Petit guide de la préhistoire

by Jacques Pernaud-Orliac

176 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 31, 1997

Reviews

[Sense of History]

40 years ago, this probably would have been a creditable overview of the earliest history of mankind. The author has done his best on a didactic level: he presents the most important data on the evolution of mankind and his predecessors in a clear and concise way. But this approach gives the impression that the knowledge about that evolution consists of established facts, while in the field of palaeontology there is debate on just about everything. Pernaud-Orliac also does not venture at all to explain what drove the evolution in human species, the technology they applied and the art they produced.

Moreover, the main objection to this publication is that it is scientifically outdated: the revolutionary field of paleo-genetics remains completely out of the picture. On top of that, this booklet, like so many in this field, suffers from a high degree of eurocentrism: the archaeological finds in France are prominently focused upon (what's the hell wrong with the French who continue to see themselves as the centre of the world?). And the book also uses a very classic way of classifying prehistoric times, in a progress-model, with the colourful cave art as an absolute highlight of humanity.
(note: there are several editions of this booklet; I read the 'updated' 2010-edition)

[Marc Lamot]

Very concise and didactic overview of the evolution of man in prehistoric times. But very eurocentric and outdated. See my review in my History-account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Alex]

Décevant, les informations ne sont pas à jour