"These 27 readings are concerned with the phenomenon of man, as revealed in his artifacts. The earliest of these discovered artifacts (the stone deposits found by Leakey at Olduvai Gorge) are some two million years old; the written history of man encompasses approximately the past 5000 years. An understanding of the organic and cultural evolution of man in prehistoric times is now seen to be at least as important (perhaps more so) to understanding man himself as is a knowledge of those 5000 recorded years. In this volume, several distinguished archaeological researchers offer their evidence and understanding of more than half a million years of our species' cultural evolution. Here are revealed the Paleolithic sites of Shanidar, Terre Amata, and Ismaila; the Neolithic cities of ancient Jericho and Catal Huyuk; the rise and fall of great prehistoric civilizations such as the Sumerian, Harappan, and early Persian; the prehistory of Europe as indicated by Stonehenge and the remnants of the Swiss Lake Dwellers; and much more."--Back cover.