Book Review – The Cambridge World Prehistory in 3 Volumes

Editors: Colin Renfrew and Paul G. Bahn
Publisher:  Cambridge University Press – 2,049 total pages
Book Review by: Nano Khilnani

What is the Cambridge World Prehistory in 3 Volumes?

• It is essentially an authoritative and systematic examination of:
• The prehistory of every region around the world
• From the early days of human origins in Africa two million years ago
• To beginnings of written history, which in some areas began just two centuries ago

The three volumes of this prehistory include:

• Both traditional topics and cutting-edge approaches
• Such as archaeological linguistics and molecular genetics
• And essential questions of human development around the world

The volumes are organized:

• Geographically, exploring the evolution of hominins and their expansion from Africa,
• As well as the formation of states, and the development in each region of
• Technologies such as sea-faring, metallurgy, and food production

The Cambridge World Prehistory in 3 Volumes

• Reveals a rich and complex history of the world
• Is an invaluable reference for any student and scholar of archaeology,
• And related disciplines looking to research a particular topic, tradition, or region
• Within prehistory

One hundred and two contributors (102) from all over the world authored the various chapters of this work. They are from 22 countries: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Russia, Spain, Scotland, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The contributors are in a large range of diverse occupations: they are anthropologists, archaeologists, architects, authors, doctors, Egyptologists, historians, journalists, professors, researchers, scientists, and writers. They are specialists in the various arts, cultures, humanities, legal fields, and various science fields: the anatomical sciences, engineering, ethnography, ethnology, health sciences, and much, much more.

This work of 2,049 pages consists of three books with the following titles:

Volume 1 – Africa, South and Southeast Asia and the Pacific – Pages 1 to 690

Volume 2 – East Asia and the Americas – Pages 691 to 1353

Volume 3 – West and Central Asia and Europe – Pages 1354 to 2049

Volume 1–Africa, South and Southeast Asia and the Pacific – Pages 1 to 690 – Contents:

1. INTRODUCTION
2. Introduction
3. Introduction: DNA
4. Introduction: Languages
5. AFRICA
6. Early Hominins
7. Earliest Industries of Africa
8. The Human Revolution
9. The Genus Homo in Africa
10. Becoming Human: Archaeology of the Sub-Saharan Middle Stone Age
11. The Later Stone Age of Southern Africa
12. Prehistory in North Africa after the Middle Paleolithic
13. Holocene Prehistory in West Africa
14. The Archaeology of the Central African Rainforest: Its Current State
15. The Later Prehistory of Southern Africa from the Early to the Later Iron Age
16. The Prehistory of East Africa
17. Neolithic and Predynastic Egypt
18. The Emergence of the Egyptian state
19. Pharaonic History
20. Summary of Classical and Post-Classical Africa
21. Africa: Languages

• SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA

20. The Paleolithic of South Asia
21. The Early Paleolithic of Southeast Asia
22. South and Southeast Asia: DNA
23. The Upper Paleolithic of South and Southeast Asia
24. Post-Pleistocene South Asia: Food Production in India and Sri Lanka
25. The Indus Civilization
26. India beyond the Indus Civilization
27. Historic India
28. Early Food Production in Southeast Asia
29. Complex Society in Prehistoric Mainland Southeast Asia
30. Summary of Historic Mainland Southeast Asia
31. Prehistory of the Indonesian Archipelago
32. The Philippines
33. South and Island Southeast Asia: Languages
34. THE PACIFIC
35. The Pacific: DNA
36. Sahul and Near Oceania in the Pleistocene
37. New Guinea during the Holocene
38. The Later Prehistory of Australia
39. Micronesia
40. Melanesia
41. Polynesia
42. New Zealand
43. The Pacific Languages

Volume 2 – East Asia and the Americas – Pages 691 to 1353 – Contents:

