Why read Ancestral Journeys?

Book cover of Ancestral Journeys: The Peopling of Europe from the First Venturers to the Vikings

Book description

Who are the Europeans? Where did they come from? In recent years scientific advances have yielded a mass of new data, turning cherished ideas upside down. The idea of migration in prehistory, so long out of favour, is back on the agenda. Visions of continuity now have to give way…

Explore

Topics

Genres

European history

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Ancestral Journeys as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Brett Bourbon

Author

How was Europe populated? And from where? And what were the mechanisms for and the means of this population?

Jean Manco describes the archeology and history of the populating of Europe from the Upper Paleolithic to the violent movements of the Vikings at the end of the first millennium AD. She writes a detective story in which archaeology, culture, language, history, and the physical environment are framed relative to the study of DNA in populations.

Even though her history ends with the Vikings, the story she tells implicates us within the broader matrix of human history. The book is an…

From Brett's 3 favorite reads in 2023.