Prehistoric World Cultures provides a broad overview of world prehistory while highlighting significant events, developments, and cultures through time. Organized chronologically and geographically, it gives students a clear understanding of changes through time from the evolution of the human species to the development of complex civilizations.

The text begins by addressing how archaeologists study past cultures and the types of methods used to investigate prehistoric sites. It then presents information on evolution, the origins of agriculture, and early complex civilizations such as Mesopotamia and the city-states of the Nile River Valley. Students learn about early cultures of East Asia, the Chinese Empire, South Asia, and ancient India. New World cultures, such as Native American groups, and the Maya, Aztec, and Inca, are addressed in the final chapters.

The third edition features greatly expanded information and increased detail throughout, as well as clear learning objectives at the beginning of each chapter. References throughout have been updated to present students with the most relevant and current information available.

Providing students a firm grounding in world history, Prehistoric World Cultures is ideal for courses in world prehistory, world archaeology, and introduction to archaeology.