Scenes From Prehistoric Life

An invigorating journey through Britain's prehistoric landscape, and an insight into the lives of its inhabitants. 'Highly compelling' Spectator, Books of the Year 'An evocative foray into the prehistoric past' BBC Countryfile Magazine 'Vividly relating what life was like in pre-Roman Britain' Choice Magazine 'Makes life in Britain BC often sound rather more appealing than the frenetic and anxious 21st century!' Daily Mail In Scenes from Prehistoric Life, the distinguished archaeologist Francis Pryor paints a vivid picture of British and Irish prehistory, from the Old Stone Age (about one million years ago) to the arrival of the Romans in AD 43, in a sequence of fifteen profiles of ancient landscapes. Whether writing about the early human family who trod the estuarine muds of Happisburgh in Norfolk c.900,000 BC, the craftsmen who built a wooden trackway in the Somerset Levels early in the fourth millennium BC, or the Iron Age denizens of Britain's first towns, Pryor uses excavations and surveys to uncover the daily routines of our ancient ancestors. By revealing how our prehistoric forebears coped with both simple practical problems and more existential challenges, Francis Pryor offers remarkable insights into the long and unrecorded centuries of our early history, and a convincing, well-attested and movingly human portrait of prehistoric life as it was really lived.

How did the earth look in prehistoric times? Scientists and artists collaborated during the half-century prior to the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species to produce the first images of dinosaurs and the world they inhabited. Their interpretations, informed by recent fossil discoveries, were the first efforts to represent the prehistoric world based on sources other than the Bible. Martin J. S. Rudwick presents more than a hundred rare illustrations from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to explore the implications of reconstructing a past no one has ever seen.

An updated edition of the award-winning primer on the evolution of the planet's life forms, "Prehistoric Journey" introduces readers to the wonders of the prehistoric world through an accessible text and 119 strong, colorful photos of world-class fossils.

Based on new archaeological finds, this book introduces a novel rethinking of the whole of British history before the coming of the Romans. So many extraordinary archaeological discoveries (many of them involving the author) have been made since the early 1970s that our whole understanding of British prehistory needs to be updated. So far only the specialists have twigged on to these developments; now, Francis Pryor broadcasts them to a much wider, general audience. Aided by aerial photography, coastal erosion (which has helped expose such coastal sites as Seahenge) and new planning legislation which requires developers to excavate the land they build on, archaeologists have unearthed a far more sophisticated life among the Ancient Britons than has been previously supposed. Far from being the woaded barbarians of Roman propaganda, we Brits had our own religion, laws, crafts, arts, trade, farms, priesthood and royalty. And the Scots, English and Welsh were fundamentally one and the same people.

What do future paleontologists love even more than reading about prehistoric life? They're crazy about seeing imaginative illustrations of ferocious dinosaurs, giant insects, and other incredible organisms! This high-interest volume combines 100 facts about prehistoric life with vivid illustrations and instructive photographs. Among the appealing science topics featured are fossils, extinction, and the appearance of human ancestors. Connected activities (such as making an edible reptile!) supply an interactive experience, while fun quizzes allow readers to assess their comprehension of the intriguing subject matter.

Explores the origins of life on earth, from the first algae to the first humans.

From the creators of Walking with Dinosaurs comes this stunning visual encyclopedia of prehistoric animals. The Complete Guide to Prehistoric Life is a whos who of the prehistoric world from primitive amphibians and giant armoured fish, to predatory dinosaurs and sabre-toothed cats. Tracing the amazing story of the evolution of life on Earth, the book features over 100 of the largest, weirdest and scariest animals that ever existed. Here, for the first time, we meet some of the truly bizarre creatures that thrived hundreds of millions of years before the dinosaurs roamed the Earth: for example, Pterygotus, a three-metre long sea scorpion, and Hyneria, a two-tonne killer fish that was capable of walking on land. Many of these magnificent creatures have never been visualized before. Moving through the dinosaur era, the book recreates these awesome super-beasts and vividly depicts the landscapes in which they lived and died. All the favourites are here from Tyrannosaurus and Diplodocus to Iguanodon and Velociraptor. With the dying out of the dinosaurs we are introduced to a whole new cast of characters, no less fascinating the weird and wonderful mammals that are the ancestors of modern humans. What did these animals eat? How did they raise their young? How did they survive attack? The Complete Guide to Prehistoric Life is packed full of the latest scientific evidence on each animals biology, lifestyle and behaviour, and highlights key facts on size, diet and distribution. Illustrated with impressive digital imagery and remarkable fossil finds, this comprehensive field guide brings alive the creatures of the past in a breathtakingly realistic way.