Amazon.com: The Atlas of Early Man: The Rise of Man Across the Globe, From 35,000 B.C. to A.D. 500 With Over 1,000 Maps And Illustrations (9780312097462): Jaquetta Hawkes: Books

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The Atlas of Early Man: The Rise of Man Across the Globe, From 35,000 B.C. to A.D. 500 With Over 1,000 Maps And Illustrations
 
 
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The Atlas of Early Man: The Rise of Man Across the Globe, From 35,000 B.C. to A.D. 500 With Over 1,000 Maps And Illustrations [Paperback]

Jaquetta Hawkes (Author)
2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)


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Book Description

August 15, 1993
The Atlas of Early Man is a unique, and uniquely fascinating, work of popular natural history. For nearly two decades, it has been the definitive survey of the human developments that were the building blocks of scores of different civilizations, offering the kind of irresistible blend of history, science, and cultural study that will capture the interest and imagination of almost any reader.

Now, in the first new edition since 1981, Jacquetta Hawkes's landmark volume is at last available in paperback. It is a book that fills in the gaps in our overall understanding of the ancient world: Through one thousand maps, diagrams, drawings, and illustrations, it compares the cultures of historical contemporaries, placing simultaneous developments in art, religion, technology, science, architecture, and government in graphic perspective. What was happening in China when the pyramids were being built in Egypt? What had been achieved in the Americas when wheeled vehicles first rolled across Sumeria? What point of progress had been reached in Western Europe when the Roman Empire was at its height? Hawkes's eloquent and comprehensive text brings these worlds alive for us, not just as historical entities but as living, thriving civilizations. Did the advances of man occur independently across the oceans and continents, or were they the results of a spreading influence? The provocative clarity of Hawkes's treatment enables us to draw our own conclusions to such questions-and dispels the clouds that have been so long blocked our view of early history.


Editorial Reviews

Review

"For both professionals and the purely curious, archaeologist Jacquetta Hawkes now provides a brilliant series of answers-a chart of all the ancients whose past is our prologue." --Time

"Well-organized, profusely illustrated...invaluable." --Library Journal

"Jacquetta Hawkes, a distinguished archaeologist, historian and writer, has imposed a measure of order on this age-long, complex story...A splendid introduction to the subject." --Houston Post

"Superbly illustrated...A useful reference and fun for the casual browser." --Publishers Weekly

"Up to now, historians of man have been linear, starting with the first Homo Sapiens and moving up to the present day. This work attempts noting less than to show what was occurring simultaneously in eight geographical areas in as many time periods...A fascinating book to read and an invaluable reference work." --Columbus Dispatch

About the Author

Jacquetta Hawkes, the distinguished archaeologist, historian, and author, lives at Stratford-upon-Avon in England. she studied at Cambridge and has traveled extensively; among her best-known books are A Land, Man on Earth, The World of the Past, The Dawn of the Gods, The First Great Civilizations, and the Atlas of Ancient Archaeology.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (August 15, 1993)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0312097468
  • ISBN-13: 978-0312097462
  • Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.6 x 0.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #94,040 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
2.8 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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48 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Good Geo-Historical Overview, December 14, 2001
By 
Viknord (California USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Atlas of Early Man: The Rise of Man Across the Globe, From 35,000 B.C. to A.D. 500 With Over 1,000 Maps And Illustrations (Paperback)
I stumbled upon this book in a bookstore one day and knew I had to add it to my collection.

The book format:

Overall segmentation of book into "eight distinct chunks of time" (35000 to 8000 BC, 8000-5000 BC, 5000-3000 BC, 3000-2000 BC, 2000-1000 BC, 1000-500 BC, 500 BC-1 AD, and 1-500 AD)in chronological order. Hawkes has done a fine job mixing valuable visual content with written content.

Each segment of time has the following sub-segmentation:

1. Overview of time period
2. technology
3. architecture
4. art
5. chart of important occurrences by region (Mesopotamia, Egypt/Africa, Eastern Mediterranean, Western Mediterranean, Continental Europe, Iran-India, Far East, and the Americas), to include: economy (irrigation, hunting, urban life, trade), centres (important locations/cities), events and developments, people, religion, technology and inventions, architecture, and art.

As a bonus, Hawkes throws in an atlas of archaeological site maps of the regions discussed in the book.

The book has a nice "index" as well. There is nothing that irks me more than turning to a shoddy index and being thwarted in my attempts to locate something specific within a text.

But let me re-iterate. This is a great overview of cultural events occurring throughout this time span. I have yet to see any other book that does this in such a holistic manner. I have used this book frequently when I wanted to get a better understanding of the relation of events occurring during specific periods in time. For example, what was the state of world architecture during the Roman Republic, or, what were the religious practices at the time of tombs of Alaca Huyuk were built?

This book is well worth the investment. It's one of those book that gets pulled from the bookshelf repeatedly.

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2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, February 21, 2012
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This review is from: The Atlas of Early Man: The Rise of Man Across the Globe, From 35,000 B.C. to A.D. 500 With Over 1,000 Maps And Illustrations (Paperback)
I had high hopes for this book, as the subject is a very interesting one. Alas, Ms Hawkes writing style would surely be a boon to insomniacs if it could be condensed and put into a bottle. And quite aside from its potent lethean side effects, it is at times immensely irritating, as in "and now I am going to talk about the next thing I intend to talk about..." Aaargh. And then there is the frustrating defect of much writing from those of academia, the "just-who-in-the-hell-am-I-writing-for?" neurosis: the book seems aimed at a general lay audience, yet esoteric terms and proper nouns are tossed off like so many sparkles on a birthday cake, words familiar only to those with a graduate education in the subject. It reminds me of an old Monty Python skit, about the RAF pilots trying to make sense of their banter.

But, the book is nicely illustrated. Whoopie.
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1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars NOT THE BEST, March 10, 2010
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This review is from: The Atlas of Early Man: The Rise of Man Across the Globe, From 35,000 B.C. to A.D. 500 With Over 1,000 Maps And Illustrations (Paperback)
This book, while very scholarly, is some dull reading. The photos present are not what you'd find in a DK book or other coffee table volume. It's OK to own, but I would not refer to it very often for information or knowledge. There are other books with better presentation.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
I am beginning this series of time steps through history at 35,000 BC because that was when, within a few thousands years, modern man was established as the sole human species on earth. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
reaping knife, reaping knives, mastaba tombs, flimsy huts, copper working, megalithic tombs, shaft graves, ceremonial centres, rock engravings, bronze working, communal burial, royal cemetery, painted pottery, female figurines, passage graves, hunting equipment, food gatherers, native copper, rectangular houses, hunting life
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Bronze Age, Advanced Hunters, Near East, Old Kingdom, Late Hunters, Late Hunting, New Stone Age, Old World, South America, New Kingdom, Old Stone Age, Yang Shao, Great Wall, Los Millares, New Grange, New World, Baked Timber, Early Dynastic, Lower Egypt, Middle Kingdom, North America, Black Sea, Julius Caesar, Neolithic Revolution, Upper Egypt
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