Past Worlds: the Times Atlas of Archaeology Hb [Hardcover]

Christopher Scarre (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Times Books; 2nd edition (August 24, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0723008108
• ISBN-13: 978-0723008101
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,678,546 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent historical atlas, May 4, 2004

By 

magellan (Santa Clara, CA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Past Worlds: the Times Atlas of Archaeology Hb (Hardcover)

This is a very well done historical atlas covering the time from man's earliest origins to modern times. It may be a reprint or different edition by Collins of the Times atlas of the same name. It covers the period from 2.5 million years ago to the present, but 3/4 of of the space is devoted to the period up to 150 A.D., and the remaining 1/4 text covers about the last 2000 years, so the emphasis is mainly on the ancient world, as the title suggests.

The articles focus on various topics and events during a particular period. For example, there are articles on "First Farmers of the Near East, 10,000-6,000 B.C.; Bronze Age Scandinavia, 2,000-500 B.C.; The Assyrian Empire, 950-600 B.C.; Egypt: The Pyramid Age, 3250-2000 B.C.; Han China, 200 B.C.-220 A.D.; Iron-Age Africa, 1000 B.C.-650 A.D.; The Aztecs and Their Ancestors, 900-1521 A.D.; Empires of the Andes, 800-1532 A.D.;" and many others. There is a good balance between articles on the east and the west, and even a couple of articles on what's known about the settlement of Polynesia and the Pacific Rim and the Maori settlement of New Zealand.

Other features include a color-coded timeline at the beginning of the book, an extensive index of almost 30 pages, and a glossary of archaeological terms. The text was written by an international team of scholars of dozens of specialists. There are numerous photos, maps, and illustrations of towns, villages, temple complexes, cities and so on down through the ages. Many are done as cutaway or aerial views for a better perspective and understanding.

One final feature of the book is a 25-page introductory section discussing how archaeologists used various methods, techniques of analysis, and interpretation in areas such as food, ritual, textiles, warfare, burials, settlement patterns, disease, and even underwater sites. This is a fine atlas to just browse or to read on whatever topics happen to interest you. Unfortunately, although not that old, the atlas appears to be out of print but is worth picking up used if you can find a copy.