A classic of scientific discovery that reveals to us the fullest picture yet of Neolithic man, our ancestor.

    This is the inside story of a momentous archeological discovery: the 1st-century ossuary of Jesus' brother, James, head of the Jerusalem church. Reportedly found just outside ancient Jerusalem, the fragile limestone burial box bears the inscription "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus." The ossuary & its inscription are now regarded as authentic by top scholars. They represent the 1st visual, tangible, scientific evidence of Jesus' existence. The implications are monumental for understanding Jesus, his family & the Jewish Christian movement during Christianity's formative years. Hidden for centuries, the ossuary was purchased years ago by an Israeli collector unaware of its importance. Only when the French scholar Andre Lemaire saw the Aramaic inscription in 4/2002 was its significance discovered. In 10/2002, Lemaire announced the news, asserting it was almost certain that the inscription referred to the biblical Jesus, his father Joseph & his brother James. Controversy immediately erupted over the age & authenticity of the inscription. The discovery also rekindled an ancient debate over whether Mary was a virgin--a doctrine still dividing Catholics & Protestants. Hershel Shanks, a central figure of biblical archeology, who led a campaign to make the Dead Sea Scrolls available to the world, recounts the story of the ossuary's discovery & authentication. Ben Witherington III, a New Testament scholar, shows how the discovery reveals surprising facts about a story people thought they knew: How Jesus was raised in a large, religiously conservative Jewish family; how his siblings were skeptical about his claims--until he died; how Jesus' brother James went on to head the Jewish Christian movement in Jerusalem, becoming the leader Peter & Paul looked to for guidance & approval; how James brokered a major church controversy of the 1st century & wrote a biblical book; how he was martyred & written out of history by the Roman Church. The ossuary's discovery allows reacquaintance with the historical figure Paul called a "pillar of the church."

    Anne Ross is a Gaelic-speaking scholar and archaeologist who has lived and worked in crofting communities, which has enabled her to collect information firsthand and assess the veracity of material already published. In this substantially revised edition of a classic work first published 25 years ago, she portrays the beliefs and customs of Scottish Gaelic society, including seasonal customs deriving from Celtic festivals, the famous waulking songs, the Highland tradition of seers and second sight, omens and taboos, chilling experiences of witchcraft, and rituals associated with birth and death.

    The idea of migration in prehistory, so long out of favor, is back on the agenda. New advances allow us to track human movement and the spread of crops, animals, and disease, and we can see the evidence of population crashes and rises, both continent-wide and locally. Visions of continuity have been replaced with a more dynamic view of Europe’s past, with one wave of migration followed by another, from the first human arrivals in Europe to the Vikings.Ancient DNA links Europe to its nearest neighbors. It is not a new idea that farming was brought from the Near East, but genetics now reveal an unexpectedly complex process in which farmers arrived not in one wave, but several. Even more unexpected is the evidence that the European gene pool was stirred vigorously many times after farming had reached most of Europe. Climate change played a part in this upheaval, but so did new inventions such as the c and wheeled vehicles. Genetic and linguistic clues also enhance our understanding of the upheavals of the Migration Period, the wanderings of steppe nomads, and the adventures of the Vikings.

    Considering their unique identity, language, and vibrant artistic culture, this chronicle examines the Picts’ legacy, including the monuments that still survive in modern Scotland’s landscape: standing stones decorated with incredible skill and covered with enigmatic symbols. Despite being absorbed by the kingdom of the Scots in the ninth century, the impact of the Picts is still evident today.

    Like many of the Irish, O'Malley was largely indifferent to the attempts to establish an independent Ireland until the Easter Rising of 1916. As the fight progressed his feelings changed and he joined the Irish Republican Army."

    . . a sparkling new ballpark . . . wild comeback victories . . . a record sellout streak . . . two trips to the World Series . . . and a city crazed with Indians fever.Revisit baseball's most fearsome lineup: Albert Belle's mighty swing and ferocious glare . . . Jim Thome's moon-shot home runs . . . Omar Vizquel's poetry-in-motion play at shortstop . . . Kenny Lofton's exhilarating baserunning and over-the-wall catches . . .These two Cleveland baseball veterans were there for it all. Now, they combine firsthand experience and in-depth player interviews to tell a rich, detailed story that Tribe fans will love.

    Helplessness in the face of disease and human disaster helped to perpetuate this belief in magic and the supernatural. As Keith Thomas shows, England during these years resembled in many ways today's underdeveloped areas. The English population was exceedingly liable to pain, sickness, and premature death; many were illiterate; epidemics such as the bubonic plague plowed through English towns, at times cutting the number of London's inhabitants by a sixth; fire was a constant threat; the food supply was precarious; and for most diseases there was no effective medical remedy. In this fascinating and detailed book, Keith Thomas shows how magic, like the medieval Church, offered an explanation for misfortune and a means of redress in times of adversity. The supernatural thus had its own practical utility in daily life. Some forms of magic were challenged by the Protestant Reformation, but only with the increased search for scientific explanation of the universe did the English people begin to abandon their recourse to the supernatural. Science and technology have made us less vulnerable to some of the hazards which confronted the people of the past. Yet Religion and the Decline of Magic concludes that if magic is defined as the employment of ineffective techniques to allay anxiety when effective ones are not available, then we must recognize that no society will ever be free from it.

