The Lost Civilizations of the Stone AgeAn authoritative, eye-opening look at Stone Age civilizations that explodes traditional portrayals of prehistory The rise of historical civilization 5,000 years ago is often depicted as if those societies were somehow created out of nothing. However, recent discoveries of astonishing accomplishments from the Neolithic Age -- in art, technology, writing, math, science, religion, medicine and exploration -- demand a fundamental rethinking of humanity before the dawn of written history. In this fascinating book, Richard Rudgley describes how * The intrepid explorers of the Stone Age discovered all of the world's major land masses long before the so-called Age of Discovery * Stone Age man performed medical operations, including amputations and delicate cranial surgeries * Paleolithic cave artists of Western Europe used techniques that were forgotten until the Renaissance * Prehistoric life expectancy was better than it is for contemporary third-world populations Rudgley reminds us just how savage so-called civilized people can be, and demonstrates how the cultures that have been reviled as savage were truly civilized. The Lost Civilizations of the Stone Age shows the great debt that contemporary society owes to its prehistoric predecessors. It is a rich introduction to a lost world that will redefine the meaning of civilization itself. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - john257hopper - LibraryThingThe author mostly succeeds in establishing that the roots of human achievement in many cases go back much further than is often assumed into what is generally known as prehistory. However, he often ... Read full review
THE LOST CIVILIZATIONS OF THE STONE AGE
User Review - Jane Doe - KirkusA powerful but polemical tract on behalf of prehistoric culture, intended to show the importance and relatively advanced nature of Stone Age civilization. Rudgley (Stone Age Studies/Pitt Rivers Museum ... Read full review
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
The Stone Age | 13 |
The Mother Tongue | 35 |
A New Rosetta Stone | 48 |
Writing or PreWriting? | 58 |
The Paleolithic Origins of Writing | 73 |
Paleoscience | 86 |
From Footprints to Fingerprints | 107 |
Sex Objects or Symbols? | 184 |
The Song of the Stalactites | 201 |
The First Fossil Hunters | 209 |
The Four Bones of Bilzingsleben | 224 |
Graven Images from the Holy Land | 234 |
Dawn Stones or False Dawn? | 241 |
Afterword | 261 |
| 265 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Acheulian activities Africa Aleut ancient animal anthropologist antler appear archaeological archaeologists artefacts artistic Asia Aurignacian believe Bilzingsleben bone burial cave civilisation clay clearly complex depiction described discovered discovery earlier earliest early East Egypt engraved evidence example excavations existence fact female Figure figurine fire flint Gimbutas goddess Gravettian Grimes Graves groups hand-axes holes hominids Homo erectus human hunter hunting indicate Indo-European innovations kind known languages linguists Lower Palaeolithic Lower Palaeolithic period macro-families Magdalenian marks Marshack means Mesolithic Mesopotamia metres Middle Palaeolithic mining modern Mousterian nature Neanderthals Neolithic period Nostratic notches object ochre Old Europe Old European Old European script origins paintings possible pottery practice prehistoric region remains ritual script seems seen Siberia simply skull Stone Age stone tools suggested Sumerian symbolic Tartaria tablets tokens tradition trepanation Upper Palaeolithic Upper Palaeolithic period various Vinca signs vulva whilst writing
Bibliographic information
| Title | The Lost Civilizations of the Stone Age A Touchstone Book |
| Author | Richard Rudgley |
| Edition | illustrated, reprint |
| Publisher | Simon and Schuster, 2000 |
| ISBN | 0684862700, 9780684862705 |
| Length | 310 pages |
| Subjects | › › History / Ancient / General History / Civilization History / General Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural & Social Social Science / Archaeology |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |