Book Review: A Little History of Archaeology

 

Archaeology is the study of the history of mankind through examining its artifacts. “A Little History of Archaeology,” by Brian Fagan is the study of archaeology through examining its artifacts. The book is part of Yale University Press’s “A Little History” series. It examines different topics in a short and readable, yet comprehensive manner.

In this book, Fagan, an internationally recognized archaeologist, puts archaeology under the microscope. In 40 brief chapters he takes readers through archaeology’s past, going from the dawn of archaeology through to the present.

Following an introductory chapter, Fagan starts by examining the first attempt to treat the study of the past scientifically: Napoleon’s 1798 expedition to Egypt. Napoleon brought a collection of “savants” (literally “wise men”) from France’s academic community to study Egypt. They examined artifacts from Egypt’s past. Among the antiquities found was the Rosetta Stone. (In a later chapter Fagan describes how that was used to decipher hierogylphics.)

This triggered a fashion for studying antiquities. Fagan’s later chapters take us through archaeology’s three ages: the age of the gentleman antiquarian, the heroic age (think Indiana Jones) and modern archaeology, organized, systematized and using tools like carbon dating and remote sensing.

Fagan follows the history of archeology chronologically. One result is Fagan’s account skips back and forth through human history. Ancient Egypt is followed by Ancient Babylon, and then a skip across the Atlantic to look at the Maya, and back to Stone Age Europe. (There is even a chapter explaining how the three-age Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age division was created.) This works remarkably well. Readers are never bored. Time and place changes kaleidoscopically.

Fagan introduces a vast cast of fascinating characters; Heinrich Schliemann, Howard Carter, and Louis and Mary Leakey are among the most famous, but there are many more. There is even a cameo appearance by Agatha Christy.

He also shows how archaeology evolved from a gentleman’s pastime into a modern science. “A Little History of Archaeology” is aimed at a literate reader who wants a readable, entertaining and accurate introduction to archaeology. Fagan succeeds admirably in all three objectives.

A Little History of Archaeology,” by Brian Fagan, Yale University Press, 2018, 288 pages, $25


I write a weekly book review for the Daily News of Galveston County. (It is not the biggest daily newspaper in Texas, but it is the oldest.) My review normally appears Wednesdays. When it appears, I post the review here on the following Sunday.

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  1. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Does he go into interesting things like the rebuilding of Stonehenge?

    • #1
  2. SkipSul Inactive
    SkipSul
    @skipsul

    OK, just ordered a copy for daughter 3, who is an archaeology nut.

    • #2
  3. Seawriter Contributor
    Seawriter
    @Seawriter

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Does he go into interesting things like the rebuilding of Stonehenge?

    Sort of, but only obliquely. It really is a history of archaeology, rather than a record of what archaeologists found.

    • #3
  4. Aaron Miller Inactive
    Aaron Miller
    @AaronMiller

    One wonders to what extent archaeology could proceed without force of arms, be it private or public. Napoleon forced access to ancient relics. Modern governments force preservation of any artifacts discovered during construction projects. Like Adam and Eve’s curiosity overwhelmed their loving trust of God, the common thirst for knowledge sometimes overshadows tempering values. 

    The narrative that science began during the so-called Enlightenment does injustice to the disciplined investigations performed by ancient and Medieval peoples. I would likewise be skeptical of claims that archaeology is a modern pursuit. Ancient greeks and Romans wrote voluminous histories. Were those histories blind to physical evidence? Were they not methodical? 

    Anyway, the book sounds interesting. Thanks. 

    • #4
  5. Patrick McClure, Mom's Favori… Coolidge
    Patrick McClure, Mom's Favori…
    @Patrickb63

    Sounds interesting.

    • #5
  6. Hartmann von Aue Member
    Hartmann von Aue
    @HartmannvonAue

    Aaron Miller (View Comment):

    One wonders to what extent archaeology could proceed without force of arms, be it private or public. Napoleon forced access to ancient relics. Modern governments force preservation of any artifacts discovered during construction projects. Like Adam and Eve’s curiosity overwhelmed their loving trust of God, the common thirst for knowledge sometimes overshadows tempering values.

