Science: Archaeology Books

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]
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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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THE ORION MYSTERY: Unlocking the Secrets of the Pyramids
by Robert Bauval and Adrian Gilbert. B&W photo section plus B&W charts and drawings illustrate. Condition: NEW 1994 Crown hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first American edition, first printing. Content: This fascinating archaeological detective story argues that the great pyramids of Egypt's Fourth Dynasty (c. 26002400 b.c.) were vast astronomically sophisticated temples, rather than the pharaonic tombs depicted by conventional Egyptology. In March 1993, a tiny remote-controlled robot created by Rudolf Gantenbrink, a German robotics engineer, traveled up airshafts within the Great Pyramid of Giza and relayed to scientists video pictures of a hitherto unknown sealed door within the pyramid. Bauval, a British engineer and writer who has been investigating the pyramids for more than ten years, and Gilbert, a British publishing consultant, use Gantenbrink's tantalizing discovery as a launching pad for an extended analysis of the purpose of the mysterious airshafts, which lead from the Great Pyramid's chambers to its exterior, and of the placement of other Fourth Dynasty pyramids. They were sited, the authors argue, to coincide with the key stars of Orion, a constellation that had religious significance for the Egyptians. Bauval and Gilbert claim that the shafts were pointed directly at important stars in Orion--that is, at those stars as they were placed in ancient times. Using astronomical data about stellar movement, they argue that the Orion stars coincide exactly with the pyramids' positions in approximately 10,400 b.c.--a period the Egyptians called the First Time, when they believed the god Osiris ruled the Earth. The authors also speculate that the mysterious space within the Great Pyramid discovered by Gantenbrink contains the mythical Benben stone, which the Egyptians linked to the creation of the world. The book's contentions are sometimes far-fetched and certainly unlikely to put scholarly controversy about the pyramids to rest. Still, this is an enjoyably radical rethinking of the mystery of the pyramids, with some ingenious arguments made in lucid style. Questions welcome. [1 copy 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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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 QUEST FOR THE SHAMAN: Shape-shifters, Sorcerers, and Spirit-healers of Ancient Europe
by ALDHOUSE-GREEN, Miranda & Stephen. B&W and color maps and photos. Condition: NEW 2005 Thames & Hudson hard cover & DJ (in mylar jacket), assumed first edition. Tiny "repaired" tear top DJ edge. 2 wonderful color photo sections with B&W photos, maps, and drawings throughout. Content: Here is an exciting, innovative study of ancient European religious practice and practitioners. The Aldhouse-Greens entertaining and informative book represents a search, a voyage of discovery in which evidence is sought that there were individuals living in Europe from the Stone Age to the early post-Roman period who believed they were able to liaise with the spirit-world through the medium of trance and who perceived themselves to be part-human and part-animal.The authors support their argument with diverse and rich evidence, including the 30,000-year-old lion-human ivory figurines found in south-western Germany, which may represent monsters seen by shamans in altered states of consciousness; the newly discovered and spectacular Nebra sky-disc, which depicts the sun, moon and the Pleiades, indicating that Bronze Age shamans were using highly sophisticated objects to explore the heavens; and, the Doctors Grave from southeast England, which suggests that a Late Iron Age chieftain, who may have been a shaman, was sent to the Otherworld equipped with hallucinogens, medical kit and divining tools. Questions welcome. 2 copies 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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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]
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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 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]
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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]
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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: UNREAD, 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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STORIES AND STONE: Writing the Ancestral Pueblo Homeland
edited by Reuben Ellis. Detailed maps and B&W drawings illustrate. Mesa Verde cover photo by David Muench. Condition: NEW 2006 Univ. of Arizona Press Trade Paperback, second printing. Slight lift to the front cover fore edge. Content: From timeless writings to contemporary classics, the contributors weave an unforgettable mosaic of a people and a landscape that continues to inspire wanderers and readers even after four centuries. Chaco Canyon, Canyon de Chelly, Mesa Verde, Hovenweep . . . For many, such historic places evoke images of stone ruins, cliff dwellings, pot shards, and petroglyphs. For others, they recall ancestry. Remnants of the American Southwest's ancestral Puebloan peoples (sometimes known as Anasazi) have mystified and tantalized explorers, settlers, archaeologists, artists, and other visitors for centuries. And for a select group of writers, these ancient inhabitants have been a profound source of inspiration. Collected here are more than fifty selections from a striking body of literature about the prehistoric Southwest: essays, stories, travelers' reports, and poems spanning more than four centuries of visitation. They include timeless writings such as John Wesley Powell's The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Tributaries and Frank Hamilton Cushing's "Life at Zuni," plus contemporary classics ranging from Colin Fletcher's The Man Who Walked Through Time to Wallace Stegner's Beyond the Hundredth Meridian to Edward Abbey's "The Great American Desert." Reuben Ellis's introduction brings contemporary insight and continuity to the collection, and a section on "reading in place" invites readers to experience these great works amidst the landscapes that inspired them. For anyone who loves to roam ancient lands steeped in mystery, Stories and Stone is an incomparable companion that will enhance their enjoyment. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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TEOTIHUACAN: City of the Gods (Bilingual - English/Spanish)
by The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Beautiful color photos of sites, buildings, and artifacts. Condition: NEW 1993 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco soft cover (stapled wraps), assumed first edition. Facing pages in English and Spanish. This book is in great condition it's hard for me to believe it was published in 1993, but . . . Content: A discussion of Teotihuacan and all of its facets - religious beliefs, arts, agriculture, buildings, etc. Wonderful book, IMHO. Questions welcome & answered. [2 copies available]
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A THOUSAND MILES UP THE NILE
by Amelia B. Edwards. Intro by Quentin Crewe. B&W drawings (sketches) (by the Author?) of buildings, tombs, and landscapes illustrate. Condition: UNREAD 1984 Century Publishing (London) trade paperback, reissue. Originally published in 1877, the Author updated the book for the 1888 second edition - which is what this is. Light edge wear to cover edges with pale "scuff" marks back cover (sliding in and out of shelves). Content: First published in 1877, this is the autobiographical account of an astonishing journey written by a Victorian Lady who decided to embark on a 1000 mile journey up the Nile in a wooden dahabeeyah. Her account is divided into chapters entitled: Cairo and The Great Pyramid; Cairo and The Mecca Pilgrimage; Cairio to bedreshayn; Sakkarah and Memphis; Bedreshayn to Minieh; Siut to Denderah; Siut to Denderah; Thebes to Karnak; Thebes to Assuan; Assuan and Elephantine; The Cataract and The Desert; Philae; Philae to Korosko; Korosko to Abou Simbel; Rameses The Great; Abou Simbel; The Second cataract; Discoveries at Abou Simbel; Back Through Nubia; Silsilis and Edfu; Thebes; Abydus and Cairo. [1 copy available]
$ 5.59 + $ 3.40 media shipping.

