunning twists that will leave you wanting more." —Dorothy Hearst, author of the Wolf Chronicles In 4386 B.C., a young priestess named Sabalah conceives a magical child with a mysterious stranger named Arash. Sabalah names the child Marrah. This child will save the Goddess-worshiping people of Europe from nomad invaders called Beastmen, but only if her mother can keep her alive long enough to grow up. Warned in a vision of the coming invasion, Sabalah flees west with Arash to save her baby daughter, only to discover that she is running into the arms of her worst enemies. In the dark forests of northern Europe, other humanlike species left over from the Ice Age still exist. Praise for the Earthsong Series and Mary Mackey "Grand adventure and a grand reading experience ... sexy, explosive." —Pat Conroy, author of The Prince of Tides "A fascinating evocation of a prehistoric world..." —Marion Zimmer Bradley, author of The Mists of Avalon

     In Journeys of Choice, we find Raven and Mark embarking on travels they can no longer avoid, crisscrossing the same ancient lands, although thousands of years apart. Raven is again plagued by choices. She's pregnant, but if she has the child, her unhappy fate is sealed whether the father is the departed Neanderthal or her band's leader, Bear. When Raven's original home band is decimated by a tragic accident, her old nemesis, Fern, turns up. Once more, Fern leaves Raven with no choice other than to leave her familiar life and search for a different one. Seeking the Neanderthal man she'd once helped and facing her fear of being alone on the steppes, she begins crossing that grassy land--but a woman like Raven isn't fated to be alone for long. Reluctant to leave his job in California, Mark eventually summons the will to help his mother collect an inheritance. His duties take him to the Levant, where he meets Antun, his cousin. Antun seems to be a great guy, but Mark can't put aside his suspicions. In spite of his unease, Mark enjoys exploring old Neanderthal sites, until he finds himself in the clutches of a jihadist group bent on replacing all other beliefs with their own. At the cave where he's held, he meets another captive, a woman whom he desires to save. Help arrives for them, flowing from an unexpected ancient source, igniting a struggle deep within Mark to accept that the illogical as well as the logical make up existence.

    Global sea levels, as the result of rapidly melting polar ice rose by more than 300 feet in a very short period of time, causing the planet to become unstable.In Egypt, Peru, Bolivia, Lebanon and other locations we see the existence of ancient damaged but very sophisticated megalithic stone structures which we would be hard pressed to re-create today. They hint that once upon a time one or "Atlantean" civilizations indeed did exist

    Roaming the earth were spectacular beasts such as saber-toothed cats, giant mastodonts, immense ground sloths, and gigantic giraffe-like rhinoceroses. Here is the ultimate illustrated field guide to the lost world of these weird and wonderful prehistoric creatures.A woolly mammoth probably won't come thundering through your vegetable garden any time soon. But if one did, this would be the book to keep on your windowsill next to the binoculars. It covers all the main groups of fossil mammals, discussing taxonomy and evolutionary history, and providing concise accounts of the better-known genera and species as well as an up-to-date family tree for each group. No other book presents such a wealth of new information about these animals--what they looked like, how they behaved, and how they were interrelated. In addition, this unique guide is stunningly illustrated throughout with full-color reconstructions of these beasts--many never before depicted--along with photographs of amazing fossils from around the world.Provides an up-to-date guidebook to hundreds of extinct species, from saber-toothed cats to giant mammothsFeatures a wealth of color illustrations, including new reconstructions of many animals never before depictedDemonstrates evolution in action--such as how whales evolved from hoofed mammals and how giraffes evolved from creatures with short necksExplains how mass extinctions and climate change affected mammals, including why some mammals grew so huge

    He then investigates the world “after humans” and how the coevolution of humans and a range of other key species has transformed the planet over the last twelve thousand years. In the process, he identifies the hundred most influential species that have ever lived--with candidates as diverse as slime, sea scorpions, dragonflies, potatoes, ants, tulips, sheep, and grapes--and reveals those that have most changed life on Earth.This beautifully illustrated, wide-ranging book provides entertaining and eye-opening insight into the story of our world, mankind's place in nature, and our pivotal relationship with the Earth itself: past, present, and future.

    The Late Jurassic period was home to many species of our favorite dinosaurs, such as Apatosaurus (or Brontosaurus), Allosaurus, and Stegosaurus, to name a few. The Late Jurassic includes the latest paleontological findings to build an accurate depiction of the dinosaurs, environment, and wildlife of the period. Due to the abundance of fossils available for both plants and animals of this period, the book paints a vivid, realistic picture of the flora and fauna of the time, with more emphasis on hunting and defensive tactics, as well as early mammals and their role in the planet's evolution, for a thrilling, thoroughly enjoyable ride through the most popular time period of prehistory. Written and illustrated in the style of a naturalist's notebook, the reader is given a first-hand account of what it would be like to stand alongside some of the largest creatures to ever walk the earth.

