At a time when prehistory fascinates an ever-larger audience, here is a timely and concise overview of paleo-anthropology, covering recent findings and the challenges and discussions the field has sparked. During the past few decades, the search for fossils has accelerated to a fevered pitch, with the result that an unexpected number of human ancestors have been unearthed. In forty years, the genealogical tree of human evolution has grown so extensively that it now spans six million years. But the fossils, the tree and the story they tell openly challenge all prevailing ideas about evolution; and though they have been shaken, these ideas have barely begun to change. In this book, Pascal Picq examines concrete, existing proof of our origins and then goes on to offer a new view of the human position in the evolutionary process. This is an exciting, luminous book, combining scientific rigour and narrative talent. It provides a brilliant introduction to some of today’s most fascinating — and fundamental — issues.

Pascal Picq is a senior lecturer in paleo-anthropology and prehistory at the Collège de France.