Review by Choice Review
The earliest phases of human evolutionary history, from primate origins to the spread of anatomically and perhaps behaviorally modern people by 150,000 years ago, surely took place in Africa. This text aims to survey that whole history, continuing up to the relatively recent decline of foraging peoples who hunt or gather their food in a world dominated by farmers and city-dwellers. Following an introduction to the subject and the history of its study, the authors review the geographic diversity of Africa with excellent photographic documentation, but provide a less useful summary of archaeological dating methods. The book proceeds chronologically, surveying the record of cultural evolutionary phases, often with reference to Grahame Clark's five modes of stone tool production alongside industrial concepts such as Oldowan or Acheulean. The authors do a good job reviewing the Paleolithic, and they cover more recent societies in several chapters, rather than just mentioning them in passing. The composition is dull, with scattered "boxes" about topics the sole relief and random boldfaced specialized terms defined in a terminal glossary. The bibliography is extensive, but photographic illustrations need more contrast and maps larger lettering. Overall, not strong but probably the best available survey of prehistoric Africa. Summing Up: Recommended. All academic levels/libraries. E. Delson CUNY Herbert H. Lehman College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
