The "rose-red city" of Petra in the Jordanian desert is just one of thousands of sites all over the world that record human history in all its facets, both humble and glorious. Archaeology is the study of these sites, of prehistoric and early-historic human cultures and societies. Archaeology ranges over the whole of human history, from the first development of writing over five thousand years ago up to today.
I've grouped my archaeology and ancient-history books according to the region they discuss:
| General archaeology | Ancient Egypt | The Middle East | The Americas |
These are general books about archaeology, such as textbooks, "how-to" books, and books that discuss archaeological sites from all over the world.
THE ADVENTURE OF ARCHAEOLOGY*
Fagan, Brian M.
c.1985, National Geographic Society
ISBN: 0-87044-603-7
An introduction to archaeology, focusing on what makes it fun: fieldwork, exploration, and the detective work involved in figuring out how people of the past lived and worked.
ANCIENT MYSTERIES
Furneaux, Rupert
c.1977, Ballantine
ISBN: 0-345-34528-2
A survey of many of the great archaeological mysteries from around the world. Furneaux went to great lengths to collect data on a lot of mysterious finds, from well-known ones like the Pyramids of Giza to almost unknown ones like the grave found at Sutton Hoo in England. He has an unfortunate tendency to stray into pseudoscience at times, but he has some interesting thoughts and ideas in it nevertheless.
BUILDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD: MARVELS OF ENGINEERING*
c.1986, National Geographic Society
ISBN: 0-87044-585-5
A National Geographic Society book about ancient cities and their builders. A typical NGS book: it doesn't have as much detail as I would like, but the photography is as good as it gets.
DOORWAYS THROUGH TIME: THE ROMANCE OF ARCHAEOLOGY*
Bertman, Stephen
c.1986, Jeremy Tarcher, Inc.
ISBN: 0-87477-622-8
MYSTERIES OF MANKIND: EARTH'S UNEXPLAINED LANDMARKS
Various
c.1992, National Geographic Society
ISBN: 0-87044-864-1
THE PRACTICAL ARCHAEOLOGIST
MacIntosh, Jane
c.1986, Facts On File
ISBN: 0-8160-1400-0
A sort of simple guide to archaeology: tools, techniques, goals, methods. MacIntosh does a good job of describing the complexity of doing archaeology right, but doesn't make it sound too overwhelming.
TIME DETECTIVES
Fagan, Brian
c.1995, Touchstone
ISBN: 0-684-81828-0
With an extensive written record that stretches back to 3000 BCE, ancient Egypt may well be the best-documented of all ancient civilizations. It was also the birthplace of modern archaeology, as explorers slowly developed the methods used by modern archaeologists to preserve and record what they found in their digs. And its hundreds of great monuments, temples, tombs, and ancient villages all concentrated along the Nile Valley provide plenty of incentive for archaeologists.
ANCIENT EGYPT: Its Culture and History
Manchip White, J. E.
c.1970, Dover Books
ISBN: 0-486-22548-8
A reprint of a 1952 book, this is a one-volume summary of what was known in 1952 about ancient Egyptian culture and history. Useful general reference, and the fold-out timeline is very nice.
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
Faulkner, R. O.
c.1985, University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0-292-70425-9
Ancient Egypt had a rich variety of beliefs and rituals about death, burial, and the afterlife. The Book of the Dead is a collection of those beliefs and rituals. This edition is an English translation of the original Egyptian work, based on the papyrus collection of the British Museum and richly illustrated with sections of those scrolls.
EGYPTIAN GODS AND GODDESSES: The Mythology and Beliefs of Ancient Egypt
Barrett, Clive
c.1991, Diamond Books
ISBN: 0-26166-930-3
A survey of the Egyptian gods and goddesses. Contrary to what many people think, ancient Egyptian culture recognized several different sets of gods and goddesses, which changed over time.
EGYPTIAN MAGIC
Budge, Sir Wallis
c.1997, Citadel Press
ISBN: 0-8065-0629-6
A survey of Egyptian magic, how it was performed and how it worked. Companion to EGYPTIAN RELIGION by the same author. This book suffers a little from a slightly superior attitude on the part of the author, but is an interesting read and useful reference anyway.
