Now adopted as an introductory text in a number of US universities, this book has now gone into an updated second edition. Although it claims world-coverage, the focus is American. Focus boxes are used to discuss methodological and theoretical issues but the text is based on eighty sites from around the world; almost an opposite approach to Renfrew and Bahn which illustrates a theoretically-based text with site boxes. Colour illustrations and an upbeat text (referring to site sizes in terms of city blocks and football fields) make this a more exciting read than Renfrew and Bahn but, arguably, the structure makes it less useful for a European undergraduate. Very up-to-date with new site features on the Austrian ice-man, the Chauvet cave and Sipán in Peru and theoretical overviews of the debates on DNA, the end of the Neanderthals, farming in North America and other issues. Read Less