Includes bibliographical references (pages 398-424) and index.
Contents:
Preface -- Prologue: A gift from the past -- Part One. The emergence of humans. 1. Discovering deep time ; 2. Following the herds : Heidelbergs and Neanderthals ; 3. Great minds think alike : the emergence of modern humans -- Part Two. The first farmers. 4. Gathering the abundance : creating futures ; 5. The seeds of farming ; 6. Entangled in the farming web ; 7. Taking to the water : leapfrogging along the Mediterranean ; 8. Across the river and into the trees : farming spreads north -- Part Three. Crossing the water to Britain. 9. The remote foragers of Britain ; 10. The forested islands ; 11. Farmers face the northern seas ; 12. Farming on the move : the arrival in Britain ; 13. Green treasure from the magic mountain ; 14. Creating places ; 15. Sacred landscapes : pilgrims and pathways ; 16. If you build it they will come ; 17. Arise Stonehenge ; 18. New ages : new landscapes -- Epilogue: Ploughing on regardless?
Summary:
Focusing on the British Isles, the author explores a period of huge societal change - the Neolithic, or 'New Stone Age' - through the most iconic artifact of its time: the polished stone axe, using his own ancient stone axe-head, given to him by a local quarry worker, as a guide to the revolution that changed the world. Mixing anecdote, ethnography and archaeological analysis, the author vividly demonstrates how the archaeology on the ground reveals to us the evolving worldview of a species increasingly altering their own landscape. As a direct result of the invention, and intensification, of agriculture, the planet entered the Anthropocene, or the current 'age of humanity': an era in which we are changing the world around us in significant, accelerating and often unpredictable ways. As the author poignantly concludes, our ancestors set us on the path to the modern world we live in; now seven billion humans must face the challenges that presents.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.