For ninety per cent of our history, humans have lived as 'hunters and gatherers', and for most of this time as talking individuals. No direct evidence for the origin and evolution of language exists; we do not even know if early humans had language, either spoken or signed. Taking an anthropological perspective, Alan Barnard acknowledges this difficulty and argues that we can nevertheless infer a great deal about our linguistic past from what is around us in the present. Hunter-gatherers still inhabit much of the world, and in sufficient number to enable us to study the ways in which they speak, the many languages they use, and what they use them for. Barnard investigates the lives of hunter-gatherers by understanding them in their own terms, to create a book which will be welcomed by all those interested in the evolution of language.

Product Description: Symbolic thought is what makes us human. Claude Lévi-Strauss stated that we can never know the genesis of symbolic thought, but in this powerful new study Alan Barnard argues that we can. Continuing the line of analysis initiated in Social Anthropology and Human Origins (Cambridge University Press, 2011), The Genesis of Symbolic Thought applies ideas from social anthropology, old and new, to understand some of the areas also being explored in fields as diverse as archaeology, linguistics, genetics and neuroscience...read more

This volume provides a guide to the ideas, arguments and history of social and cultural anthropology which discusses human social and cultural life in all its diversity and difference. Theory, ethnography and history are combined in over 230 substantial entries on topics as wide ranging as race, postmodernism, witchcraft and essentialism, magic and methodology. Areas covered include: history of anthropological research, colonialism, orientalism and occidentalism and theories of culture and society; kinship, gender and family, marriage and the body; and ritual and religion, language and linguistics, poetics, literacy, aesthetics, film and museums. The text features over 230 entries which give insights into anthropological thinking and definitions of specific terms. It contains a glossary with short explanations of more than 600 key terms and ideas and a biographical appendix which details the lives and work of over 250 important figures in the history of anthropology. The encyclopedia covers the many important areas of overlap between anthropology and related disciplines, from history and literary studies to social psychology. Such topics include semantics, evolutionary theory and the influence of social theorists such as Marx, Durkheim and Weber. The text is alphabetically organized with extensive cross-referencing and indexing leading readers to specific definitions and explanations. Fully annotated primary and secondary bibliographies focus on established classics as much as recent works and provide further reading signposts to aid research.

Describes some of the newly discovered dinosaurs and what paleontologists have learned about these prehistoric creatures in recent years.

Discusses the work of paleontologists who have found dinosaur bones and fossils in Canada, Argentina, and the Gobi Desert.

Product Description: This is the story of the life of an ordinary working lad and his family from his birth in one of the poorer areas of Manchester, their experiences during the Second World War when he began his working life, and up to the completion of his National Service in the British army...read more

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Explores how the work done by modern paleontologists allows scientists to formulate conclusions about the dinosaurs' existence and contrasts photos of these scientists at work with drawings of and narratives about dinosaurs and their environment.

Explores the culture of the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert, examining their traditions, language, music, games and toys, family life, and hunting skills, and discusses various threats to their culture

The Khoisan are a cluster of southern African peoples, including the famous Bushmen or San "hunters," the Khoekhoe "herders" (in the past called "Hottentots"), and the Damara, also a herding people. Most Khoisan live in the Kalihari desert and surrounding areas of Botswana and Namibia. Despite differences in their ways of life, the various groups have much in common, and this book explores these similarities and the influence of environment on their culture and social organization. This is the first book on the Khoisan as a whole to be published since the 1930s. (view table of contents)