Science: Archaeology Books

THE AGE OF STONEHENGE
by Colin Burgess. Illustrated with B&W drawings, maps, and photographs. Condition: NEW 2003 CastleBookS hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), reissue. Content: Reviewers: "Burgess brings to life the history of Britain and Ireland between 3000 and 1000 BC. This book was originally written in 1980. Colin Burgess subsequently left the field of the early prehistory of the British Isles for work in the Mediterranean on the Phoenicians and the Sea Peoples. The book has subsequently seen new editions in 2001 and 2003, which suggests that the material is both well presented and well researched. If it is any indication of his thoroughness one can only regret his early departure from English pre-history and his early retirement from the academic world in general. I was particularly impressed with the introduction of more recent information on the character of early settlement and subsequent culture change. Early books on the topic accredit population movements, invasions, and total replacement of one culture by another. Having taken some archaeology classes on European archaeology within the past 5 years, I had become aware of professional doubts on this topic. The tendency of past researchers to think in terms of nations, ethnic groups, etc., probably because we live with these social structures today, had produced a map covered with tribal names and arrows of migration that is now being discredited. As the author notes, it is more likely that culture and populations remained stable for centuries, in contact and exchanging cultural variables among them along shared borders. The archaeology of the British Isles bears little credence to anything like massive invasions. He does note the movements in the period of the Sea Peoples in the Mediterranean and suggests that during this time considerable movement of people may well have occurred in the British Isles as they did elsewhere. Among the specific data Burgess provides, I was most surprised by the apparent lack of artistic sense among craftsmen of the day-he noted that most of the artifacts found are very functional with little or no decoration. That pragmatism seems counter intuitive, since evolutionary studies seems to base the very concept of "modern" man on artistic criteria like the cave paintings of Spain and France, the Venus figurines and other artistic products: the difference between "modern humans" and "anatomically modern humans." I was also surprised by the apparent lack of a weaving/spinning tradition in the Isles until the 1st millennium. It seems so basic to the culture of other places, that it's late introduction here is surprising. This book is the most comprehensive overview of found objects and conclusive evidence that I have read to date. It is old, but that doesn't matter, since the material it covers is much older. Fascinating! A little difficult to get through at times, but factual, and therefore and invaluable resource. [1 copy available]
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AFTER THE PYRAMIDS: The Valley of the Kings and Beyond
by Aidan Dodson. B&W photos, era photos, drawings, floor plans, and charts illustrate. Excellent! Condition: NEW 2000 Rubicon Press (UK) Trade Paperback, no printing given. Content: A chronological overview of the funerary monuments of Egypt, beginning with the last pyramids and ending with the tombs of the Ptolemaic Periods in the Nile Delta. The architecture and decoration of the tombs, along with their contents, are discussed in detail, including the results of more recent excavation in the Valley of the Kings. The discussion is accompanied by numerous photographs of the tombs, their artwork and plans of the funerary complexes which show the development of both architectural styles and religious beliefs. Bibliography and chronology of royal cemeteries. [1 copy available]
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ANCIENT MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA
by The American Museum of Natural H istory. Intro by Gordon Ekholm. B&W and color photos by Lee Boltin. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, c. 1970 American Museum of Natural History soft cover, second printing. Edgewear and very light shelf wear. Content: This is a visual and written history of the artifacts that were in the American Museum of Natural H istory in the 1970s. The artifacts are grouped by city (Reotihuacan, etc.) and by peoples (Toltects, Mayas, etc.). This is really a wonderful book! [1 copy available]
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ANCIENT PERSIA
by John Curtis, Curator, Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities, British Museum. Beautiful color photos with B&W photos, maps, and drawings. Condition: PLEASE READ / UNREAD, but not perfect, 1990 Harvard soft cover, no printing given. Problem: fading to blue cover borders. Interior perfect. Tiny edge wear. Content: Persia (ancient Iran) occupies an important place among the great civilizations of the ancient world. The many splendid achievements of the early inhabitants of Iran range from the imaginatively painted pottery of the prehistoric period to the magnificent silver vessels of Sasanian times, and include the Luristan bronzes and the spectacular sculptures of Persepolis. Civilization began early in Iran, as it did elsewhere in the Ancient Near East, and the author traces the history, archaeology and art from the growth of settled communities in about 6000 BC through to the beginning of the Islamic period in the seventh century AD. This introduction is illustrated throughout with many examples drawn from the rich collection of Iranian antiquities in the British Museum. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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ANCIENT PIONEERS: The First Americans (Deluxe Edition)
by George E. Stuart. Loaded with beautiful color photos of the lands, artifacts, monuments, and art plus some B&W era photos. Condition: NEW 2001 National Geographic leather hardcover *pictorial boards - no DJ issued), no printing given. Content: This is a wonderful (and beautiful) overview of the first peoples of the Americas from the Inuit to the Anasazi, Mound Builders, the Incas, Aztecs, and Mayas and others. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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LIFE AND DEATH IN THE IRON AGE
by Jennifer Foster. Beautiful color photos of artifacts plus color maps and drawings with B&W charts. Condition: NEW 2002 Ashmolean Museum (UK) larage soft cover, no printing given. Content: This is an introduction for the general reader, looking at the archaeology of Europe in the last prehistoric period before the Roman conquest (from c800 BC to AD 43). The archaeological collection of the Ashmolean Museums are used to illustrate a series of themes about the lives and deaths of people at this time, their appearance, clothes and ornaments, their economy and trade, how they produced and consumed their food, and the warfare of the period as shown through weapons. The collection at the Ashmolean owes much to Sir John Evans. The excavations and objects from the important early Iron Age cemetery of Hallstatt, Austria, some of which were excavated by Sir John, are covered in some detail. The text is lavishly supplemented by colour illustrations, particularly of exhibits from the Ashmolean Department of Antiquities. Foster is an honorary fellow in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Reading. [1 copy available]
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ARCHAEOLOGY (Kingfisher Knowledge series)
by Trevor Barnes. Foreword by Tony Robinson. Wonderful color photos and drawings plus color maps and some B&W era photos. Excellent selection. Condition: NEW 2004 Kingfisher hardcover (pictorial boards - no DJ issued), first printing. Content: Reviewer: "This is the sort of book that excites students and encourages them to dig deeper, great for engaging classroom discussions about civilizations of the past. The photo layout is excellent and the graphics, maps and models are wonderfully informative. The easy-to-read text is adequate for general overviews but has not been carefully edited - some glaring typos (like the "3000 A.D." Mesopotamia on page 11) make me doubt the accuracy of the reporting. That said, this reasonably-priced book is still an excellent choice for elementary and middle school libraries, and casual and beginning researchers will find this book scintillating and inspiring." Combining high-interest topics with colorful, eye-catching graphics, these sweeping surveys in the Kingfisher Knowledge series are tailor-made for hooking middle-graders, casual browsers, and reluctant older readers. In Archaeology, Barnes talks up the excitement of hands-on study of the past in a whirlwind tour of renowned finds, f rom Catal Huyuk to Great Zimbabwe. Platt offers quick looks at communications media, from bee dances to DVDs, before closing with vague comments on the perils of censorship and advertising. In both volumes, text blocks and big color photos or reconstructed scenes occupy roughly equal space on topical spreads, which are grouped into chapters, each of which concludes with a terse chapter summary plus sparse assortments of book citations, URLs, and brief definitions of relevant careers. Includes web sites, book lists, and places to explore. Grades 4 - 6+. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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THE ARCHAEOLOGIST'S HANDBOOK: The Insider's Guide to Digging Up The Past
by Philip Ardagh. Foreword by Sandi Toksvig. B&W drawings by Kevin Maddison plus B&W photos & charts. Condition: NEW 2002 Faber & Faber (London) Trade Paperback, first printing. Content: This book takes a look at the role of archaeologists from the discovery of an artefact or archaeological site to the identification, dating, preservation, restoration and understanding of what has been found. This book looks at everything from the most basic archaaeological techniques to the latest technological advances used to assist the modern archaeologist. The book has a glossary of terms in the back and a section on the stories behind the most famous discoveries. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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ARCHAEOLOGY BY EXPERIMENT
by John Coles. B&W photos and drawings illustrate. Condition: Gently pre-read to about page 33 only, 1974 hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. Content: Experimental archaeology is a departure from the traditional approaches to the study of early man. Evidence from archaeological remains can be amplified and more vivid insights gained by reconstructing and testing models of ancient equipment. Stone axes and ploughs, forts and pyramids, boats and musical instruments, come within the scope of inquiry. The monuments of Easter Island and Stonehenge and the colonization of Polynesia can all be explored by experiment. The book falls into three sections. Food Production includes experiments on forest clearance and ploughing, sowing, harvesting and the storage of crops as well as the preparation and consumption of food. Heavy Industry deals with building and destruction of houses and earthworks, transport and erection of stones, and boats. Light Industry concerns craftsmanship in stone, bone, wood, hides, metals and pottery. If you watch the Discovery, National Geographic or History channels, you can see experimental archaeology at work. This is the classic work that encouraged such projects. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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ARCHAEOLOGY FROM THE EARTH
by Mortimer Wheeler. B&W photo section. Maps & drawings, also. Condition: Gently pre-read 1968 Pelican paperback, reprint. Light to moderate tanning to page edges. Content: This is a classic in the field of archaeology. It details methods, philogophy, and techniques in the field. While techniques have advanced since this book was written, it is still worth your time. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF ANCIENT PERU AND THE WORK OF MAX UHLE (Exhibition Book)
by Dorothy Menzel. B&W photos of exhibition pieces plus detailed B&W maps. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 1977 Lowie Museum of Anthropology (UC Berkeley) exhibition soft cover, no printing given. Color on the cover is weak: rubbings back cover panel and 2 small rubbings front cover edges. Interior clean & tight. Content: A discussion of Uhle's work on Inca and, mostly, pre-Inca cultures: The Inca Empire: The Capital and Standardized Inca Practices; The Effects of the Inca Conquest on a Province: Ica Society Under the Incas and Before; The North Coast of Ancient Peru, Tumbez to Pachacamac (A. Geography & Late Pre-Spanish Archaeology; B. Ruins of Chimu Capac; C. The Ruins of Moche and Cerro Blanco; and D. Necropolis of Ancon); The Coast South of Pachacamac; Before the Huari Empire: Some Moche Antecedents to "Chimu" Culture; End notes & Bibliography. Excellent! Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF MESOAMERICA: Mexican and European Perspectives
by Warwick Bray and Linda Manzanilla (Editors). Color & B&W photos, maps, drawings. Condition: NEW 1999 British Museum Press trade paperback, first printing. Content: Since the 19th century, scholas in Mexico, Europe and North America have been studying the development and demise of the civilizations of ancient Mesoamerica. Discoveries made over the last 20 years ahve provided new insights into all the different groups which flourished in the region. In February of 1995 the Museum brought together a group of eminent European and Mexican scholas to discuss the present state of research ini Mesoamerican studies. This volume brings together seven papers given at that conference, uncovering new findings in 3 major geographical regions of Mesoamerica: the Highlands, the Gulf Coast and the Maya territory. Contributors: Linda Manzanilla, Leonardo Lopes Lujan, Gordon brotherston, John Gledhill, Norman Hammond, Nikolai Grube, Ponciano Ortiz Ceballos, and M. del Carmen Rodriguez. Essential readings! Questions welcome. [2 copies available]
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A BASIC GUIDE TO ARCHAEOLOGY
by Jennifer Laing. Wonderful color photos plus B&W photos, era photos, maps, and grids. Condition: NEW 2004 Greenlight Publishing (UK), no printing given. Content: This book is intended to answer some of the many questions that people ask archaeologists such as "How do you know?" and "What is it?" The text has been presented in an easy-to-understand "question and answer" format. There are chapeters covering the history of archaeology and its founders, but the book also explains the current views and thinking of those presently employed within the field. The practical side of archaeology is also well-represented with topics being covered such as the finding of sites, how to date them, and excavation tecniques. Dealing with virtually every aspect of archaeology, this book will appeal to all those interested in the subject. Questions welcome. [2 copies available]
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THE BIBLE AS HISTORY (Second Revised Edition)
by Werner Keller. Translated from the German by William Neill. Revised & Postscript by Joachim Rehork. New material translated by B. H. Rasmussen. B&W drawings and maps illustrate. Condition: UNREAD 1988 Bantam Books paperback, 9th printing. Light taning to page edges. Content: This book is still the standard by which all other Biblical archaeology works are measured, and is now thoroughly updated with the latest scientific and archaeological breakthroughs in biblical investigation. It contains: Revolutionary new evidence that confirms some of the most monumental and controversial events in the Bible-including the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra; Recently deciphered texts from the ancient world that offer an intriguing look back at the origin of the Ten Commandments; An entirely new chapter revealing the extraordinary techniques that may soon prove the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin. The book will take you on a breathtaking journey to the heart of Holy Scripture as it pieces together one of the most stunning spiritual puzzles in the history of mankind. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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FRANS BLOM, MAYA EXPLORER
by Robert L. Brunhouse. Over 250 B&W photos and drawings illustrate. Condition: NEW (shrink-wrapped) 1976 Univ. of New Mexico Press hardcover & DJ (I can open it and put a mylar jacket on the DJ if you like), printing not available due to the shrink-wrap. Content: This book details the life of archaeologist Frans Blom; and provides detailed picture of the Middle American Research Institute in its early years. Frans Blom (Frants Ferdinand Blom, August 9, 1893 in Copenhagen - June 23, 1963 in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico) was a Danish explorer and archaeologist. Blom was born in 1893 in Copenhagen, Denmark to a middle-class family of antique merchants. He was restless and started travelling eventually arriving in Mexico in 1919 where he found work in the oil industry as a paymaster. Travelling to remote locations in the Mexican jungle he became interested in the Maya ruins that he encountered where he was working. He started drawing and documenting these ruins. He was contracted by the Mexican National Museum of Anthropology which financed some of his expeditions. He met Sylvanus G. Morley who brought him to Harvard University in Boston and here he took a Masters degree in Archeology. He was employed at Tulane University in New Orleans and during his tenure here he undertook several expeditions to Mesoamerica. In 1923 his studies at Palenque documented a number of features neglected by earlier researchers. In 1924 Blom discovered the Maya archaeological site of Uaxactun in Guatemala. His explorations in around the Isthmus of Tehuantepec gave the first scholarly reports of a number of sites of the Olmec civilization. In 1926 he was made head of Tulane's newly established Department of Middle American Research. Excellent archaeological snapshot. [1 copy available]
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BODIES FROM THE BOG
by James M. Deem. Spectacular color photos of mummies & artifacts illustrate. Condition: NEW 2000 Houghton Mifflin soft cover (42 pages), fourth printing. Content: For budding archaeologists, or any child interested in exploring scientific mysteries, Deem's straightforward text and superior choice of photographs (many of them taken at the sites where naturally mummified bog bodies have been found) unfold a compelling story of Iron Age Man. The few hundred bodies discovered since the 1600s are, for the most part, remarkably well-preserved. The damp, cool soil of ancient peat bogs kept the bodies intact for 2500-3000 years, so much so that scientists have been able to discover what these ancestors ate and, in many cases, how they died. Because many bog bodies appear to have died by violence, scientists suspect they were victims of human sacrifice. One close-up, of a body named "the Tollund man" (after the bog where it was found), reveals a peaceful face that looks to be serenely sleeping. This, and other photographs will not soon be forgotten. Not for everyone, this is a memorable and worthwhile effort. Ages 9 - 12 and up. Questions welcome. [2 copies available]
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THE BROTHER OF JESUS: The Dramatic Story & Meaning of the First Archaeological Link to Jesus & His Family (Updated & Expanded Edition)
by Hershel Shanks & Ben Witherington III. Foreword by Andre Lemaire. B&W photos throughout with color photo section. Condition: NEW 2004 HarperSanFrancisco Trade Paperback, updated & expanded edition, first printing. Tiny edge wear. Content: Two biblical archaeologists stunned the world with news that a limestone ossuary with the inscription "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus" had surfaced in Palestine and may have once contained the bones of James, the early church leader and brother of Jesus of Nazareth. While it may seem a startling claim for the unassuming and unadorned 20-inch box, numerous scholars who have examined the ossuary now vouch for its first-century origins, if not its theological significance. Jews employed ossuaries for a relatively brief historical period (approximately 20 B.C. to A.D. 70), which fits with the textual evidence of James's martyrdom around A.D. 62. This book is the first full-length treatment of the ossuary, and is written by a couple of big guns: Shanks is the editor of the Biblical Archaeology Review (which first broke the story), and Witherington is a seminary professor and author of a score of books on the Bible. Their collaboration is a well-argued and truly fascinating study of the ossuary and its importance. The opening chapters tell of the box's discovery and authentication, while the later chapters discuss its potential relevance and describe what is at stake if the ossuary is genuine. Particularly interesting is the book's discussion of what the ossuary does for Jewish-Christian relations: James, the bishop of Jerusalem, was known for encouraging Christians to retain aspects of their Jewish heritage instead of jettisoning that heritage as Paul had. This engaging book invites readers to ponder the numerous questions and possibilities raised by the ossuary's discovery. The updated & expanded edition has new arguments for its authenticity. Questions welcome. [2 copies available]
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CELEBRATE THE SOLSTICE: Honoring the Earth's Seasonal Rhythms through Festival and Ceremony
by Richard Heinberg. B&W drawings, charts, and site layouts illustrate. Condition: NEW 1999 Quest Trade Paperback, second printing. Content: While technically not a book on archaeology, there is enough in this text to merit being in this category. Reviewer: "Heinberg has collected archeological evidence, myths and folklore of the Solstice from all over the globe and throughout human history. His stories and examples resolve into a beautiful and compelling picture. Cultures the world over -- from ancient China to the megalith builders 5,000 years ago in Ireland who predate the pyramids -- from the Maori to the Maya -- marked the solstices and equinoxes as tremendously important temporal and seasonal thresholds with deep spiritual and practical meaning. Today, our modern, urban lives are in so many ways insulated and disconnected from the turn of the seasons and their importance in the cosmic dance. Are the solstices and equinoxes still relevant? Heinberg argues that they can be, and not just for neopagans or those of one brand of faith or another. I cannot evaluate his research, but his writing drew me in. With few lapses into over-poeticizing, and only a small measure of new-age, environmental hectoring, he gives us simple ways to renew the solstices as life-affirming celebrations to help reconnect us with the earth." Questions welcome. [1 copy left]
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CELTIC ORNAMENT IN THE BRITISH ISLES
by E. T. Leeds. Wonderful color artifacts inside covers with detailed B&W drawings & photos of artifacts throughout. Condition: NEW 2002 Dover Trade Paperback, reissue of 1933 book. Content: This well-documented study, focusing on less familiar or less accessible relics from the pagan past, traces the history and evolution of pre-Christian ornamentation from the earliest beginnings to a.d. 700. Great value to students of design and archaeology and anyone interested in Celtic ornamentation. Unabridged republication of classic 1933 edition. 65 halftones and black-and-white illustrations. Examples of Celtic ornament - from its earliest beginnings to A.D. 700 - are described and discussed. Detailed, carefully researched chapters cover early British numismatic art, the Celts as delineators of human and animal figures, Roman influence in the crafting of embossed bronze brooches, and much more. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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CHARIOTS OF THE GODS?
by Erich Von Daniken. B&W photo section, maps, diagrams illustrate. Condition: UNREAD (but not perfect) Bantam paperback 44th printing. Binder's glue string down spine with tiny edgewear. Light tanning to white cover edges with tanning to clean & tight interior pages. Content: Did astronauts visit the Earth 40,000 years ago? That was the big question posed by this book, which was one of the most influential books of it's decade - and still is according to sales figures. I do, however, feel "odd" in placing this book in the "archaeology" section. Covers the stone faces on Easter Island, the Nazca lines and other "mysteries" of the world. Movie edition. [1 copy available]
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THE CLIFF DWELLERS OF THE MESA VERDE
by G. Nordenskiold. B&W photos plus the Author's era photos and original sketches of landscape, dwellings, and pottery. Condition: UNREAD 1990 Mesa Verde Museum Assn. huge soft cover, no printing given. Tiny edge wear to front cover fore edge. Content: Originally published in 1893 in Sweden, this book is an archaeological jewel if you are interested in the ancient Anasazi. Text and drawings are detailed. Excellent! Questions encouraged. [1 copy available]
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THE CODEX BORGIA: A Full-Color Restoration of the Ancient Mexican Manuscript
by Gisele Diaz and Alan Rodgers. New Introduction and Commentary by Bruce E. Byland. Beautiful color repros. Condition: UNREAD 1993 Dover large soft cover (beautiful production values), no printing given. Light tanning to white back cover edges. No tanning to interior pages. Content: First publication of remarkable repainting of outstanding Mexican codex — priceless original is in Vatican Library — thought to have originated in the Cholula area, ca. AD 1400. 76 large full-color plates show an astounding array of gods, kings, warriors, mythical creatures, and abstract designs. A work of rare power and beauty. he Codex Borgia (or Borgia Codex or Codex Yoalli Ehecatl) is a Mesoamerican ritual and divinatory manuscript. It is generally believed to have been written before the Spanish conquest of Mexico, somewhere within what is now today southern or western Puebla. The Codex Borgia is a member of, and gives its name to, the Borgia Group of manuscripts. The codex is made of animal skins folded into 39 sheets. Each sheet is a square 27 cm by 27 cm (11x11 inches), for a total length of nearly 11 meters (35 feet). All but the end sheets are painted on both sides, providing 76 pages. The codex is read from right to left. It is named after the Italian Cardinal Stefano Borgia, who owned it before it was acquired by the Vatican Library. In 2004 Maarten Jansen and Gabina Aurora Pérez Jiménez proposed that it be given the indigenous name Codex Yoalli Ehecatl, Nahuatl for "Night and Wind", although it is not certain that its creators were Nahuas. [1 copy available]
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THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS AFTER FORTY YEARS
by Hershel Shanks, James Vanderkam, P. Kyle McCarter, Jr., and James Sanders. B&W photos with a color photo section. Condition: UNREAD 1990 Biblical Archaeology Society Trade Paperback, no printing given. Content: Reviewer: "A little on the old side now (1992) this is a nice little overview of the history of the Scrolls: their discovery, their origin, their translation, and the contention over their intellectual "ownership." The slender volume is a printed version of a symposium conducted at the Smithsonian Institute and given by three prominent scholars and introduced and moderated by Hershel Shanks, the founder, editor and publisher of Biblical Archaeology Review among other periodicals. The book is divided into four sections, the last three followed by a question and answer session, themselves very informative. The lectures reveal that the process of Biblical textual analysis is always a work in progress--and that what is extracted reflects as much on the evolution of our modern society as on the ancient one. An interesting little book." [1 copy available]
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DESERT QUEEN: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia
by Janet Wallach. B&W maps and era photos throughout. Condition: Gently pre-read to page 72 (and abandoned), 2000 Anchor Books Trade Paperback, fourth printing. Light edge wear but the bottom back corner shows shelf wear last few pages. Interior clean & tight. Content: Turning away from the priviledged world of the "eminent Victorians," Gertrude Bell (1868-1926) explored, mapped, and excavated the world of the Arabs. Recruited by British intelligence during World War I, she played a crucial role in obtaining the loyalty of Arab leaders, and her connections and information provided the brains to match T. E. Lawrence's brawn. After the war, she played a major role in creating the modern Middle East and was, at the time, considered the most powerful woman in the British Empire. Fascinating bio. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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DESERT QUEEN: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia
by Janet Wallach. B&W maps and era photos throughout. Condition: Good only, 1999 Anchor Trade Paperback, 5th printing. Shelf wear to cover plus moderate tanning to page edges. Not crisp. Content: Turning away from the priviledged world of the "eminent Victorians," Gertrude Bell (1868-1926) explored, mapped, and excavated the world of the Arabs. Recruited by British intelligence during World War I, she played a crucial role in obtaining the loyalty of Arab leaders, and her connections and information provided the brains to match T. E. Lawrence's brawn. After the war, she played a major role in creating the modern Middle East and was, at the time, considered the most powerful woman in the British Empire. Fascinating bio. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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THE DRUIDS
by Peter Berresford Ellis. B&W photo section. Condition: UNREAD 1995 Eerdmans hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. Content: An account of who and what the Druids were, covering their Druidic training, philosophies and beliefs, portraying them as doctors, lawyers and advisers to kings and arguing that they were the intellectuals of ancient Celtic society. Ellis states his mission as "an introductory argument about the reality and the legend of the Druids" (p 21). He succeeds quite well in this mission, distilling what can be known from primary sources with very thorough research. Ellis also asks the questions that we would dearly like to ask of these mysterious people, who unfortunately seem to have had a prohibition against committing their scholarship to writing, leaving historians to piece together their philosophy and practices from the works of other observers. Ellis does an exceptional job of revealing the probable biases of these secondary sources, although his style of argument becomes somewhat convoluted at times. Ellis pulls no punches in criticizing the scholarly positions of other writers on the subject -- an approach which can seem abrasive or refreshing, depending on one's taste. His obvious disdain for the New Age, soft-focus and romaniticized view of Druids may seem harsh as well. But his genuine love for and fascination with Celtic peoples perhaps justifies the contempt he displays for those who call themselves "New Age Celts...preaching harmony with nature, who have stared in incomprehension when it has been pointed out to them that the Celtic civilization itself is struggling in a last ditch attempt to survive" (p 280). Ellis concludes his work by pointing out the "uncomfortable reality for those who would conjure Druids and ancient Celts to their new concepts of 'spiritual enlightenment'" while ignoring the fact that Celtic languages and cultures are in decline in our increasingly homogenized modern world Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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ECHOES OF THE ANCIENT SKIES: The Astronomy of Lost Civilizations
by Dr. E. C. Krupp. Great B&W photos, drawings, and star charts illustrate. Condition: PLEASE READ / UNREAD, but not perfect, 1983 Harper, Row large soft cover, no printing given. Light edge wear with rubbing along front hinge - interior clean & tight. Content: All over the world, through countless centuries, people have looked skyward for inspiration and guidance in their lives and activities. For most of the history of humankind, going back to the Stone Age, the sky has served as a tool. The regularity of the motions of celestial objects enabled our ancestors to orient themselves in time and space, satisfying their need for human order. How vast this heavenly influence was, and how awesome the human achievements it engendered were, are illuminated in this extraordinary work of investigation and discovery. With hundreds of illustrations and photographs, Echoes of the Ancient Skies is a sweeping look at the world of archaeoastronomy from the prehistoric megaliths of Stonehenge, to the medicine wheels of North America, to the Aztec "Calendar Stone." The intriguing field of archaeoastronomy--the study of ancient peoples' observation of the skies and its role in their cultural evolution--seeks to explore the "universal evidence that people have used astronomy as the model for injecting order and predictability on their behavior and on life." Examining this universal behavior, Dr. E.C. Krupp takes the reader to sites throughout the world (most of which he has personally visited)--from Egypt, China, Babylonia, and Greece, to Turkey, Scotland, Wyoming, and Mexico. He interprets the significance of celestial observation and its relation to the earthly experiences of our ancestors, from practical applications of farming and the measurement of time to philosophical queries into our particular place within the universe. He covers such fascinating topics as how we see the seasons in the sun and stars, possible ancient and prehistoric observatories such as the megalithic Kintraw monument in Scotland, and sky gods and myths around the world and throughout history--from the Egyptian goddess Nut to the myth of Phaethon and the golden chariot of his father Helios. Krupp goes on to examine the ancient parallels between cosmic creation and our lives (as seen in the great pyramids of Egyptian pharaohs) and monuments of transcendental journey (such as the painted rock shrines of California). He shows us that the effects of celestial observation on our ancestors can also be seen in religious vigils--like shamans' transactions with the sky and their access to the sacred--as well as in calendars and clocks used throughout the centuries, mathematics, ancient temples, sources of world order, and the symbols we draw. [Still the best study, IMHO.] [1 copy available]
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THE EMERGENCE OF AGRICULTURE
by Bruce D. Smith. Color photos and detailed maps illustrate. Condition: UNREAD 1995 Scientific American - Freeman hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. Content: Smith, an archaeologist, presents in plain English the story of the emergence of agriculture worldwide, as hunter-gatherers between 10,000-4500 years ago in different regions independently domesticated certain plants and animals. Smith provides a region-by-region examination, starting with the Fertile Crescent of the Mediterranean approximately 10,000 years ago, followed by Europe, Africa, Asia, Middle and South America, and finally North America, where he relates some of his own archaeological investigations. Color photographs and maps help tell the story. There are really two interwoven stories here: the when, where, how, and why of the transition to agriculture, and the investigations and discoveries of researchers attempting to find the answers. Smith explains how several recent technological developments have aided investigators. Questions welcome. [1 copy availaable]
$ 14.59 + $ 3.49 media shipping.

