Bringing together for the first time evidence from the fields of archaeology, ancient history and anthropology, Richard Rudgley argues convincingly that the achievements, inventions and discoveries of prehistoric times have been all but edited out of many popular accounts of the human story.
The author describes how the intrepid explorers of the stone age discovered all the world's major land masses long before the so-called Age of Discovery. The roots of the first written script of the ancient Sumerians are traced back via Neolithic systems of accounting to their Paleolithic origins. Technological and industrial activities such as tool-making, mining and pyrotechnics all date back to the stone age as do many significant medical practices, including cranial surgery.
Lost Civilisations of the Stone Age brings into question many assumptions about our own cultural superiority, and argues that without the creativity, passion and inventiveness of our remote ancestors, none of the achievements of later cultures would have been possible.