    The narrative that science began during the so-called Enlightenment does injustice to the disciplined investigations performed by ancient and Medieval peoples. I would likewise be skeptical of claims that archaeology is a modern pursuit. Ancient greeks and Romans wrote voluminous histories. Were those histories blind to physical evidence? Were they not methodical?

    Anyway, the book sounds interesting. Thanks.

    I’d be interested in knowing if he treats any Renaissance proto-archeology, like the excavation of Nero’s palace. 

    • #6
  7. Seawriter Contributor
    Seawriter
    @Seawriter

    Hartmann von Aue (View Comment):

    Aaron Miller (View Comment):

    One wonders to what extent archaeology could proceed without force of arms, be it private or public. Napoleon forced access to ancient relics. Modern governments force preservation of any artifacts discovered during construction projects. Like Adam and Eve’s curiosity overwhelmed their loving trust of God, the common thirst for knowledge sometimes overshadows tempering values.

    The narrative that science began during the so-called Enlightenment does injustice to the disciplined investigations performed by ancient and Medieval peoples. I would likewise be skeptical of claims that archaeology is a modern pursuit. Ancient greeks and Romans wrote voluminous histories. Were those histories blind to physical evidence? Were they not methodical?

    Anyway, the book sounds interesting. Thanks.

    I’d be interested in knowing if he treats any Renaissance proto-archeology, like the excavation of Nero’s palace.

    No.

    • #7
  8. LC Member
    LC
    @LidensCheng

    Two friends of mine met some French and Australian archaeologists in the Cambodian jungle last year. According to the female friend, some of the male archaeologists looked like they just walked off the set of an Indiana Jones movie.

    Anyway, the new remote sensing technology is very useful. Several years ago, using data collected from airborne scanning, archaeologists found 35 new temples in the Cambodian jungle, along with a network of medieval cities buried under the jungle floor. I think they are trying to map the Mayan ruins using that technology now.

    • #8
  9. SkipSul Inactive
    SkipSul
    @skipsul

    LC (View Comment):

    Two friends of mine met some French and Australian archaeologists in Cambodian jungle last year. According to the female friend, some of the male archaeologists looked like they just walked off the set of Indiana Jones movies.

    Anyway, the new remote sensing technology is very useful. Several years ago, using data collected from airborne scanning, archaeologists found 35 new temples in Cambodian jungle, along with a network of medieval cities buried under the jungle floor. I think they are trying to map the Mayan ruins using that technology now.

    They have been for a good decade now.  I’ve not kept too current on it, but last I read, they had been able to map out cities, roads, irrigation works, and so forth.  

    Ground penetrating radar is also quite useful for finding things like foundation trenches, post holes, and so forth, without needing the time or expense for destructive and expensive exploratory digging.  This is especially useful for researching areas where there are too many modern structures in place above. 

    • #9
  10. Aaron Miller Inactive
    Aaron Miller
    @AaronMiller

    I have tremendous respect for the people who translated tax code in unknown languages of antiquity (the Rosetta Stone). There has been plenty of disciplined archaeology, even if I don’t fancy the general embrace of graverobbing for Science. 

    But if archaeology reports in pop science magazine and online news are any measure, the modern profession generally is rampant with theories built on unfounded assumptions. So much of what we “know” about various peoples is speculative.

    • #10
  11. Aaron Miller Inactive
    Aaron Miller
    @AaronMiller

    One of the most interesting archaeological questions to me is: Who built the pyramids of Giza? No, not aliens. But perhaps also not Egyptians.

    I read years ago the report of a prominent geologist arguing that the oldest pyramid’s peak exhibited signs of rain erosion, which would suggest a time thousands of years before Khafu. The latter’s name was supposedly linked to the pyramid by ancient graffiti… and modern Egyptian pride.