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF INVASIONS AND CONQUESTS: From Ancient Times to the Present
by Paul K. Davis. B&W maps, art reproduction, photos. Condition: UNREAD 1998 Norton large soft cover, first printing. Light edge wear. Content: A single-volume encyclopedia that attempts to squeeze a lot of history into a few pages. The book is organized into seven broad eras ranging from the ancient world to the 20th century; within each time period, invasions and conquests are presented in alphabetical order. An introduction lists and numbers the events included and locates them on a vague outline map that does not delineate political boundaries. Articles are two-to-five pages in length. There are 35 black-and-white reproductions of illustrations, portraits, and photographs. Although the scope of the work is extensive, it is limited by the author's definitions of "conquest" and "invasion." Conquest is defined as "the occupation and long-term domination of one country by another." Invasion is described as "one country invading another," thus eliminating all civil wars and most revolutions. Many entries are vague; there are not enough specific dates and facts, and the battles or incidents are not placed within their larger historical context. The organization might lead to confusion in finding specific events. This volume might be useful for quick ready reference and the extensive bibliography will facilitate further research. Does not include our invasion of Iraq. [1 copy available]
$ 6.89 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

EXCAVATION OF THE DONNER-REED WAGONS:
Historic Archaeology Along the Hastings Cutoff
by Bruce R. Hawkins & David B. Madsen. B&W photos, maps, diagrams illustrate. Condition: NEW 1999 University of Utah Press Trade Paperback, first thus. Content: The Donner-Reed party of emigrants to California bogged down in the mud of the Great Salt Lake Desert. This book gives a full account of the detailed archaeological examination of the Donner-Reed remains in western Utah. The results were significantly different from expectations. Not only was a wide variety of artifacts recovered, but evidence of subsequent exploring parties, such as that led by Stansbury around the Great Salt Lake in 1849-50, was also identified. The history of the Donner party is also detailed here. Great book! [1 copy available]
$ 6.89 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

FINDING ATLANTIS: A True Story of Genius, Madness, and an Extraordinary Quest for a Lost World
by David King B&W photos, maps, diagrams illustrate. Condition: NEW 2005 Harmony Books hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first edition, first printing. Content: Center stage in this history of a history book is the rollicking, fantastical figure of Olof Rudbeck (1630-1702). After reading Rudbeck's monumental Atlantica (1679), historian King unpacks its plausible but reckless chains of reasoning and reassembles the mass into a marvelous account of the Swedish scholar's obsessions. Rudbeck was a professor of medicine at Uppsala University, and his restless mind seems to have seldom been idle. Rudbeck switched from physiology, in which he made his name as discoverer of the lymphatic system, to the study of the Viking sagas, just then coming to scholarly light. Connecting the sagas with the gods of Norse and Greek mythology, and with Plato's lost continent of Atlantis, Rudbeck proposed an astounding theory: Atlantis was located in Sweden! Odd though the idea was, King explains that Rudbeck's protomodern research methods in archaeology and etymology gained acceptance for his theory. Restoring this colorful eccentric to life, King reveals his talent for narrative flow and portraiture in a biography that will thoroughly inveigle history readers. [1 copy available]
$ 8.89 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

FINDING THE WALLS OF TROY: Frank Calvert and Heinrich Schliemann at Hisarlik
by Susan Heuck Allen. B&W and color photo section with B&W photos and drawings throughout. Condition: Gently pre-read to page 17 and abandoned, 1999 Univ. California Press hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. "Repaired" tear top DJ edge. Interior clean & tight. Content: Received wisdom has it that Heinrich Schliemann, a German businessman turned archaeologist, discovered the remains of ancient Troy at Hisarlik in modern Turkey in 1868. That tradition, according to Allen (visiting scholar and guest lecturer in the classics department at Brown University and visiting lecturer at Smith College), arises from Schliemann's self-promotional writings. "But there is another claim to be staked," she writes, "both to some of Schliemann's treasures and to the honor of actually having found the site of Troy. That claim belongs to the man who owned half the land on which Troy eventually was found, the man who informed and educated Heinrich Schliemann about the site and persuaded him to dig there." That man was Frank Calvert, an Englishman who served for 34 years as a U.S. consular agent at the Dardanelles, all the while steeping himself in Trojan archaeology. Allen describes the contributions of Schliemann and Calvert to the Troy work and brings the story of archaeological activity at the site up to the present, illustrating the tale with many maps, photographs and drawings. Calvert's role has been obscured, she says, because--in contrast to Schliemann--he was "a self-effacing, private person," and "only the occasional letter offers details of his unpublished achievements, the manuscripts for which rarely have been found." [1 copy available]
$ 4.39 + $ 3.39 media shipping.

