Footmarks

Jim Leary

ISBN 10: 1837730245 / ISBN 13: 9781837730247

Published by Icon, 2023

About this Item

Jim Leary looks back over millions of years to create a view of the past that is full of movement. Using the latest evidence from around the world, he traces the journeys including those of Mesolithic hunter gatherers, medieval pilgrims and pastoralists, and the first seafarers, celebrating their courage and ingenuity as he investigates what drove them to move ? and who tried to prevent them.

Seller Inventory # 546565

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Footmarks
• Publisher: Icon
• Publication Date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1837730245
• ISBN 13: 9781837730247
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

'Lucid, poetic and fascinating' ALICE ROBERTS

'Engaging, authoritative and full of fascinating stories of the past' RAY MEARS

'A gentle, personal and very readable book' JULIA BLACKBURN AUTHOR OF TIME SONG

'A triumph!' JAMES CANTON, AUTHOR OF THE OAK PAPERS

'I loved this book' FRANCIS PRYOR

On paths, roads, seas, in the air, and in space - there has never been so much human movement. In contrast we think of the past as static, 'frozen in time'. But archaeologists have in fact always found evidence for humanity's irrepressible restlessness. Now, latest developments in science and archaeology are transforming this evidence and overturning how we understand the past movement of humankind.

In this book, archaeologist Jim Leary traces the past 3.5 million years to reveal how people have always been moving, how travel has historically been enforced (or prohibited) by people with power, and how our forebears showed incredible bravery and ingenuity to journey across continents and oceans.

With Leary to show the way, you'll follow the footsteps of early hunter-gatherers preserved in mud, and tread ancient trackways hollowed by feet over time. Passing drovers, wayfarers and pilgrims, you'll see who got to move, and how people moved. And you'll go on long-distance journeys and migrations to see how movement has shaped our world.

About the Author

Dr Jim Leary is an archaeologist at the University of York and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He has directed major excavations across Britain, including Silbury Hill in Wiltshire, the largest Neolithic monument in Europe. A passionate walker, much of his research is centred on the way people moved around in the past.