The Human Past: World Prehistory and the Development of Human Societies (Second Edition)

The Human Past has established itself as the most authoritative introduction to social, cultural, and economic developments in human prehistory.

Using a regional and chronological framework, this groundbreaking book highlights the enormous diversity of human experience and the ways in which archaeologists are able to learn about it.

Professor Chris Scarre has seamlessly integrated the work of an international team of archaeologists from North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. The result is a unique textbook that engagingly and comprehensively embraces the entire expanse of human prehistory while also offering the most up-to-date accounts of separate regions and periods by the leading specialists in these areas. There are hundreds of maps, diagrams, and photographs, many in full color, as well as timelines and boxes on key sites, methods, discoveries, and controversies.

For the second edition, the text has been thoroughly updated to include recent discoveries and new interpretations from around the world. The coverage of archaeology in the Middle East is expanded to include the Jiroft excavations in Iran and the Late Bronze Age in Qatna, Syria. The Americas section includes new dates for Clovis sites and new information on Kennewick man. There is also a new discussion on the link between climate change in Mesoamerica and the many historical changes: the Classic Maya collapse, in particular. 770 illustrations, 219 in color

Chris Scarre is Professor of Archaeology at Durham University. He is a specialist in European prehistory with a related interest in the ancient Near East and the Classical world of Greece and Rome. He was editor and principal author of Past Worlds: The Times Atlas of Archaeology (1995); more recently he co-authored Ancient Civilizations (with Brian Fagan, 3rd ed., 2007). He has directed and co-directed excavations at prehistoric sites in France, Portugal, and the Channel Islands, most recently exploring the prehistoric monuments of Herm (Guernsey). His current research interests include the study of archaeoacoustics and the color, origin, and symbolic significance of materials in the Neolithic monuments of Western Europe.