THE FOLDS OF PARNASSOS: Land and Ethnicity in Ancient Phokis
by Jeremy McInerney. B&W maps and photos illustrate. Condition: NEW 2000 Univ. of Texas Press Trade Paperback, first printing. Content: Independent city-states (poleis) such as Athens have been viewed traditionally as the most advanced stage of state formation in ancient Greece. By contrast, this pioneering book argues that for some Greeks the ethnos, a regionally based ethnic group, and the koinon, or regional confederation, were equally valid units of social and political life and that these ethnic identities were astonishingly durable. McInerney sets his study in Phokis, a region in central Greece dominated by Mount Parnassos that shared a border with the panhellenic sanctuary at Delphi. He explores how ecological conditions, land use, and external factors such as invasion contributed to the formation of a Phokian territory. Then, drawing on numerous interdisciplinary sources, he traces the history of the region from the Archaic age down to the Roman period. McInerney shows how shared myths, hero cults, and military alliances created an ethnic identity that held the region together over centuries, despite repeated invasions. He concludes that the Phokian koinon survived because it was founded ultimately on the tenacity of the smaller communities of Greece. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 8.75 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

A FORGOTTEN KINGDOM
by Sir Leonard Woolley. B&W maps, drawings illustrate. Condition: UNREAD 1953 Pelican paperback edition, no printing given. Tiny edgewear. No tanning that I can see. Content: The subtitle of this book gives all the information needed: "a record of the results obtained from the recent important excavation of two mounds, Atchana and al Mina, in the Turkish Hatay." While a bit dated, of course, still a fascinating history of the original dig. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 2.89 + $ 2.94 media shipping. Priority shipping available.

THE FRAGRANT PAST: Perfumes of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar
by Giuseppe Donato and Monique Seefried. Beautiful color photos, drawings, and map. Condition: NEW 1989 Emory University Museum of Art & Archaeology exhibition soft cover, no edition nor printing. Content: This is a museum exhibition book on ancient perfumes. Chapters: Experimental Archaeology; Cleopatra's Cosmetic Workshop; Ancient Ingredients; Perfume and Spice Routes in the Ancient World; Perfume in Daily Roman Life; Bibliography. Fascinating. [1 copy available]
$ 10.49 + $ 3.19 media shipping. International shipping available.

FRAUDS, MYTHS, AND MYSTERIES: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology (First Edition)
by Kenneth L. Feder. B&W maps, drawings, photos illustrate. Condition: NEW 1989 Mayfield Publishing Trade Paperback, first edition, second printing. Tiny edgewear. . Content: Reviewer: "A great book that thoroughly debunks some of the more common frauds and paranormal nonsense we're regularly subjected to via the media, et al. Feder's writing is fun and fluid. Perpetrators and believers of the topics covered therein have trouble arguing against Feder, so they resort to tiresome -- and quite meaningless -- ad hominems rather than deal with his actual arguments and evidence. (Anyone surprised?)" Worth the read! Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 5.49 + $ 2.94 media shipping.

FROM BLACK LAND TO FIFTH SUN: The Science of Sacred Sites
by Brian Fagan. B&W drawings, maps, and photos illustrate. Condition: UNREAD 1998 Helix hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. DJ shows edge wear. Content: The unearthing of cave paintings, stone circles, burial mounds, charnel houses, pyramids and the like poses fundamental questions about the relationships between extinct cultures and their perceived worlds. Archaeologist Fagan (The Rape of the Nile) attempts, with the aid of techniques like Accelerator Mass Spectrometry and Computer Automated Design mapping, to bridge the gap between the tangible and intangible, between the material and the spiritual lives of ancient peoples. Advocating the emerging science of the "archaeology of the mind," he suggests that he and his kind are like "Ahabs pursuing our great white whale" since "our limitations of thought, of understandings, of imagination" will prevent us from ever fully reconstructing from the available evidence the worldviews of long-defunct cultures. Nevertheless, his pilgrimageAfrom Lascaux to Zimbabwe; Jericho to Stonehenge; Knossos to the Pyramids of Giza; Chillicothe, Ohio, to Teothihuacan, MexicoAtakes us on an often gripping first-person tour of the world's past, and his excitement in surveying these areas for himself is almost palpable. But the real focus here is on the scienceAfrom debunking conjectures about Stonehenge to reanimating the ?atalh?y?k Goddess cultAand its invaluable contribution to painstaking reconstructions of the time frames and available materials of various eras. While the detail can be a little numbing, the seeming accuracy is refreshing, given the controversy that surrounds many of the more famous sites. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 6.49 + $ 3.39 media shipping.

GAMBLER WAY: Indian Gaming in Mythology, History and Archaeology in North America
by Kathryn Gabriel. B&W drawings and photos illustrate. Condition: NEW 1996 Johnson Books Trade Paperback, first printing. Tiny, tiny edgewear cover corners. Content: Everything old is new again, it seems. The gambling that during the past decade has blossomed on Indian land across America is not, as many assume, a new ruination heaped upon noble savages by a corrupt capitalist culture. Far from it. Rather, gambling is like tobacco -- deeply rooted in the religious and spiritual beliefs of Native North Americans. In this fascinating study, Gabriel not only relays some of the many myths connected with Indian gaming but examines the symbolic importance to Indians of gambling as a way of keeping the cosmic order from descending into chaos. In addition, she scrutinizes the way in which gambling formerly had economic importance for Indians, as a method of wealth redistribution. Amply researched and fluidly written, this is an exemplary and intriguing work of anthropology. Excellent read. Questions encouraged. [1 copy available]
$ 8.59 + $ 3.09 media shipping

GANDHARA: The Memory of Afghanistan
by Berenice Geoffroy-Schneiter. Full-page color photos illustrate. Condition: NEW 2001 Assouline Books hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first thus, first printing. Content: Gandhara was a historic region in the northwest of ancient India, currently Pakistan and Afghanistan, best known for its Greco-Buddhist school of sculpture. In its interpretation of Buddhist legends, the Gandhara school incorporated many motifs and techniques from classical Roman art while remaining Indian at its core. It depicted Buddha in human form for the first time, blending Hellenistic and Indian influences, often with features resembling the Greek god Apollo. Today, despite an international outcry, Afghanistan's ruling Taliban religious army has instituted a policy of demolishingall Gandhara statues, calling them "un-Islamic." Exquisitely illustrated, This book pays tribute to an art under siege, documenting its importance in world and religious history. [1 copy available.]
$ 7.45 + $ 3.09 media shipping. International shipping available.

GLIMPSES OF THE ANCIENT SOUTHWEST
by David E. Stuart. B&W photos and maps plus original drawings by Scott Andrae. Condition: NEW 1985 Ancient City Press Trade Paperback, 4th printing. Content: This is an excellent overview of the architectural heritage of the prehistoric Native Americans, usually referred to as "Anasazi" in New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona. Why he left out the ruins in Utah, I have no idea. The essays are entertaining, yet still enlightening, and are beneficial for both the newcomer to Ancient Americas and the long-time fan. Excellent photos and maps! [1 copy available]
$ 4.59 + $ 3.09 media shipping. Priority & International shipping available.

GODS, GRAVES & SCHOLARS: The Story of Archeology (Second Revised Edition)
by C. W. Ceram. Illustrated with drawings, maps, and photographs. Condition: NEW 1986 Vintage paperback, first printing, second revised edition. Light tanning to page edges. Content: C.W. Ceram visualized archeology as a wonderful combination of high adventure, romance, history and scholarship, and this book, a chronicle of man's search for his past, reads like a dramatic narrative. We travel with Heinrich Schliemann as, defying the ridicule of the learned world, he actually unearths the remains of the ancient city of Troy. We share the excitement of Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter as they first glimpse the riches of Tutankhamen's tomb, of George Smith when he found the ancient clay tablets that contained the records of the Biblical Flood. We rediscover the ruined splendors of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the wonders of the ancient wold; of Chichen Itza, the abandoned pyramids of the Maya: and the legendary Labyrinth of tile Minotaur in Crete. Here is much of the history of civilization and the stories of the men who rediscovered it. A classic of the genre. [1 copy available]
$ 4.50 + $ 2.94 media shipping.

THE GOLD OF THE GODS
by Erich Von Daniken. Translated by Michael Heron. Illustrated with drawings, maps, and photographs. Condition: Pre-read 1974 Bantam paperback edition, first printing. Spine crease with tanning to interior. Content: Von Daniken explores the vast mysterious underworld of Ecuador - caves filled with gold and and writings in solid gold that go back in time to the Great Flood to bolster his theory of a prehistoric earthly "era of the gods." Why this is considered as "archaeology" escapes me, but . . . . it is interesting. [1 copy available]
$ 1.50 + $ 2.94 media shipping.

THE GREAT PYRAMID DECODED
by Peter Lemesurier. B&W drawings, charts, and photos illustrate. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 2001 Element (UK) large soft cover, reprint. Light edge wear with binder's thin glue strings down spine. Interior clean. Content: For over 40 centuries, the Great Pyramid of Giza has baffled mankind as to its purpose. This book suggests that the design of the pyramid derives from a simple number code. When the pyramid is "decoded", the message that unfolds seems to be a blueprint for mankind that can be compared with the more recent prophecies of St Malachy, Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce and others. The author has also uncovered links between the pyramid's picture of Man's place in the universe and the religious traditions of Egypt, Palestine, India, and even Central America. [1 copy available]
$ 10.50 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

THE HIDDEN MAYA
by Martin Brennan. Excellent B&W renderings from Maya Codex, art work, tomb artifacts, etc. Condition: UNREAD 1999 Bear & Company (Santa Fe) soft cover, first printing/light edge wear with a few small rubbings to black borders front cover (weak color on the cover). Content: The use of hand signs in art and sculpture is prevalent in many spiritual traditions, but the Maya were especially prolific in their use of handsigns or manographs in the glyphs decorating their artifacts. In "The Hidden Maya," author Martin Brennan reveals that these manographs are the keys to the very core of Maya thought. Brennan explains how hand gestures played an intrinsic role in the development of writing, and how, with a variety of dialects in the Maya lands of Central America, a commonly understood sign language developed into a complex artistic language with both mundane and esoteric meanings. Indeed, contrary to scholarly opinion it would appear that the North American Plains Indians borrowed their sophisticated sign language system from the south -- a realization that drew Brennan to the Maya in the first place. This detailed, well-illustrated journey into the hidden realms of the Maya is also testament to the intrinsic role of hand/finger manipulation in the evolution of the human brain and the development of civilization. While some of the data may (or may not) be somewhat dated, this is still an excellent resource, IMHO. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 10.49 + $ 3.29 media shipping. Priority & International shipping available.

HIGHWAY OF THE SUN: The Rediscovery of the Centuries-Old Road System Which Extended Throughout the Fabulous Inca Empire for Over 10,000 Miles [First Edition]
by Victor W. Von Hagen. 4 B&W maps with 32 pages of B&W photos. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 1955 Duell, Sloan hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), stated first edition. Problem: DJ shows edge wear with small chips. Content: Shortly after the fall of the Inca Empire, Pedro Cieza de Leon, a young soldier of Spain, made his way into Peru, traveling as other conquistadores had befoe him, along a magnificient highway. "The Lords Inca," he wrote later, "constructed the grandest road that there is in the world, as well as the longest. . ." It was this magnificient Highway of the Sun that made it possible for the Inca Empire to dominate one fourth of the entire South American continent. Four hundred years later, in association with the American Geographical Society, the Inca Highway Expedition was organized to explore this great road system. The Expedition, which took the better part of two years and the combined efforts of eight explorers and archaeologists and numerous native assistants, was led by Victor von Hagen, who tells the whole story in this book. Fascinating history. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 30.00 + $ 3.29 media shipping. International shipping available - please use the drop-down menu..

THE INCAS AND THEIR ANCESTORS: The Archaeology of Peru
by Michael E. Moseley. B&W photos, maps, and drawings illustrate. Condition: Very Good 1997 Thames & Hudson Trade Paperback, reprint. There are several pages with underlining and a few notes in the margins - my notes! There are no outward signs of use. The interior is tight. I love this book! Content: In 1532, when Pizarro conquered Peru, the Inca realm was one of the largest empires on earth, graced by gold masterpieces, towns with great palaces and temples, and an impressive network of roads. But this glittering culture only obscured the rich and diverse civilizations that had preceded it: Chavin, Moche, Nazca, Tiwanaku, Huari, and Chimu. The author's synthesis takes us from the first settlement over 10,000 years ago to the Spanish conquest. He shows that Andean prehistory can be understood only in terms of adaptations to extraordinary extremems, from the narrow coastal desert to the harsh highlands. 255 B&W illustrations. [1 copy available]
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INDIANS OF THE MESA VERDE
by Don Watson. Great B&W photos of Mesa Verde and its artifacts. Condition: UNREAD c. 1990s Mesa Verde Museum Assn. Trade Paperback, no edition or printing given. Content: Reviewer: "gives the reader an excellent view into the world of these Ancient Americans and their way of life in their cliff dwellings. Little is sugar-coated to be politically-correct. The world of these Indians is accounted for by showing different chores through the seasons- from farming in the warmer months to the old and arthritis-ridden soaking up the feeble heat of the sun in the winters of southwestern Colorado. Don Watson's book is worth having if you want to keep in mind that a whole culture once existed at that almost-mystical place before it had to endure the scourge of being a National Treasure subject to the ravages of public use and wear." There are later printings of this book, but not any new editions. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 10.89 + $ 3.19 media shipping. International shipping available.

IN SEARCH OF THE OLD ONES: Exploring the Anasazi World of the Southwest
by David Roberts. B&W photo section. Condition: NEW 1998 Touchstone Trade Paperback, second printing. Light tanning to page edges. Short remainder mark bottom edges. Content: Six hundred years ago, the Anasazi, said to be the ancestors of the Hopi, Zuni and other Pueblo peoples, left their homes in the region known as the Four Corners, where Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona converge, and disappeared. They had inhabited the area for perhaps 5000 or more years. They left behind pots, weavings, tools, monuments, human remains and, above all, their astounding cliff "palaces," containing apartments of as many as 20 rooms each. Many of these are still viable but so fragile that, in the national park lands where most are located, they are closed to the public. Roberts has spent 20 years exploring the region, and he recounts the history of the discoveries, the appalling thefts of artifacts, the cave paintings and his own transcendent experiences in stumbling upon some vestige of this lost civilization. His awe at the region's beauty, with its sheer cliffs, canyons and mesas, and at the testaments to an unknown culture will be contagious for readers. Questions welcome. [3 copies available]
$ 5.89 + $ 3.09 media shipping. Priority & International shipping available.

