Social Science - Archaeology

Pompeii is the most famous archaeological site in the world, visited by more than two million people each year. Yet it is also one of the most puzzling, with an intriguing and sometimes violent history, from the sixth century BCE to the present day....

J. M. Adovasio has spent the last thirty years at the center of one of our most fiery scientific debates: Who were the first humans in the Americas, and how and when did they get there? At its heart, The First Americans is the...

From the world-leading expert on the Maya, a monumental history of a flourishing civilization across three millennia The Four Heavens brings to life the cultural and visual splendor of the ancient Maya, drawing on the oldest indigenous texts of the Americas and the latest...

"A fascinating look into the origins of modern man."--Publishers WeeklyA book that solves the mystery of the people who spread the ancient mother tongue that gave us English and the other languages spoken by half of humanity today"Authoritative."--New York Times - "A masterpiece."--Wilson Quarterly...

"A fascinating look into the origins of modern man."--Publishers Weekly"Authoritative."--New York Times - "A masterpiece."--Wilson QuarterlyUnraveling the mystery surrounding the ancient mother tongue that gave us English and other languages spoken by half the world Roughly half the world's population speaks languages derived from...

With the most diverse author team to date, the Fifth Edition brings new specialists, new research, and new perspectives to the field, connecting our present to the past in a more equitable and representative way. Careful reconsideration of each chapter's level of detail resulted...

Today the number of native speakers of Indo-European languages across the world is approximated to be over 2.6 billion--about 45 percent of the Earth's population. Yet the idea that an ancient, prehistoric population in one time and place gave rise to a wide variety...

A top scholar reveals the most complete picture to date of how early human speech led to the languages we use today  The emergence of language began with the apelike calls of our earliest ancestors. Today, the world is home to thousands of complex...

It's August 2015. After twenty-five years of archaeological research in a secluded cave overlooking the Rhône Valley in southern France, Ludovic Slimak uncovers the remains of a Neanderthal, frozen in time - a discovery that casts fresh light on a critical turning point in...

A tour of an ancient library transports us to Mesopotamia, introducing us to its people, their ideas, and their humanity. The library of Ashurbanipal, Assyria's last great king, held an astonishing collection at the forefront of knowledge in its day, from ancient traditions in...

A tour of an ancient library transports us to Mesopotamia, introducing us to its people, their ideas, and their humanity. The library of Ashurbanipal, Assyria's last great king, held an astonishing collection at the forefront of knowledge in its day, from ancient traditions in...

The #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, named one of the best books of the year by The Boston Globe and National Geographic: acclaimed journalist Douglas Preston takes readers on a true adventure deep into the Honduran rainforest in this riveting...

From the #1 bestselling author of The Lost City of the Monkey God, a jaw-dropping discovery of an Egyptian tomb opens up a slew of archaeological mysteries and deadly tales. Now in paperback with an EXCITING BONUS ADVENTURE! What's it like to be the...

Award-winning ancient historian, archaeologist, and social media sensation Dr. Jess Venner re-creates Pompeii's final day before Mount Vesuvius's eruption, revealing not just how its people died but how they lived. While today the ruins of Pompeii stand silent and preserved in ash and stone,...

In ancient, pre-literate cultures across the globe, tribal elders had encyclopedic memories. They could name all the animals and plants across a landscape, identify the stars in the sky, and recite the history of their people. Yet today, most of us struggle to memorize...

*A New York Times Editors' Choice Pick*  An "ambitious work" (Washington Post) tracing the links between autism and ingenuity   Is the ability to invent things unique to humans? In The Pattern Seekers, Cambridge University psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen argues that it is, and proposes that...

Drawing on an impressive range of archaeological and textual sources and a nuanced understanding of biases, this book offers a valuable reappraisal of the enigmatic Phoenicians. The Phoenicians is a fascinating exploration of this much-mythologized people: their history, artistic heritage, and the scope of...

The Secret of the Great Pyramid is a thrilling intellectual adventure story about the most exciting discovery in Egyptology in decades. Bob Brier, along with French architect Jean-Pierre Houdin, tells the remarkable true story of Houdin's obsession with Egypt's Great Pyramid, one of the...

*National Bestseller*A sweeping account of America's oldest unsolved mystery, the people racing to unearth its answer, and the sobering truths--about race, gender, and immigration--exposed by the story of the Lost Colony of Roanoke. In 1587, 115 men, women, and children arrived at Roanoke Island...

Drawing upon oral traditions, historical documents, and accounts by observers and scholars made over a four-hundred-year period, the author recaptures the culture, society, and history of the varied Indian peoples of the southeast. "Hudson. . .has brought everything together in such a manner that...