Unearthing the Past: The Great Discoveries of Archaeology from World - Hardcover

Arranged thematically, the chapters reveal a vast array of incredible finds; most of the treasures and sites featured in the book were only discovered after years of committed searching and with the painstaking efforts by archaeologists, while some were chance finds. The book relates the dramas of excavation, details the items found and their significance, where they are now exhibited, and the importance of that site to our understanding of history. For example, In Cities and Dwelling Places, the story unfolds of Dolni Vestonice, in the Czech Republic: a prehistoric site where ceramics - and therefore Man's discovery of fire - have been dated at over 27,000 years. A discovery such as this helps to unravel the complex characteristics of our human development.

Douglas Palmer is a science writer and academic, currently teaching at Cambridge University. His articles regularly appear in The New Scientist, BBC Wildlife Magazine, Science, and The Financial Times. He is the author of several books, including Atlas of the Prehistoric World (Open University), Neaderthal (Channel Four Books) and The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life. Douglas Palmer was Senior Lecturer in Geology at Trinity College, Dublin, for over 20 years, where he also gained his PhD. Dr Paul Pettitt is Research Fellow and Tutor in Archeology and Anthropology at Keble College, Oxford. He is a Palaeolithic archeologist specilizing in the evolution, behaviour and extinction of the Neanderthals and the origin and spread of anatomically modern humans. He is a Council member of the Prehistoric Society and an Advisory Editor for the journal Antiquity. Dr Paul Bahn is the author of many many books on all aspects of archaeology, from Easter Island to mammoths. His specialisms include the Palaeolithic era in France and rock art throughout the world. Together with Dr Paul Pettitt he discovered the only Paleolithic cave art ever known in the UK in 2003.