Early Humans (Collins New Naturalist Library) by Nick Ashton - Signed Edition

Early Humans (Collins New Naturalist Library) by Nick Ashton - Signed Edition

Hand Signed by Nick Ashton to the Title Page
Hardback Edition - No. 134 in the series
New & Unread - Published 2017

Our understanding of the British Palaeolithic and Mesolithic has changed dramatically over the last three decades, and yet not since H. J. Fleure’s A Natural History of Man in Britain (1951) has the New Naturalist Library included a volume focused on the study of early humans and their environment.

In this long overdue new book, distinguished archaeologist Nick Ashton uncovers the most recent findings, following the remarkable survival and discovery of bones, stone tools and footprints which allow us to paint a picture of the first human visitors to this remote peninsula of north-west Europe.

As part of the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain project and subsequent research, Ashton is involved in an unrivalled collaborative effort involving archaeologists, palaeontologists, and earth scientists at different British institutes, including the Natural History Museum and the British Museum. Using an interdisciplinary approach, the book explores the latest discoveries such as footprints at Happisburgh, Norfolk that are thought to be nearly one million years old, flint artefacts at Pakefield in Suffolk and mammoth remains at West Runton, among others. These remarkable remnants help our quest to unravel the interactions between the changing environments and their ancient human occupants, as well as their lifestyles and migrations.

Early humans colonised our remote corner of the European mainland time and again, despite being faced with ice age climates with far-reaching consequences. Setting the scene on the Norfolk coast almost a million years ago, Ashton tells the story of the fauna, flora and developing geography of Britain against the backdrop of an ever-changing climate. Above all, he explores how early people began as brief visitors to this wild remote land, but over time through better ways of acquiring food and developing new technologies, they began to tame, shape and dominate the countryside we see today.

About the Author: Nick Ashton has been a curator at the British Museum for over 30 years, specialising in Lower and Middle Palaeolithic archaeology. He helps curate the extensive stone tool collections from these periods and has directed and published major excavation projects at the Lower Palaeolithic sites of High Lodge, Barnham, Elveden and Hoxne (all in Suffolk). He is currently Co-Director of the Pathways to Ancient Britain Project funded by the Calleva Foundation. His work focuses on the earliest occupation of northern Europe, currently being investigated through fieldwork at Happisburgh (Norfolk), the early human adaptation to northern environments and the investigation of when Britain first became an island.

About the Books: Collins New Naturalist series is the longest-running and arguably the most influential natural history series in the world with over 100 volumes published in over 60 years. Key contributors include Fraser Darling, Max Nicholson, Sir Alistair Hardy, W.G.Hoskins, Miriam Rothschild, Richard Fitter, Guy Mountfort and Niko Tinbergen making them a veritable Encylopaedia Britannica of British natural history in its broadest sense.

The New Naturalist books are a series published by Collins in the United Kingdom, on a variety of natural history topics relevant to the British Isles. The aim of the series at the start was: “To interest the general reader in the wild life of Britain by recapturing the inquiring spirit of the old naturalists.” In the editors’ preface to a 1952 monograph they write “An object of the New Naturalist series is the recognition of the many-sidedness of British natural history, and the encouragement of unusual and original developments of its forgotten or neglected facets.”

The first to appear was E.B. Ford’s Butterflies in 1945. The authors of this series are usually eminent experts, often professional scientists. This gives the series authority, and many are or have been authoritative introductory textbooks on a subject for some years. The books are written in scientific style, but are intended to be readable by the non-specialist, and are an early example of popular science in the media. The books of the series have had considerable influence on many students who later became professional biologists, such as W.D. Hamilton and Mike Majerus. The latter was inspired by Ford’s Butterflies and Moths and later added two of his own volumes to the series.

A parallel series of Monographs was also published, but there have been no additions since 1971. Volume 82 of the main series, The New Naturalists,[1] described the series to date, with author biographies and a guide to collecting the books.

The original Editorial Board consisted of Julian Huxley, James Fisher, Dudley Stamp, John Gilmour and Eric Hosking. Many of the highly characteristic dust jacket illustrations are by Clifford and Rosemary Ellis; the latest ones are by Robert Gillmor.

Being a numbered series, with a very low print run for some volumes, they are highly collectable. Second-hand copies of the rarer volumes, in very good condition, can command high prices. In 2006, the 100th volume was produced. The series is on-going.

Format: Hardback Edition
ISBN: 9780008227289

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