Bøger af Brian Fagan

The groundbreaking history of how climate change transformed Europe and the world, from a renowned archaeologist -- updated with a new preface on the latest climate research

A comprehensive guide through our whole human past that takes the reader on a tour through time and across the globe to every site of archaeological importance.

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

In 1997 and early 1998, one of the most powerful El Ninos ever recorded disrupted weather patterns all over the world. Europe suffered through a record freeze as the American West was hit with massive floods and snowstorms; in the western Pacific, meanwhile, some island nations literally went bone dry and had to have water flown in on transport planes. Such effects are not new: climatologists now know the El Nino and other climate anomalies have been disrupting weather patterns throughout history. But until recently, no one had asked how this new understanding of the global weather system related to archaeology and history. Droughts, floods, heat and cold put stress on cultures and force them to adapt. What determines whether they adapt successfully? How do these climate stresses affect a people's faith in the foundations of their society and the legitimacy of their rulers? How vulnerable is our own society to climate change? In this dazzlingly original new book, archaeologist Brian Fagan shows that short-term climate shifts have been a major -- and hitherto unrecognized -- force in history. El Nino-driven droughts have brought on the collapse of dynasties in Egypt; El Nino monsoon failures have caused historic famines in India; and El Nino floods have destroyed whole civilizations in Peru. Other short-term climate changes may have caused the mysterious abandonment of the Anasazi dwellings in the American Southwest and the collapse of the ancient Maya empire, as well as changed the course of European history. This beautifully written, groundbreaking book opens a new door on our understanding of historical events.

A gripping account of 200 years of archaeological research, excavation and thought, told through the life stories of 70 of the world's greatest pioneers and practitioners.

A thirty-thousand-year history of the relationship between climate and civilization that teaches powerful lessons about how humankind can survive.

The British archaeologist Grahame Clark was a seminal figure in European and world archaeology for more than half of the twentieth century, but, at the same time, one whose reputation has been outshone by other, more visible luminaries. His works were never aimed at a wide general public, nor did he become a television or radio personality. Clark was, above all, a scholar, whose contributions to world archaeology were enormous. He was also convinced that the study of prehistory was important for all humanity and spent his career saying so. For this, he was awarded the prestigious Erasmus Prize in 1990, an award only rarely given to archaeologists. This intellectual biography describes Clark's remarkable career and assesses his seminal contributions to archaeology. Clark became interested in archaeology while at school, studied the subject at Cambridge University, and completed a groundbreaking doctorate on the Mesolithic cultures of Britain in 1931. He followed this study with a magisterial survey, The Mesolithic Settlement of Northern Europe(1936), which established him as an international authority on the period. At the same time, he became interested in the interplay between changing ancient environment and ancient human societies. In a series of excavations and important papers, he developed environmental archaeology and the notion of ecological systems as a foundation of scientific, multidisciplinary archaeology, culminating in his world-famous excavations at Starr Carr, England, in 1949 and his Prehistoric Europe: The Economic Basis (1952). Clark became Disney Professor of Public Archaeology at Cambridge in 1952 and influenced an entire generation of undergraduates to become archaeologists in all parts of the world. He was also the author of the first book on a global human prehistory, World Prehistory (1961).

Pulling back the covers on the fascinating, yet often forgotten, history of the bed

The story of humanity's last major source of food from the wild and how it enabled and shaped the growth of civilization

From the author of "The Little Ice Age," a wide-ranging and surprising look at how climate changes have affected the whole of human history

Though they lived over 3000 years apart, the lives of Egyptian King Tutankhamun and the fifth Lord Carnarvon-- who found his tomb-- share many parallels. Brian Fagan¿s artful narrative weaves these two lives together, showing how archaeological information can effectively tell the story of real lives of people in the past.

A prominent archaeologist uses the latest scientific techniques to interpret the spiritual lives of ancient people.

The story of the discovery of America as a product of the long sweep of history

This book is a basic treatise on one of seamanship's key arts - anchoring - the skill that causes skippers of all levels of experience more worry than any other.

The coast of central and Southern California offers some of the most extraordinary - and challenging - cruising in the world. This book covers anchorages and harbors from the Golden Gate Bridge to Ensenada, Mexico, including the offshore islands. It includes historical background, information on local weather and cruising conditions.

A narrative history of the cavalcade of archaeologists, charlatans, thieves, self-promoters, and sightseers who have flocked to the Nile Valley since early times to study - or steal - the wonders of ancient Egypt

A biography based on the major publications of Sir Grahame Clark, one of the leading British archaeologists of the 20th century.