Exploring Europe's History: From the First Explorers to the Vikings in Ancestral Journeys

happypeasant: This is a thoughtful examination of many sorts of evidence, and balancing of several sciences. Eminently readable, and I took notes.

United States on Jan 28, 2023

Alessandro Barghini: Beautiful narrative of old world population

Brazil on May 23, 2021

Nicholas Tebbs: Full of detailed and recent data in a rapidly changing field. Will probably be out of date in a couple of years. Shame the author is no longer with us to update the story. A good overview that will serve as a reference point for non specialists for the present.

United Kingdom on Dec 21, 2020

Desert Rat: One would not think of anthropology and archeology as being hotbeds of scientific advance but they are. The ability to extract usable amounts of DNA from very old fossilized bone fragments is the most obvious recent development. However, it is combining that new data with ancient artifacts and the ability to reconstruct extinct languages (or at least language groups) from modern languages that brings out the most interesting insights. The fact this the author felt a need to publish this second edition only two years after the first is indicative of how fast this area of study is changing.

There are a number of tables and maps that are needed to make sense of the text which quite dense information-wise. (It is very readable, mind you, but there is just a lot to keep tract of..) Those tables and maps are barely usable with a Kindle Paperwhite - reading the book in hardcopy or at least on an iPad or similar device is recomended.

If you are alreadyfamiliar with the generally accepted version of European prehistory the extend of the recent surprising revisions may be obvious. To those unfamiliar, the author does a fairly good job of expaining what the prior theories were...

United States on Jun 05, 2020

Rookie: Das Buch beschreibt die Migrationen der letzten 12000 (oder so circa) Jahre innerhalb Europas und Asiens. Die Autorin stellt diese anhand genetischer und linguistischer Forschung dar. Sie hat für alle Aussagen Quellenangaben und ist auch kritisch, wenn widersprüchliche Aussagen zu einem Thema existieren.

Das Buch ist wissenschaftlich geschrieben. Es ist kein populärwissenschaftliches Buch, sondern eher trocken und voll mit Informationen.

Dieses Buch macht einem klar, warum Nationalismus in Europa keine Grundlage hat. Wir sind eine Mischung aus Ost und West, Nord und Süd. Jeder der in sein Käsebrötschen beisst, dankt das dem Mittleren Osten, dem Kaukasus und dem Balkan.

Wer durch die Rezensionen blättert, wird merken, dass diejenigen mit drei Sterne und weniger keine verifizierte Käufe sind.

Germany on Mar 09, 2020

W. Stoddard: Interesting to learn how much we moved around in the last 50,000 years. Once we came out of Africa, we did not evolve "in place" in Europe, rather we streamed back and forth to and from central Asia, we are very blended. And don't take much stock in those commercial DNA tests that are so popular now...unreliable and not thorough. Those were my takeaway points. Gets a bit repetitive after a while, I got the gist by the halfway point then it was a yawner. And I am a physician. Abandoned after 3/4 point. However, a evolutionary molecular biologist would make it OK. And it does provide for some usable wine tasting party conversation.

United States on Nov 28, 2019

Juniper Zahori: Immensely well documented and informative. A great synthesis of ethnological, archaeological, historical data documented by state of the art genetics.

Spain on Aug 12, 2018

Kathleen Reuter: Although somewhat dated in the fast-developing field of ancient DNA, this books introduces an understanding of the usefulness of DNA analysis as a tool in the study of ancient, prehistoric and early-historic populations. The book centers on the study of the people of the Western Eurasian region, the area which to date has been the most intensively studied for a variety of technical and cultural reasons. While specific conclusions and strategies may change over time with additional discoveries, this book aids in understanding how and why DNA can help to fill out the picture of our earliest human populations. The author uses the latest DNA information to analyze clues to the earliest Europeans and those who followed. The book provides a compact, detailed summary of the migrations into and around the Eurasian continent using archeology, linguistic studies and DNA analysis of current and ancient populations. The author advocates a view that includes variations in continuity, invasion, migration, and disruptions caused by natural events (volcanoes, climate change) or by war or technological developments. This view is in opposition to the prevailing concepts in vogue in the later half...

United States on May 14, 2018

Rosie: Back in 2007, David Anthony explicated the connections between archaeology and linguistics in "The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes." Now Jean Manco has pulled in a third player, archaeogenetics. The book starts off with a solid explanation of what this is and how it works before plunging into a analysis of the prehistory and early history of Europe.

One of the things I like about "Ancestral Journeys" is that Manco makes it clear that hypotheses, unlike archaeological remains, are not set in stone. I read the paperback edition of the book, published a couple of years after the hardcover edition. Manco cheerfully pointed out changes that had occurred in her thinking during this time. She also discusses the effect of "fashions" in scientific thinking, especially with regards to the hypotheses concerning population migrations. (My own education was in geology, where I could see the same sort of thing occurring. Scientists are, after all, human.) I came away from this book with a real sense of the dynamism of this area of research, one that makes me eager to see what coming years bring.

Canada on Jun 04, 2017

Quentin D. Stewart: The author - while neither an expert geneticist nor an archaeologist - does a fine job of portraying the history and origins of modern Europeans in clear and intelligible terms that don't bog the reader down with overly complex discussions of DNA. Contrary to other reviewers I regret the author did not add more genetic discussions regarding the DNA of modern Europeans given that almost each European nation is somewhat distinct genetically, though its genetic clusters are often closely related to its neighboring countries. Nevertheless there are genetic tables and maps aplenty in this book.

All in all this is one of the most interesting books I've ever read on the subject of European origins.

The below is intended as a summary of the author's main conclusions rather than a pure review of the book:

The author's introductory chapter explains the complexities involved in genetically mapping any people group/ethnicity anywhere and the temptation to make assumptions based on national biases or the historical record. DNA itself is a challenging matter as it tends to break down upon the death of an individual. Hence the overwhelming reliance on DNA from ancient human...

United States on Mar 31, 2017