Mapping Human History

This beautifully written and carefully researched book - which shows, among other matters, that the idea that one ethnic group is biologically superior to another is false - deserves very wide reading' Bruce Alberts, President of the National Academy of Sciences Until just a few years ago, we knew surprisingly little about the 150,000 or so years of human existence before the advent of writing. Some of the most momentous events in our past - including our origins, our...
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This beautifully written and carefully researched book - which shows, among other matters, that the idea that one ethnic group is biologically superior to another is false - deserves very wide reading' Bruce Alberts, President of the National Academy of Sciences
Until just a few years ago, we knew surprisingly little about the 150,000 or so years of human existence before the advent of writing. Some of the most momentous events in our past - including our origins, our migrations across the globe, and our acquisition of language - were veiled in the uncertainty of 'prehistory'. That veil is being lifted at last by geneticists and other scientists.

Steve Olson travelled through four continents to gather insights into the development of humans and our expansion throughout the world. He tells, for example, why most of us can claim Julius Caesar and Confucius among our forebears. He pinpoints why the ways in which the story of the Jewish people jibes with, and diverges from, biblical accounts. And using very recent genetic findings, he explodes the myth that human races are a biological reality.