TREASURES OF ANCIENT NIGERIA
by Ekpo Eyo and Frank Willett. Excellent choice and presentation of color and B&W artifact photos. Condition: UNREAD 1982 Knopf large (in every way) soft cover, no printing given. Content: The magnificent art that is the heritage of Nigeria is now, for the first time, presented to the world beyond Nigeria. One hundred extraordinary works of art in bronze, terracotta, and ivory - works spaning more than 2000 years, from the 5th century BCE and representing seven cultures. While the text may be a bit dated, this is still an important work. [1 copy available]
$ 18.59 + $ 3.49 media shipping. The book weighs 1.5 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]
$ 6.59 + $ 3.09 media shipping. Priority shipping available.

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]
$ 6.50 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

ANASAZI PETROGLYPHS BOOKPLATES
art by Dmstudio. Condition: NEW package of 10 bookplates made by pacaritambo books. The peel-off label stock is heavier than most bookplate materials and is matte and not glossy. They are as perfect as possible, and we feel the subject matter is much different than you can get anywhere else. 3.5" H x 3.5" W. We can personalize your bookplate (the font is Libra BT) - just email us the name. Any questions, click here to email us. Content: Petroglyphs can be found all over the Southwest from West Texas to California. Some petroglyps represent actual animals (deer, armadillos, etc.) while others are mysterious and seem to depict creatures from outer space (ok, some people think that). All are beautiful and worthy of being preserved wherever they are found.
$ 4.00 + $ 2.85 first class shipping. International shipping available.

MACHU PICCHU BOOKPLATES
art from a photo rendering. Condition: NEW package of 10 bookplates made by pacaritambo books. The peel-off label stock is heavier than most bookplate materials and is matte and not glossy. They are as perfect as possible, and we feel the subject matter is much different than you can get at anywhere else. 4.0" H x 3.0" W. We can personalize your bookplate (the font is ZurichCalligraphic) - just email us the name. Any questions, click here to email us. Content: This beautiful rendering from a photo is used on our front page and depicts what was most likely the beauty of Machu Picchu.
$ 4.00 + $ 2.85 first class shipping. International shipping available.

MAYA CALENDAR BOOKPLATES (T'ZOLKIN BOOKPLATES)
art by Airi Pung. Condition: NEW package of 10 bookplates made by pacaritambo books. The peel-off label stock is heavier than most bookplate materials and is matte and not glossy. They are as perfect as possible, and we feel the subject matter is much different than you can get at anywhere else. 4.0" H x 3.0" W. We can personalize your bookplate (the font is CrossiantD) - just email us the name. Any questions, click here to email us. Content: This is a rendering of the Maya Calendar (T'zolkin) from ancient carvings with time divisions.
$ 4.00 + $ 2.85 first class shipping. International shipping available.