The World Atlas of Archaeology

English edition of Le Grand Atlas de l'archeologie created by Encyclopaedia Universalis. Foreword by Michael Wood. — New York: Portland House, 1988. — 423 p. — ISBN 0-517-66876-9.Archaeology today has the power to reconstruct, from traces left behind by human beings over the last two million years, a sometimes extraordinarily complete picture of how these vanished people lived and died. Till very recently, however, researchers have tended to concentrate on particular sites and the objects found there. Only in the last few years has there been a movement to study the material remains of the past in a wider context of social, economic, or cultural concerns. The World Atlas of Archaeology is unquestionably the most up-to-date general attempt ever made to put world archaeology into focus and to present it in terms of human social activities as well as of objects.
The huge variety of topics covered in the Atlas is socially based in a way that represents an important breakthrough in Western archaeology. This emphasis on social aspects — food and drink, clothing, everyday life, work practices, burial customs, commercial interchange — reflects the approach of modern French historians such as Braudel, who stress longterm movements rather than isolated "significant" events. A team of international authorities, assembled by the celebrated French publishing house of Encyclopaedia Universalis, has produced not only a superbly visual survey of modern archaeological knowledge, but also a unique cultural dossier of mankind, reconstructed from the material remains.
Organized geographically and chronologically to cover every region and period, the Atlas introduces each section with an account of the evolution of archaeological knowledge in the area. Selfcontained double page spreads then discuss items of special interest, such as the archaeology of the Islamic garden, financial treasuries of classical Greece, women's roles in the Paleolithic period, music in ancient China, the rock art of the Northern American Indians, or the oceanic voyages of the Polynesians. Each topic is illustrated with purpose-drawn maps, original artwork, skilful reconstructions and superb photographs.Prehistoric Europe.
Paleolithic Europe.
Neolithic Europe.
Protohistory in Europe.
The Classical World.
The Greek world.
The Roman world.
The Early Middle Ages.
The Middle Ages.
The Byzantine World.
Islam.
The Near East.
Prehistoric Near East.
Ancient Near East.
Egypt and Sudan.
Scythia and the Steppes.
Central Asia.
The Indian World.
Southeast Asia.
China.
Vietnam.
Korea and Japan.
Africa.
The Americas.
North America.
Mesoamerica.
South America.
Oceania.
Modern Period.