A fantastic voyage through 15,000 years of history that laid the foundations for civilisation as we know it by award-winning science writer Steven Mithen.
Twenty thousand years ago Earth was in the midst of an ice age. Then global warming arrived, leading to massive floods, the spread of forests and the retreat of the deserts. By 5,000 BC a radically different human world had appeared. In place of hunters and gatherers there were farmers; in place of transient campsites there were towns. The foundations of our modern world had been laid and nothing that came after – the Industrial Revolution, the atomic age, the internet – have ever matched the significance of those events.
AFTER THE ICE tells the story of climate change’s impact during this momentous period – one that also saw the colonisation of the Americas and mass extinctions of animals throughout the world. Drawing on the latest cutting-edge research in archaeology, cognitive science, palaeontology, geology and the evolutionary sciences, Steven Mithen creates an evocative, original and remarkably complete picture of minds, cultures, lives and landscapes through 15,000 years of history.
Joolz –
History books generally come somewhere between two extremes, ranging from dry and dusty tomes for hi-IQ academics to glossy picture books with few words for an uncommitted `passer-by’. Good ones successfully combine them to be dependable yet accessible and easily assimilated. After The Ice is an example of the latter – despite its 600 pages of solid information with few illustrations it attempts to be entertaining and informative. Perhaps unsuitable for casual readers, it nevertheless acts as a solid introduction for those with an interest in the origins of society while simultaneously acting as a springboard for readers who wish to delve deeper into the subject.By-and-large Mithen carries it off triumphantly, despite misgivings about the hugeness of the task and his chosen methodology: to describe the past through the eyes of an imaginary time-travelling `visitor’ from modern times. It sounds rather naff, worthy only of science fiction novels, but actually it really does work once the reader adjusts to the idea. Mithen’s narrative firstly discusses the world being experienced by this `visitor’ before explaining where this picture came from in terms of archaeology and scientific research. In this manner is the past brought more vividly to life than it might be with a simple trawl through scientific data.There is so much to learn from a book like this. Covering 15,000 years, and visiting all continents in turn, it contains a mind-boggling array of fascinating material on cultures sometimes barely understood and seldom discussed outside of academic circles. It certainly underlines how little some of us know about huge swathes of our worldly past. Much of it must be conjecture and thus open to debate, potential contradiction and subsequent displacement by new theories. But that in no way detracts from Mithen’s ambitious achievement. One can always `nit-pick’ about errors in a book like this, but that would be to miss the point entirely: that a reader’s interest is engaged to such an extent as to make further exploration highly desirable, an activity ably assisted, indeed encouraged, by extensive notes and huge bibliography (together covering 100 pages at the book’s end!).Perhaps best tackled in continent-sized chunks, After The Ice is nevertheless a worthwhile undertaking by anyone seeking to broaden their knowledge of our prehistoric origins.
Paul Macdonald –
Most people have at least a passing interest in prehistory, and the origin of modern human civilisation, and they generally do not want to wade through, as Mithen aptly puts it ‘jargon-laden prose’ which only academics of archeology and the like will be able to comprehend. And now, the ‘casual’ reader has been catered for by Mithen in this hefty tome; ‘After the Ice’. And indeed, it works very well, being a reletively simple read, and yet being stimulating and informative – it does not patronise the reader.We are given a detailed glimpse of the past through a device that works rather well; Mithen uses a fellow named John Lubbock (who shares a common name with a Victorian archeologist) who wonderes the globe, stopping by at various hunter-gather campsites in order to learn of their day to day life. Sensibly, Mithen doesn’t give this Lubbock chap a personality as such, nor does he engage with conversation with the ancient peoples, he is merely a by-stander, Mithen simply describes what he sees. As I said, the device works well, however whilst these sections are mostly a joy to read, they tend to grow somewhat repetetive, even rambling in some cases. Occasionally one suspects that the everyday behaviour these tripespeople were supposed exhibit isn’t based on archeological evidence, and rather he is making an ‘educated guess’ on how these people went about their daily affairs; however it is nice to see the author inject some imagination into the book, rather relying completely on strict scientific fact.The rest of the book is made up of descriptions of the excavation of various hunter-gatherer sites, and the evidence found therein. These sections are again, thrilling and endlessly fascinating, however as the book wares on, the endless discussions of old animal bones, so-called ‘stone nodules’ and scrpas of charcoal and other human waste can become very repetative, and even boring in some cases.So prehaps the book is a tad too long, the main ‘book’ itself is 511 pages of rather small print. The rest of the book is extensively endnoted – one doesn’t have to read these, but if you want a deeper and more complex read, the endnotes will provide more detail on various points, so one certainly can’t complain about a lack of detail – but prehaps it’s length and repetition of various similar points will render it tiresome for some less comitted readers.The book generally fills the reader with a sense of wonder and awe, and leaves you in high spirits. Unfortunatelly, Mithen saw the need to blight the end of the book with a chapter looking to the fururte of the human race, and he makes several bleak and grim predictions about global-warming. Ending the book on this deeply pessemistic note was completely inappropriate, and other blighted an otherwise uplifting book.All in all, this is a generally fascinating book, and will enlighten the interested casual reader to no end. Recommended – provided you are a commited reader, and are prepared to wade through some repetition.
Nicolas Milne –
What I really like about this book is the way the author combines the three elements necessary to make prehistoric,pre literate peoples come to life. Anyone who has worked in archaeology either in the field, teaching or researching understands the difficulty of making the magic of the subject come alive for others when the evidence is so insubstantial. Taking a broad view of 15,000 years of world prehistory risks being too arid for the general reader and too sketchy for the specialist. This book is neither and is the best I have read on the subject. The reason it works so well is that the author weaves together a framework of world prehistory with clear evidence from major sites and a type of eyewitness account to give a feel of the culture as it existed. Don’t be put off by this last feature it works really well in the guise of an invented modern everyman named after the 19th century prehistorian John Lubbock. I only bought the book for the first two chapters to refamiliarise myself for something I am writing but read it all over a couple of days.I wish the author had been around when I was an undergraduate, a great book.
Andy Noble –
What a great book and I recommend to anybody interested in our earliest history from the end of the Ice age, to the beginning of so called civilisation. Well written and well researched.
Anja Zeller –
Great read
I liked this book very much and learned a lot from it. Based on excavation sites all over the world it presents what is known based on the archaeological findings, and then goes on to speculate a bit by painting a plausible picture how these people might have lived. Great mixture of science and speculation.
BRETT O’MALEY –
After the ice
General overview of the Mesolithic period around the world. I found this book filled in many gaps.
Rafael Capobiango Timo Peixoto –
Livro muito Didático
Livro é didático mas ao mesmo tempo técnico. Tem que ter muita paciência a interessa. Riquíssimo em informações, passa por todos continentes, conta a história de forma dinâmica e pouco academicista. Muito bom.
Bruno –
Un must have
ce livre est un must pour tous les amateurs. J’ai eu un plaisir incroyable à le lire. L’auteur fait toujours la différence entre hypothèses, connaissances, et sa propre interprétation. les références permettent d’aller bien plus loin…
Del Mckenzie –
Book arrived in perfect
Author is S Mithen, not Wein. and Nich.. Book arrived in perfect condition