"'What an accomplishment!... Each chapter provides an incisive, up-to-date summary of its subject that will remain an authoritative source for years to come' - Professor Richard A. Diehl, author of The Olmecs; 'A brilliant synthesis and the best single account of the state of archaeological knowledge about our past' - Professor Ezra Zubrow"

Chris Scarre is Deputy Director of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, and editor of the Cambridge Archaeological Journal. He is co-author with Brian Fagan of the textbook Ancient Civilizations.

Introduction: The Study of the Human Past; Part I The Evolution of Humanity African Origins Hominin Dispersals in the Old World; The Rise of Modern Humans; Part II After the Ice The World Transformed; From Foragers to Complex Societies in Southwest Asia; East Asian Agriculture and Its Impact Australia and the Austronesians; Origins of Food-Producing Economies in the Americas; Holocene Africa Holocene Europe; The Rise of Civilization in Southwest Asia; The Mediterranean World; South Asia: From Early Villages to Buddhism; Complex Societies of East and Southeast Asia; Mesoamerican Civilization; From Village to Empire in South America; The Human Past: Retrospect and Prospect