The Prehistory of Sex: Four Million Years of Human Sexual Culture - Hardcover

Taylor, Timothy L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 055309694X ISBN 13: 9780553096941

Publisher: Bantam, 1996

Synopsis

This lively and provocative book leaves no stone unturned and no taboo untouched as it pieces together evidence from highly controversial artifacts and human remains to decipher the mysteries of Stone Age sex. Archaeologist Timothy Taylor paints a dramatic and startling picture of our sexual evolution as he follows human sexuality from its origins four million years ago to modern times to answer our most titillating questions about this endlessly fascinating and
powerful subject.

Taylor draws on recent archaeological discoveries such as skeletons of Amazon women, golden penis sheaths, the charred remains of aphrodisiac herbs, and a
wealth of prehistoric erotic art to trace practices such as contraception, homosexuality, transsexuality, prostitution, sadomasochism, and bestiality back to their ancient origins. He makes the startling claim that although humans have used contraceptives from the very earliest times to separate sex from reproduction, techniques to maximize population growth were developed only when farming began--a revolution involving control of animals' sex lives, widespread oppression of women, and an attitude to nature that continues to have devastating ecological consequences. He draws the radical conclusion that the
evolution of our species has been shaped not only by the survival of the fittest but by the very sexual choices our ancestors made. And he links ancient sexuality with our own in a contemporary survey of artificial insemination, surrogate pregnancies, drag queens, brothels, pornography, and the spectre of racial dominance.

How has human sexuality changed--and how has it remained the same--over the span of millions of years? How did the ideas of eroticism, ecstasy, immortality, and beauty become linked to sex? Taylor explores these questions and sets out to prove that our sexual behavior is and has always been a matter
of choice rather than something genetically determined.  He eloquently and accessibly explains how our sexual politics--issues of gender and power,
control and exploitation--are not new but are deeply rooted in our prehistory.
Surely one of the most illuminating and controversial books on human sexuality ever written, The Prehistory of Sex invites readers to become voyeurs into the bizarre--and so far hidden--prehistoric sexual world.
From the Trade Paperback edition.

About this title

From the Publisher

The Prehistory Of Sex leaves no stone unturned and no taboo untouched as it pieces together evidence from highly controversial artifacts and human remains to decipher the mysteries of Stone Age sex. Renowned archaeologist Timothy Taylor leads readers on a stimulating guided tour where stops include the familiar: marriage, birthing, child-rearing; and the fringe: bestiality, body piercing, orgies. Taylor shows early humans to have a vast array of sexual ceremony and erotic liberation, and shatters the conventional thinking that prehistoric people were more animal than human in their sexual habits and predilections.

Accessibly written and supported by the latest research, The Prehistory Of Sex explores everything from ancient contraception to methods of abortion, from homosexuality to transvestism. The book is richly illustrated with more than fifty photographs of "pornographic" cave art, sexual grave goods, and sensual sculptures, which invite readers to become voyeurs into the bizarre, and hitherto uncovered, prehistoric sexual world.

About the Author

Timothy Taylor is a lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom. He has presented his work on Down to Earth in an episode that won the British Archaeological Award for best popular archaeology on television in 1991-92.  He has contributed numerous articles to Scientific American, Antiquity, and The Oxford Illustrated Prehistory of Europe.
From the Trade Paperback edition.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bantam
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 055309694X
• ISBN 13: 9780553096941
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 353