Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) [Paperback]

Paul Bahn (Author), Bill Tidy (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0192853791 | ISBN-13: 978-0192853790

This entertaining very short introduction reflects the enduring popularity of archaeology-a subject which appeals as a pastime, career, and academic discipline, encompasses the whole globe, and surveys 2.5 million years. From deserts to jungles, from deep caves to mountain tops, from pebble tools to satellite photographs, from excavation to abstract theory, archaeology interacts with nearly every other discipline in its attempts to reconstruct the past.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Few introductory volumes on archaeology have covered the entire scope of the field in as lively and entertaining a fashion as this short book....It would be useful as a reader in introductory archaeology classes. Professional archaeologists should also enjoy reading this book....Interesting....Refreshing."--Charles C. Boyd, Radford University

"Superb! Just the sort of fast-paced introduction one needs to help stoke the fires of one's students' curiosity."--John J. Shea, State University of New York at Stony Brook

"A series of acute and entertaining short essays on the subject's great themes....It is often said that well-written books are rare in archaeology, but this is a model of good writing for a general audience....Packed with information but never get[s] bogged down in too much detail....Its serious message--that archaeology can be a rich and fascinating subject--it gets across with more panache that any other book I know."--Simon Denison, Editor, British Archaeology

"A wonderful little text, well thought-out and informative. It puts it all in perspective."--Richard Veit, Monmouth College

"Bahn has produced a frank, easy to read, and colorful weekend tour of a vastly interesting, but frequently jargon-rich, scientific discipline. His personalized text puts even the most academic topics on a common level for all to enjoy, professional and enthusiast alike."--Jarrod Burks, Ohio State University

About the Author

Paul Bahn is a freelance writer, translator, and broadcaster in archaeology. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, a contributing editor of Archaeology magazine (New York), vice-president of the Australian Rock Art Research Association, and vice-president (UK) of the Easter Island Foundation.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (June 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192853791
• ISBN-13: 978-0192853790
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #317,160 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dig this, May 6, 2007

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Peter Reeve (Thousand Oaks, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (Paperback)

In the Preface to this excellent little book, the author says his intention is to give the reader a taste of the subject and to help students decide if they want to study archeology at University. It performs those tasks admirably. It quite rightly provides a very broad overview rather than going deeply into specific topics, but manages to cram in loads of interesting facts along the way. The tone is jocular, and sometimes the humor is rather forced ("Relative dating does not mean going out with your cousin") but for the most part it works, and Bill Tidy's cartoons are well up to standard.

Bahn is pretty harsh with some modern archeological notions, and objectivity toward his peers is clearly not a priority with him, but I don't think this seriously distorts what he has to say.

The very title betrays the fact that this is a British publication with British usage and spellings, but I did not spot anything that would cause a problem for an American reader.

I do not know of a better short introduction to the subject than this book. Following this, you might want to read Egyptology, another excellent entry in the same series.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Short on Specifics, January 22, 2003

By 

Jonathan S. Mark "marjo_wycam" (Alexandria, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (Paperback)

This would have been a better book if the author had given more examples of the aspects of archeology of which he spoke. For instance, Bahn wrote about theoretical archeology, but he never described an instance in which a researcher used theoretical archeology to arrive at a particular conclusion.

The book was easy to read, but I did not learn that much from it. Mostly what I got out of it was that carbon dating does not assume that the levels of radioactive carbon have been constant throughout history. Varves are a way of dating that involves counting the layers of annual sedimentation deposits in certain frosty locales.

The book needed to be short, but I thought he should cut back on the breadth and provide more specific info about what he does discuss. Some of the discussions are pointless. He goes on at length about archeology's obligation to teach us about the past, but we all knew that anyway.

The humor was mildly amusing, but the writer is not a gifted comic.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing Archaic About It, January 27, 2011

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Dr. Bojan Tunguz (Indiana, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (Paperback)

In recent years archaeology has acquired a bit of a split personality. The traditional academic discipline of archaeology is still concerned with digging old objects out of the ground and making educated and informed ideas about past peoples and civilizations based on the artifacts of their material culture. It is a well-established and respectable discipline, but it suffers from all the image issues that other scholarly activities are plagued with. It is considered stuffy, pedantic, uncool, and concerned with distant past and things that most people don't really care about. On the other hand thanks to a few highly successful movie franchises (Indiana Jones and the "Mummy" movies come to mind) archaeologists have risen high in the popular esteem, especially with the younger generations. Many boys and girls today grow up dreaming of becoming an archaeologist in hopes that they will discover an ancient artifact with mystical and otherworldly powers.

This short book is a well presented introduction to archaeology. Paul Bhan is a very engaging and sometimes quirky writer who nonetheless knows how to present archaeology in a very informative and accurate manner. In this short introduction he presents all important facets of archaeology providing the reader with a very comprehensive view of this field. The writing is lucid and engaging, and Bhan throws in an occasional joke or pun here or there. Most of them are amusing, but some of them fall flat or make you scratch your head. Nonetheless, these comic diversions show a lot of character, and this is one of the books with the most personality in the entire very short introduction series. There are also numerous archaeology-themed cartoons throughout the book, and they too make this a unique very short introduction. I didn't find the cartoons terribly amusing, but taste in humor is a very individual matter.

One of the most admirable traits of this short book is that Bahn is very honest and forthright in dealing with all the less than savory aspects of the discipline of archaeology - petty rivalries, overly pompous "experts," and a sense of self-importance that is disproportionate to the everyday relevance. Bahn is also not impressed with some of the latest conceptual trends in archaeology, but unfortunately it seems that those are in ascendance within the walls of modern academia. In the light of that this short introduction is especially valuable as an example of what clear and to-the-point educational approach ought to look like.