The tale of the axe
Subtitle: how the Neolithic revolution transformed Britain
By: David Miles
Publisher: Thames & Hudson Ltd
Published: 2016
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 432
ISBN-13: 9780500051863
Subjects: Neolithic period; Prehistoric Axes; Civilization
Description: Focusing on the British Isles, the author explores a period of huge societal change - the Neolithic, or 'New Stone Age' - through the most iconic artifact of its time: the polished stone axe, using his own ancient stone axe-head, given to him by a local quarry worker, as a guide to the revolution that changed the world. Mixing anecdote, ethnography and archaeological analysis, the author vividly demonstrates how the archaeology on the ground reveals to us the evolving worldview of a species increasingly altering their own landscape. As a direct result of the invention, and intensification, of agriculture, the planet entered the Anthropocene, or the current 'age of humanity': an era in which we are changing the world around us in significant, accelerating and often unpredictable ways. As the author poignantly concludes, our ancestors set us on the path to the modern world we live in; now seven billion humans must face the challenges that presents.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 398-424) and index.