直近の10年間の考古学的発見は、先史時代について多くのことを明らかにしてきました。中国や中央アジアについて判明したことにより、ユーラシア大陸に対する認識が一変させ、農業の起こりや都市の成立などを含め、これまでの常識が覆されつつあります。初版の刊行から15年を経て改訂することになった第2版は読者に最新の知見をお届けすると同時に、「我々は何者か」の探究に誘います。
   

• Looks at the story of human prehistory in different geographical locations, and the way it weaves together
• Uses the latest evidence to chart how our picture of world prehistory has changed over recent years, showing why the old picture of progress is less accepted as new geographies emerge
• Considers new theories on the ebb and flow of human cultural variety, and the joining together of cultural groups into larger blocks reflecting new forms of power
• Covers global prehistory, including African and Eurasian evidence, and Australian, American, and Pacific prehistory

Prehistory covers the period of some 4 million years before the start of written history, when our earliest ancestors, the Australopithecines, existed in Africa. But this is relatively recent compared to whole history of the earth of some 4.5 billion years. A key aspect of prehistory is that it provides a sense of scale, throwing recent ways of life into perspective. Humans and their ancestors lived in many different ways and the cultural variety we see now is just a tiny fraction of that which has existed over millions of years. Humans are part of the broader evolution of landscapes and communities of plants and animals, but Homo sapiens is also the only species to have made a real impact on planetary systems. To understand such an impact, we need a grasp of our longest term development and ways of life.

In this new edition of his Very Short Introduction, Chris Gosden invites us to think seriously about who we are by considering who we have been. As he explains, many new discoveries have been made in archaeology over the last ten years, and a new framework for prehistory is emerging. A greater understanding of Chinese and central Asian prehistory has thrown Eurasian prehistory in quite a different light, with flows of the influence of culture over large areas now evident. This has eaten away at the traditional view of human progress around the invention of agriculture, the development of cities and (much later) the industrial revolution, and given us new geographies to think about. Chris Gosden explores the new landscape of our prehistory, and considers the way the different geographical locations weave together.