Includes index.

Introduction by Douglas Preston -- 3.6 mya-50,000 B.C: bones of our ancestors. The first steps of humankind ; Walking with Lucy ; The toolmaker of Olduvai gorge ; The curious case of Dmanisi ; Homo naledi defies definition ; The ancestor in a test tube ; The tiny people time forgot ; New light on neanderthals -- 50,000-3000 B.C.: the dawn of culture. Rock art of aboriginal dreamtime ; Ice age artists ; The most ancient Americans ; The world's oldest temple ; The first true city ; If stones could speak ; Masterpieces of the Sahara -- 3000-1500 B.C.: the foundations of society. The dawn of ancient Egypt ; Untold riches in Ur's royal tombs ; Peaceful cities of the Indus valley ; Egypt's pyramid builders ; The "princess" of Khok Phanom Di ; Knossos' cryptic tableets ; The law code of Hammurabit ; The Minoan "Pompeii" -- 1500-1000 B.C.: converging worlds. Hattusha's written records ; The Uluburun shipwreck ; Letters to the pharaohs ; Mycenae, more than myth ; Tomb of a teenage pharaoh ; The legend of Troy ; Rediscovering the Shang ; Armies clash at the causeway ; A settlement left in haste -- 1000-500 B.C.: ancient tribes & dynasties. Beyond the blue horizon ; Homes of the high and mighty ; The search for King David ; Mexico's colossal stone heads ; Pyramids of the black pharaohs ; Cities of the dead ; Babylon's crowning glory ; The celtic King Tut ; Persepolis, pride of Persia -- 500-200 B.C: an age of artisans. Riding with the Amazons ; The Nebra sky disk ; Warriors from a watery grave ; The crown jewel of Athens ; Thracian gold ; The Nok Terra-cottas ; Macedonian tombs of Vergina ; Sunken cities of the pharaohs ; China's Terra-cotta warriors ; Probing the Antikythera mechanism --

200 B.C.-A.D. 75: rituals & religion. Cracking the hieroglyphic code ; Europe's eerie bog bodies ; Maya masterpieces revealed ; Dead sea scrolls ; Treasure lost and found ; Caesarea Maritima's ambitious harbor ; Spirits in the sand ; Standoff at Masada -- A.D. 75-600: tombs & temples. Petra, ancient city of stone ; Last moments of Pompeii and Herculaneum ; An untouched royal tomb ; City of kings and commoners ; Teotihuacan's cosmic vision ; Jerusalem's holy sepulchre ; Rescuing Mes Aynak ; The mosaics of Huqoq ; The caves of Ajanta ; Ghost ship of Sutton Hoo -- A.D. 600-1000: surprises & mysteries. Cemetery of the golden chiefs ; The Oseberg ship ; Andean treasures, untouched ; The people of Petroglyph canyon ; The shining city of moorish Spain ; The new world's first Europeans ; Mud-brick maze of Jenne-jeno ; The enigma of Easter island -- A.D. 1000-1200: great builders. The magnificent Angkor Wat ; A sacred Maya landscape ; Lost city of the Monkey god ; Cahokia, an American capital ; The old ones of the southwest ; The city of great Zimbabwe ; East Africa's crossroads -- 1200-1600: sovereigns & citizens. London's bones ; The Birch-bark scrolls ; The drowned fleet of Kublai Khan ; Ruins of the Templo Mayor ; The lost town of Machu Picchu ; A treasure trove of knowledge ; Frozen mumies of the Andes ; Shipwreck of the Mary Rose -- 1600-present: a changing world order. Settling the rainforest ; The cold truth of Jamestown ; What the thaw reveals ; The wicked city of Port Royal ; America's last slave ship ; The disappearance of the H. L. Hunley ; Finding the Titanic -- Afterword by Fredrik Hiebert.

"The story of human civilization, as told through 100 key discoveries spanning six continents, including firsthand reports from explorers, scientists, and antiquarians"-- Provided by publisher.