THE HUNTERS OF PREHISTORY

by Andre Leroi-Gourhan ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1989

Anthropologist Leroi-Gourhan, who has excavated numerous caves in central France, presents an overview of the two million years preceding the written word in human history--how new methods of killing game were developed as weather conditions lasting centuries swept away one kind of environment and replaced it with another; how other human species brought a more developed culture and a refined artistic sense. While the author does attempt to be unbiased in this hotly debated field (he claims that fossil evidence does not yet determine our true ancestors), he focuses on the French evidence that the history of toolmaking began with the first traces of man, much of which evidence he himself discovered. Packed with hard-to-digest facts, much theory, and great sweeps of history, and told in an uncompromisingly adult vocabulary, this is only for the most dedicated young anthropologist. Most readable is the section on flint knapping, with explicit directions that clearly show the developing technique and cultural growth of this art.

Pub Date: April 1, 1989

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 160

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1989

Categories: CHILDREN'S