Ancient Lives An Introduction to Archaeology and Prehistory

Focusing on sites of key significance and the world’s first civilizations, Ancient Lives is an accessible and engaging textbook which introduces complete beginners to the fascinating worlds of archaeology and prehistory. Drawing on their impressive combined experience of the field and the classroom, the authors use a jargon-free narrative style to enliven the major developments of more than 3 million years of human culture. First introducing the basic principles, methods, and theoretical approaches of archaeology, the book then provides a summary of world prehistory from a global perspective. This latest edition provides an up-to-date account of human evolution and the origins of modern humans. It explores the reality of life in the prehistoric world. Later chapters describe the development of agriculture and animal domestication, and the emergence of cities, states, and preindustrial civilizations in widely separated parts of the world. Our knowledge of these is changing thanks to revolutionary developments in LIDAR (light detection and ranging) technology and other remote-sensing devices. With this new edition updated to reflect the latest discoveries and research in the discipline, Ancient Lives continues to be a comprehensive and essential introduction to archaeology. It will be ideal for students looking for an accessible guide to the subject.

PART I Archaeology: Studying Ancient Times 1 Introducing Archaeology and Prehistory 2 The Record of the Past 3 Acquiring the Record 4 How Did People Live? PART II Ancient Interactions 5 Individuals and Interactions 6 Studying the Intangible 7 Explaining the Past PART III The World of the First Humans 8 Human Origins 9 African Exodus PART IV Modern Humans Settle the World 10 The Great Diaspora PART V The First Farmers and Civilizations 11 The Earliest Farmers 12 The First Civilizations 13 Early Asian Civilizations PART VI Ancient America 14 North America 15 Mesoamerican Civilizations 16 Andean Civilizations PART VII Finale 17 What remains to be done: Archaeology and You

Brian M. Fagan is one of the world’s leading archaeological writers and an internationally recognized authority on world prehistory. He is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA. Nadia Durrani is a Cambridge University-trained archaeologist, with a PhD from University College, London, in Arabian archaeology. She is the former editor of Britain’sbest-selling archaeology magazine, Current World Archaeology, and has written and edited many articles and books on archaeology from every corner of the globe.