So how did you get interested?

I hunted for this group primarily for help with the title of a book, Quest for the Origins of the First Americans by E. James Dixon. Obviously I remembered it as I was typing the question. I also remembered how fascinating the subject has always been to me. For me the fascination started when one of my Grandmothers tenets left a set of books after he moved out. The books were the complete set of the Smithsonian Institute’s Department of Ethnography’s reports except for the indexes. I was eight or nine at the time and I can’t count all the hours I spent looking at the hundreds of pages of illustrations of villages and artifacts. Of course at that age I was mostly looking at the arrowheads but before to long I was reading the descriptions of village life in all the different tribes.

So how did you get interested in archeology?

I lived in Turkey as a kid for 3 years. You can't swing a dead cat without hitting ruins there, so I grew up clambering all over them. We also traveled to other parts of the middle east.

I had been to many of the sites that are covered in books, mags, and documentaries, so it was natural to want to learn more about them.

Don't remember. In elementary school I read everything I could get my hands on, so I probably stumbled across some children's archaeology book or another. I do remember digging for ruins in the back yard, which didn't do much to endear me to my folks.

Can't remember a time when I wasn't interested, as there were Pueblo pots and Navajo rugs around the house, and Dad's sister was an anthropologist. But it was crystallized when my school had one of those 'order one of these books' deals. I bought one for my father called The First Americans. He never said a word about already knowing all that, and I read it too, and boy, it was fun!

Climbing up Maiden Castle in Dorset was for me the catalyst - who and why and how? My country's prehistory beckoned me first and then the interest broadened out.

My Dad gave me Gods, Graves and Scholars when I was around eight or so, and I fell in love. Living in the southwest of the US with such a wonderful wealth of prehistory and cultures just added fuel to the fire.

I grew up in a surprisingly old corner of the country - the Dutch were here before the English were at Plymouth - and as a kid, I used to ride my bike down into Longfellow's Vale of Tawasentha. (See: verses #6 and #7....)

It wasn't long before I noticed that I was living in a part of the world where every second feature of the landscape was named for the Native Americans - who were nowhere to be found. Who were they? Where did they go?

I fell in love with "Gods, Graves, and Scholars" in the public library 50 years ago. About 20 years later I found the same edition in a used book store. And it has been with me ever since.

I have no idea where to begin. I have loved the study of the past for as long as I can remember. In grade school, I must have read every historical biography (for children) I could get my hands on. It went from there into a broader interest in history and into archaeology. I am particularly interested in artifacts, and other discoveries, that contradict mainstream scientific/historical beliefs. I am not much for hearing alien conspiracy theories on human evolution, but its better then a closed mind, I suppose.

Anyone know good books on archaeology, particularly structures, that includes alternative theories that fit the evidence but not necessarily current mainstream thought? I am not interested in conspiracy theories and alien interference. Oh, and it needs to be written for the average reader and not scientists. TYVM.

It's so good to hear other people talking about the same things I think about all the time.

I used to dig up bones left by coyotes in my front yard. And I've always loved rocks, fossils, history, and cultures. But my desire to become an archaeologist really started after my mom gave me Clan of the Cave Bear when I was 10. That started a whole love for historical fiction, particularly with an archaeological basis. W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neill Gear and Linda Lay Schuler's books sparked my imagination. Then a childhood full of travel to castles, temples, and ruins bound me to it.

9> Anyone know good books on archaeology, particularly structures, that includes alternative theories that fit the evidence but not necessarily current mainstream thought? I am not interested in conspiracy theories and alien interference. Oh, and it needs to be written for the average reader and not scientists.

For the pyramids, try Kurt Mendelssohn: The Riddle of the Pyramids. Although most Egyptologists don't agree with Mendelssohn's theory, he isn't a woo-woo, his explanation is limited to a few specific pyramids, and he treats conventional theories with respect.

I went to college at night while my husband worked and I hired a baby sitter. I had to choose a major and took Anthropology as I aways had an interest in history. I also volunteer at a local museum.

Like so many here, I can't remember when I became interested in Archaeology. I always loved anything related to the ancient world.. In later years, I started collecting ancient Roman and Greek coins. At around the same time, I became friends with neighbors who were archaeologists/art historians: Cornelius and Emily Vermeule. For several years, I spent every Saturday and Sunday morning at their house, chatting over coffee about ancient art, museums, etc.

My grandparents were born in Sicily" living among the ruins". As a child I was told all the stories about the Greek and Romans. My greatest thrill was a visit to Syracuse to the Greek and Roman ruins. So it has always been my passion. I lived near Plymouth Ma and so New England Archaeology is another of my passions. I loved walking through the woods where King Philip fought his battles with the whites. And nearby in Salem NH is Mystery Hill. My husbands mother played there as a child before it was discovered. She called it the place where the little people lived.

Jessie, maybe you should write a book because of so much history in your family. Have you done your genealogy? Sicily was fantastic.

You chatted every Sat and Sun morning with Emily Vermeule?! Wow! I'm jealous. I use her books regularly and a lovely collection put together in her honor called The Ages of Homer.

Back in 6th grade my teacher had us do a huge class project called DIG II. Each group of students created their own culture and made objects and documents giving clues about their culture. Then we got to bury everything in the playground and dig up another group's section and try to figure out what their culture was like.

It was so much fun that I never forgot about it! It was definitely a major factor in my love of archaeology :D

This is a good place to start, and nothing here for a year, so it is already archaeology. It was Stonehenge that got me to the big things and wondering how and why they, it, built, relation. I've spent most of my time designing information systems so classification is rather in my blood. It was before I was allowed to use a pen that I had a jotter working through the encyclopedia writing in the battles, the generals, the places and the times so I could work out how to rule the world, or bring everlasting peace, that I realised I was spending time duplicating, writing the same thing twice, and that indexing was the key. The rest is archaeology.

I've always been fascinated by history, thanks to my parents (both history nerds) whose family vacations consist primarily of going to museums and historic sites. I found Dig magazine in later elementary/middle school, then forgot about my interest in archaeology for several years. Museums generally welcome young volunteers, but all the archaeologists I met told me to come back when I was 18. So now I'm in my first year at college, majoring in anthropology and history.

My College degree is in Archaeology & Biological Anthropology, though I prefer Egyptology and the Occult Sciences (it keeps the subject interesting). I became interested after reading National Geographic magazines and watching Indy Jones films... The tour of Tutankhamon in 1979 I saw on television via the media, but not the exhibit; I later saw this 2x in CA in 2005 and 2009. I have always been interested in Ancient History and culture, and Astronomy.

https://www.createspace.com/3982356
The Flea Market Archaeologist by Michael J. Costa.

For me it was reading the books of Roy Chapman Andrews in my primary-school library. I was a good reader, and his books weren't dumbed-down. This was, of-course, at-least a quarter-century before anybody started to vomit forth all the Indiana Jones silliness.