Time Detectives: How Archaeologist Use Technology to Recapture the Past (Paperback)

by Brian Fagan (Author) "In 7000 B.C., a small group of hunters and foragers camped in a sandy clearing near Meer in northern Belgium..." (more)
Key Phrases: Flag Fen, Wadi Kubbaniya, Bronze Age (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
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 (The Rape of the Nile), 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. Illustrated.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
In his latest book since Kingdoms of Gold, Kingdoms of Jade: The Americas Before Columbus (LJ 8/91), the author applauds post-World War II developments that have made archaeology a "high-technology science." He describes work done at a wide range of sites, from Stone Age Wadi Kubbaniya in southern Egypt to Colonial Annapolis, Maryland, and gives modern archaeologists the recognition they deserve for their interdisciplinary approach and meticulous methods of retrieving information. Unfortunately, Fagan diminishes 19th-century archaeology to a backdrop and makes it the object of negative comparisons. He refers to archaeologists of that period as "treasure hunters" and omits mention of the 19-century founder of scientific fieldwork, Sir William Flinders Petrie. To supplement his presentation, readers are advised to read C.W. Cerams's classic Gods, Graves, and Scholars (1967) before reading this book. For popular archaeology collections.
Joan Gartland, Detroit P.L.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (March 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684818280
• ISBN-13: 978-0684818283
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #779,019 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Digging in the depths of time, October 25, 2004

By	Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In the quest for learning about our ancient ancestors, placing artefacts in their original context is essential. It's not enough to locate fossil bones or stone chips as once we did. Now, where those people lived, what they ate, what environmental conditions they enjoyed, plus a multitude of other factors must be integrated to build a realistic picture of their life. Not many years ago we could only guess many of these elements. Fagan explains how today's technologies have taken us far beyond the capabilities of the shovel and brush in revealing details of our ancestors' lives.

In this series of accounts, we accompany Fagan on his visits to various archaeological sites. There, he explains what led to the original find, how it was excavated and what processes were involved in explaining the artefacts. There are many tools available to the field researcher today. Most of them are of recent origin and refinements in the future will improve accuracy. Among the most important of the new technologies is, of course, dating techniques. Fossils seem almost capricious in their location. They may be resting where they fell, or earth's many forces may have carried them about. Streams, tides, scavengers, simple burial practices may place remains in a misleading site. Radiometric dating methods, the decay of an element into another, has proven the most reliable of determining the age of a find. The method applies equally to recent skeletal artefacts or evidence from surrounding environment. Seeds, charcoal from firewood, even the long-dead husks of insects may offer clues to age and local conditions.

The various technologies have widened the spectrum of expertise drawn to archaeological sites. More than simply placing human fossils in a local context, larger patterns are derived from the evidence. Pollen samples demonstrate whether the ancient inhabitants lived in open plain, scattered woodland or congested forest. Dung beetles suggest domestic cattle, while other species may suggest thatched houses or stored grain. Each type of investigation requires a specialist, and one versed in recognising changing conditions as well as static, long-term patterns. Human uses of wood are many and varied, and the counting of tree rings becomes an important element in both dating and environmental clues.

Fagan's personal touch gives what might be a dreary account a vibrant life. We slog through damp, muddy bogs in Britain with Francis Pryor, sort through Euphrates valley plant seeds with Gordon Hillman, and reflect on Egyptian wine vintages from Pharonic times. It's not all dry, dusty or boggy antiquity Fagan relates. In Peru, there proves to be modern application for ancient wisdom. In the Andean hills, he shows how archaeology can become an applied science. Techniques for saving water, keeping root crops frost-resistant and utilising soil resources to the fullest that were used by the ancient Incas are now being applied by local farmers. The Altiplano region, long thought to be too desolate or subject to capricious weather, is now estimated to support up to 1.5 million people using these methods. The region's populace understands how conditions vary, and have established mutually supportive communities to extend the practices and provide support in stressful times. Centralised rule from the capital proved flawed, and the regional communities developed their own system. It's a fine object lesson for others. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is a brief overview of Time Detectives, August 5, 1998

By A Customer

Time Detectives is a book about archeology and modern technology. This book describes archeological surveys in North and South America, Africa, and Europe. The most interesting aspect of this book is the methods of archeological research. It is very technical in describing various methods from piecing bone fragments together to radio-carbon dating processes.

In reading this book, one learns that modern archeology is primarily conducted in a lab. The artifacts being transported from the field into various labs in the Americas and Europe. For example, David Cohen excavated a site where a group of hunters and foragers camped in a sandy clearing near Meer in Northern Belgium. He found an area near the site where there were small flint fragments. The pieces were fitted together, and the discovery that there were two persons chipping away on a bit of cobble emerged. The more amazing discovery was that one was right handed, and the other was left handed emerged as th! e chips fit back together.

Another interesting aspect covered in this book is underwater archeology. The various techniques in preserving artifacts are discussed in technical detail. The hardships the divers endure are also discussed. The care of getting preserved artifacts from the ocean floor to the surface without damage is tremendous.

Overall, this book is very challenging reading. The reader discovers that archeology as a science is useful when considering such things as air pollution, simple mechanical discoveries, and survival of the human race. The technical aspects of this book are probably over the heads of my age group (16-18), but it is still interesting reading.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars No Indiana Jones here, or is there?, June 13, 1997

By A Customer

The book is composed of a series of articles about how archeology has evolved from its romantic (and mostly careless) beginnings to a more thorough and precise science. How we have shifted our interest from just dazzling treasures to seeds and excrements. Most importantly, it informs the reader about the thrill that is derived with our methods of today from insignificant pieces of pollen or rotten wood and how this pieces give us a broader picture into the past than the mere recollection of statues and hidden treasures. So if you are in for the adventure of real science, dive right in. If you expect an Indiana Jones type book, you might find it also but you'll have to look a little harder.