(1) Ancient Civilisations: from the Earliest Times to the Birth of Christ

Abstract

WITHIN recent years the evidence relating to the extinct members of the human family and the cultural achievements of the pioneers among our own species has increased at such a rapid rate that the intelligent public, and not a few of the professional archaeologists themselves, are apt to be bewildered in the face of all this new information. Few of those actually engaged in the work of recovering this new evidence have the time or the wider knowledge successfully to undertake the task of interpretation and exposition. A legion of writers has rushed in to supply this widely felt need; but, unfortunately, most of them have not exercised their own judgment, but have simply followed one or other of the professional authorities. Hence, Mr. Donald Mackenzie, a writer of great literary ability, who has read widely and critically, and with independent judgment has interpreted what he has learned in the light of his knowledge of the folk-lore of the Scottish Highlands, has come to occupy the unique position of an independent and lucid expositor of the progress in this difficult department of anthropology. In the larger of his two new books he discusses in a fresh and interesting way the origin of civilisation and the history of its development in Egypt, Crete, Sumer, and Mesopotamia, with brief but illuminating sketches of the origins in Persia, India, and China, and many apt illustrations, culled from other places, of the factors involved in the process of invention of arts and customs.

(1) Ancient Civilisations: from the Earliest Times to the Birth of Christ

By Donald A. Mackenzie. Pp. xix + 283 + 12 plates. 12s. 6d. net. (2) Footprints of Early Man. By Donald A. Mackenzie. Pp. xviii + 190 + 16 plates. 5s. net. (London and Glasgow: Blackie and Son, Ltd., 1927.)