    But while this epic struggle forms the core of his work, Herodotus' natural curiosity frequently gives rise to colorful digressions - a description of the natural wonders of Egypt; an account of European lake-dwellers; and far-fetched accounts of dog-headed men and gold-digging ants. With its kaleidoscopic blend of fact and legend, the "Histories" offers a compelling Greek view of the world of the fifth century BC.

    She’s since returned to the United States, but this distillation of incisive—and irreverent—insights, now updated with a new preface, is just as illuminating today. And perhaps even more so, in the wake of Brexit and the attendant national identity crisis.While there may be no easy answer to the question of how, exactly, to understand the English, The Anglo Files—part anthropological field study, part memoir—helps point the way.

    See the city through their eyes as it teeters on the edge of the fateful war that would end its golden age. Athens, 416 BC. A tenuous peace holds. The city-state's political and military might are feared throughout the ancient world; it pushes the boundaries of social, literary and philosophical experimentation in an era when it has a greater concentration of geniuses per capita than at any other time in human history. Yet even geniuses go to the bathroom, argue with their spouse and enjoy a drink with friends.Few of the city's other inhabitants enjoy the benefits of such a civilized society, though - as multicultural and progressive as Athens can be, many are barred from citizenship. No, for the average person, life is about making ends meet, whether that be selling fish, guarding the temple or smuggling lucrative Greek figs.During the course of a day we meet 24 Athenians from all strata of society - from the slave-girl to the councilman, the vase painter to the naval commander, the housewife to the hoplite - and get to know what the real Athens was like by spending an hour in their company. We encounter a different one of these characters every chapter, with each chapter forming an hour in the life of the ancient city. We also get to spy on the daily doings of notable Athenians through the eyes of regular people as the city hovers on the brink of the fateful war that will destroy its golden age.

    But how do these images compare with the evidence revealed by the excavator's trowel? Recent archaeological research has transformed our understanding of the period. Reflecting this new generation of scholarship, Professor Barry Raftery presents the most convincing and up-to-date account yet published of Ireland in the millennium before the coming of Christianity.The transition from Bronze Age to Iron Age in Ireland brought many changes, not least the proliferation of imposing hillforts. Did these have a purely defensive role, or were they built for ceremonial or commercial purposes? When did the Celtic character of early Ireland emerge? New findings indicate that the construction of the country's great royal centers, such as Tara and Emain Macha, coincides with the first appearance in Ireland of the material culture of the European Celts - so-called La Tene artifacts. The author argues that these were the portable trappings of a rising aristocratic elite, which expressed its power by building highly visible monuments.Professor Raftery also discusses the significant advances that took place in travel and transport, including the creation of the largest roadway in prehistoric Europe; the elusive lives of the common people; the idiosyncratic genius of the local metalsmiths; and the complex religious beliefs exemplified by standing stones, and offerings in rivers and lakes. He presents fascinating new material about Ireland's contacts with the Roman world, and in a final chapter he reviewsthe whole question of whether La Tene culture spread to Ireland through invasion or peaceful diffusion. Pagan Celtic Ireland is the definitive statement of what we currently know about the country's shadowy, Celtic origins. Generously illustrated throughout, it will be read avidly

    Make them listen to it two more times. Get them to explain why they never bothered with it before. Then ask them to review it.What began as a simple whim quickly grew in popularity, and now Ruth and Martin’s Album Club has featured some remarkable guests: Ian Rankin on Madonna’s Madonna. Chris Addison on Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On. Brian Koppelman on The Smiths’ Meat is Murder. JK Rowling on the Violent Femmes’ Violent Femmes. Bonnie Greer on The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds. Martin Carr on Paul McCartney’s Ram. Brian Bilston on Neil Young’s Harvest. Anita Rani on The Strokes’ Is This It. Richard Osman on Roxy Music’s For Your Pleasure. And many, many more.Each entry features an introduction to each album by blog creator Martin Fitzgerald. What follows are delightful, humorous and insightful contributions from each guest as they have an album forced upon them and – for better or worse – they discover some of the world’s favourite music.Ruth and Martin’s Album Club is a compilation of some of the blog’s greatest hits as well as some exclusive material that has never appeared anywhere before. Throughout, we get an insight into why some people opt out of some music, and what happens when you force them to opt in.

    The 26 stories of "Guleesh," "The Horned Women," "King O'Toole and His Goose," "The Sea-Maiden," "The Shee An Gannon and the Gruagach Gaire," "The Lad with the Goat-Skin," the legendary "Dierdre," "Beth Gellert," and the other wonderful characters, the curses and hexes, the broken promises and granted wishes are accompanied by eight full-page plates, 37 drawings, and decorated capitals and endpieces that help make this book the charming one that generations of youngsters have proclaimed it to be.

    Each part contains six audio cassettes and course guidebook in a clamshell case.