1. EAST ASIA
2. East Asia: DNA
3. Early Paleolithic of Central and Northern Asia
4. The Upper Paleolithic of Northeast Asia
5. Early Sedentism in East Asia: From Late Paleolithic to Early Agricultural Societies in Insular East Asia
6. The Neolithic of Northern and Central China
7. The Neolithic of Southern China
8. Early Complex Societies in Northern China
9. Early Complex Societies in Southern China
10. China from Zhou to Tang
11. Complex Society in Korea and Japan
12. The Later Prehistory of the Russian Far East
13. East Asia: Languages
14. THE AMERICAS
15. The Americas: DNA
16. Initial Peopling of the Americas: Context, Findings, Issues
17. Paleo-Indian and Archaic Periods in North America
18. The Paleo-Indian and Archaic of Central and South America
19. The Archaic and Formative Periods of Mesoamerica
20. Agricultural Origins and Social Implications in South America
21. The Basin of Mexico
22. The Olmec, 1800-400 BCE
23. Oaxaca
24. The Origins and Development of Lowland Maya Civilization
25. Early Coastal South America
26. The Development of Early Peruvian Civilization
27. Styles and Identities in Central Andes: The Early Intermediate Period and Middle Horizon
28. The Later Intermediate Period and Late Horizon
29. Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela
30. Prehistory of Amazonia
31. Argentina and Chile
32. The Caribbean Islands
33. The Southwestern Region of North America
34. The Pacific Coast of North America
35. The Great Plains and Mississippi Valley
36. Eastern Atlantic Coast
37. Northern North America
38. The Americas: Languages

Volume 3 – West and Central Asia and Europe – Pages 1354 to 2049 – – Contents:

VII – WESTERN AND CENTRAL ASIA

1. The Early Prehistory of Western and Central Asia
2. Western and Central Asia: DNA
3. The Upper Paleolithic and Early Epi-Paleolithic of Western Asia
4. The Origins of Sedentism and Agriculture of Western Asia
5. The Levant in the Pottery Neolithic and Chacolithic Periods
6. Settlement and Emergent Complexity in Western Syria, C.7000-2500 BCE
7. Prehistory and the Rise of Cities n Mesopotamia and Iran
8. Mesopotamia: The Historical Periods
9. Anatolia: From the Pre-Pottery Neolithic to the End of the Early Bronze Age (10,500 – 2000 BCE)
10. Anatolia from 2000 to 550 BCE
11. The Prehistory of the Caucasus: Internal Developments and External Interactions
12. Arabia
13. Central Asia before the Silk Road
14. Southern Serbia during the Bronze and Early Iron Periods
15. Western Asia After Alexander
16. Western and Central Asia: Languages

VIII – EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN

17. Early Paleolithic Europe
18. Europe and the Mediterranean: DNA
19. The Upper Paleolithic of Europe
20. Upper Paleolithic Imagery
21. Early Food Production in Southeastern Europe
22. Early Food Production in Southwestern Europe
23. Hunters, Fishers, and Farmers of Northern Europe, 9000-3000 BCE
24. The Aegean
25. Post-Neolithic Western Europe
26. The Later Prehistory of Central and Northern Europe
27. The Post-Neolithic of Eastern Europe
28. The Classical World
29. Europe and the Mediterranean: Languages

In sum, this is a comprehensive, very well-researched and organized, and thoughtfully written prehistory of the world. Information that is not based on written records, I believe, is more difficult to ascertain and therefore risky to write with confidence. I believe prehistory requires a lot of pre-organizational thought, plus verification effort, to put on paper.

Some little-known anthropological or archaeological discovery can easily be missed. For these reasons, it requires a tremendous amount of highly rigorous effort by the numerous scholars worldwide who contributed to this massive project, as well of course, the highly expert efforts of the editors – Colin Renfrew and Paul G. Bahn.

All chapter authors and editors are hereby heartily congratulated and effusively commended for this massive project and their very valuable contribution to the advancement of knowledge about prehistoric men and women.

 

Editors:

Colin Renfrew (Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorn) is Emeritus Disney Professor of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge, where he is a Senior Fellow at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. He is the author of many influential books on archaeology and prehistory, including most recently with Iain Morley, The Archaeology of Measurement and with Paul G. Bahn, Archaeology: Theories, Methods, and Practice, which is one of the standard textbooks on the subject.

Paul G. Bahn is one the world’s leading scholars and popularizers of archaeology. He is the author or coauthor of more than thirty books, including the Cambridge Illustrated History of Prehistoric Art, and more recently, Prehistoric Rock Art: Polemics and Progress. His articles have appeared in many newspapers and magazines, including Nature, and he is an editorial consultant to Archaeology Magazine, DIG and the Rapa Nui Journal.