IN SEARCH OF THE IMMORTALS: Discovering the World's Mummy Cultures
by Howard Reid. Two wonderful color photo sections. Condition: UNREAD 1999 Headline Books Trade Paperback, first printing. Light tanning to page edges. Content: Reid, a documentary filmmaker and anthropologist living in England, sets out for exotic regions and vivifies ancient mummy-making cultures, artfully blending living and dead voices. He cites ancient scribes like Herodotus, Tacitus and the Babylonian author of the Gilgamesh epic, alongside accounts of and by the living descendents of mummy makers. Primarily, he seeks to understand "the paths that [these cultures] may have intended to tread beyond life" by examining "the bodies themselves, their attire and tomb accoutrements." Reid visits with the Maku in the Amazon to unravel the mystery of the Chinchorros of Peru, whose mummifying culture predates Egypt's. At a winter camp in southwest Siberia, he learns about the burial rites of the Kazakh nomads' warlord ancestors. He investigates the bog bodies of northern Europe; the peoples who established the Silk Route in China, whose mummies show evidence of an ancient European influence in the East; and the Guanches of the Canary Islands, who shared unexpected cultural links with the Egyptians. This intellectual adventure story focuses as much on life as on death; indeed, the way a culture regards death, the author implies, says much about how it regards life. The most interesting, IMHO, is the discussion of the "Celtic" mummies of China's Taklamakan Desert. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 12.49 + $ 3.19 media shipping. Priority shipping available.

IN SEARCH OF THE TROJAN WAR
by Michael Wood. 112 B&W photos, floor plans, & maps with 34 full color photos. Condition: Gently pre-read (it was my book) 1987 Plume large soft cover, first printing. Light crease front cover fore edge (poor shelving). Content: Written to complement a BBC-TV series scheduled to begin on PBS this month, Wood's book is essentially an investigation of the historical reality, if any, behind the legend of Troy and the Trojan War. Though not a professional archaeologist, Wood shows a fine grasp of the various problems presented by the Homeric epics, and writes well about sometimes complicated archaeological, linguistic, and historical matters. At times his presentation is a bit repetitious, but those interested in the attempts of individuals such as Schliemann, Dorpfeld, Blegen, and Evans to explore sites thought to be those connected by Homer with the Trojan War will find a lively and sometimes speculative account based on current scholarship. While much has been written on the Trojan War since this book was published, it is worth the read for the history of Troy's archaeology and Homer's epic. Showing now on either the History Channel or Discovery is an excellent program using a computer simulation of the battles of the Trojan War. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 3.49 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

THE JOURNEY FROM EDEN: The Peopling of Our World
by .Brian M. Fagan. Four B&W photo sections plus B&W drawings and photos througout. DJ cover art by Giovanni Caselli. Condition: NEW 1990 Thames & Hudson hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), no printing given. Content: Let me say that IMHO Fagan is the most original archaeologist working today. Fagan begins this account of the emergence of "anatomically modern" humans with the genetic evidence for a common human ancestor, nicknamed "Eve," living in Africa approximately 200,000 years ago. He then explores the evidence for two theories of human dispersal. The "Noah's Ark" school finds a single origin in sub-Saharan Africa for Homo sapiens sapiens, who subsequently colonized the other continents, while the "Candelabra" school argues that Homo erectus evolved independently into Homo sapiens in Asia and possibly Europe. Some of this material appears in Michael E. Brown's The Search for Eve ( LJ 2/1/90), but Fagan's book is far more concise, authoritative, and articulate. Readers with some background in paleontology will find this book very rewarding. [1 copy available]
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THE KEYS OF EGYPT: The Obsession to Decipher Egyptian Hieroglyphs
by .Lesley and Roy Adkins. B&W photo section. Condition: NEW 2000 HarperCollins hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. Content: Jean-François Champollion's biography is neatly interwoven with Napoleonic history and the functions of Egyptian hieroglyphs in The Keys of Egypt. A gifted bookseller's son born in Revolutionary France, Champollion was to become "gripped by energetic enthusiasm" for Egypt. By the age of 12, he was studying several ancient languages, and, amid a "wave of Egyptomania," he would beat rivals to discover the key to deciphering hieroglyphs. If this was a race, it was a marathon. The breakthrough came after "20 years of obsessive hard work," not through the quick-fix solution often thought to have been provided by the Rosetta stone. The Keys of Egypt details Champollion's life and work, which were hampered by politics, poverty, and an almost hypochondriacal series of health problems. Its sources include letters and journals, the authors having undertaken researches in major libraries and museums. Chapters on Champollion's travels in Italy and Egypt include a good smattering of excerpts from his writings. Although no bibliography is given, there is a helpful passage on various levels of further reading. Highly instructive and fast-paced, The Keys of Egypt is perhaps less dramatic than it might be in portraying troubled times and groundbreaking discovery. It is, however, a clearly expressed and wide-ranging book explaining the complexity of hieroglyphic interpretation and revealing the man whose achievements "meant the discovery of a whole new civilization." [2 copies available]
$ 6.49 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

KOURION: The Search For A Lost Roman City
by David Soren & Jamie James. B&W and color photos plus detailed B&W drawings illustrate. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 1988 Anchor Trade Paperback, BMOC edition. Edge wear with smudges on top and fore edges. Interior clean & tight. Content: Kourion was an ancient city having Hellenistic, Roman, and Christian periods. This book details the digs at the ancient city which unearthed what is most likely the earliest Christian city. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 10.49 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF A DRUID PRINCE: How the Discovery of Lindow Man Revealed the Secrets of a Lost Civilization
by Anne Ross and Don Robins. B&W maps and photo section. Condition: NEW 1991 Touchstone Trade Paperback, first pritning. Content: The discovery of a 2000-year-old man's body in a peat bog in Lindow Moss, near Manchester, England on August 1, 1984 brought the authors together to study his remains, specifically his last meal. Ross is a Celtic specialist and archaeologist; Robins a chemist specializing in archaeological work. Their collaboration has resulted in this engrossing archaeological study which unfolds like a well-told detective story. With clarity and scientific skill, they reconstruct the ritual sacrifice of this 30-year-old man they deduce to have been a Celtic aristocrat. Probably a Druid priest, the man was sacrificed to the gods in A.D. 60 in the wake of a series of disasters, including the advance of Roman armies bent on crushing the Druids. The appendixes provide an overview of the Druids--their institutions, beliefs, and archaeological remains. An engrossing work. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 8.59 + $ 3.09 media shipping. Priority & International shipping available.

LUCY LONG AGO: Uncovering the Mystery of Where We Came From
by Catherine Thimmesh. Wonderful color photos, maps, and drawings. Condition: UNREAD 2009 Houghton Mifflin hardcover (pictorial boards) & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. Light shelf wear to top DJ edge. Content: Reviewer: "An earth-shattering discovery in Ethiopia rocked the anthropological world when scientists unearthed the skeleton of a little creature whose like had never been seen before. A mere 3.2 million years ago, the skeleton dubbed "Lucy" had walked on two legs, and defied all categorization scientists had made thus far--was she an early ancestor of man or ape? How did she live? What did she look like? This beautifully designed and informative picture book is eloquent in its treatment of the subject. The author lays out, step by step, the process that takes place when handling field work. My only complaint is the lagging pace of the material towards the end: it provides a satisfying conclusion, but younger readers or those with short attention spans might lose interest. Recommended for older elementary school children and middle school students." The Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was playing the night paleoanthropologist Donald Johnson found the first fossilized remains of the hominid that became known around the world as Lucy. This extraordinary discovery changed how scientists understood one of the basic concepts of human evolution–it proved that our ancestors began walking upright before the size of their brains increased. Thimmesh uses this discovery to explore several topics in the fields of anthropology and evolutional biology, such as how the bones were fossilized, the process for deciding that Lucy belonged to a previously unknown species (Australopithecus afarensis), and the cast-making process that allowed biological anthropologist Owen Lovejoy to reconstruct her pelvis and prove that she was bipedal. The author even touches upon what fossils can't teach us about our ancestors–their emotions and family patterns. The final chapter discusses the process used by paleoartist John Gurche to create a life-size sculpture of Lucy. The book's greatest strength is how it underscores the fluidity of our understanding in a field like anthropology; it shows how one discovery can change the thinking of scientists in a dramatic way. Essential! Ages 10 and up. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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KOKOPELLI: The Making of An Icon
by Ekkehart Malotki. Wonderful color photo section. B&W photos and drawings illustrate. Condition: NEW 2004 Univ. of Nebraska Press soft cover, first printing. Content: Kokopelli is one of the favorite images of North American folkloric ideology. The likeness of a flute player with a hump, aged over 1,000 years through the oral and artistic traditions of the Hopi, can be found all over the southwest. Malotki, a professor of languages, analyzes the mystical fascination people have for the Panesque player of the flute. Kokopelli has been used in forms varying from wall decorations to characters in popular literature. Malotki believes that there is a connection between Kokopelli and two of the Hopi gods and uses Hopi text and folktales to share with the reader the many stories surrounding Kokopelli and to reveal what he sees. Throughout this book, numerous samples of the flute player are displayed to show the reader the multiple types of characters that have existed in this form. Anyone interested in the Hopi, or mythological characters, will enjoy this thoroughly intriguing investigation into a Native American legend. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 10.49 + $ 3.19 media shipping. International shipping by arrangement. Email us.

LOST CITIES OF CHINA, CENTRAL ASIA & INDIA
by David Hatcher Childress. Wonderful B&W maps and photos throughout. Condition: PLEASE READ! UNREAD, but not perfect, 1998 Adventures Unlimited fat Trade Paperback (408+ pages), revised edition. Problem: Another book had been stuck to the front cover fore edge and has left a series of "bald" spots on that area. Interior perfect. Content: Like a real life 'Indiana Jones', maverick archaeologist David Childress takes the reader on an incredible adventure across some of the world's oldest and most remote countries in search of lost cities and ancient mysteries. Discover ancient cities in the Gobi Desert; hear fantastic tales of lost continents, vanished civilisations and secret societies bent on ruling the world. Visit forgotten monasteries in forbidding snow-capped mountains with strange tunnels to mysterious subterranean cities! A unique combination of far out exploration and practical travel advice; it will astound and delight the experienced traveller or the armchair voyager. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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LOST CITY OF THE INCAS: The Story of Machu Picchu and It's Builders
by Hiram Bingham. 2 B&W photo sections - including Bingham's original photos. Introduction by Hugh Thomson. Condition: NEW 2005 Phoenix Tade Paperback, 11th printing. Content: A special illustrated edition of Hiram Bingham's classic work captures all the magnificence and mystery of the amazing archeological sites he uncovered. Early in the 20th century, Bingham ventured into the wild and then unknown country of the Eastern Peruvian Andes--and in 1911 came upon the fabulous Inca city that made him famous: Machu Picchu. In the space of one short season he went on to discover two more lost cities, including Vitcos, where the last Incan Emperor was assassinated. Bingham was born in Hawaii in 1875 and educated at Yale. His early expeditions to South America and his discovery of Machu Picchu were just the start of a long and colourful career: he went on to command air force troops in France during the First World War and to become a Senator. He died in 1956. [1 copy available]
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LOST CIVILIZATIONS
by Bill Harris. Beautiful color photos of archaeological sites. Condition: Like-new 1993 BDD Illustrated Books (NY) large hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket). New but has been thumbed through on the shelf. Content: Covers some of the most beautiful and important archaeological sites: Ancient Egypt, Rome, Greece, Troy, Crete, Israel, China, Machu Picchu, Teotihuacan, Anasazi dwellings, Easter Island, and Indochina. Text includes "boxes" of little-known information on the finding and archaeology of each site. A great overview of the world's major sites. [1 copy available]
$ 5.50 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

LOST CIVILIZATIONS: Rediscovering Ancient Sites Through New Technology
by Austen Atkinson. Color photos of the archaeological sites. Excellent! Condition: NEW 2002 Watson-Guptil huge (3-pound coffee-table-size) hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. Content: A wealth of never-before-published scientific and satellite information that attempts to solve the tangled mysteries of our lost civilizations! The enduring legends of Plato's lost city of Atlantis and the sunken origins of humanity in Churchward's Mu civilization continue to obsess archaeologists, authors, and anyone else seeking answers to questions about the true nature of our ancestors, their civilizations, their achievements, and their culture. And thanks to amazing new technology, archaeologists and historians are closer to finding these answers than ever before. Ruins considered too sacred to touch by local inhabitants, or excavations eventually abandoned due to lack of equipment and financing, can now be studied with the help of satellite and land-based remote sensing. What's more, this state-of-the-art technology reveals more information about our ancient forefathers than ever before. Through the use of never-before-published radar and resistance maps from NASA, the Russian Space Agency, National Geographic, the European Space Agency, and other organizations, Lost Civilizations investigates 20 of the most intriguing lost cities in detail. Packed with cutting-edge scientific information, this reference displays the decorative splendor of magnificent sites like Angkor Wat in Cambodia and legendary cities like Machu Picchu, as well as exciting new discoveries like the City of the Mahram Bilqis in Yemen and the Ubar in Arabia. Each lost civilization is illustrated with modern maps and breathtaking color photography of the remains, and complemented by fascinating computer-generated reconstructions presenting the cities in their original splendor. Also included are reproductions of the amazing artifacts and artwork achaeologists have managed to unearth. The perfect book for lovers of ancient history, art, and culture, Lost Civilizations offers a mesmerizing, first-ever look at the mysterious life and people of our ancient world. The sites covered: Anasazi sites, Cancuen, Chichen Itza, Machu Picchu, Tiwanaku, Atlantis, Halicarnassues, Helike, Knossos, Pompei, Troy, Babylon, Mahram Bilqis, Nimrud, Persepolis, Ubar, Ur, Angkor Wat, Anuradhapura, Mohenjodaro. [1 copy available]
$ 12.50 + $ 3.69 media shipping.

LOST GODS OF ALBION: The Chalk Hill-Figures of Britain
by Paul Newman (NO, not that one). B&W photos, maps, & drawings illustrate. Condition: UNREAD 2000 Sutton (UK) hardcover (pictorial boards) & DJ (in mylr jacket), first printing. Light tanning to white DJ edges but NO tanning to interior pages. Content: First published in 1987, this is a new edition, completely rewritten and freshly illustrated and incorporates radical new interpretations arising from the latest discoveries and researches. The flowing outlines of the Uffington White Horse, the phallic symbolism of the Cerne Giant, the austere Long Man of Wilmington and many other chalk hill-figures form some of Britain's best-known landmarks. As a uniquely British phenomenon, the thirty or so figures cut into the turf of southern England have excited antiquarians, archaeologists and the general pubic for generations. However, their origins are enigmatic. Newman shows how hill-figures reveal Britain's darkest past: Druid massacres, conjectured human sacrifice and strange phallic and pagan rites that in a miler form survive even today. Fascinating! [1 copy available]
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THE MAN IN THE ICE: The Discovery of a 5,000-Year-Old Body Reveals the Secrets of the Stone Age
by Knorad Spindler. Four color photo sections. Condition: This book is a rarity. UNREAD, but not perfect, 1996Harmony Books hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), second printing. Problem: This is an unread ex-library book - with library markings. Interior clean, tight, unread. Content: In 1991 the Alpine glacier ice had already given up five bodies before a sixth was discovered by passing hikers. The previous five had been in the ice from 10 to 57 years. The sixth had been held suspended in the very spot where he died, for 5,000 years.The excitement of this momentous discovery quickly degenerated into farce as nations began squabbling over jurisdiction. Was the man found in Italian or Austrian territory? Konrad Spindler, the first archaeologist to examine the body and intimately involved in its study ever since, reports this bureaucratic wrangling as scrupulously as he does every other detail of the find in this thorough and absorbing book. He begins at the beginning, with the hikers who spotted the emerging head and shoulders and goes on to mention every other person who arrived at the site, tourists as well as officials and recovery experts. Although this at first seems puzzlingly excessive, it's important. Recovery, made difficult by the weather and the reluctance of the glacier, was suspenseful, interrupted, and involved a certain amount of hacking and other disturbance. But the glacier preserved the iceman (and yes, Spindler explains exactly how) so perfectly that tourist photos and recollections of the scene are important to reconstructing his final hours. The picture that emerges is so clear and intriguing, it's amazing that -in fiction - so far only a children's novel has been inspired. The iceman was clearly a mountaineer accustomed to spending prolonged periods far from home (his carefully sewn garments were crudely mended and his teeth were worn from a steady diet of dried meat). Spindler describes his clothing - from water-shedding grass cloak to leather loin cloth and grass-stuffed shoes - in every detail, from the first steps of construction through each sign of wear, explaining why pelts would be cut just so and how sinews are dried and frayed for superior thread. Among the man's possessions were a birch bark container that once held a live ember for the man's camp fire. Modern science could detect traces of previous embers, indicating, through the wood used, the various terrains the man had crossed. Also found were fire making supplies, a belt pouch containing tools, a dagger, a net Spindler speculates was used for snaring birds and, most interesting, an unfinished bow stave, and, in his arrow quiver, two broken arrows and a number of unbroken, unfinished arrows. From this last, and from the iceman's broken ribs, scientists deduce he had, no more than two months previous to his death, encountered a violent event which probably involved other humans and may have caused him to flee into the mountains at a dangerous time of year, exhaustion and bad weather contributing to his death. Spindler's final section (save for his disapproving comments on other, more sensational reactions to the find) concerns life in the Neolithic Age and where the iceman fit in. This includes a lot if interesting tidbits, such as the fact, determined from pollen research, that agricultural grazing began on the high slopes rather than the valleys, as well as technical data more detailed than the average reader is looking for. All in all, a fascinating book, if not scintillating with wit and adventurous suppositions. Spindler will leave that to the fictionalizers. [1 copy available]
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MARKHAM IN PERU: The Travels of Clements R. Markham, 1852 - 1853
by Charles R. Markham. Edited by Peter Blanchard. B&W maps and illustrations from Markham's journal. Condition: NEW 1991 University of Texas Press Trade Paperback, first edition, first printing. Tiny edge wear. Content: Clements Markham had his own ideas about what his life's work should be. In 1852, Marhkam left his father's choice, the British Navy, and set out for Peru to study the ruins of the Inca empire. His ten-month sojourn in Peru produced this journal, one of the few surviving accounts of Peru at mid-nineteenth century, and launched Markham on a career that led ultimately to the presidency of the Royal Geographical Society. His journal captures Peru in transition from the colonial past to the modern ear. He was one of the first English travelers to visit Cuzco and he also witnessed the waning of slavery on the great cotton and sugar plantations as modern machinery and Chinese coolie labor were introduced. He visited with all classes of society, from the Indian peasants, who still lived much as their Inca ancestors had done, to the Spanish-descended elites, whose Europeanized lifestyle was underwritten by fortunes made in the guano industry. Fascinating! Questions welcome. [2 copies available]
$ 19.49 + $ 3.19 media shipping. Priority & International shipping available.

