Ever since Roman tourists scratched graffiti on the pyramids and temples of Egypt over two thousand years ago, people have traveled far and wide seeking the great wonders of antiquity. In From Stonehenge to Samarkand, noted archaeologist and popular writer Brian Fagan offers an engaging historical account of our enduring love of ancient architecture--the irresistible impulse to visit strange lands in search of lost cities and forgotten monuments....

"Fish on Friday tells a new story of the discovery of America. In Brian Fagan's view, that discovery is the product of the long sweep of history: the spread of Christianity and the radical cultural changes it brought to Europe, the interaction of economic necessity with a changing climate, and generations of unknown fishermen who explored the North Atlantic in the centuries before Columbus. The Church's tradition of not eating meats on holy days created...

Presents a history of North American settlement, from the first settlers over 15,000 years ago to the arrival of the Europeans in the fifthteenth century.

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....

This volume examines the social effects of El Niño and other powerful weather phenomena. The author provides examples of how cultures have adapted to stressful weather and the ways in which climatic alterations have changed the course of history. From droughts in ancient Egypt to monsoons in India, the far-reaching effects of meteorology's tantrums have deeply affected the way humans live in the world. He explains El Niños "discovery" and includes...

This magnificently readable book, fully illustrated with maps, photographs and reconstruction drawings, gives the most authoritative and up-to-date account of the first Americans yet produced.

From the 10th to the 15th centuries the earth experienced a rise in surface temperature that changed climate worldwide--a preview of today's global warming. In some areas, including Western Europe, longer summers brought bountiful harvests and population growth that led to cultural flowering. In the Arctic, Inuit and Norse sailors made cultural connections across thousands of miles as they traded precious iron goods. Polynesian sailors, riding new...

The story of our most vital resource, and how it has shaped the history of every human society, spans five millennia, from ancient Mesopotamia to the parched Sun Belt, from ancient Rome, whose mighty aqueducts still supply modern cities, to China, where emperors marshaled armies of laborers in a centuries-long struggle to tame powerful rivers. Anthropologist Fagan sets out three ages of water: In the first, lasting thousands of years, water was scarce--so...

Essays examine archeologists' discoveries concerning the evolution of human behavior, the origins of agriculture, and the early development of civilization.