Лучшие книги Брайана Фейгана

Представьте, что в Англии растёт виноград, а доплыть до Гренландии и даже Америки можно на нехитром драккаре викингов. Несколько веков назад это было реальностью, однако затем в Европе — и в нашей стране в том числе, — стало намного холоднее. Людям пришлось учиться выживать в новую эпоху, вошедшую в историю как малый ледниковый период.

И, надо сказать, люди весьма преуспели в этом — а тяжелые погодные условия оказались одновременно и злом и благом: они вынуждали изобретать новые технологии, осваивать материки, совершенствовать науку. Эта книга рассказывает историю самого трудного, но возможно и самого прогрессивного периода в истории Европы.

Кровать, постель, любое спальное место — это то, что сопровождает человека на протяжении всей его жизни, от момента рождения до смерти. В кровати мы спим, занимаемся сексом, болеем, отдыхаем, а некоторые правители когда-то принимали послов и решали государственные проблемы.
Историк и археолог с мировым именем Брайан Фейган и автор нескольких учебников по археологии Надя Дуррани собрали огромный исследовательский материал о том, как менялось спальное место на протяжении тысячелетий. Многочисленные факты, свидетельства, легенды, упоминания в самых разных источниках дают представление о кровати не только как предмете мебели, который во все времена обязательно находился в жилище человека, но и как о явлении, через которое можно изучать традиции и обычаи сна у разных народов мира, а также трансформацию этих традиций в последние столетия.

From the tenth to the fifteenth centuries the earth experienced a rise in surface temperature that changed climate worldwide--a preview of today's global warming. In some areas, including Western Europe, longer summers brought bountiful harvests and population growth that led to cultural flowering. In the Arctic, Inuit and Norse sailors made cultural connections across thousands of miles as they traded precious iron goods. Polynesian sailors, riding new wind patterns, were able to settle the remotest islands on earth. But in many parts of the world, the warm centuries brought drought and famine. Elaborate societies in western and central America collapsed, and the vast building complexes of Chaco Canyon and the Mayan Yucatan were left empty.

As he did in his bestselling The Little Ice Age, anthropologist and historian Brian Fagan reveals how subtle changes in the environment had far-reaching effects on human life, in a narrative that sweeps from the Arctic ice cap to the Sahara to the Indian Ocean. The history of the Great Warming of a half millennium ago suggests that we may yet be underestimating the power of climate change to disrupt our lives today--and our vulnerability to drought, writes Fagan, is the "silent elephant in the room."

Where do we come from? How did our ancestors settle this planet? How did the great historic civilizations of the world develop? How does a past so shadowy that it has to be painstakingly reconstructed from fragmentary, largely unwritten records nonetheless make us who and what we are?

These 36 lectures bring you the answers that the latest scientific and archaeological research and theorizing suggest about human origins, how populations developed, and the ways in which civilizations spread throughout the globe. It's a narrative of the story of human origins and the many ties that still bind us deeply to the world before writing. And it's a world tour of prehistory with profound links to who we are and how we live today.

Woven through this narrative is a set of pervasive themes: emerging human biological and cultural diversity (as well as our remarkable similarities across surprising expanses of time and space); the impact of human adaptations to climatic and environmental change; and the importance of seeing prehistory not merely as a chronicle of archaeological sites and artifacts, but of people behaving with the extraordinary intellectual, spiritual, and emotional dynamism that distinguish the human. Among the corners of our mysterious past you'll explore: human prehistory from Australopithecus africanus through Homo habilis and Homo erectus; the beginnings of agriculture and animal domestication; theories behind the appearance of urban civilization and overall attributes of preindustrial civilizations; the maritime trading revolutions in Africa, India, and Southeast Asia; and much more.

The thrilling history of archaeological adventure, with tales of danger, debate, audacious explorers, and astonishing discoveries around the globe

What is archaeology? The word may bring to mind images of golden pharaohs and lost civilizations, or Neanderthal skulls and Ice Age cave art. Archaeology is all of these, but also far more: the only science to encompass the entire span of human history—more than three million years!

This Little History tells the riveting stories of some of the great archaeologists and their amazing discoveries around the globe: ancient Egyptian tombs, Mayan ruins, the first colonial settlements at Jamestown, mysterious Stonehenge, the incredibly preserved Pompeii, and many, many more. In forty brief, exciting chapters, the book recounts archaeology’s development from its eighteenth-century origins to its twenty-first-century technological advances, including remote sensing capabilities and satellite imagery techniques that have revolutionized the field. Shining light on the most intriguing events in the history of the field, this absolutely up-to-date book illuminates archaeology’s controversies, discoveries, heroes and scoundrels, global sites, and newest methods for curious readers of every age.

Before California is the first comprehensive look at the history of the Golden State prior to the arrival of European settlers. Written by America's best known archaeological trade and textbook author, the book describes the process of settlement of the Pacific Coast by Paleo-Indians and the environmental and human transformations of the next 13,000 years, emphasizing themes of adaptation, interconnectedness, and spirituality. More than a rehashing of received wisdom, Fagan explores the controversies surrounding the first human settlement, then describes the first peoples to colonize the Pacific coast and offshore islands, their watercraft and fishing practices. The transformation from a gathering economy to acorn processing and hunting is highlighted, as is the increasing social complexity, gender differentiation, and intensification of intergroup conflict and trade. Individual chapters describe distinctive societies in widely contrasting environments--northwest salmon fishers, Bay area shell mound communities, Central Valley wetland villagers, desert foragers, and the sophisticated coastal societies of the Channel Islands region. Fagan also devotes a chapter to California's rock art, melding his description with wider cultural events. Calling upon a century of archaeological research, Fagan provides an jargon-free, well-illustrated account accessible to the general public interested in the early history and indigenous peoples of the state. Before California also makes an ideal textbook for courses in California history, archaeology, and native peoples.