Diggging up the past

This is a short introduction to Archaeology, explaining its purpose, cultural importance, method, and an idea of the difficulties involved and the ingenuity required for success. A good deal of the excitement of archaeology is communicated, not only from the discovery of artefacts but also in terms of the insights gained into the lives and culture of people across society in civilisations that have long ceased to exist.

Leonard Woolley was one of the major archaeologists of the early 20th century, and has plenty of first hand tales from his digs to illustrate the points made in the book. In addition to this, there are also about 30 pages of photos and drawings.
This is a well written and easy to read volume that could easily be finished in an afternoon. For anyone without expert knowledge of the topic it is a great introduction that pre-empts many of the questions that might be otherwise have been asked. As well as making me want to read more accounts of achaeological discovery, it also gave me an interest in the field work aspect that the author explains here. ( )

Good general introductions to the aims and methods of archaeology are Leonard Woolley, Digging Up the Past (1930); Sir Mortimer Wheeler, Archaeology from the Earth (1954); and Grahame Clark, Archaeology and Society, 3rd rev. ed. (1957). For the history of archaeology and its relation to the development of anthropology, see C.W. Ceram, Götter, Gräber und Gelehrte (1949; Eng. trans., Gods, Graves and Scholars, 1951); G. Bibby, The Testimony of the Spade (1956); and Glyn Daniel, A Hundred and Fifty Years of Archaeology (1974). Anthologies of archaeological writings that relate both to the history of the subject and its present methods are many. The following are recommended: R.F. Heizer, The Archaeologist at Work (1959), and Man's Discovery of his Past, 2nd ed. (1970); and Jacquetta Hawkes, The World of the Past (1963). For the development of American archaeology, see G. Willey and G. Sabloff, The History of American Archaeology (1973). Special aspects of the development of archaeology are dealt with in D. Brothwell and E. Higgs, Science in Archaeology, 2nd ed. (1969); George F. Bass, Archaeology Under Water (1967); W.F. Libby, Radiocarbon Dating, 2nd ed. (1955); Kenneth Hudson, A Social History of Archaeology (1981); Myra Shackley, Environmental Archaeology (1981); and M.G.L. Baillie, Tree-Ring Dating in Archaeology (1982). ( )

How to deal with the factual evidence of history.