"In a single century archaeology has pushed the beginning of human history back some half million years, & given it a perspective which was altogether lacking when knowledge was restricted to the competitively short span of time covered by written records."
-Foreword
"I began to write the first edition of this book in 1940, when, if one listened to the intellect alone, a German victory seemed almost certain."
-Prelude
#FirstLineFridays @shybookowl
"The most substantial part of the Neolithic colonizers of [Britain]...possibly originating in pre-Dynastic Egypt, had spread from the south of France northwards and westwards until groups of them began to cross the Channel...They were a slightly built, dark people...We can visualise how parties of such men, women and children pushed off in their small boats from various points along the Channel and North Sea coast."
I'm not far into this book, but I'm loving Jacquetta Hawkes's writing style, and looked up some info about her: she's amazing!
She was the first woman to pass the Cambridge University course on archeology and anthropology, was part of a team making key Neanderthal excavations, was Assistant Principal of UK post-war reconstruction, was Secretary of the UK National Committee for UNESCO, preparing its first conference in Mexico, where she met and ⬇️
While the cover of this 1952 Pelican edition gives husband, Christopher, top billing, wife, Jacquetta is billed first on the title page, and is given her rightful acknowledgement as main author on the back cover. An exercise in '50s #ShelfAppealForSexists !
The replica Paleolithic Venus figurine is wrong as I don't think any have been found in Britain, but the stones are Sarsen and Bluestone from Stonehenge, but don't worry, I didn't take a ⬇️
Prehistoric Britain: By Jacquetta and Christopher Hawkes | 
