Snapshots of the Past - Softcover

Fagan, Brian M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0761991093 ISBN 13: 9780761991090

Publisher: AltaMira Press, 1995

Synopsis

Archaeology has been a subject of endless fascination to scholars, students and the general public. For the past three decades, Prof. Brian Fagan has been the key narrator of the story of the past for many, through his textbooks, trade books and numerous magazine and journal articles. In recent years, Fagan has reported on the latest news, theories, and controversies in archaeology through his regular Timelines column in Archaeology Magazine. In Snapshots of the Past, Fagan collects many of these vignettes into a single work, leading the reader on a tour through time and space that ranges from the ascent of the human species to the public controversies that concern today's archaeologist. In these 30 brief chapters, the author offers readers a series of "snapshots" of the issues of greatest contemporary interest: the Eve hypothesis, the peopling of the New World, site looting, the translation of Mayan hieroglyphs, the domestication of animals, the impact of feminism on archaeology, the archaeology of slavery, and evidence of human cannibalism, among many others. Included among the articles are several pieces written specifically for this volume, including a description of the recent, spectacular cave art finds at Chauvet Grotto in France. For instructors of archaeology, the book is a handy compilation of brief, interesting cases to engage your students. For serious archaeologists, the book represents a collection of works of one of the important synthesizers of the field. For the avocational archaeologist, the book provides a fascinating, readable update on issues of current concern.

About this title

About the Author:

Brian Fagan is professor of anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a well-known writer and lecturer on archaeology. He has written several widely used textbooks, and a number of popular books.

Review:

Fagan has the gift of being able to sketch out in broad terms the questions that still need to be answered about topics as varied as the peopling of the Americas, the domestication of animals and the cult of the Mother Goddess....His book is perfect, therefore, for someone who wants an overview of some of the interesting work being done today. Fagan is a great tour guide. (Florida Anthropologist)

A Reader's Digest of archaeology. Since the general public is often fascinated by the work archaeologists do and the problems that archaeologists face in the course of their work, this book should be popular to a general audience. (Bulletin of the History of Archaeology)

A stimulating collection of [Fagan's] think-piece articles originally published in the magazine Archaeology. (Current Archaeology)

Based on his columns in Archaeology, the couple of pages on each topic, whether it's the impact of feminism on prehistory or the threatened site of the Elizabethan Rose Theatre, are a good read. (New Scientist)

About this edition

• Publisher: AltaMira Press
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0761991093
• ISBN 13: 9780761991090
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 168