title: The Cutting Edge: New Approaches to the Archaeology of Human Origins (Stone Age Institute Publication Series)
author: Kathy Diane Schick
description: <SPAN STYLE= "" >The book is an excellent reference book for academics, and should be on the reading list for Masters level study. [...] it should be made available at university libraries and archaeology students should be encouraged to read it.'</SPAN> (Robby Copsey <i>Paleoanthropology, 2011</i>)<br /><br /><SPAN STYLE= "" >Recommended. Academic libraries serving upper-division undergraduates through researchers/faculty.'</SPAN> (E. Delson, CUNY Herbert H. Lehman College <i>Choice</i>)<br /><br /><SPAN STYLE= "" >An excellent resource for fairly current information, both detailed site/assemblage descriptions and general syntheses at times coming from somewhat differing paradigmatic perspectives.'</SPAN> (Lawrence Guy Straus <i>Journal of Anthropological Research, vol 66, No. 4, 2010</i>)
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  ![Cover Image](images/9781591433224_cvi.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](images/img_001.jpg)
  
  
  _To my wife, Patricia_ _,  
  
  
  with boundless love and gratitude_ _._
  
  
  EDEN _in the_ ALTAI
  
  
  ![image](images/img_line.jpg)
  
  “Recent archaeological discoveries in the Altai Mountains of Siberia have
  revealed the existence of a unique human population known today as the
  Denisovans. They reached their height around 60,000–70,000 years ago and
  possessed advanced technologies that may well have contributed to the rise of
  civilization. Geoffrey Ashe, in his own fascinating quest of discovery,
  provides compelling evidence that the Altai Mountains are indeed the cradle of
  human civilization as well as the true Eden of the East.”
  
  ANDREW COLLINS, AUTHOR OF _THE CYGNUS KEY_ AND _GÖBEKLI
  
  
  TEPE_
  
  “In _Eden in the Altai,_ Geoffrey Ashe brings a broad base of perspectives to
  bear on his thesis that the archaic Goddess tradition, closely linked to
  shamanism, took its origins in the Altai Mountain region of Asia. He d