Early humans, by The British Museum's Nick Ashton, is a dense, encyclopaedic volume on Pleistocene Britain and its human inhabitants. It is a slick and well-designed product, part of The New Naturalist Library, the aim of which, as stated in the front matter, “is to interest the general reader in the wildlife of Britain by recapturing the enquiring spirit of the old naturalists”. In addition to discussing major periods of Britain's Pleistocene hominin record from time immemorial to the Early Holocene, it also covers a vast array of multidisciplinary research from geology, palynology, chronometry and oceanography, as well as that from several other fields. The images and illustrations are crisp and colourful, and the maps depicting different eras from Britain's past are clear and easy to read. And as someone who lived in Blighty for over eight years, I believe any UK national (or visitor who knows the country well) will appreciate the gorgeous pictures of Britain's coasts, rivers and landscapes.

While the text is clear and easy to understand, at times it may come across as a tad dry to non-specialists, although on balance there are plenty of anecdotes to enhance the story of our early ancestors. Also typical of British Palaeolithic studies, the reader will find plenty of erudite history regarding British archaeological research and its practitioners. As such, this volume would serve well as an excellent (and affordable) text for undergraduate introductory archaeology classes or modules. An additional point in its favour in this regard is that Early humans possesses a glossary, a stylish ‘References cited’ section and a detailed index that would be useful to any student.

The clever division of the book into smaller chronological units rather than the typical ‘Lower Palaeolithic’, ‘Middle Palaeolithic’, ‘Upper Palaeolithic’ and ‘Mesolithic’ is a refreshing change of pace, and allows the proportionally massive Middle Palaeolithic to be taken in via bite-sized pieces. Further, sites or finds that might have otherwise been lost in one long chapter come across as better highlighted and more iconic of the periods covered by the shorter chapter of which they are a part. While the high quality of the images was already mentioned above, this reviewer would be remiss not to mention the sheer number of images: there are pictures on nearly every page. For the non-specialist, this layout choice will certainly help with comprehension of the volume, as well as bringing to life the archaeological record and the archaeologists who analyse it.

One drawback to the volume is that it presents some early finds as widely and scientifically accepted when in reality there is good reason to doubt their validity, as many scholars both inside and outside of Britain do. This is not to say that locales such as Pakefield and Happisburgh will not eventually be proven to be genuine early hominin sites once more evidence becomes available. By not exploring further the ways in which these sites could have been produced by nature, and acknowledging that they may ultimately not be hominin-manufactured, the volume does a disservice to the non-specialist reader. To this reviewer—who is an expert flintknapper—the stone ‘tools’ at Pakefield and Happisburgh do not appear to be beyond nature's discharge. And when trying to explain these one-off early sites, it seems more plausible, for example, that Happisburgh is a naturally created, or disturbed, or mis-dated ‘site’ than it does for hominins to have redeveloped functional body hair to have occupied it so early (see Ashton Reference Ashton, Wenban-Smith, Coward and Hosfield2015).

Nevertheless, the professional, the amateur and the dilettante alike will find something of interest from Early humans, and will learn a great deal about Britain's Ice Age past. The volume's compact size, sturdy cover and thick glossy pages make it a portable and durable reading companion, almost like a Lonely planet or Rough guide travelling book. I know I will certainly be bringing it with me when I return to the UK one of these days, and I will appreciate the early humans of Britain more so for it.