Life on earth is now known to be an astonishing four billion
years old. Yet as recently as two hundred years or so ago, much
of world believed that all life was created in just six days.
Over the past two centuries, the testimony of rocks has slowly
revealed the Earth's deep prehistory and now scarcely a week
passes without an important new discovery adding to our
understanding of life's beginning and evolution. Written for a
very wide audience, with an approachable text and many
photographs and illustrations, Prehistoric Past Revealed tells
the story of these discoveries. The book gives an overview
history of life on Earth, including the most up-to-date research
and discoveries from around the world, as it covers a wide range
of fascinating topics—the fossil record, dinosaurs, extinction
events, our earliest human ancestors, global environments,
climate change—in a highly accessible format. Using timelines,
diagrams, sidebar discussions, and breaking down complex ideas
into digestible topics, Palmer shows ho