Book Review: 100 Great Archaeological Discoveries
(Originally written about 2004, I pretty sure this has been published somewhere, I just can’t find proof)
100 Great Archaeological Discoveries. Edited by Paul G. Bahn. Barnes & Nobel Books: New York, 1995.
This book is a fascinating passport into the past. The clothing, tools and crafts far surpass in skill and detail that a modern person would expect of “primitive” times. Concrete bathhouses in the 2nd century AD, intricately tattooed people from 400 BC, a thirty foot stone tower built with an internal staircase created 9,000 years ago and ground ovens over 30,000 years old are just a few of the items left behind by our ancestors. Mankind ever moves forward, our wealth not based on gold and silver, but the work and discoveries of those that have gone before. This book gives the combination to the vault of history and lets us take a moment to admire its contents. Beautifully illustrated, the book is able to be read in short bursts with two or three pages devoted to each discovery. Skim for the headliners, such as Tutankhamen’s tomb, then go back and read the rest of the articles. You will be amazed at how far we have come.
Applications: History of Garb, Architecture, Beads & Glasswork, etc… Personas – Viking, Roman, Spanish, Russian.
Cost: $16 through Barnes & Nobel (in 2004).