Big Picture Press ISBN 9781783701889 £20
What a great concept – 130 artefacts from a wide variety of civilisations. Each artefact is stunningly drawn in great detail, and explained in context in the accompanying text. Arranging the content by continent makes finding what you are looking for incredibly easy, although some civilisations, like Ancient Sumer, are hidden within Ancient China. Others, like Ancient Greece, have a section all to themselves.
Having said that, I am at a bit of a loss to see how useful this book is in terms of the History National Curriculum. Some Ancient Civilisations are covered in quite some detail, whilst others have just one or two pertinent artefacts. It seems to me there just aren’t enough artefacts from one individual civilisation to help classroom teachers explore Benin, for example, or even the Maya in enough detail to know what to teach. It is a superbly-produced work of reference, excellent at exploring artefacts and helping pupils learn to ask the right questions about an artefact. It allows comparison of what was happening in Asia, for example, with what was happening in Africa, but even this is inhibited by a sometimes less than consistent approach to chronology within each section. Some of the language is difficult – too complex for children, even bright ones in Years 5 and 6, so presumably teachers would need to simplify the text if they wanted to use it with their pupils. As I have already said it is a beautifully and thoughtfully produced book The illustrations are a joy to use. It might be useful as a reference book in the school library, but so much of the content is outside the scope of the History National Curriculum that it is hard, in my opinion, to justify the cost.
Alf Wilkinson, The Historical Association