What Happened in History

'A masterpiece of popular scholarship . Childe gave European prehistory a coherence that made systematic progress possible' Past and Present

Archaeologist and historian Gordon Childe charts the momentous shifts in early human history: from hunter-gathering to settled agriculture, the development of the first towns and cities in Mesopotamia, and the spectacular rise and fall of Graeco-Roman civilisation. Childe was one of the first scholars to employ Marxist ideas to this period, searching in the Bronze Age for the origins of social and economic principles he believed set Europe on its distinct course. What Happened in History develops his ideas about the 'neolithic revolution' and 'urban revolution', two famous terms he coined. It explores the invention of iron, the alphabet and coined money as well as the development of new sciences. First published in 1942, this is a classic account of early human history.

With a new introduction by David Wengrow, Professor of Comparative Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, and coauthor of TheDawn of Everything.