Encountering Monsters: The Prehistoric Survival War of Humans

Author: Ted Owen (UK)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: The first time humans set foot on Australia, the Americas, Eurasia, Madagascar, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands, and faced creatures that even Hollywood scriptwriters couldn't imagine—what thrilling moments must those have been! Unlike the sci-fi worlds depicted in movies like Jurassic Park and 10,000 BC, the monsters discussed in this book are those that actually existed. Perhaps this is the first comprehensive global description of prehistoric monsters encountered during humanity's journey out of Africa.
Chapter 1 explores the recent evolutionary event of humans evolving from African apes into a new species, as well as how our long coexistence with giant animals on the African continent has changed both them and ourselves. Africa is the birthplace of humanity, and our long occupation of the continent means its animals have coevolved with us. Could the history of Africa explain the danger of African animals, our fear of the dark, and our obsession with large felines?
Chapter 2 describes the animals encountered by the ancestors of today's Australian Aboriginal people when they first arrived in Australia about 60,000 years ago. Due to the Ice Age, most of Eurasia was inaccessible to humans at the time. Since Australia had already been an island for millions of years, the earliest humans to reach Australia must have traveled by boat.
Chapter 3 reveals how the ancestors of Europeans explored the world during the Ice Age and how they faced a series of monsters on the Arctic wilderness that looked completely different from those in Africa. Chapters 2 and 3 discuss in detail how climate change affected the extinction of megafauna on these continents.
Chapter 4 examines how the ancestors of today's Native Americans discovered the New World 13,000 years ago, which was the largest landmass humans occupied after leaving Africa.
Chapter 5 tells the story of later Polynesian seafarers invading some islands, particularly Madagascar, New Zealand, and Hawaii.
Finally, the conclusion attempts to highlight the significance of this whirlwind tour of global prehistory and its inspiration for modern humans. Structurally, the book is like a journey through time.