Ancient Lives An Introduction to Archaeology and Prehistory

GOLDEN PHARAOHS, LOST CITIES, GRINNING HUMAN SKELETONS: archaeology is the stuff of romance and legend! Many people still think of archaeologists as adventurers and treasure hunters, like Indiana Jones of, Hollywood movie fame seeking the elusive Holy Grail. These enduring images go back to the late nineteenth century, when archaeologists like Heinrich Schliemann could still find' lost civilizations like Troy and excavate three royal palaces in a week. Today, few, if any, archaeologists are like Indiana Jones. They are scientists, not adventurers, as comfortable in an air-conditioned laboratory as they are on a remote excavation. The development of scientific archaeology from its Victorian beginnings ranks among the greatest triumphs of twentieth-century science. Archaeology has changed our understanding of the human experience in profound ways. A century ago, most scientists believed that humans were no more than 100,000 years old. Today we know that our origins go back 5 million years. Our predecessors assumed that the Americas were settled about 8000 B.C. and that farming began around 4000 B.C. New excavations date the first Americans to at least 12,000 B.C. and the beginnings of agriculture to about 10,000 B.C. Most important of all, archaeology has changed our perceptions of ourselves, our biological and cultural diversity. Welcome to the fascinating world of archaeology and prehistory. Ancient Livesbegan life as a textbook on the basic methods and theories of archaeology, an introduction to the workings of a scientific discipline. This second edition is reborn as an entirely different book, one that combines an exploration of archaeology, the discipline, with a brief narrative of prehistory, what actually happened in the early human past. In short, it has become an archaeology and prehistory text. This book is a celebration of the only scientific discipline that studies human biological and cultural evolution over enormously long periods of time. In these pages, we celebrate more than 2.5 million years of the human past. ABOUTANCIENT LIVES Ancient Livesis divided into two halves, and as if that were not enough, into seven parts as well. The first seven chapters cover the basic methods and theoretical approaches of archaeology. The remainder of the book takes us on a journey through prehistory, from human origins to those dramatic moments when Spanish conquistadors gazed on the Aztec capital in the Valley of Mexico and at the wealth of the Inka civilization in the Andes. The remaining six parts subdivide these broad themes into more manageable chunks. Part 1, "Archaeology: Studying Ancient Times," consists of four chapters. These chapters define archaeology and prehistory, introduce the nature of the archaeological record, discuss the ways in which archaeologists date the past, and examine ancient technology and ways of obtaining food. Part 2, "Ancient Interactions," focuses on people and their interactions, on the study of ancient religious beliefs, and on the all-important topic of explaining the past. With Chapter 8 and Part 3, "The World of the First Humans," we begin our narrative of human prehistory with a discussion of human origins and the spread of archaic peoples out of tropical Africa more than 2 million years ago. We end with an analysis of the controversies surrounding the origins of modern humans--Homo sapiens sapiens,modern humanity, "the wise person." Part 4, "Modern Humans Settle the World," comprises just one chapter, which covers the thousands of years of migration that tookHomo sapiens sapiens,ourselves, from our African homeland into every corner of the Old World, and, after 15,000 years ago, into the Americas. In Part 5, "The First Farmers and Civilizations," we continue the story in the Old World, with the beginnings of farming in southwestern Asia, then, later, in Asia. It was farming that led to the last greaFagan, Brian M. is the author of 'Ancient Lives An Introduction to Archaeology and Prehistory', published 2003 under ISBN 9780131115538 and ISBN 0131115537.