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A short history of humanity: A new history of old europe
Par Johannes Krause. 2021
&“Thrilling . . . a bracing summary of what we have learned [from] &‘archaeogenetics&’—the study of ancient DNA . .…
. Krause and Trappe capture the excitement of this young field.&”—Kyle Harper, The Wall Street Journal Johannes Krause is the director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and a brilliant pioneer in the field of archaeogenetics—archaeology augmented by DNA sequencing technology—which has allowed scientists to reconstruct human history reaching back hundreds of thousands of years before recorded time. In this surprising account, Krause and journalist Thomas Trappe rewrite a fascinating chapter of this history, the peopling of Europe, that takes us from the Neanderthals and Denisovans to the present. We know now that a wave of farmers from Anatolia migrated into Europe 8,000 years ago, essentially displacing the dark-skinned, blue-eyed hunter-gatherers who preceded them. This Anatolian farmer DNA is one of the core genetic components of people with contemporary European ancestry. Archaeogenetics has also revealed that indigenous North and South Americans, though long thought to have been East Asian, also share DNA with contemporary Europeans. Krause and Trappe vividly introduce us to the prehistoric cultures of the ancient Europeans: the Aurignacians, innovative artisans who carved flutes and animal and human forms from bird bones more than 40,000 years ago; the Varna, who buried their loved ones with gold long before the Pharaohs of Egypt; and the Gravettians, big-game hunters who were Europe&’s most successful early settlers until they perished in the ice age. Genetics has earned a reputation for smuggling racist ideologies into science, but cutting-edge science makes nonsense of eugenics and &“pure&” bloodlines. Immigration and genetic exchanges have always defined our species; who we are is a question of culture, not biological inheritance. This revelatory book offers us an entirely new way to understand ourselves, both past and presentThe Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity
Par David Graeber, David Wengrow. 2021
Renowned activist and public intellectual David Graeber teams up with professor of comparative archaeology David Wengrow to deliver a trailblazing…
account of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution--from the development of agriculture and cities to the emergence of "the state," political violence, and social inequality--and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation.For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike--either free and equal innocents, or thuggish and warlike. Civilization, we are told, could only be achieved by sacrificing those original freedoms, or alternatively, by taming our baser instincts. Graeber and Wengrow show how such theories first emerged in the eighteenth century as a conservative reaction to powerful critiques of European society posed by Indigenous observers and intellectuals. Revisiting this encounter has startling implications for how we make sense of human history today, including the origins of farming, property, cities, democracy, slavery, and civilization itself.Drawing on path-breaking research in archaeology and anthropology, the authors show how history becomes a far more interesting place once we learn to throw off our conceptual shackles and perceive what's really there. If humans did not spend 95% of their evolutionary past in tiny bands of hunter-gatherers, what were they doing all that time? If agriculture, and cities, did not mean a plunge into hierarchy and domination, then what kinds of social and economic organization did they lead to? What was really happening during the periods that we usually describe as the emergence of "the state"? The answers are often unexpected, and suggest that the course of human history may be less set in stone, and more full of playful, hopeful possibilities, than we tend to assume.The Dawn of Everything fundamentally transforms our understanding of the human past and offers a path toward imagining new forms of freedom, new ways of organizing society. This is a monumental book of formidable intellectual range, animated by curiosity, moral vision, and a faith in the power of direct action.Cræft: an inquiry into the origins and true meaning of traditional crafts
Par Alexander Langlands. 2018
Archaeologist examines the meaning of the Old English word "craeft," which denoted a sense of knowledge, wisdom, and resourcefulness through…
the history of production of goods made by human hands. Topics include making hay, sticks and stones, beekeeping, textiles, homebuilding, agriculture, and more. 2017Searching for the Amazons: the real warrior women of the ancient world
Par John Man. 2018
An exploration of the mythos of the Amazons, a tribe of female warriors. Discusses the stories told in many cultures…
about them and the past conclusions that they must have been merely myth. The author, however, uses research and archeological discoveries to demonstrate that they did, in fact, exist. 2018Forgotten bones: uncovering a slave cemetery
Par Lois Miner Huey. 2016
Dark emu: Aboriginal Australia and the birth of agriculture
Par Bruce Pascoe. 2018
Examination of the ways aboriginal Australians developed the land to support their societies long before colonization of the continent by…
European explorers. Topics include agriculture, aquaculture, population and housing, storage and preservation, fire, cultural norms, non-Aboriginal agriculture techniques, and understanding history to improve the future. 2018Walls: a history of civilization in blood and brick
Par David Frye. 2018
A historian discusses the role of man-made edifices and barriers throughout history. Explores the importance of walls in ancient civilizations,…
a thousand-mile-long wall in Asia, sieges of fortified cities, political conflicts centered upon walls, gated communities, and more. 2018Under jerusalem: The buried history of the world's most contested city
