Written by 24 leading archaeologists and spanning roughly the past three million years, the book begins with human origins in Africa and the colonization of the world by anatomically modern humans, followed by chapters on the great cultures of Egypt and Africa, the Mediterranean world, Europe, South and East Asia and North, Central and South America. Each chapter has its own timeline, as well as boxes on key sites, discoveries, controversies and methods. The second edition has been fully revised and updated throughout, to take into account new theories and discoveries from around the world, including new sites such as the Maya temple San Bartolo, the earliest cult centre of Goebekli Tepe, Turkey, the royal tombs of Qatna in Syria, and the Chinese city of Jinsha, as well as new evidence for the earliest human ancestors and the dates of domestication of plants and animals.