MASTODON HUNTERS TO MOUND BUILDERS: North American Archaeology
(SIGNED COPY)
by Peter & Belia Nichols (of Austin). B&W maps and illustrations by Linda Battles-Herron and Beth Newman. Condition: INSCRIBED on Title Page by the authors and illustrator Linda Battles-Herron. UNREAD 1992 Eakin Press hardcover (pictorial boards - no DJ), first editoin. Content: Covers the archaeology of North America (and northern Mexico) from the first Americans to the Anasazi to the Mound Builders. Excellent into to archaeology for kids. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 8.50 + $ 3.09 media shipping. Priority shipping available.

MAYA ARCHAEOLOGIST
by J. Eric S. Thompson. Foreword by Norman Hammond. B&W era photo section plus B&W drawings throughout. Condition: NEW 1971 Univ of Oklahoma Press Trade Paperback edition (c. 2000+), 5th printing. Bookstore price marked out top corner loose end page. Content: This is an autobiographical account of explorations in Mayan ruins by J. Eric Thompson, one of the world’s foremost authorities on the Maya Indians of Mexico and Central America. Based on his expeditions from 1926 to 1936 - when conditions in the Maya area were very close to those in the years of the Conquest - this book is an intensely personal account of the investigation of the "stone cities," such as Uxmal, Chichén Itzá, Copán, Tikal, and Quirigua, as well as lively portraits of the archaeologists who probed this civilization Excellent. [1 copy available]
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THE MAYA WORLD (Revised Edition)
by Elizabeth P. Benson. 60+ B&W photos and drawings. Condition: UNREAD 1977 Crowell Trade Paperback, revised edition. Very light edge wear. Content: Yes, this is an older book and some of the information may be dated, BUT the importance of this book lies in the illustrations, IMHO. Wonderful B&W recreations, detailed Codes drawings, and artifact photos. Excellent. [1 copy available]
$ 4.89 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

MEGALITHIC TOMBS AND LONG BARROWS IN BRITAIN
by Frances Lynch. B&W photos, drawings, and maps illustrate. Condition: NEW 2004 Shire soft cover, reprint. B&W photos, drawings, and maps illustrate. Content: This book covers all the great tombs of the first farmers in Britain, both the earthen mounds and the huge stone chambers. The dramatic stone monuments of Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and the Cotswolds and the less awe-inspiring earth and timber megalithic tombs and long barrows of southern and north-eastern England are described and illustrated with plans and photographs. [1 copy available]
$ 4.89 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

MESOPOTAMIA (British Museum)
by Julian Reade. 50 B&W photos, floor plans, & maps with 40 full color photos. Condition: UNREAD 1992 British Museum Press soft cover, no printing given. Light edge wear to front cover fore edge top corner. Content: The foundations of westerrn civilization were laid by the ancient socieities which flourished in Mesopotamia, a land known as the "fertile crescent" through which flow the Tigris and Euphrates rivrs. The area saw some of the earliest experiments in agriculture and irrigation, the invention of writing, the birth of mathematics and the development of urban life. An attractively illustrated account of the history of Mesopotamia from the prehistoric times to the rise of Babylon, up to 1500 B.C. Drawing on archaeology and ancient texts, [Julian Reade] describes the central position of Mesopotamia in early Western civilization. It was one of the leading centers of literacy in the world, and the development of agriculture, mathematics, and cities is often traced to this Fertile Crescent. Different cultures lived and clashed in the region, in cycles of 'alternating consolidation and disintegration.' Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 4.49 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

MINOTAUR: Sir Arthur Evans and the Archaeology of the Minoan Myth
by Joseph Alexander MacGillivray. B&W drawings and two B&W era photo sections. Condition: NEW 2000 Hill & Wang hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), no printing given. DJ shows light edge wear top edge. Content: On the most obvious level, this splendid, multilayered book is a biography of Sir Arthur Evans, the archeologist most responsible for the excavation of the palace at Knossos on Crete, the center of Minoan civilization in the second millennium B.C. Evans's life and work provide a fascinating example of the private and professional lives of those Victorians whose superb education, nonconformist brilliance, determination and diligence resulted in major discoveries that continue, even today, to define dialogue concerning the origins of civilization in Western Europe. But this book by MacGillivray (an archeologist who has worked on Crete) is much more than a biography of the right man at the right place at the right time. It was in the late 19th century that archeology moved from being essentially an international treasure hunt financed by wealthy individuals (as was the case with Schliemann and Troy) to a scholarly discipline with well-defined expectations for the conduct of an excavation, preservation of finds and publication about ancient sites. Evans was among a number of prominent archeologists who recognized the need for change and helped to make it possibleDbut only, it seems, grudgingly. The book's appeal, however, should reach far beyond readers interested specifically in Minoan civilization or in the process of archeological discovery. This richly detailed and engrossing account also illuminates the social, intellectual and military/political history of the give-and-take among the great European powers and the Ottoman Empire. It will also appeal to readers of travel literature as Evans and those around him were always on the move and insatiable sightseers. . [1 copy available]
$ 18.89 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

MOCTEZUMA AND THE AZTECS (British Museum)
by Elisenda Vila Llonch. 61 beautiful color photos of artifacts, jewelry, everyday items, and Codex repros. Condition: NEW 2009 British Museum hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), no printing given. Content: Under Moctezuma the mighty Aztec empire reached the height of its power; under Moctezuma, the Aztec empire met its ultimate downfall. The Aztecs ruled from the island metropolis of Tenochtitlan which, by the fifteenth century, stretched from the Gulf Coast to the Pacific Ocean. Focusing on their last elected leader, Moctezuma II, this informative and beautifully illustrated little book explores the world of the Aztecs. It looks at their origins, the founding of their capital city Tenochtitlan, the structure of their society, their religious beliefs and ceremonies, their military prowess, their art and architecture, and their network of long-distance trade and tribute. The dramatic death of Moctezuma at the hands of the Spanish is also recounted. "Moctezuma and the Aztecs" not only offers a concise portrait of this famous, semi-divine figure but offers a wonderful introduction to a remarkable, sophisticated civilization. Simply beautiful! [1 copy available]
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THE MOLECULE HUNT: Archaeology and the Search for Ancient DNA
by Martin Jones. Condition: NEW 2002 Arcade Trade Paperback, first printing. Two light impressions back cover. Content: Bio-archaeology, the science that finds and studies ancient DNA, has inspired its share of science fiction, but as Jones shows, the work of bio-archaeologists like him sheds light on what the distant past was like in ways never before thought possible. Those who recall high-school or college biology may best appreciate his accounts of chloroplast genomes and molecular overcoats, but anyone interested in ancient history may find much of his findings compelling for their social and genealogical ramifications. He presents science as a detective story, and the spirit of discovery he and his group manifest when analyzing a fossilized seed or piece of rice is infectious. As he reflects on the countless changes in his discipline since he began as an archaeologist 30 years ago, his sense of adventure remains constant, for he knows that each new discovery makes the whole picture a shade clearer. Sans reanimated dinosaurs or Neanderthals, Jones makes ancient history less fictional and really no less fantastic. [1 copy available]
$ 7.59 + $ 3.19 media shipping. Priority shipping available.

MOTYA: Unearthing a Lost Civilization
by Gaia Servadio. B&W photo section. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 2000 Victor Gollancz (London) hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), no printing given. Problem: Texas heat (INHO) has weakened the binding and while this is an unread book, when opened, the page fall open to binding sections. This was my book that I never had the opportunity to read. Content: Motya is a tiny island off the coast of Sicily, scarcely larger than one kilometre square, the site of one the major cities of the Phoenicians, destroyed by the Greeks after an extended siege in 397 BC. This book is Gaia Servadio's account of how early in the twentieth century the English archaeologist Pip Whitaker became convinced that Motya was the site of the buried city and started excavations which unearthed details of a remarkable lost civilization. It is also a story of how Gaia Servadio herself fell under the island's spell. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 2.49 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

THE MUMMIES OF URUMCHI
by Elizabeth Wayland Barber. Wonderful color photo section of mummies and their clothing. B&W photos, as well. Detailed B&W maps throughout. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, c. 2000 Pan Trade Paperback, third printing. Tiny tag removal mark front cover with light tanning to page edges. Content: In 1994, a most astonishing discovery was made in Western China. Incredibly well-preserved mummies dating back 2000 years were unearthed in this remote region?mummies with large, colorful wardrobes, mummies that were distinctively Caucasian. The mystery of what six-foot-tall, fair-haired people were doing in China at the time took Barber, an expert on ancient textiles at Occidental College in L.A., to the desert city of Urumchi in 1995, where archeologists at the site hoped that her expertise might help them understand what these unlikely people were doing there. She had excellent material to work with: the mummies were in such remarkable condition that they still had full heads of hair and beards, and their skin was only slightly weathered. Most had been buried with plenty of brightly colored clothes to wear (one man was buried with 10 hats, each a different style), which gave Barber a treasure-trove of textiles with which to work. Barber structures her tale as a mystery, revealing information piecemeal until she presents her conclusions about the origin of the mummies. In the process, she treats readers to a lively story about the ebb and flow of ancient cultures, a story largely deduced from the development of weaving, dyeing, embroidery and fashion. Barber's hypothesis about how Caucasian mummies wound up in Urumchi, which has something to do with the Silk Road, is so clear and logical that readers will be satisfied that all relevant possibilities have been thoroughly examined. The only thing lacking is information on how to pronounce Urumchi. 16 pages of color photos. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 10.00 + $ 3.19 media shipping. International shipping available - please use the drop-down menu.

The MUMMY: Funereal Rites and Customs In Ancient Egypt (Facsimile of 1893 Original)
by E. A. Wallis Budge. A wealthh of detailed B&W drawings illustrate. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 1995 Senate Trade Paperback, reprint. Light tanning to page edges. Tiny edge wear. Content: A note about the Author: Budge was the expert on Ancient Egypt before Egypt had its own published experts. Everything he did is documented and detailed. This book was originally published in 1893 as The Mummy: Chapters on Egyptian Funeral Archaeology. This fascinating volume will interest anyone wishing to understand not only the process of mummification but also the cultural background of ritual upon which an entire civilization was built. Excellent. [1 copy available]
$ 8.59 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

THE MUMMY CONGRESS: Science, Obsession, and the Everlasting Dead
by Heather Pringle. Color photos section. Condition: NEW 2001 Theia (Hyperion) hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. Content: Pringle's mummy experts are livelier than a crypt full of stacked corpses. This is high praise given how successfully the author animates the dead in this delightfully macabre piece of mortuary globe-trotting. The trip begins at the World Congress on Mummy Studies, held last in arid Arica, Chile. Arica's climate makes it the ideal place to bring your mummy as eccentric scholars do, by the busload. From South America, Pringle, a frequent contributor to magazines like Discover and Islands, departs for the global ateliers of this weird profession, from the makeshift morgue of Art Aufderheide in Egypt, where plastic bags full of brittle corpses are piled by the dozens; to the Peruvian mountaintops, where an American adventurer's discovery of a beautiful Inca girl named "Juanita," an ancient and flawless sacrifice to the gods, ignites a media frenzy; to the subterranean caverns beneath Red Square, where a team of mausoleumists tended to Lenin's lifelike remains, and freelanced their skills out to fellow communists wanting to see their own dead leaders under glass. Pringle's gifts as a writer and a journalist are evident on every page. In brisk, vivid prose she delivers the secrets of the mummy trade: mummies as medicine; the self-preservation techniques of Japanese monks; and the Vatican's modern-day practitioners of the temple priest's art. Pringle's mummies and the men and women who love them make for fascinating and lively reading; this book is sure to have, as they say, a very long shelf life. [1 copy available]
$ 6.59 + $ 3.29 shipping. International shipping available on arrangement - email us.

THE MUMMY'S TALE: The Scientific and Medical Investigation of Natsef-Amun, Priest in the Temple at Karnak
edited by Dr. A.R. David and Dr. E. Tapp. B&W photos and maps throughout. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 1993 St. Martin's hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. The book was bought new (by me) and never read, but it had been perused on the shelf. Content: This interesting, well-documented monograph recounts a 1989 investigation of the 3000-year-old mummy of a Karnak temple priest at Thebes. Working in collaboration with pathologist Tapp, David--a British Egyptologist who is the director of the Manchester Egyptian Mummy Research Project--suggests that instead of dying from disease as earlier studies had implied, the priest may have suffered a violent death from an insect sting or strangulation, especially in view of his elevated stature in a socially and politically turbulent Egypt under Rameses XI. Following concise summaries of Egyptian history and detailed descriptions of the mummification process prescribed by religious funerary beliefs, each of the 14 members of the Manchester Project's interdisciplinary team offers data derived from his or her own specialty--including radiology, histiopathology (tissue examination), endoscopy and dental exams. Facial reconstruction based on the clues left by such remains as skulls, jaws and teeth is so lifelike, the artist claims, that the priest's friends would have recognized him in it. Other scentists involved: P.C.D. Brears; Ian Isherwood; C. W. Hart; Judith Miller; Catherine Asher-McDade; K. Wildsmith; T. Haigh; T.A. Flaherty; and R.A.H. Neave. [1 copy available]
$ 8.59 + $ 3.19 shipping. International shipping available.

THE MYSTERY OF ATLANTIS (Revised & Enlarged Edition)
by Charles Berlitz. B&W photos, charts, maps and drawings illustrate. Condition: UNREAD1976 Avon paperback, 8th printing. Moderate tanning to page edges. Content: Berlitz, travelr, linguist, scholar and author has traced the history of the mythical Atlantis, produced electrifying evidence that "the lost continent" was indisputably real - and now, in this book, he reveals stunning new details about underwater ruins found only recently in the exact locations reported by the ancients to be the site of the actual city of Atlantis. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 2.49 + $ 3.09 media shipping.

