Professor Gamble interrogates the archeological evidencefrom stone tools, hunting and campsites for information on the scale of social interaction, and the forms of social life. (..) He reconstructs ancient human societies. (back flap). It replaces his earlier book the pal.settlement (1986). Ca. 120 figures and ca. 130 tables. When one scans the figures, and -impossible to ignore- the tables, one gets a clear view of the content. "we are back to the problem that there appear to be no obvious barriers to settlement from the east and yet, if we accept a short chronology, we must ask hominids to kick their heels for either a half or one million years before colonizing Europe" (p.123) ( )