Ancient History Books

THE AGE OF STONEHENGE
by Colin Burgess. Illustrated with B&W drawings, maps, and photographs. Condition: NEW 2003 CastleBookS hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), reissue. Content: Reviewers: "Burgess brings to life the history of Britain and Ireland between 3000 and 1000 BC. This book was originally written in 1980. Colin Burgess subsequently left the field of the early prehistory of the British Isles for work in the Mediterranean on the Phoenicians and the Sea Peoples. The book has subsequently seen new editions in 2001 and 2003, which suggests that the material is both well presented and well researched. If it is any indication of his thoroughness one can only regret his early departure from English pre-history and his early retirement from the academic world in general. I was particularly impressed with the introduction of more recent information on the character of early settlement and subsequent culture change. Early books on the topic accredit population movements, invasions, and total replacement of one culture by another. Having taken some archaeology classes on European archaeology within the past 5 years, I had become aware of professional doubts on this topic. The tendency of past researchers to think in terms of nations, ethnic groups, etc., probably because we live with these social structures today, had produced a map covered with tribal names and arrows of migration that is now being discredited. As the author notes, it is more likely that culture and populations remained stable for centuries, in contact and exchanging cultural variables among them along shared borders. The archaeology of the British Isles bears little credence to anything like massive invasions. He does note the movements in the period of the Sea Peoples in the Mediterranean and suggests that during this time considerable movement of people may well have occurred in the British Isles as they did elsewhere. Among the specific data Burgess provides, I was most surprised by the apparent lack of artistic sense among craftsmen of the day-he noted that most of the artifacts found are very functional with little or no decoration. That pragmatism seems counter intuitive, since evolutionary studies seems to base the very concept of "modern" man on artistic criteria like the cave paintings of Spain and France, the Venus figurines and other artistic products: the difference between "modern humans" and "anatomically modern humans." I was also surprised by the apparent lack of a weaving/spinning tradition in the Isles until the 1st millennium. It seems so basic to the culture of other places, that it's late introduction here is surprising. This book is the most comprehensive overview of found objects and conclusive evidence that I have read to date. It is old, but that doesn't matter, since the material it covers is much older. Fascinating! A little difficult to get through at times, but factual, and therefore and invaluable resource. [1 copy available]
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THE FIRST EDEN: The Mediterranean World and Man
by David Attenborough. Color photos & drawings illustrate. Condition: UNREAD 1990 Little, Brown hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), most likely a Book Club Edition. Tiny shelfwear to DJ edges - interior perfect. Content: Attenborough, in this lavishly illustrated volume, a TV tie-in, focuses on the cradle of Western civilization, tracing the life of the Mediterranean from salt bed to lush paradise and its ultimate exploitation. History, natural history and archeology come together in a narrative that portrays the changing attitudes of mankind toward the environment. Attenborough surveys early plant and animal life; he discusses climatic changes, noting that today the hostile season is summer. An examination of prehistoric cave drawings leads to the subject of animal gods and sacrificial worship. The domestication of the horse opened the doors to wars and migration; Attenborough chronicles the movements in both directions from the Huns to the Crusaders and, finally, looks at more recent despoliation. The final chapter locates pockets of Edenareas of preservation. [1 copy available]
$ 8.89 + $ 3.49 media shipping.

HAWAIIAN ANTIQUITIES
by David Malo. Translated from the Hawaiian by Dr. Nathaniel B. Emerson. B&W drawings illustrate. Condition: Gently pre-read 1980 Bishop Museum Press Trade Paperback, second edition, 4th printing. Light series of small rubbings along front cover fore edge and the lower third of the front spine. Interior clean & tight. Content: This is a classic work in Hawaiian literature. Written approx in 1840, the author bridges an ancient,pagan, pre-Cook Hawaiian world; and a new world of foreigners, private property, diseases, Christianity, and a struggle to maintain a Hawaiian identity. Malo describes many aspects of ancient Hawaiian life and culture, including tools and technology, land tenure, religious practices, politics, agriculture, medicine, games and amusements, marriage and family life, etc. This text is still considered a primary source for knowledge of Hawaiian culture in the era before Captain Cook sailed into Kealakekua Bay. Malo never quite mastered the English language, so Hawaiian Antiquities was written in Hawaiian. It is one of the few books in the canon of texts written in Hawaiian. It is especially valuable to linguists to have been written by a native speaker, and is essential to the modern study of Hawaiian grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. Of particular interest are the many "mele" (songs) quoted. Malo believed, as many people still do, that the "mele" was the highest Hawaiian art form, integrating music, poetry, and hula, often in a religious context. Malo himself seems a somewhat dispeptic sort. A Christian minister in the rigid mold of the Protestant missionaries, he disdained many of the customs and practices he describes. He occasionally disparages the primitive technology and culture of his people. Yet for all his prejudice, Malo's tone is usually dispassionate and objective. He gets a few facts wrong. (Hawaiian surfboards may have been long, but they were never 30-40 feet long.) Modern cultural anthropologists must surely cringe at his omissions and technique. And modern Hawaiian language teachers are still sorting out his spelling and grammatical errors (hey, do you speak perfect English?)But nobody disagrees that we are very lucky to have this book." There are also a few misspellings in this edition. [1 copy available]