EGYPTIAN RELIGION
Budge, Sir Wallis
c.1987, Citadel Press
ISBN: 0-8065-1229-6
A survey of Egyptian religion and gods. Companion to EGYPTIAN MAGIC by the same author. The author's superior attitude is rather more noticeable in this book than in the companion: he dismisses much of Egyptian belief as 'childish,' and also interprets Egyptian religion as a forerunner of monotheistic Christianity.
A HISTORY OF ANCIENT EGYPT
Grimal, Nicolas
c.1992, Blackwell
ISBN: 0-631-19396-0
A one-volume compact history of the entire history of ancient Egypt, from the initial unification of the Upper and Lower Kingdoms through to the time when Egypt was finally conquered by Rome.
THE KEYS OF EGYPT: The Race to Crack the Hieroglyph Code
Adkins, Lesley & Roy
c.2000, Perennial
ISBN: 0-06-095349-7
The title of this book is somewhat misleading. It's not so much a history of the struggle to translate hieroglyphics as it is a biography of Jean-Jacques Champollion, the brilliant French scholar who achieved that goal. As a biography, it's very good. But if you're looking for something that focuses more on hieroglyphs, including all the failed attempts to translate them, this isn't the best choice.
THE LOST TOMB
Weeks, Kent
c.1998, Wm Morrow
ISBN: 0-688-17224-5
An account of the excavation of KV 5, a tomb in the Valley of the Kings where it's thought that the sons of Ramesses II were buried. KV 5 was originally uncovered in the mid-1800s, but only briefly explored because it was nearly full of cemented debris. Then it was dismissed as unimportant and forgotten for a century and a half. When Weeks and his team rediscovered it in the early 1990s, they thought it was a small tomb, only the entrance and a couple of interior chambers. However, as they cleared debris they found more and more interior rooms and passages, until it became clear that KV 5 is by far the largest and most complex tomb ever found in ancient Egypt. There is an associated website, www.kv5.com . The site includes 2-D and 3-D drawings and models of the tomb, as well as updates on the ongoing excavation and research.
THE PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT
Edwards, I. E. S.
c.1993, Penguin
ISBN: 0-14-013634-7
A detailed, scholarly look at the Egyptian art of pyramid-building, from its origins in the simple stone or brick tombs called mastabas through the great pyramids of Giza and the smaller pyramids of later dynasties.
THE PYRAMIDS: The Mystery, Culture, and Science of Egypt's Great Monuments
Verner, Miroslav
c.1997, Grove Press
ISBN: 0-8021-1703-1
Another, more recently written look at Egypt's pyramid monuments, using new information and a different point of view.
RAMESSES: Egypt's Greatest Pharaoh
Tyldesley, Joyce
c.2000, Penguin
ISBN: 0-140-28097-9
A history and biography of Ramesses II, aka Ramesses the Great, the Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh who was one of Egypt's greatest leaders and warriors.
RIDDLES OF THE SPHINX
Jordan, Paul
c.1998, New York University Press
ISBN: 1-84015-017-3
The Great Sphinx on the Giza Plateau is one of ancient Egypt's greatest and most mysterious monuments. This book is a detailed, well-illustrated look at the Sphinx, its nature, the known facts about it, and the various theories about when, how, and why it was created.
SECRETS OF THE PHARAOHS
McMahan, Ian
c.1998, Avon Books
ISBN: 0-380-79720-8
WHAT LIFE WAS LIKE ON THE BANKS OF THE NILE
Various
c.1997, Time-Life Books
ISBN: 0-965-40984-8
A look at what everyday life was like in ancient Egypt.
Mesopotamia and the Middle East
Mesopotamia is a general name for the drainage basin of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Today, the region is split between Iran and Iraq. In days long ago, this area played host to more ancient civilizations and cultures than any other region of similar size on Earth, starting with the Sumerian culture of almost 3000 BCE, and including Sumeria, Babylon, Assyria, the Hittite Empire, and many more. Further, the cultures of Mesopotamia are intricately connected with those of the Eastern Mediterranean coastal regions: Greece, Persia, the Bedouins of the Arabian desert, ancient Israel, and so on.
THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF MESOPOTAMIA*
Lloyd, Seton
c.1978, Thames and Hudson
ISBN: 0-500-79007-8
A look at the archaeology of the Fertile Crescent, the cradle of Mideast civilization. The Crescent region has been continuously inhabited for more than ten thousand years, and provides one of the best records of early human civilization to be found anywhere on Earth.
ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE LAND OF THE BIBLE: 10,000-586 B.C.E.*
Mazar, Amihai
c.1990, Doubleday
ISBN: 0-385-42590-2
A survey of the archaeology of the Middle East, especially Palestine, Israel, and Jordan, from prehistoric times to Old Testament times.
ATLANTIS OF THE SANDS: THE SEARCH FOR THE LOST CITY OF UBAR*
Fiennes, Ranulph
c.1992, Bloomsbury
ISBN: 0-7475-1327-9
Ranulph Fiennes's account of searching for the lost city of Ubar in the "Empty Quarter" of the Arabian desert. The ancient Greek scientist and geographer Ptolemy knew of Ubar as a city on the frankincense trade route, somewhere inland from the coast. But between his time and now, it was abandoned and lost to history. A few years ago, an expedition was organized to try to find Ubar. This is one account of that expedition.
THE ROAD TO UBAR: Finding the Atlantis of the Sands
Clapp, Nicholas
c.1998, Houghton Mifflin
ISBN: 0-395-87596-X
Nicholas Clapp's account of the discovery of the lost city of Ubar, the "Atlantis of the sands" which was a trade hub over a thousand years ago. Similar to Ranulph Fiennes's account (see above), but differs in some significant points.
The Americas have a rich archaeological and historical heritage. While little in the way of written history has survived, the archaeological record is quite extensive and fascinating.
ANCIENT NORTH AMERICA
Fagan, Brian M.
c.1991, Thames & Hudson
ISBN: 0-500-27606-4
A comprehensive survey of the prehistory of North America. There's a lot more to the pre-European history of North America than most people know. The great civilizations of Central America get most of the press, and most of what's left goes to the desert peoples of the American Southwest like the Anasazi and Navajo. But there were some very powerful, very interesting tribes in eastern and central North America too, like the Southern Cult culture that constructed Cahokia, a city of some thirty thousand people near what is now St. Louis.
ARCHAEOLOGY OF NORTH AMERICA
Snow, Dean
c.1976, Thames & Hudson
ISBN: 0-500-27183-6
Another survey of North American archaeology. This one is a textbook, so it takes a different approach from ANCIENT NORTH AMERICA (above).
BOOK OF THE NAVAJO
Locke, Raymond Friday
c.1992, Mankind Publishing
ISBN: 0-87687-406-5
A collection of archaeological and anthropological information about the Southwestern tribe called the Navajo, though they should properly be called the Dineh.
EARLY MAN IN AMERICA: Readings From Scientific American
MacNeish, Richard (intro)
c.1973, WH Freeman & Co.
ISBN: 0-7167-0863-9
A collection of SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN articles dealing with some of the oldest known human inhabitants of the Americas.
FOUR CORNERS: HISTORY, LAND, AND PEOPLE OF THE DESERT SOUTHWEST
Brown, Kenneth A.
c.1995, HarperPerennial
ISBN: 0-06-092759-3
A survey of the peoples and cultures of the Four Corners area of the American Southwest. "Four Corners" is the name given to the place where the four states of Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico meet. Peoples of the Four Corners region include the Pueblo Amerinds, the Navajo, the Anasazi, the Hopi, and several smaller tribes.
THE MOUND BUILDERS
Silverberg, Robert
c.1970, Ohio Univ. Press
ISBN: 0-8214-0839-9
The story of the Moundbuilder cultures of east-central North America. between roughly about 1000AD and 1600AD, a number of relatively advanced Amerind tribes inhabited the region between the Mississippi River and the Appalachian Mountains. They left behind huge earthworks, effigies in dirt, roads, burial mounds, and many artifacts, but no written records, which makes figuring out their culture much more difficult. This book is one attempt at doing exactly that, while at the same time discrediting some very biased books on the "mysterious Moundbuilders" written in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
NEW WORLD ARCHAEOLOGY*
Various
c.1974, W. H. Freeman
ISBN: 0-7167-0503-6
A collection of articles from SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN about archaeology of the New World. Includes some duplicates of articles from EARLY MAN IN AMERICA.
OHIO'S INDIAN PAST
Hothem, Lar
c.1996, Hothem House
ISBN: 0-9617041-7-9
A look at the archaeological record of the various tribes that have inhabited Ohio over the centuries.
PEOPLE OF THE TONTO RIM: Archaeological Discovery in Prehistoric Arizona
Redman, Charles L.
c.1993, Smithsonian Institute
ISBN: 1-56098-192-X
