Cunliffe views Europe not in terms of states and shifting political land boundaries but as a geographical niche particularly favored in facing many seas. These seas, and Europe’s great transpeninsular rivers, ensured a rich diversity of natural resources while also encouraging the dynamic interaction of peoples across networks of communication and exchange. The development of these early Europeans is rooted in complex interplays, shifting balances, and geographic and demographic fluidity.Drawing on archaeology, anthropology, and history, Cunliffe has produced an interdisciplinary tour de force. His is a bold book of exceptional scholarship, erudite and engaging, and it heralds an entirely new understanding of Old Europe.

    The physical sciences and engineering claim to be the basis of modern technology and therefore of modern life; the social sciences discuss big issues of governance, for example, democracy and taxation; the humanities claim that they revive your soul after it has been deadened by exposure to the physical and social sciences and to engineering. Where does the subject "games of strategy," often also called game theory, fit into this picture, and why should you study it? Dixit and Skeath's Games of Strategy offers a practical motivation much more individual and closer to your personal concerns than most other subjects. You play games of strategy all the time: with your parents, siblings, friends, enemies, even with your professors. You have probably acquired a lot of instinctive expertise, and we hope you will recognize in what follows some of the lessons you have already learned. This book's authors will build on this experience, systematize it, and develop it to the point where you will be able to improve your strategic skills and use them more methodically. Opportunities for such uses will appear throughout the rest of your life; you will go on playing such games with your employers, employees, spouses, children, and even strangers. Not that the subject lacks wider importance. Similar games are played in business, politics, diplomacy, wars--in fact, whenever people interact to strike mutually agreeable deals or to resolve conflicts. Being able to recognize such games will enrich your understanding of the world around you, and will make you a better participant in all its affairs.

    The real thrill of archaeology is the way in which it has unearthed the everyday lives of our ancestors, ordinary people not unlike ourselves. Any given discovery—from a fragment of fossilized bone to a shard of pottery—has the potential to radically alter our picture of the past.This beautifully illustrated volume presents 100 of the world's greatest archaeological discoveries—from rock art to tattooed ice maidens, from mammoth bone houses to Assyrian palaces, from fossil hominids to writing systems, and from caves to shipwrecks. And with the growing battery of tools and techniques, who knows what will be revealed about our past in the years ahead?

    Winner of the Francis Parkman PrizeIn this landmark work of environmental history, William Cronon offers an original and profound explanation of the effects European colonists' sense of property and their pursuit of capitalism had upon the ecosystems of New England. Reissued here with an updated afterword by the author and a new preface by the distinguished colonialist John Demos, Changes in the Land, provides a brilliant inter-disciplinary interpretation of how land and people influence one another. With its chilling closing line, "The people of plenty were a people of waste," Cronon's enduring and thought-provoking book is ethno-ecological history at its best.

    He constructs the story like a detective novel, putting pieces of clues together to form the whole puzzle and he makes an incredibly exciting job of it. He writes for the lay reader but he is far from condescening. His language is a joy to read. I agree with BlairBurton that the book is wildly entertaining but I resented his reference to the author as 'the premier theorist of crackpot science.' Velikovsy's 'crackpot' theories are yet to be disproved and his predictions have the uncanny habit of being proved right so that the world of the scientific community is as shaky as the description of the earth in "Worlds In Collision!" Readers will find great rewards in reading all of his works and judging for themselves. While "Oedipus and Akhnaton" is the least 'scientific' of his works it is no less fascinating and eminently readable.

    An essential supplement to a forensic anthropology text, this reader provides case studies that demonstrate innovative approaches and practical experiences in the field. The book provides both introductory and advanced students with a strong sense of the types of cases in which forensic anthropologists become involved, as well as their professional and ethical responsibilities, the scientific rigor required, and the multidisciplinary nature of the science.

    The laws of geometry are not human inventions. They are found ready-made in nature and hold a truth that is the same in all times and all places and is older than the world itself. In How the World Is Made John Michell explains how ancient societies that grasped the timeless principles of sacred geometry were able to create flourishing societies. His more than 300 full-color illustrations reveal the secret code within these geometrical figures and how they express the spiritual meanings in the key numbers of 1 through 12. For example, the number 8 and its octagon are symbols of peace and stability, the holy 7 and its seven-sided figure are connected to the world-soul. He identifies the various regular shapes and shows their constructions; their natural symbolism; their meetings, matings, and ways of breeding; and their functions within the universal order. Some are musical and structural, others relate to life and humanity. In the process of making these discoveries, Michell helps us see the world in a new light. Disparate shapes and their corresponding numbers are woven together, resolving themselves into an all-inclusive world image--that “pattern in the heavens,” as Socrates called it, “which anyone can find and establish within themselves.”

