The Seventy Great Inventions of the Ancient World.THE SEVENTY GREAT INVENTIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD BRIAN M. FAGAN, ED. This guide blends details of modern science with tales of ancient innovation. Contributors with backgrounds in archaeology archaeology (ärkēŏl`əjē) [Gr.,=study of beginnings], a branch of anthropology that seeks to document and explain continuity and change and similarities and differences among human cultures. and history explore current scientific understanding of events in human history, from the discovery of fire to the inventions of wooden tools, ancient warships, and mummification mummification /mum·mi·fi·ca·tion/ (mum?i-fi-ka´shun) the shriveling up of a tissue, as in dry gangrene, or of a dead, retained fetus. mum·mi·fi·ca·tion n. techniques. Covering periods of human history up to A.D. 1520, when the Aztecs fell in the Americas, this guide features inventions from all parts of the world. The book's six sections are "Technologies," "Shelter and Subsistence subsistence, n the state of being supported or remaining alive with a minimum of essentials. ," "Transportation," "Hunting, Warfare, and Sport," "Art and Science," and "Adorning the Person." Inventions profiled include food preservation food preservation, methods of preparing food so that it can be stored for future use. Because most foods remain edible for only a brief period of time, people since the earliest ages have experimented with methods for successful food preservation. by Ice Age people some 14,000 years ago, thanks to the permafrost permafrost, permanently frozen soil, subsoil, or other deposit, characteristic of arctic and some subarctic regions; similar conditions are also found at very high altitudes in mountain ranges. ; stone architecture, which probably began as walls around the town of Jericho; and music, perhaps originated when a bone was turned into a wind instrument 40,000 to 60,000 years ago. The discussion of each event includes an explanation of how it changed the world. For instance, the Sahara Desert was opened to long-distance trade when a new type of camel saddle was designed. The simple sewing sewing: see needlework. needle made the manufacture of clothing, and therefore arctic living, possible. Hundreds of images help define the featured inventions and their places in history. Thames Hudson, 2004, 304 p., color photos/illus., hardcover, $40.00. HOW TO ORDER TO order these books, please contact your favorite bookstore. Science News regrets that at this time it can't provide books by mail. |
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