Summary of Tom Higham's The World Before Us

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview: #1 The Palaeolithic era, which is a key phase of late human evolution from 300,000 to 40,000 years ago, is a period when we, Homo sapiens, became us. This period has changed dramatically over the last couple of decades, and what we know now about our own deep past is very different from what we once thought.

#2 The Denisovans are one strand of a much bigger story. What we know about the evolution of our genus, Homo, has changed dramatically over the last two decades. We will learn about the different groups of humans that existed 50,000 years ago, and why we are the last ones left.

#3 I have always been fascinated by the past, and I am very fortunate to work at the University of Oxford, which is one of the founding archaeological science facilities in the world.

#4 The scientific arm of archaeology is responsible for an increasing majority of all publications in the field. Radiocarbon dating, the game-changing chronometric method that heralded the birth of archaeological science in the early 1950s, is used in over a hundred laboratories around the world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Mar 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669363880

IRB Media

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Book preview

Insights on Tom Higham's The World Before Us

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 12

Insights from Chapter 13

Insights from Chapter 14

Insights from Chapter 15

Insights from Chapter 16

Insights from Chapter 17

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The Palaeolithic era, which is a key phase of late human evolution from 300,000 to 40,000 years ago, is a period when we, Homo sapiens, became us. This period has changed dramatically over the last couple of decades, and what we know now about our own deep past is very different from what we once thought.

#2

The Denisovans are one strand of a much bigger story. What we know about the evolution of our genus, Homo, has changed dramatically over the last two decades. We will learn about the different groups of humans that existed 50,000 years ago, and why we are the last ones left.

#3

I have always been fascinated by the past, and I am very fortunate to work at the University of Oxford, which is one of the founding archaeological science facilities in the world.

#4

The scientific arm of archaeology is responsible for an increasing majority of all publications in the field. Radiocarbon dating, the game-changing chronometric method that heralded the birth of archaeological science in the early 1950s, is used in over a hundred laboratories around the world.

#5

The study of human remains can help us understand when, where, and how people lived. Scientific methods can also help us study the variety in different stone tools, and categorize them using complex statistical packages.

Insights from Chapter 2

#1

The idea that humans originated in Africa dates back to Charles Darwin, who predicted that in order to find the ancestors of humans we should explore places where our closest living relatives, the great apes, now live.

#2

The primacy of Africa in our story emerged in the 1970s and 80s, as researchers began to use more