Brian M. Fagan

Jessie's grandfather teaches her some important lessons about the fishing industry, including what types of boats are used, how the fish are caught, why fish need to be grown in fish farms, and other related topics. Join Jessie and learn how fish are bred on farms, how fisheries officers help salmon on their journey and about the other useful methods that help bring in the daily catch. The coauthor is Jane Drake.

Presents the pictures of Iron Age man against the background of his ecology and his economy. Portrays the Iron Age cultures of Southern Africa: Zambia, Rhodesia and South Africa. Tells the stories of Ophir, of King Solomon's Mines, and of the fantastic Kingdom of Monomatapa.

In the barren landscape between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, adventurers of the nineteenth century suspected that the remains of fabled kingdoms lay beneath the sands. As they dug into the mounds of Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), these European and American archaeologists struck treasures beyond their wildest dreams--the graves of the stupendous Old Testament cities of Nineveh, Babylon, and Ur, and artifacts leading back to the birth of civilization. Return to Babylon reveals the excitement, the danger, the international competition, and the extraordinary men and women who made this era of archaeological exploration one of the most dramatic of all time. Near Eastern archaeology in the nineteenth century was dangerous: diseases took their toll, the midnight air could register 114°, and roving bands of thieves frequently menaced the foreigners encamped at excavation sites. Still, these adventurers were smitten by the alluring East and propelled by a powerful curiosity.--From publisher description.

"The Little Ice Age, the most significant climate even of the last millennium, was sandwiched between two warm spells - the Medieval Warm Period, which lasted from about 900 to 1300 A.D., and the present global warming, which began in about 1850. Although climatologists long suspected the broad outlines of these periods, only within the past decade have they developed an accurate picture of climate conditions in historical times. They can now determine yearly average temperatures and rainfall, the times and magnitude of volcanic eruptions, and even how brightly the sun shone centuries ago.". "Fagan draws upon this research to show how the balmy weather of the Medieval Warm Period made first Iceland, then Greenland, attractive colonies for Norse expansion. Colder centuries ultimately led to the abandonment of Greenland, but colder ocean currents also forced vast shoals of cod, a staple food throughout Europe, into the western Atlantic Ocean. English and Basque fishing fleets followed the cod down the coast of North America for centuries, making many temporary landings, before the Pilgrims made a permanent settlement on Cape Cod, with the mission "to praise God and to fish."". "Storms, cold, and rain meant more crop failures for peoples already living a marginal existence. Until recently it took nine out of every ten workers in Europe just to grow enough to eat - and the deteriorating climate put their world under severe stress. By 1600, when the coldest two centuries of the Little Ice Age began, a worsening food crisis had been developing for nearly three centuries. In Flanders and England, the response was an agricultural revolution that was a prelude to the Industrial Revolution. Ireland adopted the potato, an import from the Americas, so fervently that by 1800 Irish farmworkers ate almost nothing else - two generations later they would suffer the worst famine Ireland had ever known.". "France adapted the least of all: It changed neither its farming methods nor its crops, and the continuing slow decline of living standards throughout the worst years of the Little Ice Age led to chronic near-famine and increasing crime, widespread social breakdown, and ultimately chaos and revolution. The Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Irish Potato Famine were all partly brought on by climate change.". "In viewing history through the lens of climate, The Little Ice Age brings together a huge range of sources, from the dates of long-ago wine harvests and the business records of 14th century monasteries to the latest chemical analysis of ice cores. Fagan weaves this information into a story that will fascinate anyone interested in history, weather, and how the two interact."--BOOK JACKET.