Par Andrew Lawler. 2021
A sweeping history of the hidden world below the Holy City—a saga of biblical treasures, intrepid explorers, and political upheaval…
"These untold stories of archeological digs near and under Jerusalem&’s sacred sites convey all the colorful and violent and contentious history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ... A compulsive read.&” —Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian and author of The Outlier In 1863, a French senator arrived in Jerusalem hoping to unearth relics dating to biblical times. Digging deep underground, he discovered an ancient grave that, he claimed, belonged to an Old Testament queen. News of his find ricocheted around the world, evoking awe and envy alike, and inspiring others to explore Jerusalem&’s storied past. In the century and a half since the Frenchman broke ground, Jerusalem has drawn a global cast of fortune seekers and missionaries, archaeologists and zealots, all of them eager to extract the biblical past from beneath the city&’s streets and shrines. Their efforts have had profound effects, not only on our understanding of Jerusalem&’s history, but on its hotly disputed present. The quest to retrieve ancient Jewish heritage has sparked bloody riots and thwarted international peace agreements. It has served as a cudgel, a way to stake a claim to the most contested city on the planet. Today, the earth below Jerusalem remains a battleground in the struggle to control the city above. Under Jerusalem takes readers into the tombs, tunnels, and trenches of the Holy City. It brings to life the indelible characters who have investigated this subterranean landscape. With clarity and verve, acclaimed journalist Andrew Lawler reveals how their pursuit has not only defined the conflict over modern Jerusalem, but could provide a map for two peoples and three faiths to peacefully coexist.  Cities: the first 6,000 years
Par Monica L. Smith. 2019
An account of cities throughout time that draws on archaeology, history, and contemporary observation. Discusses the rise of urban development…
and the role of cities in the development of civilization, networked infrastructure, the middle class, and more. 2019Mummies exposed!: Creepy and True #1 (Creepy and True)
Par Kerrie Logan Hollihan. 2019
Uncovers the mysteries behind unearthed human mummies from around the globe, from mutilated bodies preserved in Irish bogs to sacrificed…
children entombed in an Incan burial site on a mountaintop. For grades 5-8 and older readers. 2019The Little Ice Age: how climate made history, 1300-1850
Par Brian Fagan. 2019
History of climatic shifts and adaptations by Europeans to them. Covers the last ten centuries, describing the Medieval Warm Period…
to the era of global warming that began in the 1850s. Examines human vulnerability in the face of sudden climate change. Includes author's afterword from 2019. 2000The plague of war: Athens, Sparta, and the struggle for ancient Greece (Ancient warfare and civilization)
Par Jennifer Tolbert Roberts. 2017
An account of the conflict between Athens and Sparta that began in 431 BC and continued until Sparta's defeat at…
Leuctra in 371 BC. Describes how this long period of war affected life in the two city-states, as well as its impact on Greek cultural life. 2017Shackles from the deep: tracing the path of a sunken slave ship, a bitter past, and a rich legacy (Nat Geo - History (us) Ser.)
Par National Geographic Kids, Michael H. Cottman. 2017
Pulitzer Prize-winning author shares the wonders of diving, detective work, and the discovery of the remnants of the slave ship…
Henrietta Marie, while shedding light on the history of slavery. For grades 6-9. 2017Examination of the five known mass extinction events in the geologic record and their ties to Earth's carbon cycle. Discusses…
the dynamics for each event, which species survived and why, and the ways climate change could contribute to another extinction event. 2017Ghost empire: a journey to the legendary Constantinople
Par Richard Fidler. 2017
A historical account of the Byzantine Empire, particularly within Constantinople, tied in with the author's 2014 journey with his son…
to modern Istanbul. Discusses many aspects of Byzantine history, including the falls of empires, the rise of Christianity, and warring civilizations. 2017The Trojan War: a very short introduction (Very Short Introductions)
Par Eric H. Cline. 2013
Professor of classics and anthropology gathers archaeological data and textual analysis of ancient documents to consider whether the war actually…
took place and whether archaeologists have really discovered the site of Troy in Hisarlik, Turkey. Investigates questions about the existence of Homer and the accuracy of the Iliad (DB 66356). 2013Archaeology: a very short introduction (Very Short Introductions)
Par Paul G. Bahn. 2012
Examines the study of the human past based on material remains. Traces history of archaeology from 2. 5 million years…
ago to the present. Discusses the importance of establishing chronologies, how sites are defined, social implications of studying human remains, challenges in balancing public presentation with conservation, and new technologies. 1996Ancient Assyria: a very short introduction (Very Short Introductions)
Par Karen Radner. 2015
Professor of Ancient Near East history illuminates the multicultural kingdom whose heritage shaped life in the Mediterranean region and Middle…
East. Nineteenth-century excavations in cities of Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Israel, and other sites provide detailed insights into Assyrians' government, religion, trade networks, living conditions, travel, warfare, and libraries. 2015Hieroglyphs: a very short introduction (Very Short Introductions)
Par Penelope Wilson. 2004
Explores the cultural significance of hieroglyphs, the pictorial writing system used in ancient Egypt for more than three thousand years.…
Explains the purpose of hieroglyphs, the clues used to interpret them, and what they have taught us about life in the Nile Valley kingdom. 2003