"Archaeology has changed dramatically in recent decades as women have challenged their male colleagues' exclusive focus on hard artifacts such as spear points rather than tougher-to-find evidence of women's work. The authors are leading experts on perishable artifacts such as basketry, cordage, and weaving. Their exciting new look at prehistory argues that women invented such critical materials as clothing, ropes and nets. Even more important, women played a central role in the development of language and social life - in short, in our becoming human. 304 pp. "