Patterns in Prehistory , Fifth Edition, is a comprehensive and engaging survey of humanity's past three million years. It brings together theories and archaeological examples to pose questions about who we are and the means by which humanity evolved into what it is today.

Ideal for introductory courses in world prehistory and origins of complex societies, Patterns in Prehistory , Fifth Edition, offers a unified and thematic approach to the four great transformations--or patterns--that characterize humanity's past: the origins and evolution of culture; the origins of modern humans and human behaviors; the origins of agriculture; and the origins of complex societies, civilizations, and pre-industrial states. Integrating theoretical approaches with archaeological data from the Middle East, Mesoamerica, North and South America, Egypt, China, the Indus Valley, and temperate Europe, Patterns in Prehistory , Fifth Edition, reveals how archaeologists decipher the past. It demonstrates how theory and method are combined to derive interpretations and also considers how interpretations evolve as a result of accumulating data, technological advances in recording and analyzing data sets, and newer theoretical perspectives.

Ch. 1. Prehistory, history, and archaeology
Ch. 2. Fundamentals of archaeology
Ch. 3. The origins of culture
Ch. 4. The origins of Homo sapiens sapiens
Ch. 5. The first Americans
Ch. 6. The origins of agriculture
Ch. 7. The evolution of complex societies
Ch. 8. Origins of complex societies in Southwest Asia
Ch. 9. The origins of complex societies in Egypt
Ch. 10. The evolution of complex societies in the Indus Valley
Ch. 11. The evolution of complex societies in China
Ch. 12. Later complex societies of the old world
Ch. 13. The evolution of complex societies in Mesoamerica
Ch. 14. The evolution of complex societies in Andean South America
Ch. 15. Early cultural complexity in North America
Ch. 16. Prehistory in perspective