    It then traces their story back in time into prehistory to their deepest origins and their ancestors, before bringing the narrative forward to the present day. Each chapter also has a useful summary in bullet points to aid the reader and highlight the key facts in the story.

    What they found instead was something beyond their wildest imaginations, a secret they would sooner take to their graves than risk releasing upon an unsuspecting world. Now nearly a hundred years old, Johann Brandt, the lone surviving member of the original party, shares his discovery with Jordan Brooks, an evolutionary anthropologist, who launches his own expedition into one of the most dangerous environments on the face of the planet in search of the evidence Brandt claims to have left behind. If Brooks and his team hope to find the proof, they’ll have to follow the historical footsteps of the Germans into the hunting grounds of a species that evolved in utter geographical isolation, and their only hope for survival lies in uncovering the truth about the ill-fated Nazi expedition…for those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.Black Voltage Series #47

    • Assess for yourself the stunning visual evidence presented in some 200 photographs. • Examine previously unpublished testimony from expert informants. • Discover new research undertaken by von Däniken after the opening up of previously inaccessible regions, such as the jungle city “Buritaca 200” in Colombia.

    Black and white photographs are provided. The fifth edition adds a chapter on a

    His comprehensive study covers all the British Isles and the whole sweep of history from the earliest written records to the present day.

    Through their architecture, artefacts and deeds, ancient cultures speak to us across thousands of dusty years--from the labyrinthine palace of Knossos on Crete and the lofty pyramids of Egypt to the remotest jungle temples of Peru and the megalithic mystery of Stonehenge. Hidden History brings together a fascinating selection of these ancient enigmas, arranging them into three sections: Mysterious Places, Unexplained Artefacts, and Enigmatic People.You'll discover fascinating facts about:The Great Sphinx--Mysticism and archaeology collide in the ongoing debate over this enigmatic monument.Mystery Hill--Who built the intriguing megalithic complex lying 40 miles north of Boston?The Antikythera Mechanism--An ancient Greek computer found beneath the Aegean Sea.The Giant Hill-Figures of England--The Uffington White Horse and other huge chalk figures cut into the English countryside thousands of years ago.The Queen of Sheba--Clues to the real identity of this mighty ruler famous for her Biblical visit to King Solomon Newgrange--Hundreds of years older than the Giza Pyramid and Stonehenge. Who were the builders of this Irish megalithic monument?Hidden History fills the gap between archaeology and alternative history using the latest available data and a common sense, open-minded approach. The book discusses not only ancient history's major mysteries, but also some of the puzzles of alternative history--like the "Coso Artefact," the possibility of ancient flight, and the mysterious "Voynich Manuscript"--as well as mysterious peoples from the Magi and the Druids to the Knights Templar and the Green Children. With more than 50 photographs and illustrations, this is the ideal reference work for those interested in the archaeology of these great enigmas.

    From stone-age assassins to the orbiting cathedrals of the space age, from bloodthirsty god-kings to India’s first vegetarian emperor, discover the secret history of our species—and the evolutionary logic that governed it all.

    Unlike our cousins who subsist on raw food, spend their days and nights outdoors, and wear a thick coat of hair, humans are entirely dependent on artificial things, such as clothing, shelter, and the use of tools, and would die in nature without them. Yet, despite our status as the weakest ape, we are the masters of this planet. Given these inherent deficits, how did humans come out on top?In this fascinating new account of our origins, leading archaeologist Timothy Taylor proposes a new way of thinking about human evolution through our relationship with objects. Drawing on the latest fossil evidence, Taylor argues that at each step of our species' development, humans made choices that caused us to assume greater control of our evolution. Our appropriation of objects allowed us to walk upright, lose our body hair, and grow significantly larger brains. As we push the frontiers of scientific technology, creating prosthetics, intelligent implants, and artificially modified genes, we continue a process that started in the prehistoric past, when we first began to extend our powers through objects.Weaving together lively discussions of major discoveries of human skeletons and artifacts with a reexamination of Darwin's theory of evolution, Taylor takes us on an exciting and challenging journey that begins to answer the fundamental question about our existence: what makes humans unique, and what does that mean for our future?