    Mammoths, mastodon, llamas, ground-dwelling sloths the size of elephants, beavers the size of bears, pronghorn antelope the size of poodles, and carnivores to chase them—sabertooth cats, dire wolves, American lions and cheetahs; these and many more were gone by 10,000 years ago. Giant Sloths and Sabertooth Cats surveys all these animals, with a particular focus on the Great Basin. The book also explores the major attempts to explain the extinctions. Because some believe that they were due to the activities of human hunters, the author also reviews the archaeological evidence left by the earliest known human occupants of the Great Basin, showing that people were here at the same time and in the same places as many of the extinct animals.   Were these animals abundant in the Great Basin? A detailed analysis of the distinctive assemblages of plants that now live in this region leads to a surprising, and perhaps controversial, conclusion about those abundances.    If you are interested in Ice Age mammals or in the Ice Age archaeology of North America, if you are interested in the natural history of the Great Basin or the ways in which the plants of today’s landscapes might be used to understand the deeper past, you will be fascinated by this book.

    Recreating an Age of Reptiles explores the Mesozoic Era through paintings of familiar extinct species as well as lesser seen subjects: burrowing dinosaurs, giant vampire squids and enormous, predatory flying reptiles. Details of the artistic process, scientific grounding and collaborations between researchers explain how each image was created, and discussions of the methods and goals of 'palaeoartistry' - the recreation of extinct animals and landscapes in art - explores the flexible boundaries between science and art when restoring ancient worlds.

    They farmed and domesticated animals, created new tools, built monuments, and began preserving and storing food. What brought about this shift? What difference did it make to the overall population? And what effects did this Neolithic Revolution have on generations to come?The Tale of the Axe explores the New Stone Age—named for the new types of stone tools that appeared at that time, specifically the ground stone axe—taking Britain as its focus. David Miles takes the reader on a journey through Neolithic Britain by way of its ancestors, geographical neighbors, and the species from which humans emerged before turning an eye to the future and those aspects of the Neolithic Revolution that live on today: farming, built communities, modern man, and much more.

    James Kuether's breathtaking, incredibly lifelike paleoart conveys the excitement, majesty and power of these fascinating animals while incorporating the latest in dinosaur science.For more than 150 years, dinosaurs and the other creatures of the Mesozoic have sparked the imaginations of children and adults everywhere. The Amazing World of Dinosaurs makes this unparalleled time in history accessible to everyone.

    Stanley's discovery of this African "white tribe" haunted him and seemed to substantiate the so-called Hamitic Hypothesis: the theory that the descendants of Ham, the son of Noah, had populated Africa and other remote places, proving that the source and spread of human races around the world could be traced to and explained by a Biblical story. In The Lost White Tribe, Michael Robinson traces the rise and fall of the Hamitic Hypothesis. In addition to recounting Stanley's "discovery," Robinson shows how it influenced others, including that of the Ainu in Japan; or Vilhjalmur Stefansson's tribe of "blond Eskimos" in the Arctic; or the 9,000-year-old skeleton found in Washington State with what were deemed "Caucasian features." As Robinson shows, race theory stemming originally from the Bible only not only guided exploration but archeology, including Charles Mauch's discovery of the Grand Zimbabwe site in 1872, and literature, such as H. Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines, whose publication launched an entire literary subgenre dedicated to white tribes in remote places. The Hamitic Hypothesis would shape the theories of Carl Jung and guide psychological and anthropological notions of the primitive. The Hypothesis also formed the foundation for the European colonial system, which was premised on assumptions about racial hierarchy, at whose top were the white races, the purest and oldest of them all. It was a small step from the Hypothesis to theories of Aryan superiority, which served as the basis of the race laws in Nazi Germany and had horrific and catastrophic consequences. Though racial thinking changed profoundly after World War Two, a version of Hamitic validation of the "whiter" tribes laid the groundwork for conflict within Africa itself after decolonization, including the Rwandan genocide. Based on painstaking archival research, The Lost White Tribe is a fascinating, immersive, and wide-ranging work of synthesis, revealing the roots of racial thinking and the legacies that continue to exert their influence to this day.

    This text presents 10 of the most fascinating sea reptiles, including the Ichthyosaurus and Plesiosaurus. The texts manageable language and layout present facts about sea reptiles in a way thats easy for young readers to understand. A simple timeline and glossary help readers further explore the reptiles theyve read about. A full-color graphic accompanies facts about each creature, which allows readers to fully comprehend creatures from another time.