"Seventeen papers demonstrate how zooarchaeologists engage with questions of identity through culinary references, livestock husbandry practices and land use. Contributions combine hitherto unpublished zooarchaeological data from regions straddling a wide geographic expanse between Greece in the West and India in the East and spanning a time range from the latest part of the Palaeolithic to the Middle Ages. The vitality of a hands-on approach to data presentation and interpretation carried out primarily at the level of the individual site--the arena of research providing the bread and butter of zooarchaeological work conducted in southwest Asia--is demonstrated. Among the themes explored are shifting identities of late hunter-gatherers through interactions with settled agrarian societies; the management of camp sites by early complex hunter-gatherers; processes of assimilation of Roman culinary practices among Egyptian elites; and the propagation of medieval pilgrim identity through the use of seashell insignia. A wealth of new data is discussed and a wide variety of applications of analytical approaches are applied to particular case studies within the framework of social and contextual zooarchaeology. The volume constitutes the proceedings of the 11th meeting of the ICAZ Working Group-Archaeozoology of Southwestern Asia and Adjacent Areas (ASWA) [held at the University of Haifa in June 2013]"--From publisher's website.

Today's archeologists are not treasure hunters but time detectives, utilizing advanced technology to vividly reconstruct the past from minute clues. With the focus in archeology shifting from the recovery of artifacts and antiquities to learning more about how our ancestors lived, archeologists now work in different ways. Frequently they are part of multidisciplinary teams of scientists who, for example, can reconstruct ancient diets from examination of bone collagen remains or describe millennia-old landscapes from fossilized seeds and grains. These new techniques enable us not only to better understand our past, but to better preserve it - excavations today move less earth in two years than those a couple of generations ago moved in a month. . Time Detectives takes us around the world and through more than 15,000 years of human history as we visit the sites of some of the most breathtaking and significant finds of recent years. A fascinating journey into the world of archeology today, Time Detectives shows us not only how the past can be recaptured, but how our knowledge and understanding of the past expands our vision of human experience today.

How, where, when, and why did human beings take the first steps in their journey to populate North America? First published in 1987, The Great Journey tells the story of the search for the first Americans--one of archaeology's great controversies. An enhanced edition of this dramatic narrative and real-life mystery follows the trail of evidence from the Old World to the New, beginning with an update on the debates and discoveries that have taken place since the late 1980s. Fagan presents the latest archaeological findings on both sides of the Bering Strait, new genetic and linguistic research that amplifies earlier theories, and he assesses the importance of global warming to first settlement. The saga of how Asians came across the Bering Sea land bridge begins with the emergence of modern humans in tropical Africa some 150,000 years ago. Fagan describes the great Homo sapiens diaspora, which included the settlement of America, during the late Ice Age. He evaluates the various routes that brought Stone Age hunter-gatherers from Siberia into North America and beyond. This magnificently readable book, widely regarded as a classic of archaeological writing, sets forth different scenarios for first settlement, the controversies over the extinction of large Ice Age animals, and a brief overview of cultural developments since the time of the Paleo-Indians. Lavishly illustrated with maps, photographs, and line drawings, the updated edition of The Great Journey offers an entertaining yet sober assessment of what we know about the first Americans. Brian M. Fagan is emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

"The thrilling history of archaeological adventure, with tales of danger, debate, audacious explorers, and astonishing discoveries around the globe. What is archaeology? The word may bring to mind images of golden pharaohs and lost civilizations, or Neanderthal skulls and Ice Age cave art. Archaeology is all of these, but also far more: the only science to encompass the entire span of human history--more than three million years! This Little History tells the riveting stories of some of the great archaeologists and their amazing discoveries around the globe: ancient Egyptian tombs, Mayan ruins, the first colonial settlements at Jamestown, mysterious Stonehenge, the incredibly preserved Pompeii, and many, many more. In forty brief, exciting chapters, the book recounts archaeology's development from its eighteenth-century origins to its twenty-first-century technological advances, including remote sensing capabilities and satellite imagery techniques that have revolutionized the field. Shining light on the most intriguing events in the history of the field, this absolutely up-to-date book illuminates archaeology's controversies, discoveries, heroes and scoundrels, global sites, and newest methods for curious readers of every age."--provided by Amazon.com.