Customer Reviews

Digging up the Past.

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If you're at all interested in archaeology you'll enjoy this book. This work by the famous English archeologist Sir Leonard Woolley is a brief overview and primer of his respective field. The main focus of this book is the process and purpose of excavation. Although there have been huge technological changes in archeology the actual process of "digging" in a meticulous scientific manner has changed very little. This is why this book is still relevant and useful even though it was written over seventy years ago. It is fortunate Woolley avoided such technologically sensitive topics as Arial photography, Dendrochronolgy, and Carbon dating which he briefly mentions in the preface to his second edition (1954).

Woolley discusses aspects of discovery and excavation on a general level. Most of his experience comes from his work in the Middle East. This is apparent in his thorough description of the organization of an excavation crew in which the majority of laborers are Arabic using terms like "Baksheesh". The focus is only on Old World Archaeology and little to no attention is paid to the New World. He superficially explores some of the theory behind the spade. Using a direct and clear approach Woolley uses several examples of discoveries to illustrate his points. He also uses several imaginative metaphors like comparing civilizations to flowers. The book has eight pages of excellent Illustrations to supplement the reading. For its time this work is written in a straight forward easy to read manner. A high school student of today would have little trouble finishing it. This book is ideal for a beginning archeologist or any person just curious about this science.