NOAH'S FLOOD: The New Scientific Discoveries About the Event That Changed History
by William Ryan & Walter Pitman. B&W maps and drawings. Condition: NEW 2000 Touchstone (UK) Trade Paperback, first printing. Content: Archeologists have long sought to prove that the great flood described in Genesis and in the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh was a historic event. Columbia University geologists Ryan and Pitman weigh in with a highly conjectural theory that seems as good as any other, if no better. Around 5600 B.C., they maintain, Noah's flood occurred when rising Mediterranean waters roared through the narrow Bosporus Strait, transforming the Black Sea, then a freshwater lake, into a bloated saltwater body. Taking a cue from Australian prehistorian Gordon Childe, who posited that Europe's first farmers came from Asia, the authors contend that the Black Sea at the time of the alleged flood was a fertile oasis, a cultural magnet where diverse peoples?farmers, animal breeders, artisans?exchanged techniques and possibly genes. They point to the sudden appearance in Europe, shortly after 5600 B.C., of "outsider" tribes, advanced farmers who, the theory goes, were fleeing the flooded Black Sea region. Other flood refugees, in this scenario, migrated to Russia's steppes, Anatolia, Mesopotamia and the Middle East, preserving memory of the catastrophe in mythic and oral traditions later enshrined on clay tablets and ultimately in the Bible. Ryan and Pitman base their theory partly on radiocarbon dating of marine sediments that they collected in 1993 during a Black Sea expedition and partly on Ice Age climatic patterns, modern linguists' quest for a proto-Indo-European mother tongue and genetic studies of population migrations over the millennia. Their complicated detective tale is intriguing, but much more solid evidence would be required to convince skeptics. Illustrated with drawings by Anastasia Sotiropoulos and maps by William Haxby. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 10.50 + $ 3.09 media shipping.

NOTES FROM A CERAMIC LABORATORY
by Anna O. Shepard with Hans B. Gottlieb, E. W. Andrews, and H. E. D. (Harry) Pollock. Illustrated with B&W drawings, maps, and photographs. Condition: UNREAD 1977 Carnegie Institution of Washington Trade Paperback, no edition given. Tiny peeling bottom front spine. Content: Beginnings of Ceramic Industrilization: An Example from the Oaxaca Valley (Anna Shepard - U. S. Geological Survey, 1963); Imitation Jade Ornaments from Dzibilehaltun, Yuccatan (Anna Shepard & E. W. Andrews, 1963); Maya Blue: Alternative Hypotheses (Anna Shepard & Hans Gottlieb - 1962); and Maya Blue: An Updated Record (Anna Shepard & Harry E. D. Pollock - 1971). Questions encouraged. [1 copy available]
$ 22.50 + free media shipping. Priority & International shipping available.

ON THE TRAIL OF THE ARAWAKS
by Fred Olsen. Foreword by George Kubleer. Intro essay by Irving Rouse. B&W photos and drawings (of artifacts) with a color photo section. Condition: PLEASE READ / UNREAD, but not perfect, 1974 Univ. of Oklahoma Trade Paperback, stated first edition, but there is a hardcover edition. Problems: shelf wear rubbings along front hinge with light edge wear and a pale diagonal crease bottom front cover bottom corner. Interior clean & tight. Content: In 1492, Columbus set foot on a small Caribbean island called by the natives Guanahani and which he promptly renamed San Salvador. He called the people who greeted him Indians, but today we know they were Arawaks. In less than 100 years after Columbus' invasion, there was not a single Arawak left alive, victims of the white man's greed and diseases. Olsen, while on vacation in Antigua (an island Columbus never visited), discovered much about the Arawak civilization - one he determined was one of the most advanced New World civilizations, next only to the Mayas and Incas. Olsen also traces the origin of the Arawaks along the Orinoco River and ancient sites along the Pacific coast from Colombia to Ecuador and Peru. Fascinating study. Questions encouraged. [1 copy available]
$ 34.50 + 3.29 media shipping. Priority & International shipping available on arrangement - email us.

ON THE TRAIL OF THE FEATHERED SERPENT: An Archaeologist Finds and Sails the Ancient Sea Route That Linked Incan and Aztec Civilizations
by Gene Savoy (Antisuyo). Loaded with B&W photos, maps, and drawings. End pages are decorated with the sea route Savoy followed. Condition: Gently pre-read 1974 Bobbs-Merrill hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. Problems: Edgewear with chips to DJ edges plus tanning to DJ spine and a bit into the front panel. Some foxing and "spots" fore edges and top edges of book. Interior clean & tight - no tanning. Content: Peruvian myth tells of a wise man known as Viracocha who sailed awy to the north after a period of persecution. And Mexican legend is filled with tales of Quetzalcoatl, a godlike fiture who appeared by sea from the south, who established law among the Aztecs, and whose fame grew as a teacher of all things. In Mexico and Yucatan, in the Andean caves, and in the jungles of Peru, extraordinary likenesses have been noted among stone carvings relating to these legends and in the ornamental work found among the runis of the ancients. Others have dismissed these similarities as coincidence. SAvoy felt sure that hundreds of years before the Spanish Conquest - and much earlier than scientists had thought it possible - cultural interchange had taken place between South and Central America. Guided by the legends, he theorized a sea link. To prove his assumption, he set out to duplicate the mythological voyage of Viracocha/Quetzalcoatl from Peru to Mexico.This tale of daring and exciting sea expedition in a totora reed vessel rivals the adventures of Kon-Tiiki. Wonderful read! Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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OAXACA: The Archaeological Record
by Marcus Winter. B&W dig drawings and photos. Condition: UNREAD 1999 Minutiae Mexicana. S.A. de C.V. Trade PB, second edition, fourth printing. Tiny edgewear. Content: Ongoing explorations in Oaxaca are adding new data to The Archaeological Record, and confirming that a number of native groups contributed to make it a high culture area; it was the site of Mesoamerica's first great city - Monte Alban; and homeland of two of ancient America's writing systems - Zapotec and Mixtec; and its mortuary customs were elaborate, and its extraordinary ceramic sculpture. This is the perfect book to guide you through the sites if you are planning a trip to Monte Alban. Marcus Winter is a researcher in the Archaeology Section of the Oaxaca Regional Center of the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). [1 copy available]
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PALENQUE: Eternal City of the Maya
by David Stuart and George Stuart. 1 B&W photo section plus 2 beautiful color photo sections. B&W drawings througout. Condition: NEW 2008 Thames & Hudson hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), no printing given. Content: The story of the city's rediscovery, deep in the forest-clad mountains of southeastern Mexico, told with panache by two leading Maya scholars. Sunday, June 15, 1952. Having spent four years clearing a secret passage inside Palenque's Temple of the Inscriptions, Mexican archaeologist Alberto Ruz gazed into a vaulted chamber. There, beneath a gigantic carved stone block, he would make a spectacular discovery: the intact burial of King Pakal, complete with jade jewelry and an exquisite burial mask. Pakal was one of the greatest ancient rulers and the most prominent among a long line of monarchs who held sway at Palenque from AD 300 to 800. This "queen of Maya cities," as Palenque has been called, fell into ruin and was abandoned along with other great urban centers when Maya civilization suffered a mysterious collapse more than 1000 years ago. Through the eyes of David and George Stuart, we travel with pioneer artists and archaeologists from the eighteenth century on as they rediscovered Palenque and attempted, in the oppressive tropical heat, to document the city's graceful and ornate palaces, temples, bas-reliefs, and hieroglyphic inscriptions. These inscriptions lay largely unread until, in the late twentieth century, major breakthroughs in decipherment revealed Palenque's history. David Stuart, one of the leading decipherers, portrays a lost world of palace intrigue, of brilliant architects, of gods and revered ancestors. Today Palenque, proclaimed a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a place of new reverence and relevance for millions of modern Maya, New Age spiritualists, and all those fascinated by the history of the Maya. 150 illustrations, 40 in color Excellent!!! Questions welcome. [2 copies available]
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PATTERNS IN PREHISTORY: Humankind's First Three Million Years (Second Edition)
by Robert J. Wenke. B&W photos, drawings, and charts illustrate. Condition: UNREAD 19898 Oxford University Press large Trade Paperback, fourth printing. One page edge shows wrinkling - most likely from shelving. The rest of the interior is clean & tight. Content: This is a comprehensive survey of world prehistory, from the origins of early hominids several million years ago to the evolution of the first great states and civilizations, focusing on the problem of formulating scientific explanations of the great cultural transformations of the past. In this edition, Wenke has completely updated the text to incorporate recent archaeological discoveries and to address the insights and limitations of the new wave of "post-processual" or "cognitive" archaeology. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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PAST LIVES: Unlocking the Secrets of Our Ancestors (Archaeology)
by Ian Wilson. Wonderful color photos, B&W drawings, and maps illustrate. Condition: NEW 2002 Seven Dials (UK) large Trade Paperback (with flaps), no printing given. Glossy, heavy paper. Excellent! Content: Despite the supernatural-sounding title, this profusely illustrated volume is a solid, well-researched examination of new techniques for reconstructing the appearance of our ancestors, whether ancient or recent. The book offers a series of case studies that examine efforts by historians and reconstruction artists to give faces to the skulls of various longdead individuals. Here we meet an English farmer who died more than two millennia ago; Robert the Bruce, the fourteenth-century Scottish king; a Minoan priestess, dead for 3,600 years; and many others. We also meet the experts who, using a combination of science and artistic guesswork, bring these faces in history back to life. It's a fascinating subject--in learning more about what humans looked like in the distant past, we can also learn more about how they lived--and Wilson tells the story well, with some dramatic flair but mostly with solid scholarship. Recommended for readers with special interest in history, archaeology, and the forensic sciences. An overlooked gem for archaology students. Questions welcome. [2 copies available]
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PEOPLE OF THE MESA VERDE COUNTRY: An Archaeological Remembrance
by Ian M. Thompson. Color maps of the area form the end pages. B&W photos of artifacats with B&W drawings and decorations by Richard Cornelius. Condition: NEW 2002 Crow Canyon-EarthTales Press soft cover, no printing given. Content: Author Ian Thompson lived virtually all his life in a single place- the Four Corners region. For five decades he explored, studied and wrote about its past and present inhabitants and their relationship to the landscape. When he died in 1998 he left behind this unfinished project. Ian had wanted to synthesize for general readers what the 20th century told us about this very special place. This book cannot be what he hoped to complete before his death, but it is a facsimile of what he had imagined and began the previous year. Edited and published posthumously, People of the Mesa Verde Country is a grateful memorial to Ian Thompson and an opportunity to enjoy the reflections of a man who understood, better than most, why the past matters as profoundly as it does. Thompson was the executive director of the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center from 1987 to 1990 and the director of research from 1995 to 1997. BTW, Crow Canyon (in beautiful downtown Cortez, Co.) has one-day digs you can experience. Great fun and educational. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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PEOPLE OF THE RED EARTH: American Indians of Colorado
by Sally Crum. Faith DeLong cover illustration. B&W era photos, maps, and drawings plus petroglyphs illustrate. Condition: NEW 1996 Ancient City Press (Santa Fe) lare soft cover, first printing. Content: For at least 12,000 years, Native Americans laid claim to the land that, with the coming of the Europeans, came to be called Colorado. From paleolithic hunters to contemporary Arapahoe, Ute, and Shoshone peoples, Native Americans have adapted again and again to the demands of this unpredictable land, its climate and its invaders. Their history and tenacity are revealed in Colorado archaeologist Sally Crum's People Of The Red Earth. Lively, accessible, authoritative, and exceptionally well written for the non-specialist general reader, People Of The Red Earth explains how the earliest agriculturists kept their fields green despite long droughts, how hunters knapped tools and points so precise they can barely be duplicated, and how features announced a warrior's reputation. Each culture (from the Anasazi to the Arapahoes) has its own medicinal herbs, shaman's powers, women's dress styles, children's games, lovesongs, battles and truces. Crum's research and archaeological experience brings all this rich heritage to life again. Crum also shows how the story of Colorado's earliest inhabitants continues to be rewritten through new techniques in excavation, lab research, and dating tests. Organized by era and region, People Of The Red Earth is also a comprehensive guide to recommended archaeological sites, museums, and cultural centers. Crum's informative text is further enhanced by numerous maps, drawings and historic photographs. A splendid work of exemplary scholarship. [1 copy available]
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PERUVIAN ARCHAEOLOGY: Selected Readings
by John Howland Rowe and Dorothy Menzel. B&W photos, site maps, and drawings illustrate. Condition: Gently pre-read 1973 Peek soft cover, fifth printing. This is an ex-library book with few markings, BUT there are some underlinings. Content: Readings: Stages & Periods in Archaeological Interpretation (Rowe); Interpretation of Radiocarbon Measurements on Archaeological Samples from Peru (Rowe); Early Cultural Remains on the Central Coast of Peru (Thomas Patterson); A Pre-agricultural Occupation on the Central Coast of Peru (Edward Lanning); Preceramic Cultures in Chicama and Vini (Junius Bird); Pre-ceramic Art From Huaca Prieta, Chicama Valley (Bird); Form & Meaning in iChavin Art (Rowe); Mochia Murals at Panamarca (Richard Schaedel); Iconographic Studies as an Aid in the Reconstruction of Early Chimu Civilization (Gerdt Kutscher); Adventures of Two Pucara Statues (Rowe); and Digging in the Titicaca Basin (Rowe). Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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THE PRACTICAL ARCHAEOLOGIST: How we know what we know aboaut the past
by Jane McIntosh. Wonderful color photos of sites and artifacts plus B&W era photos, as well. Condition: UNREAD c. 1990 Facts On File large soft cover, no printing given. Tiny edgewear. Content: This reference to the world of modern archaeology provides a practical understanding of what archaeology is, how archaeologists work, and how they interpret the evidence they find. This revised edition focuses on such critical new developments as: CAT scans, DNA analysis and facial reconstruction; computers and archaeology, including virtual reality reconstruction of buildings and pyramids; spectacular royal burials at Sipan; advances in the study of diet, including the chemical composition of human bones and food residues on vessels; new dating technologies; satellite and ground surveys, and what they reveal about Maya lifeways; new analyses of the Sutton Hoo ship burial, including "sand ghosts"; the latest ideas on megaliths and studies of the bones they contain; and techniques of underwater archaeology. Perfect intro to the fascinating science of Archaeology. [1 copy available]
$ 4.49 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

