As walking, talking, gesticulating creatures, human beings generate lines wherever they go: here, Ingold lays the foundations for an anthropological archaeology of the line. He investigates:

• speech and song in the cultures of Papua New Guinea, the Navaho and Meso America
• paths, trails and maps
• drawing, writing and calligraphy
• The modern and postmodern world.

Written by a  leading expert in the field and including over seventy illustrations,   this text offers a radically different approach to anthropological and archaeological studies, taking us on a journey which will change the way we look at the world and how we move within it.