On paths, roads, seas, in the air, and in space – there has never been so much human movement. In contrast we think of the past as static, ‘frozen in time’. But archaeologists have in fact always found evidence for humanity’s irrepressible restlessness. Now, latest developments in science and archaeology are transforming this evidence and overturning how we understand the past movement of humankind.
In this book, archaeologist Jim Leary traces the past 3.5 million years to reveal how people have always been moving, how travel has historically been enforced (or prohibited) by people with power, and how our forebears showed incredible bravery and ingenuity to journey across continents and oceans.