    In any case, archaeologists would benefit enormously by better and cheaper imaging technology capable of penetrating deep water and the land beneath. Various stone structures around the world, such as in Ireland and Turkey, prove the existence of engineering civilizations before those we know — 10,000BC and beyond. But pre-modern cities were mostly built by water, so there were undoubtedly more buried during the end of the last ice age.

    Most would have been ravaged by natural forces. But there are still ancient cities and peoples to be found.

    • #11
  12. SkipSul Inactive
    SkipSul
    @skipsul

    Aaron Miller (View Comment):

    One of the most interesting archaeological questions to me is: Who built the pyramids of Giza? No, not aliens. But perhaps also not Egyptians.

    I read years ago the report of a prominent geologist arguing that the oldest pyramid’s peak exhibited signs of rain erosion, which would suggest a time thousands of years before Khafu. The latter’s name was supposedly linked to the pyramid by ancient graffiti… and modern Egyptian pride.

    In any case, archaeologists would benefit enormously by better and cheaper imaging technology capable of penetrating deep water and the land beneath. Various stone structures around the world, such as in Ireland and Turkey, prove the existence of engineering civilizations before those we know — 10,000BC and beyond. But pre-modern cities were mostly built by water, so there were undoubtedly more buried during the end of the last ice age.

    Most would have been ravaged by natural forces. But there are still ancient cities and peoples to be found.

    What I like are when they find true “lost cities” and settlements – places that are now under the oceans, but would have been coastal flats during the last ice age.  Stone-age tools, skeletons, animal remains, and whatnot have occasionally been dredged up, for instance, in the English channel in places too far out to be explained by washout.

    • #12
  13. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    SkipSul (View Comment):
    What I like are when they find true “lost cities” and settlements – places that are now under the oceans, but would have been coastal flats during the last ice age. Stone-age tools, skeletons, animal remains, and whatnot have occasionally been dredged up, for instance, in the English channel in places too far out to be explained by washout.

    Doggerland.

    • #13
  14. Seawriter Contributor
    Seawriter
    @Seawriter

    SkipSul (View Comment):
    What I like are when they find true “lost cities” and settlements – places that are now under the oceans, but would have been coastal flats during the last ice age.

    I first heard of the “Dogger people” – who lived on the Dogger Bank when that was low marshes – in the SF novel A Long Time Until Now. They had a chapter about them in this book (fairly late because most nautical archaeology starts in the late 20th century).

    • #14
  15. Paul Dougherty Member
    Paul Dougherty
    @PaulDougherty

    In my best Cliff Claven voice:

     Hey, you know it is a little known fact the term “ARCHeology” comes from ancient times and Cicero’s search for ARCHimedes…

    (there is a reason it is a little known fact)

    • #15
  16. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Paul Dougherty (View Comment):
    (there is a reason it is a little known fact)

    Because you just made it up?

    • #16
  17. Paul Dougherty Member
    Paul Dougherty
    @PaulDougherty

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Paul Dougherty (View Comment):
    (there is a reason it is a little known fact)

    Because you just made it up?

    Yep, pretty much.

    • #17
  18. Paul Dougherty Member
    Paul Dougherty
    @PaulDougherty

    I am kind of proud of it because it has the faintest whiff of plausibility.

    • #18
  19. Cato Rand Inactive
    Cato Rand
    @CatoRand

    Thank you for bringing this to my attention!  Sounds like it’s right up my alley and I have this handy dandy Amazon gift card sitting right here I got for my birthday, so the book is on its way.  Can’t wait to read it.

    • #19
  20. Boss Mongo Member
    Boss Mongo
    @BossMongo

    Seawriter: The book is part of Yale University Press’s “A Little History” series. It examines different topics in a short and readable, yet comprehensive manner.

    Thanks, Seawriter.  I knew nothing about this series, but I’m stoked to dive in.

    • #20
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