Archaeology

Bloomsbury presents Proto by Laura Spinney, read by Emma Spurgin-Hussey The enthralling story of how today’s largest language family, spoken by nearly half the world’s population, descended from one ancient dialect. Daughter. Duhitár-. Dustr. Dukte. Listen to these English, Sanskrit...

An intellectual detective story, this history audiobook directs probing questions at orthodox history, presenting disturbing new evidence that historians have tried - but failed - to explain....

This audiobook narrated by acclaimed archaeologist and best-selling author Eric Cline offers a breathtaking account of how the collapse of an ancient civilized world ushered in the first Dark Ages....

The work of archaeology uncovers fascinating vestiges of humanity’s past, greatly enriching our knowledge of our ancestors and ourselves.

In this landmark work, one of the world's most renowned Egyptologists tells the epic story of this great civilization, from its birth as the first nation-state to its final absorption into the Roman Empire - 3,000 years of wild drama, bold spectacle, and unforgettable characters. Award-winning...

A new history of Assyria, the ancient civilization that set the model for future empires. "Truly extraordinary." —Times (London) At its height in 660 BCE, the kingdom of Assyria stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. It was the first empire the world had ever seen. Here...

New discoveries about the textile arts reveal women's unexpectedly influential role in ancient societies. Twenty thousand years ago, women were making and wearing the first clothing created from spun fibers. In fact, right up to the Industrial Revolution the fiber arts were an enormous...

Political disintegration is a persistent feature of world history. The Collapse of Complex Societies, though written by an archaeologist, will therefore strike a chord throughout the social sciences. Any explanation of societal collapse carries lessons not just for the study of ancient societies...

In this compact yet comprehensive history of ancient Greece, Thomas R. Martin brings alive Greek civilization from its Stone Age roots to the fourth century BC. Focusing on the development of the Greek city-state and the society, culture, and architecture of Athens in its Golden Age, Martin...

The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere is a reclaimed history of the deep past of Indigenous people in North and South America during the Paleolithic....

What would it be like if you were transported back to Athens 420 BCE? This time-traveler's guide is a fascinating way to find out . . . Imagine you were transported back in time to Ancient Greece and you had to start a new life there. What would you see? How would the people around you think and...

A leading historian reconstructs the forgotten history of medieval Africa. From the birth of Islam in the seventh century to the voyages of European exploration in the 15th, Africa was at the center of a vibrant exchange of goods and ideas. It was an African golden age in which places like Ghana...

Questions about the origin and inherent motivations of warfare have long engaged philosophers....

The murder of women priests in the shrine town of Walsingham sucks Dr Ruth Galloway into an unholy investigation. Ruth's friend Cathbad is house-sitting in Walsingham, a Norfolk village famous as a centre for pilgrimages to the Virgin Mary. One night, Cathbad sees a strange vision in the...

Roughly half the world's population speaks languages derived from a shared linguistic source known as Proto-Indo-European. But who were the early speakers of this ancient mother tongue, and how did they manage to spread it around the globe? Until now, their identity has remained a tantalizing...

Our perception of the Neanderthals has undergone a metamorphosis since their discovery 160 years ago, from the losers of the human family tree to A-list hominins....

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. Destroyed by Vesuvius in 79 CE, the ruins of Pompeii offer the best evidence we have of...

Fierce warriors and skilled craftsmen, the Celts were famous throughout the Ancient Mediterranean World. They were the archetypal barbarians from the north and were feared by both Greeks and Romans. For 2,500 years, they have continued to fascinate those who have come into contact with them, yet...

It's easy to think that ancient history is, well, ancient history—obsolete, irrelevant, unjustifiably focused on Greece and Rome, and at risk of extinction. In What Is Ancient History?, Walter Scheidel presents a compelling case for a new kind of ancient history—a global history that...

It is often thought that the story of Tutankhamun ended when the thousands of items discovered by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon were transported to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and put on display. But there is far more to the story. Tutankhamun and the Tomb that Changed the World explores the...