THE TESTIMONY OF THE SPADE

For the layman who is more interested in what archeology has contributed to our knowledge about prehistoric man and his way of life than in the process of uncovering the mysteries, this book will give the answers. The author presents an extremely readable and fascinating picture of prehistoric man in Europe:- life before and during the ice age; the change from the life of the hunter to the life of agriculture; the parallel developments with the budding Greek and Roman empires. We feel the excitement of the Spanish nobleman as he gazed for the first time on cave paintings dating back to late Paleolithic times. We share the breath-taking thrill as the completely preserved Viking ship emerged from the diggings on the coast of Norway. We gaze with awe on the mammoth relics of Stonehenge, left by man thousands of years ago. We follow the early archeologists who learned by trial and error, by gradual systematic and time-consuming procedure how to trace the history of man back to the beginning of civilization, through implements and artifacts of prehistory, revealing ways of life, the development and assimilation of various cultures and groups, as they made their way across Europe. So much more has been recreated from, for example, the diggings of the Middle East and Egypt, than from Europe itself, that this is captivating for both student and layman.