Eden in the East

By Stephen Oppenheimer,

Book cover of Eden in the East: The Drowned Continent of Southeast Asia

Book description

At the end of the Ice Age, Southeast Asia formed a continent twice the size of India. The South China Sea, the Gulf of Thailand and the Java Sea, which were all dry, formed the connecting parts of the continent. Geologically, this half-sunken continent is the Sunda shelf of Sundaland.…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Eden in the East as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

In the late 1990s when this book was published, it seems no scientist had ever given serious thought to the consequences for human evolution of the submergence of Sundaland in the aftermath of the last ice age. There is compelling scientific evidence, compiled and analyzed here in compendious detail, that Sundaland was a heartland of human innovation and that its drowning may have led to the spread of rice agriculture, pottery making, and even tales of lands being ‘fished up’ (as by the Pacific demigod Maui). An astonishing read that today I still regard as largely credible.  

From Patrick's list on submerged lands.

Want books like Eden in the East?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 63 books like Eden in the East.

Browse books like Eden in the East

Book cover of Cities in the Sea
Book cover of Europe's Lost World: The Rediscovery of Doggerland
Book cover of The Lost Land of Lemuria: Fabulous Geographies, Catastrophic Histories

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,187

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in ancient civilizations, Southeast Asia, and ice age?

Southeast Asia 36 books
Ice Age 11 books