It is all too easy to see the ruins of former civilisations as piles of rubble. Sometimes submerged or obscured from our view, sometimes dry and dusty and surrounded by the paraphernalia of tourism, we may visit them, stand beside or even on them, but can we imagine our forebears going about their daily business there?
In this book, Austen Atkinson looks at the history of 20 civilisations, either lost to us completely or surviving only as ruins or oblique references in literary works. He never loses sight of the one constant element in history: it is human beings that make up a civilisation.
Piecing together the disparate sources of information currently available to us, he conjures up a picture of a living, breathing community, and highlights the contemporary concerns of its citizens which strike a chord with us today. His account includes pertinent quotations from leading archaeologists and scientists, many of whom employ recent technological advances in research.
