Ascent to Civilization, the Archaeology of Early Man

by John Gowlett

This book is an account of the rise and development of human culture, told in terms of its discovery. This book describes how tools were used, techniques of hunting and gathering food, migration over continents, strange and beautiful cave paintings, and the developments from agriculture to the written word.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Anthropology, Archaeology

208 pages, Paperback

First published March 12, 1984

Reviews

[Nini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, thorough, and well written.

[Nathaniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book being assigned to me in eighth grade is the reason I never took an anthropology class in college. Gowlett's writing is DULL, and embodies every "old" stereotype of archaeology, anthropology, and early history as being fields inhabited exclusively by boring academics who can't write an accessible book about their own work. I've since learned that anthropology can be interesting, but I still can't think about early civilization or hear the word "Olduvai" without being reminded of this book and wincing. It's true what education reformer Geoffrey Canada says that "one bad teacher can ruin a kid's career path"....but that also goes for bad books. No eighth grader, and no person in general, should be reading this volume unless s/he wants to be an archeologist. While I'm sure this volume would be inspiring to the right nerdy college student, it really left me cold.

[Gyanendra Yadav · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully articulated book on origin and development of human, tool making technology and Early cities. A must read book for Anthropologist and so Archaeologist.

[Deaglán Ó Briain · Rating 3 out of 5]

published 1984 - date missing from entry.