PREHISTORIC ENGLAND
by Grahame Clark. B&W photo sections. B&W drawings and maps. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 1962 B. T. Batsford (London) paperback, revised edition, first printing. Short, light spider creases bottom front cover edge with light edge wear. Interior clean & tight but tanning. Content: While some of this material is dated, it is still an archaeology standard on the "dawn of history" in England. Excellent, detailed B&W drawings of artifacts. [1 copy available]
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PYRAMID ODYSSEY
by Wm. R. Fix. Absolutely loaded with B&W photos, maps, and drawings. Condition: PLEASE READ / UNREAD, but far from perfect, 1978 Mercury Media Trade Paperback, appears to be the first printing. Problems: Rubbings along the hinges, edge wear, small tag removal mark top front cover corner, with tanning to the white back cover panel. No tanning to the interior pages. This is an older book with problems of older books. Content: Reviewer: "This book is excellent because the author makes a good effort to stick to the facts and when he speculates, he makes it clear that this is what he is doing. He does cite some unusual evidence, but explains why he considers it useful to cite this material in a rational way. The book is also very well written, concise and the points well-argued. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has been reading a lot of recent "alternative history/research" type books as a general grounding in the facts. It is so easy for a mistake to get propagated as a fact and William Fix tries to avoid that and to set the facts straight on some of the errors that are still being cited as fact." and "This was written in the 1970s but discusses some of the same themes that became popular in the 1990s, i.e. that the Great Pyramid was not a tomb and that the ancient Egyptians and other ancient civilization were far more advanced than mainstream archaeologists will admit. Although this book never garnered much attention in the 1970s, it was the spiritual predecessor to Graham Hancock's "Fingerprints of the Gods". Fix was a very bright guy and did a good job of supporting his theories. This book is not new age psycho babble like "When the Sky Fell", nor is it inclined toward unsupported flights of fancy like some of the von Daniken ideas, but instead is a well researched, carefully analyzed look at ancient civilizations. Fix lays to rest with some finality the idea that the Great Pyramid was a tomb." While most of the emphasis is on the Egyptian pyramids, the New World pyramids are also discussed. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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THE RACE FOR TIMBUKTU: In Search of Africa's City of Gold
by Frank T. Kryza. B&W era illustrations. Condition: NEW 2006 HarperCollins hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. Content: Kryza recreates the bold journeys through the unknown Africa of early 19th-century British explorers Alexander Gordon Laing and Hugh Clapperton, competing to find the fabled city of Timbuktu. Kryza's meticulous research of letters, diaries and official records forms the basis for affecting descriptions of the hazards and horrors the two explorers faced. Kryza, who lived in Africa for 11 years and traveled Laing's route, writes evocatively of the beauty of the African landscape and provides chilling glimpses of the barbarism of the slave trade. He also exposes the unbridgeable cultural gap between 19th-century Muslims in North Africa and the Christian explorers. But what most impresses are the sheer number of ways there were to die in Africa, known as the "White Man's grave"—malaria, dysentery, drowning, parasitic infections and heat stroke were a few of the natural threats, which paled beside the likelihood of being killed by fellow travelers, slavers, bandits or capricious rulers. Kryza starts slowly, but when the focus settles on Laing and Clapperton, readers will be eager to find out their fates. [1 copy available]
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RESCUE ARCHEOLOGY: Proceedings of the Second New World Conference on Rescue Archeology (Organization of American States)
edited by Rex L. Wilson. B&W drawings and maps. Condition: UNREAD 1987 SMU Trade Paperback, first edition. Content: Vital though public works and private development projects may be, they increasingly endanger important cultural remains, threatening the preservation of our historic and prehistoric cultural heritage. Once lost, that heritage can never be reclaimed. How, then, are we to balance the demands of the future with our obligations to the past. This question and many related issues are addressed here not only by archeologists but also by government administrators, engineers, construction managers, business leaders, and international financiers. Contents: Preface; Opening Statements; Keynote by Galo Plaza; Rescue Archeology in the Western Hemisphere Today (Carl Chapman, Moderator); Rescue Archeology and Its Interface With Engineering (Robert Dacey, Moderator); Social and Political Realities of Rescue Archeology (Henry Cleere, Moderator); Rescue Archeology as a Dimension of Development Financing (Raymond Thompson, Moderator); Critique of Rescue Archeology in the New World (George Gumerman, Moderator); Summary of Conference Accomplishments (Jose Luis Lorenzo, Moderator); and Contributed Papers. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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RICHARD WETHERILL: ANASAZI: Pioneer Explorer of Southwestern Ruins (Revised Edition)
by Frank McNitt. B&W photo section and B&W detailed maps of the sites by the Author. Condition: Gently pre-read 1976 University of New Mexico Press Trade Paperback, revised edition, second printing. No major problems, just an older pre-read book. Content: Anasazi, the Navajos’ name for the "Ancient Ones" [actually, "the Ancient Ones Who Are Our Enemies"] who preceded them into the Southwest, is the nickname of Richard Wetherill, who devoted his life to a search for remains of these vanished peoples. Reviewer: "To the archaeologists Richard Wetherill is a villain -- an uneducated cowboy who plundered the ruins of the pre-historic civilization of the Southwestern Indians. Author McNitt takes the opposite tact, portraying Wetherill as an upright honest man whose accomplishments, the first scientific examinations of the great ruins at Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon, far outweigh his faults. Adding to the enigma of Wetherill is the matter of his death -- murdered in cold blood by a Navajo Indian debtor according to this author, the loser in a gunfight caused by his own cattle rustling according to others. Wetherill inspired strong passions in both life and death. This is a fine biography. The first few chapters may be hard slogging as the book goes through Wetherill's early life, but the chapters of Wetherill's life and work at Chaco Canyon leading up to his death in 1910 are fascinating. The author follows up the shooting of Wetherill with a full description of the trial of his killer and the aftermath of his death. This is a Western tale worthy of an epic movie and one has to wonder why it has not attracted Hollywood's attention. McNitt makes a persuasive case that Wetherill's reputation was the victim of ambitious Eastern academics, jealous of his discoveries, and government Indian agents, jealous of his influence among the Navajo. I was impressed at how little dated were his descriptions of the ancient civilizations of the Anasazi, although the book was written in 1957. Was Wetherill a hero or a villain? The controversy about his character makes for a fascinating read." Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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THE RISE OF THE CELTS (The History of Civilization series)
by H. Hubert. Translated from the French by M.R. Dobie. B&W maps, charts, & archeological drawings illustrate. Condition: Gently pre-read 1988 Dorset Press hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), second printing. B&W maps, archeological drawings illustrate. The book edges show small shelfwear and the DJ shows edgewear top and bottom edges and corners. Better than it sounds. Content: The DJ refers to this book as "volume 1," but I have not see that in any other notes on this book. In this classic of ethnology, a noted scholar traces the origins, history, and influence of the Celts on Indo-European peoples. Beginning with the earliest archaeological and linguistic evidence, he tracks the migration of Celts into Europe and as far west as the British Isles. An exceptionally thorough treatment of Celtic languages shows how their relationship to other tongues reveals information about Celtic origins and migrations. In addition, archaeological evidence -- weapons, armor, pottery, and decorative ornament--from a variety of cultures is reviewed (particularly artifacts from Switzerland's Iron Age settlement of La Tène), and the expansion of the Celts in the British Isles and abroad during the Bronze Age and the Hallstatt Period is explored. Unabridged reprint of the classic updated 1934 edition. 141 line illustrations. 4 halftones. 12 maps. [Note: of course, some of this information is a bit dated, i.e., not covering the recent discovery of Celtic "mummies" in the desert of China, but well worth the read.] Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 8.49 + $ 3.39 media shipping

THE ROAD TO UBAR: Finding the Atlantis of the Sands
by Nicholas Clapp. B&W photos, maps, and drawings illustrate. Maps of the area form the decorated end pages. Condition: NEW 1998 Houghton Mifflin haradcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. B&W photos, maps, and drawings illustrate. Tiny impression top front DJ and back DJ panel - but not through to the boards. Content: For centuries, the city of Ubar was the object of legend, quests and uncertainty. An ancient trading outpost in Arabia, it had, according to the Koran, sunk into the desert sands as a result of God's wrath upon its sinful population. In the 1980s, Clapp, a documentary filmmaker, undertook to find the city. After exhaustive research that took him from ancient texts to satellite photos, he eventually led an expedition that finally located Ubar in what is now Oman. Clapp first learned of the then-chimerical city in the early 1980s, when working on a film about the oryx (a tough and graceful desert antelope). His interest was piqued further as he read of 19th-century British expeditions, which he synopsizes along with other relevant tales. Like Indiana Jones, Clapp is as comfortable in the library as in reconnaissance helicopters or on the sands, and his efforts to separate myth from possible reality make for a gripping intellectual adventure. Clapp's team, including his wife and expedition manager, Kay, and a host affable experts, weren't sure what they'd found in a giant sinkhole until they spent weeks digging and putting pieces of pottery together with knowledge of the ancient trade in frankincense. What they found was not only Ubar but also a fitting resolution to Clapp's engaging story of the excitement of discovery, of a mystery solved and of the spirit of adventure. (1 copy available)
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ROADS TO CENTER PLACE: A Cultural Atlas of Chaco Canyon and the Anasazi
by Kathryn Gabriel. Wonderful B&W photos and detailed maps illustrate. Condition: NEW 1991 Johnson Trade Paperback, second printing. Content: Within the canyon country of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado, the Anasazi built an elaborate system of carefully engineered roadways. Many of the roads connect to sites in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, and required an enormous amount of human labor to create. Nearly 200 miles of roads have been documented inthe past fifteen years by a handful of investigators, but the function and significance of these roads remain a mystery. Kathryn Gabriel, a journalist and researcher with a lifelong interest in Chaco Canyon and the Anasazi, examines Chacoan road systems, using analogies drawn from such diverse phenomena as the use of road metaphors in Pueblo Indian traditions and astronomical alignments of southwestern sites. "Roads to Center Place" is more than a guide to road corridors and archaeological features; it is a map to a lifeway. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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THE SACRED VALLEY OF THE INCAS: MYTHS AND SYMBOLS
by Fernando Eloretta Salazar and Edgar Elorrieta Salazar. Mostly color photos plus B&W photos and detailed site drawings. Cover: Great Pyramid of Pacaritanpu. Condition: UNREAD 1996 Sociedad Pacaritanpu Hatha (Peru) soft cover, no printing given. Content: Fernando and Edgar Elorrieta introduce the world to a new and profound view of Andean myths that they have been able to decode and convert into history and reality through a study of semiotics, aesthetics and archaeoastronomy. The authors show us ritual spaces and forms which represented natural beings, and give back the original spirit, inherent in the forms themselves to the architectural complexes." Many of the famous archaeological sites are shown with drawing and photos how they are monolithic recreations of animals and men important to the Andean societies that built them. Fascinating! [1 copy available]
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SANTORINI: The Prehistoric City of Akroteri, Brief Illustrated Archaeological Guide
by Christos G. Doumas, Ephor of Antiquities. Full-page color photos. B&W maps. Condition: Very good Editions "Hannibal" (Athens, Greece) softcover with flaps forming natural bookmarks. No date nor edition given. Content: This book strikes me as one which can be purchased on Santorini as part of a tourist or curio shop book. Stunning color photography of the archaeological wonders of the island - outcroppings, ancient murals, ongoing archaeological digs, and the current architecture. Detailed text recounts the history of the island and the archaeology. Santorini has lately (last 20 years or so) become the area being studied as, if not the location of Plato's Atlantis, the cause of Atlantis being swept away due to a huge volcanic eruption on Santoniti about the time Plato says Atlantis existed. Informative and beautiful book. [1 copy available]
$ 5.50 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

SEAHENGE: A Quest for Llife and Death in Bronze Age Britain
by Francis Pryor. Three B&W photo sections plus B&W drawings, maps, and charts illustrate. Condition: NEW 2008 HarperPerennial Trade Paperback, no printing given. Not a remainder. Content: One of the most haunting and enigmatic archaeological discoveries of recent times was the uncovering in 1998 at low tide of the so-called Seahenge on the north coast of Norfolk. This circle of wooden planks set vertically in the sand, with a large inverted tree-trunk in the middle, likened to a ghostly "hand reaching up from the underworld", has now been dated to around 2020 BC. It focused national attention on archaeology to an extent not seen for many years, and the issues raised by its removal and preservation made it a "cause celebre". Francis Pryor has been at the centre of British archaeological fieldwork for nearly 30 years, piecing together the way of life of Bronze Age people, their settlement of the landscape, their religion and rituals. "Seahenge" demonstrates how much Western civilization owes to the prehistoric societies that existed in Europe in the last four millennia BC. Pryor is President of the Council for British Archaeology and a prominent field archaeologist who has devoted his professional life to the excavation of wetland landscapes in eastern England. [1 copy available]
$ 5.50 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

THE SEARCH FOR SHANGRI-LA: A Journey into Tibetan H istory
by Charles Allen. Fantastic color photo section. Condition: UNREAD 1999 Little Brown hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. Content: While this book is not technically a book on ancient history, it certainly encompasses much ancient Tibetan history. The idea of a hidden refuge, a paradise far from the stresses of modern life, has universal appeal. In 1932 the writer James Hilton coined the word "Shangri-La" to describe such a place, when he gave that name to a hidden valley in the Himalayas in his popular romance, "Lost Horizon". Exploring the myth behind the story, this book tracks down the sources that Hilton drew upon in writing his novel, and then sets out to discover what lies behind the legend that inspired him. In the course of an account of his four journeys into Tibet, Charles Allen also provides a reading of that country's early history, dismissing notions of Tibet as a Buddhist paradise and seeking to restore the mysterious pre-Buddhist religion of Bon to its rightful place in Tibetan culture. He also locates the "lost" kingdom of Shang-shung and, in doing so, the original Shangri-La itself: in a remarkable gorge beyond the Himalayas, full of extraordinary ruins. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 6.50 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

SEARCH FOR SODOM AND GOMORRAH: A True Adventure in the Dead Sea
by Ralph E. Baney. B&W photos & maps. Color decorations. Condition: UNREAD 1963 CAM Press soft cover, no printing given. Light edge wear with pale hinge shelfwear hinge creases front and back hinges. Interior clean & tight. Content: While this book details the search for the fabled twin evil cities of the Bible almost 50 years ago, the informati on and processes of the time still make this compelling reading. [1 copy available]
$ 3.50 + $ 3.19 media shipping. Priority & International shipping available.

THE SEARCH FOR SYBARIS
by Orville H. Bullitt. Intro by Froelich G. Rainey. B&W photos with 5 maps. Decorated end pages of map of the site location. Condition: Gently pre-read, IF at all, 1971 J M Dent (UK) hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first British printing. The DJ shows light shelf wear with rubbings along front jacket fold. No major problems. Interior clean & tight. Content: For over two hundred years Sybaris was the wealthiest and most voluptuous of the Greek cities until in 510 BCE it was attacked and destroyed and a river was diverted over its ruins. For 2500 years it lay buried under silt and mud, until a team from the University of Philadelphia began an eight-year search for the site. This is the story of that search - an exciting documentary of an archaeological investigation using sophisticated techniques and equipment. It is also a fascinating pen-picture of the city and its Greek colonist inhabitants. The site was discovered in December of 1968. (1 copy available)
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THE SECRETS OF THE AVEBURY STONES: Britain's Greatest Megalithic Temple
by Terence Meaden. B&W photos & astronomy charts illustrate. Condition: NEW 1999 Frog Ltd. Trade Paperback, first printing. Tiny shelfwear. Content: Avebury, less than 20 miles from its more famous neighbor, Stonehenge, is rich in symbols linked to pre-Christian Goddess religions. This book reveals the wonders of the site, the largest and most complex prehistoric monument in Britain, through a lavishly illustrated guided tour encompassing history, archaeology, spirituality, and art. [2 copies available]
$ 4.50 + $ 3.19 media shipping. Priority shipping available.

SECRETS OF JERUSALEM'S TEMPLE MOUNT
by Leen and Kathleen Titmeyer. B&W detailed drawings, photos, plus color drawings. Condition: UNREAD 1998 Biblical Archaeology Trade Paperback, reprint. Content: This book is a reprint of the Ritmeyer's articles in Biblical Archaeology magazine. Reviewer: "This book is Ritmeyer's archeological analysis of the construction and remodelings of the Temple Mount. From that perspective, this short, small paperback booklet is a very informative analysis as to the various peoples who worked in developing the Temple Mount over several centuries (Jews, Romans, Muslims, Seleucids, Turks). There are numerous photographs that are very helpful in noting the various construction differences, and location maps showing how the Temple Mount and the Muslim Platform were laid out, and nice 3D drawings depicting how the Jewish Temples might have looked -- based upon the stone foundations. Also of interest is some detailing as to how the buildings were constructed; how different stones were used during different periods. Some nice history is presented by explaining the excavations occuring during the 1880s. Ritmeyer's analysis is great, but his claiming that he can show where the "Ark" itself rested does require more "faith" than what he provides as "proof." Only 116 paperback pages of text, but each one is very informative, from an archeologist's perspective. [1 copy available]
$ 8.69 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

The SIGN AND THE SEAL (Lost Ark of the Covenant)
by Graham Hancock. Four B&W photo sections. Condition: NEW 1993 Touchstone Trade Paperback, 13th printing. Content: The History Channel has a program based on Hancock's book and they still show it periodically. It's great! Look for it! Not only is this book history, religion, & archeology, but adventure and mystery as well. "The fact of the Lost Ark of the Covenant is one of the grant historical mysteries of all time. To believers, the Ark is the legendary vesel holding the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. The Bible contains hundreds of references to the Ark's power to level mountains, destroy armies, and lay waste to cities. The Ark itself, however, mysteriously disappears from recorded history sometime after the building of the Temple of Solomon. After ten years of searching through the dusty archives of Europe and the Middle East, as well as braving the real-life dangers of a bloody civil war in Ethiopia, Graham Hancock has succeeded where scores of others have failed. This intrepid journalist has tracked down the true story behind the myths and legends -- revealing where the Ark is today, how it got there, and why it remains hidden. Part fascinating scholarship and part entertaining adventure yarn, tying together some of the most intriguing tales of all time -- from the Knights Templar and Prester John to Parsival and the Holy Grail -- this book will appeal to anyone fascinated by the revelation of hidden truths, the discovery of secret mysteries." [608 pages] [1 copy available]
$ 12.50 + $ 3.49 media shipping.