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IN SEARCH OF THE IMMORTALS: Discovering the World's Mummy Cultures
by Howard Reid. Two wonderful color photo sections. Condition: UNREAD 1999 Headline Books Trade Paperback, first printing. Light tanning to page edges. Content: Reid, a documentary filmmaker and anthropologist living in England, sets out for exotic regions and vivifies ancient mummy-making cultures, artfully blending living and dead voices. He cites ancient scribes like Herodotus, Tacitus and the Babylonian author of the Gilgamesh epic, alongside accounts of and by the living descendents of mummy makers. Primarily, he seeks to understand "the paths that [these cultures] may have intended to tread beyond life" by examining "the bodies themselves, their attire and tomb accoutrements." Reid visits with the Maku in the Amazon to unravel the mystery of the Chinchorros of Peru, whose mummifying culture predates Egypt's. At a winter camp in southwest Siberia, he learns about the burial rites of the Kazakh nomads' warlord ancestors. He investigates the bog bodies of northern Europe; the peoples who established the Silk Route in China, whose mummies show evidence of an ancient European influence in the East; and the Guanches of the Canary Islands, who shared unexpected cultural links with the Egyptians. This intellectual adventure story focuses as much on life as on death; indeed, the way a culture regards death, the author implies, says much about how it regards life. The most interesting, IMHO, is the discussion of the "Celtic" mummies of China's Taklamakan Desert. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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MYSTERIES OF THE ANCIENT WORLD (TV Series Companion)
by Charles E. Sellier. Condition: Very Good 1995 Dell paperback third printing. Small edgewear with spine crease. Interior clean & tight. Content: Reviewer: "This book delved into every site on the planet that is shrouded in mystery. Charles Sellier is not only a brilliant researcher, but a very engaging writer. Each location had a separate section in the book, and Mr. Selliers did an amazing job covering each and every topic. He provided all of the legends/folklore surrounding each mystery, and then provided his own insight that he developed through his own personal research. He has personally visited almost (if not all) every site that he writes about, and includes the all the pecularities that he observed. Instead of telling you his opinion, or what he really thinks happened, he merely provides the reader with every possibility and observation he's made. He allows the reader the opportunity to contemplate the details and arrive at their own conclusions. Not only is this book informative and educational, but it is truly an engaging read." [1 copy available]
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PAST LIVES: Unlocking the Secrets of Our Ancestors (Archaeology)
by Ian Wilson. Wonderful color photos, B&W drawings, and maps illustrate. Condition: NEW 2002 Seven Dials (UK) large Trade Paperback (with flaps), no printing given. Glossy, heavy paper. Excellent! Content: Despite the supernatural-sounding title, this profusely illustrated volume is a solid, well-researched examination of new techniques for reconstructing the appearance of our ancestors, whether ancient or recent. The book offers a series of case studies that examine efforts by historians and reconstruction artists to give faces to the skulls of various longdead individuals. Here we meet an English farmer who died more than two millennia ago; Robert the Bruce, the fourteenth-century Scottish king; a Minoan priestess, dead for 3,600 years; and many others. We also meet the experts who, using a combination of science and artistic guesswork, bring these faces in history back to life. It's a fascinating subject--in learning more about what humans looked like in the distant past, we can also learn more about how they lived--and Wilson tells the story well, with some dramatic flair but mostly with solid scholarship. Recommended for readers with special interest in history, archaeology, and the forensic sciences. An overlooked gem for archaology students. Questions welcome. [2 copies available]
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PATTERNS IN PREHISTORY: Humankind's First Three Million Years (Second Edition)
by Robert J. Wenke. B&W photos, drawings, and charts illustrate. Condition: UNREAD 19898 Oxford University Press large Trade Paperback, fourth printing. One page edge shows wrinkling - most likely from shelving. The rest of the interior is clean & tight. Content: This is a comprehensive survey of world prehistory, from the origins of early hominids several million years ago to the evolution of the first great states and civilizations, focusing on the problem of formulating scientific explanations of the great cultural transformations of the past. In this edition, Wenke has completely updated the text to incorporate recent archaeological discoveries and to address the insights and limitations of the new wave of "post-processual" or "cognitive" archaeology. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 3.69 + $ 3.39 media shipping. .