READING THE FIFTH

US archaeologist's newly translated book explores the next phase of human societal development and how the lessons of the past can help predict the future. Wang Kaihao reports.

"I have seen yesterday. I know tomorrow." The words taken from an inscription on the tomb of the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh, Tutankhamen, provide the opening line to the original English version of the most recent book by American archaeologist Robert L. Kelly.

The somewhat prophetic, yet at the same time reflective, proclamation sets the tone for The Fifth Beginning, in which Kelly attempts to show what six million years of human history can tell us about our future.