SJ, a Swedish linguist, draws on recent research to argue that, rather than being something peculiar to Homo sapiens, language may have in fact originated among the Neanderthals.
The distinguished archaeologist looks at 15 'scenes' in Britain over the last million years, to understand the changing daily routines of people and their impact on the landscape.
Just 28 when he found Nineveh, Layard later witnessed the Charge of the Light Brigade and reported on the Indian Mutiny: his life was action-packed. This new biog argues that he was deeply r... read more
This is not the Alexandria in the Nile Delta, but rather Alexandria 'Beneath the Mountains', in Afghanistan, discovered by a wandering scholar and archaeologist called Charles Masson in 1833... read more
Explores the growth of Greek medicine from the early references in Homer to the flowering its Hippocrates and subsequent influence on the Islamic world and early modern Europe.
A zesty account of archaeological wizardry, from Champollion's decipherment of hieroglyphics in 1822 to the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon.
Explores the history of the translation of classical Greek literature into Latin. Far from being inevitable, as it seems seen from the C21st, the Roman adoption of Hellenic classics was an e... read more
Brilliant detective work by this French paleoanthropologist, who has studied Neanderthal traces from the Arctic to the Mediterranean and argues that their intelligence was different from our... read more
The philosophical innovations of Sappho, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Xenophanes, Homer and others. The first time since The Mighty Dead: Why Homer Matters that this excellent writer has turned t... read more
That venerable and dedicated historian of ancient India travelled half a century ago to northern and north-western China to work at the cave sites of Maijishan and Dunhuang; based on her dia... read more
The author is at the forefront of the use of genetic science in archaeology. Here he explains the process and how it completely alters our understanding of early humans.
A memoir by this most communicative classicist about her own experiences of suicide, and how she found consolation and understanding of herself and her family through close readings of clas... read more
A former editor of The Times Literary Supplement argues that the trajectory of Rome's richest man presents pertinent questions about the intertwining of money, ambition, and power.
A journey to find hope - or rather Hope: Fiennes's map for his wanderings are the myths, and then the myths come to infuse what he finds in Arcadia, the Peloponnese and beyond. The river Lou... read more