Footmarks: A Journey into Our Restless Past

Archaeologist Jim Leary reanimates the past with this riveting “archaeology of movement”

All too often we think of the past as static, “frozen in time,” and indeed movement is not always easy to decipher from the archaeological record. With Jim Leary''s expert eye we explore the tangible remains, from fossilized footprint tracks to prehistoric wooden trackways, ridgeways, holloways, driveways, green ways, corpse roads, and Roman roads. Isotope studies and archaeogenetics now allow us to see the arduous journeys that people made across continents and oceans, proving that migration has been continuous throughout our past, an endless ebb and flow of populations.

This new story of our past shows that history was warm and full of life, but also at times cold, dark and miserable – but it was never motionless. Footmarks will make you look at the landscape around you with fresh eyes.

'Lucid, poetic and fascinating' ALICE ROBERTS'Engaging, authoritative and full of fascinating stories of the past' RAY MEARS'A gentle, personal and very readable book' JULIA BLACKBURN AUTHOR OF TIME SONG'A triumph!' JAMES CANTON, AUTHOR OF THE OAK PAPERS'I loved this book' FRANCIS PRYOROn paths, roads, seas, in the air, and in space - there has never been so much human movement. In contrast we think of the past as static, 'frozen in time'. But archaeologists have in fact always found evidence for humanity's irrepressible restlessness. Now, latest developments in science and archaeology are transforming this evidence and overturning how we understand the past movement of humankind. In this book, archaeologist Jim Leary traces the past 3.5 million years to reveal how people have always been moving, how travel has historically been enforced (or prohibited) by people with power, and how our forebears showed incredible bravery and ingenuity to journey across continents and oceans. With Leary to show the way, you'll follow the footsteps of early hunter-gatherers preserved in mud, and tread ancient trackways hollowed by feet over time. Passing drovers, wayfarers and pilgrims, you'll see who got to move, and how people moved. And you'll go on long-distance journeys and migrations to see how movement has shaped our world.

• | Author: Jim Leary
• | Publisher: Icon Books
• | Publication Date: Jul 06, 2023
• | Number of Pages:
• | Language:
• | Binding: Hardback
• | ISBN-13: 9781837730247
• | ISBN-10: 1837730245