THE STAR LAKE ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT: Anthropology of a Headwaters Area of Chaco Wash, New Mexico
edited by Walter K. Wait and Ben A. Nelson. B&W charts, maps, and drawings illustrate. Condition: PLEASE READ. UNREAD 1983 So. Illinois Univ. Press hardcover (no DJ issued), no printing given. Problem: shelf wear in the form of pale rubbings (sliding in and out of shelf next to another book). Interior perfect. Content: This book details the findings of the project funded by Peabody Coal before beginning strip mining in NW New Mexico. The Chaco Wash is an arroyo (a periodic stream) cutting through Chaco Canyon, which is located in northwestern New Mexico on the Colorado Plateau. Questions welcome [1 copy available]
$ 10.00 + $ 3.39 media shipping.

STEALING HISTORY: Tomb Raiders, Smugglers, and the Looting of the Ancient World
by Roger Atwood. Condition: NEW 2006 St. Martin's Trade Paperback, first printing. Tiny edge wear. Content: As the destruction from the war in Iraq has demonstrated most recently, a country's antiquities are never safe from marauding looters and greedy collectors who trawl the black market. In a study that is part detective story and part history lesson, Atwood, an expert on the antiquities market who writes for ARTnews and Archaeology, focuses on one incident as a case study of the insidious effects of the illicit antiquities trade. In 1987, a group of grave robbers working at a burial mound near the village of Sipán in northern Peru uncovered a mausoleum of Moche rulers (the Moche were an innovative indigenous tribe) with a rich cache of gold and silver artifacts. Word soon spread to international buyers, who responded favorably, and prolonged looting began. By the time the Peruvian police intervened three weeks later, much damage had already been done. Walter Alva, a native Peruvian and the site's chief archeologist, uncovered many more undamaged tombs and worked tirelessly to preserve this ancient legacy, bravely confronting looters and endeavoring to establish laws to prevent museums form accepting stolen goods. The case raised international awareness of the illegal antiquities trade. Atwood's ability to bring a story dramatically to life and his keen interest in stemming the illegal antiquities trade makes this an important book for anyone interested in archeology, preservation or the potentially tangled provenance of works they love. Questions welcome [1 copy available]
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STONEHENGE AND NEIGHBOURING MONUMENTS (English Heritage)
by R J C Atkinson. Wonderful color photos of Stonehenge, other archaeological sites with color drawings depicting possible scenes at Stonehente. Condition: UNREAD 1993 English Heritage soft cover, 5th Impression. Content: This book reminds me of a "tourist book" available at Stonehenge or other sites in England. Nevertheless, it is a great book! Contents: Tour of Stonehenge; The first Stonehenge; Arrival of the Bluestones; Arrival of the Sarsen Stones; Carvings on the stones; How Stonehenge was built; Destruction of Stonehenge; Druids; Astronomy; Prehistoric Peoples; Stonehenge Area; Robin Hood's Ball; Long Barrows; Flint Mines; The Cursus; Durrington Walls; Woodhenge; Coneybury Henge; Round Barrow; and Local Museums. [1 copy available]
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STONEHENGE DECODED: An astronomer examines one of the great puzzles of the ancient world
by Gerald S. Hawkins in collaboration with John B. White. Two B&W photos and detailed drawings illustrate. Condition: Gently pre-read, if at all, 1993 Barnes & Noble hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), 4th printing. No problems, just perhaps pre-read. Content: Reviewer: "The author is a Professor of Astronomy who chose to investigate Stonehenge. He concluded that Stonehenge was a sophisticated astronomical observatory designed to predict eclipses. The positioning of the stones provides a wealth of information, as does the choice of the site itself. If you can see the alignment, general relationship, and the use of these stones then you will know the reason for the construction. The author, and other astronomers, discovered the 56-year cycle of eclipses by decoding Stonehenge! Stonehenge was constructed from about 1900BC to 1600BC. Appendix B tells how the movement of stones once each year from an initial fixed position will predict accurately every important lunar event for hundreds of years. This computer would need resetting about once every 300 years by advancing the stones by one space. Mankind generally used the cycle of the moon as a unit of timekeeping. The most significant Stonehenge positions line up to point to some unique sun of moon position (Figure 12). Chapter 7 tells how they used an IBM 704 computer in 1961 to plot the Stonehenge positions (120 pairs of points) and calculated where the lines would hit the sky (p.105). Chapter 9 asks if the Aubrey holes can be proved to have been used as a computer? No, but it is the most reasonable solution proposed so far. This entertaining and educational book tells about the author's investigations and conclusions. It is a classic science book for the general reader." [Of course, some of this information may be a bit dated, but it is fascinating.] [1 copy available]
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STONES, BONES, AND ANCIENT CITIES: Great Discoveries in Archaeology and the Search for Human Origins
by Lawrence H. Robbins, Ph.D. B&W photo section. Condition: UNRAD, but not perfect, 1990 St. Martin's Press hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), second printing. Problem: DJ shows edge wear with light rubbings along top part of front panel at flap. Interior perfect but for light tanning to page edges. Content: This is a fun book. Unpretentious and straight-talking, it dispenses capsules of famous archaeological events with enough enteric coating of rumor and dig lore to make them tasty. Robbins groups his capsules into seven doses: early man; cave and rock art; grave discoveries; lost cities; water sites; stone circles and astroarchaeology; and early writings decoded. Each dose gives brief, highly select, and popularly told information on major finds in the category. One might question Robbins's choices here and there (e.g., a lot about Pompeii, already overcovered). But generally the selection is good, including finds like Ophir in Zimbabwe; the Alpine lake dwellings; and the Skudelev long ships. Chronologies of sites and discovery dates are appended. Not for the scholar, this is just what it professes to be--an undergraduate Gods, Graves and Scholars, designed to pique the interest of the novice. Perfect for the casual archaeologist & beginner. [1 copy available]
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TIME DETECTIVES: How Scientists Use Modern Technology to Unravel The Secrets of The Past
by Brian Fagan. Illustrated with B&W drawings, maps, and photographs. Condition: NEW 1996 Touchstone Trade Paperback, third printing. Tiny edgewear. Content: This exhilarating mix of high adventure and serious scholarship explores how modern archeologists are using techniques like computer imaging, infrared photography and pollen analysis to reconstruct ancient cultures. Fagan, an archaeologist, describes Tiwanaku, a vanished city on Lake Titicaca's Bolivian shore (A.D. 5th-11th centuries), where Andean farmers used crop cultivation methods that are now being copied by modern villagers to increase yields. He visits enigmatic Flag Fen in eastern England, where an enormous Bronze Age timber platform rose amid uninhabited wetlands, the site of sacrificial offerings. He combs Wadi Kubbaniya, an obscure Egyptian valley, home to hunter-gatherers 10,000 years before the pharaohs-possible ancestors of ancient Egyptian civilization. He explains how excavations of the mansions and gardens of 18th-century colonial Annapolis, Md., are revealing class divisions between a white elite and African Americans who comprised as much as one-third of the population. Fagan also explores multistory New Mexican pueblos of the Anasazi, a Sumerian temple complex, Blackfoot bison hunt sites on Canadian cliffs and remnants of the Natufian culture-some of the world's earliest farmers - discovered in the 1930s in what is now Israel. [Whether you agree or disagree with Fagan, he always makes you think.] [1 copy available]
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TIMPSON'S LEYLINES: A Layman Tracking the Leys
by John Timpson. Spectacular color photos by Derry Brabbs. Decorated end pages. Condition: NEW 2000 Cassell large hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), no printing given. Content: Join bestselling author and media star John Timpson as he investigates leylines, ancient routes said to be energy lines of the earth. Relating his discoveries of holy wells, carved green men, early preaching crosses, Celtic fertility objects, and pagan sacred sites in his own witty style, you'll view the fascinating places and intriguing items that he found on his quest. Breathtaking photography rounds out this enthralling armchair travel companion. Some believe they are prehistoric tracks linking ancient meeting places and sacred sites, others that they are invisible energy currents passing through the earth. The “New Age” approach links leylines to mysterious happenings, including the landing of UFOs, while in recent years the lines have been linked to German ghost paths, Irish fairy trails, and Chinese feng shui. What is clear is that there are a considerable number of ancient and unusual sites that are connected by straight lines. Timpson travels through Britain exploring the history and folklore surrounding sites as varied as Stonehenge, Hadrian’s Wall, and the Long Man of Wilmington. In his own witty style, he shows us the fascinating places and intriguing items that he discovered on his quest. [1 copy available]
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TREASURES OF THE ANDES: The Glories of Inca and Pre-Columbian South America
by Jeffrey Quilter. Beautiful color photos of the lands and artifacts of the area. Condition: NEW 2005 Duncan Baird (UK) huge hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), no printing given. Beautiful "metalic" covDJ with equally beautiful color photos. Light shelf wear to back DJ cover - very light. Content: Reviewer: "Firsly the illustrations are lavish, both in quantity and in clarity and colour, and alone are worth buying the book for. The ancient Andean world was a colourful place and this book does it full justice with wonderful photographs of textiles, ceramics and metal work. There are many photographs of artefacts and sites that I have not seen before which was makes the book refreshingly new. Even when familiar sites are photographed (Machu Picchu for example) the choice has been made to include shots from unusual but interesting angles. I was also impressed by the written content. I know of Jeffrey Quilter through his work with Gary Urton editing Narrative Threads - a book on the Khipu (Quipu). His account in this volume is very readable and gets across some key points regarding Andean culture well. The difficult balance of providing some detail on each culture whilst avoiding generalisations is successfully achieved. The theme of building from the earliest cultures to the lastest shows both the variety and the continuity of Andean cultures and what a creative place the ancient Andes were. In short, I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in ancient Peru." [1 copy available]
$ 11.59 + $ 3.79 media shipping. The book weighs 3.5 pounds.

THE UNENDING MYSTERY: A Journey Through Labyrinths and Mazes
by David Willis McCullough. Illustrated with B&W drawings. Condition: NEW 2004 Pantheon Books Trade Paperback, first edition, first printing. Content: McCullough takes on the fascinating task of explaining the history of labyrinths and mazes--and explaining the crucial differences between them--in this diverting excursion into one of the byways of civilization. Beginning with the Greeks, McCullough moves through the centuries (Mediterranean, Tuscan, Scandinavia, England, Italy, and France) until he arrives at some unexpected destinations: a maze in a forest clearing in the Catskills of New York State, the world's largest cornfield maze in Pennsylvania, and the labyrinths created in the Mott Haven section of the South Bronx by a young Scotswoman with the help of neighborhood children. [1 copy available]
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THE VOYAGE OF THE VIZCAINA: The Mystery of Christopher Columbus's Last Ship
by Klaus Brinkbaumer and Clemens Hoges. Translated from the German by Annette Streck. Condition: NEW 2006 Harcourt hard cover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first US edition, first printing. Content: After his discovery of the New World, Columbus embarked on at least two more journeys to the Americas, the last of which remains shrouded in mystery. In the mid-1990s, divers discovered the wreck of a large ship just off the coast of Panama, fueling rumors that this might be the remains of one of the ships from Columbus's final voyage. Brinkbäumer and Höges, journalists at Der Spiegel and amateur divers, traveled to Nombre de Dios, about 15 miles from Portobelo, where the ship went down, to report on this groundbreaking discovery and the politics surrounding it. Part archeological account, part biography, part adventure story and part cultural history, this lively and judicious account of the political intrigues and the excitement surrounding the discovery of the ship's remains offers fascinating reading. Brinkbäumer and Höges vividly recreate Columbus's unsuccessful final voyages. Taking four ships, Columbus returned to the New World in search of more riches. Although he reached the Americas, his ships - victims of shipworms eating through the wood of the hulls - began to sink one by one. Columbus reported abandoning the Vizcaína near Portobelo. This is a cracking good tale of exploration, discovery and the politics that surround any archeological discovery. Reviewer: "This is a truly exciting read. Although the title and subtitle both suggest that the book is mainly about the Vizcaina, in fact, only about 20% of it contains discussions that directly pertain to that ship; most of these discussions deal with efforts towards determining whether the wreck that was found in the Bay of Playa Damas (Panama) is indeed the Vizcaina. Naturally, when something of such historical importance is found, some form of politics must step in to play its important frustrating role of slowing down, with utmost efficiency, any exciting archaeological progress; this case is no exception. However, the main bulk of the book is about Christopher Columbus: his life, his travels and his adventures. Also presented are fascinating outlines of current disputes as to his true origins as well as where his bones are currently located. Published in 2006, this is an English translation of a book that was originally published in German in 2004. Although the original German title seems to be more appropriate than the current English one, the translation is well done in the sense that the writing is so clear and engaging that the book is very difficult to put down. It will likely be indispensable reading for most history buffs, but it can be enjoyed by anyone. " [2 copies available]
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WOOD QUAY: The Clash over Dublin's Viking Past
by Thomas Farel Heffrnan. Illustrated with B&W drawings, maps, and photographs. Condition: Very Good pre-read 1988 University of Texas hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket) first edition, first printing. The book is in excellent condition; the problem is the DJ - 3 "repaired" tears in the back panel but is now in a protective mylar cover. Content: This is a remarkable story on two levels. First that an entire preserved Viking village was discovered beneath the streets of Dublin. Second, the national museum was not willing to hold up commercial development to excavate and save this wonderful find, and the citizens of Dublin took it upon themselves to protect the site for 8 years until it could be properly excavated. Excellent read. It might make you want to get out "there" and protect something Big Business wants to destroy. [1 copy available]
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WRITTEN IN BONES: How Human Remains Unlock The Secrets Of The Dead
edited by Paul Bahn. Color photos and maps illustrate. Condition: NEW 2002 David Charles (UK) soft cover, no printing given. There is an oh-so-pale near crease fromt cover (shelf wear). Interior perfect. Content: Grisly, gross and utterly compelling ... with 250 color photographs, you may find it hard to put this down. As an introductory book to archeology and anthropology, this book is without peer. It's individual case studies are detailed enough to spark interest, but short enough not to bog down in details. There are lots of color photographs so the reader can see what the writer is trying to describe. The case studies cover many different parts of the world, including some that one doesn't readily connect with archeology, and many time periods, from 1.5 million years ago to a couple of hundred years ago. From these case studies one can begin to understand how ancient bodies are yielding their secrets to forensic science. Each case study produces more revelations. For me one of the most amazing was "The Wife of the Marquis of Dai" who died in China some 160 years before the birth of Christ. Her body is almost perfectly preserved and it has been discovered that she suffered from about 10 diseases, including tuberculosis, but that she died from a heart attack due to overeating. This book presents the results in a very readable fashion and should help to create wider interest and understanding of this fascinating topic. [1 copy available]
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YEAR OF DISCOVERY (2002): The Very BEst From the Pages of Archaeology Magazine
by Archaeology Magazine. Preface by Peter A. Young. B&W photos, maps and charts plus a color photo section. Condition: NEW 2002 Hatherleigh Press large soft cover, first printing. Content: From mummies to mastadons, graves to battlefields, deserts to oceans, the exciting world of archaeology comes to life! From King Tut's tomb to Indiana Jones, the world of archaeology has informed and entertained millions. Now there is a book that will captivate everyone from armchair archaeologists to amateurs on weekend digs, from eager college students to the professionals toiling at sites around the globe. Compiled by the editors of Archaeology Magazine, this is the first in a series of annual publications documenting the leading archaeological discoveries around the world. Archaeology is more than just old bones. It is an exciting science combining history, sociology, cultural studies, travel, and adventure. Every year, new and exciting discoveries reveal a wealth of information about our past. From stunning new discoveries of Egyptian coffin and mummy art to the earliest hominid fossils to exciting new finds in Biblical archaeology, no one brings the ancient world alive like the editors of Archaeology Magazine. Featuring timelines, maps and photographs from around the world, The Year of Discovery 2002 brings you the latest on the true story of Noah's Flood, what really happened to the Titanic, and a surprising expose on fake artifacts in the world's top museums. There's also a special feature on the making of a modern mummy. 75+ color & b/w photos. Additional articles: Sacred Sands: Exploring the tombs and temples of ancient Abydos; Land of the Golden Fleece; Scotland's Irish Origins; Gallic Blood Rites; Journey Through a Mayan Rain Forest; Flight of the Anasazi; Fire Fight at Hembrillo Basin (Buffalo Soldiers); and Birthplace of American Booze and more. Excellent. [2 copies available]
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