Time Detectives: How Archaeologists Use Technology To Recapture The Past by Brian M. Fagan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really, really enjoyed this archaelogy book. The focus is on the techniques and methods sifters and seekers use to date remains, re-assemble them, and read the history from such ancient scraps as debitage (the flakes left over from making stone age tools.) Such stunning tales include rebuilding source rocks out of debitage to ascertain two, differnet-handed tool makers sat side-by-side and putting together a cannibalized skeleton to retell events of human butchery and boiling.
The excessive off-the-cliff mass kills of buffalo by Native Americans, far in excess of their survival needs was enlightening (reminding me that all humanity is at times gluttons) as was the epigraphy of deciphering Mayan.
The only complaints that kept me from giving it 5 starts:
1] I needed more pictures and illustrations
and,
2] For the epigraphy topics, like Mayan and the day-to-day writings of Roman soldiers posted at Hadrian's Wall, I wanted more actual quotes, regardless of how mundane.
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