Everyday Life in the Ice Age: A New Study of Our Ancestors

Everyday Life in the Ice Age: A New Study of Our Ancestors

Everyday Life in the Ice Age is the first attempt to present a truly complete, balanced and realistic picture of life during the last Ice Age, with its many problems and challenges, while dispelling many of the myths and inaccuracies about our early ancestors. One of the most common questions asked by visitors to Europe's decorated caves is 'What was life like for these people?' No previous book has ever managed to answer this question, and most studies of the period are aimed entirely at academics, tending to focus on tool-types rather than what the tools were used for. Women and children are almost invisible in these studies. The book examines all aspects of the lives of biologically modern humans in Europe from about 40,000 to 12,000 years ago, the period known as the Last Ice Age, a time of radical change in climate and environment. It explores how people were able to cope with and adapt to the often rapid alterations in their circumstances. Elle Clifford's background in Social Psychology brings important insights into aspects of the past which are never normally discussed - domestic and family life, pregnancy and child-rearing, and care of the sick and elderly. The book is aimed not only at students and specialists, but also and especially the interested public, for whom the most interesting questions are: How were they like us? and what behaviours do we share? Elle Clifford began her career lecturing in social and developmental psychology, and researching stress and women's reproductive health. She published over a dozen academic papers on these topics. She then acquired a Master's degree in prehistory at York University with a thesis on cave art and mythological worlds. In recent years Elle has accompanied Paul on visits to more than 50 of the most important decorated caves. They have co-authored two papers on the so-called 'Lion Man' figurine of the Ice Age. Paul Bahn has a PhD in archaeology from Cambridge University, and for decades has been an independent researcher, writing and editing a wide range of archaeological books, including several on Ice Age art. He also lectures on numerous tours to the decorated Ice Age caves.