History's Mysteries: People, Places and Oddities Lost in the Sands of Time

by Brian Haughton

Overview

History's Mysteries is an absorbing and meticulously researched exploration of the archaeology, history, and mysteries of 35 ancient places worldwide.

Haughton's book takes the reader on an unforgettable journey, from the 8,000-year-old stone circle of Nabta Playa to India's magical Taj Mahal; from Rhode Island's controversial Newport Tower to the enigmatic Royston Cave in the UK; from the strange medieval castle-village of Rennes-le-Château to the massive ancient walled city of Great Zimbabwe.

Using the latest archaeological evidence, History's Mysteries explores:

The incredible archaeological discoveries at the 11,000 year-old sanctuary of Göbekli Tepe in Turkey.

The heated debate over the 47-million-year-old 'Ida Fossil'—could it be the missing link in our evolutionary history?

The reality behind controversial ancient artifacts such as the Iron Pillar of Delhi, the Oak Island Treasure, and Egypt's "Dendera Lamps."

What really happened to the Neanderthals?

With 36 photographs and illustrations, this is the perfect reference work for those fascinated by the great mysteries of ancient history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781601631077
Publisher:	Red Wheel/Weiser
Publication date:	04/20/2010
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	644,406
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Brian Haughton is a qualified archaeologist, with an interest in the strange and unusual. He is a graduate of Nottingham (B.A. in Archaeology) and Birmingham (M. Phil in Greek Archaeology) Universities. His Mysterious People website, devoted to the lives of enigmatic people, has had more than half a million visitors in three years. He currently lives, writes, and teaches in Greece.

Editorial Reviews

Voltaire once dismissed history "as a series of accumulated imaginative creations." That formulation is excessive, but we are wise to remind ourselves now and then that history is less certain than it is offered rendered. (Was it Max Beerbohm who quipped that "history doesn't repeat itself, but historians repeat one another"?) Brian Haugton's History's Mysteries serves as a stimulating rejoinder to such pedestrian readings of our past. Fixing its attention on archaeological mysteries as ancient as the 4.7 million-year-old "Ida Fossil" and as recent as Merlin and Cleopatra, this freewheeling historian recaps controversies about scintillating people, places, and artifacts locked in the past. Provocative reading for hometown history detectives.

"In the globe-trotting spirit of Indiana Jones, Brian Haughton has circled the earth, trying to get to the bottom of some of history's greatest mysteries."

BBC Online

"In the globe-trotting spirit of Indiana Jones, Brian Haughton has circled the earth, trying to get to the bottom of some of history's greatest mysteries."

From the Publisher