100 Best Archaeology Books of All Time (Updated for 2026)

1

The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story

Douglas Preston

5.0

NAMED A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2017#1 New York Times and #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller!
A Best Book of 2017 from the Boston Globe
One of the 12 Best Books of the Year from National Geographic
Included in Lithub's Ultimate Best Books of 2017 List
A Favorite Science Book of 2017 from Science News

A five-hundred-year-old legend. An ancient curse. A stunning medical mystery. And a pi

2

Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

Jared Diamond

4.9

Preview Summary

Explaining what William McNeill called The Rise of the West has become the central problem in the study of global history. In Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond presents the biologist's answer: geography, demography, and ecological happenstance. Diamond evenhandedly reviews human history on every continent since the Ice Age at a rate that emphasizes only the broadest movements of peoples and ide

Recommended by Bill Gates, Charles T. Munger, Charlie Munger, and 12 others.

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

Fascinating.... Lays a foundation for understanding human history. [source]

Daniel Ek

A brilliant Pulitzer Prize-winning book about how the modern world was formed, analyzing how societies developed differently on different continents. [source]

Simon Sinek

Author

I’m a fan of books that challenge our assumptions, and Diamond offers us a new and remarkably simple way of looking at our world. Learning to challenge existing assumptions is core to effective leadership for it trains us to keep an open mind. [source]

3

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus

Charles C. Mann

4.9

In this groundbreaking work of science, history, and archaeology, Charles C. Mann radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus in 1492.

Contrary to what so many Americans learn in school, the pre-Columbian Indians were not sparsely settled in a pristine wilderness; rather, there were huge numbers of Indians who actively molded and influenced the land around them

Recommended by Adam Conover, Colin Calloway, and Scott Keyes.

Adam Conover

@TheBaltimoreSon @CharlesCMann Sure it! A total revolution in my understanding of history, all in one book. Amazing stuff. [source]

Colin Calloway

The book provides a huge hemispheric overview. [source]

Scott Keyes

It’s one of those books that takes everything you thought you knew about the history of European colonialists and indigenous groups in the Americas and turns it on its head. Just a fascinating deep-dive into early American history that questions a lot of dogma we were taught in school. [source]

4

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Yuval Noah Harari

4.9

Preview Summary

100,000 years ago, at least six human species inhabited the earth. Today there is just one. Us. Homo sapiens.

How did our species succeed in the battle for dominance? Why did our foraging ancestors come together to create cities and kingdoms? How did we come to believe in gods, nations and human rights; to trust money, books and laws; and to be enslaved by bureaucracy, timetables and consumerism?

Recommended by Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Reid Hoffman, and 34 others.

Barack Obama

Former USA President

Fact or fiction, the president knows that reading keeps the mind sharp. He also delved into these non-fiction reads. [source]

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

Both Melinda and I read this one, and it has sparked lots of great conversations at our dinner table. Harari takes on a daunting challenge: to tell the entire history of the human race in just 400 pages. He also writes about our species today and how artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, and other technologies will change us in the future. Although I found things to disagree with—especially Harari’s claim that humans were better off before we started farming—I would recommend Sapiens to anyone who’s interested in the history and future of our species. [source]

Reid Hoffman

CEO/LinkedIn

A grand theory of humanity. [source]

5

Archaeology: Theories, Methods, and Practice

Colin Renfrew and Paul Bahn

4.9

Archaeology is organized around the key questions that archaeologists ask about the past and details the practical and theoretical ways in which answers to those questions are sought. The seventh edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to include the newest developments in the subject and the latest discoveries, and is newly designed with additional box features and extensive drawings, cha

6

Crocodile on the Sandbank (Amelia Peabody, #1)

Elizabeth Peter

4.7

Amelia Peabody inherited two things from her father: a considerable fortune and an unbendable will. The first allowed her to indulge in her life's passion. Without the second, the mummy's curse would have made corpses of them all.

7

Gods, Graves and Scholars: The Story of Archaeology

C.W. Ceram

4.7

C.W. Ceram visualized archeology as a wonderful combination of high adventure, romance, history and scholarship, and this book, a chronicle of man's search for his past, reads like a dramatic narrative. We travel with Heinrich Schliemann as, defying the ridicule of the learned world, he actually unearths the remains of the ancient city of Troy. We share the excitement of Lord Carnarvon and Howard

8

The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World

David W. Anthony

4.6

Roughly half the world's population speaks languages derived from a shared linguistic source known as Proto-Indo-European. But who were the early speakers of this ancient mother tongue, and how did they manage to spread it around the globe? Until now their identity has remained a tantalizing mystery to linguists, archaeologists, and even Nazis seeking the roots of the Aryan race. The Horse, the Wh

9

The Crossing Places (Ruth Galloway, #1)

Elly Griffiths

4.5

Forensic archaeologist Dr. Ruth Galloway is in her late thirties and lives happily alone with her two cats in a bleak, remote area near Norfolk, land that was sacred to its Iron Age inhabitants—not quite earth, not quite sea. But her routine days of digging up bones and other ancient objects are harshly upended when a child’s bones are found on a desolate beach. Detective Chief Inspector Nelson ca

10

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

Jared Diamond

4.5

In Jared Diamond’s follow-up to the Pulitzer-Prize winning Guns, Germs and Steel, the author explores how climate change, the population explosion and political discord create the conditions for the collapse of civilization

Environmental damage, climate change, globalization, rapid population growth, and unwise political choices were all factors in the demise of societies around the world, but some

Recommended by Bill Gates, Daniel Headrick, David Pilling, and 3 others.

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

I found this to be an interesting follow-up to the excellent Guns, Germs, and Steel. It examines the downfall of some of history's greatest civilizations. [source]

Daniel Headrick

I found Jared Diamond’s book Collapse more valuable in influencing my own thinking, because it shows the importance of culture in determining how humans deal with environmental threats. …….The author investigates the successes and failures of a number of civilisations which had reached a crisis point, and looks at why some succeeded and others hadn’t. [source]

David Pilling

This is a warning that societies can do this. We, as a human society, could do this if we’re not careful. If we stretch the earth beyond its planetary limits, we could ruin the soil, we could ruin the ocean, we could ruin the air, and we could drain the ocean of fish. He sees evidence all around that we’re doing precisely that. He sees a limit to technology to solve our problems. [source]

Cover unavailable

11

Unearthed (Unearthed, #1)

Israel Finkelstein

4.5

When Earth intercepts a message from a long-extinct alien race, it seems like the solution the planet has been waiting for. The Undying's advanced technology has the potential to undo environmental damage and turn lives around, and Gaia, their former home planet, is a treasure trove waiting to be uncovered.

For Jules Addison and his fellow scholars, the discovery of an alien culture offers unpreced

12

In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American Life

James Deetz

4.5

History is recorded in many ways. According to author James Deetz, the past can be seen most fully by studying the small things so often forgotten. Objects such as doorways, gravestones, musical instruments, and even shards of pottery fill in the cracks between large historical events and depict the intricacies of daily life. In his completely revised and expanded edition of In Small Things Forgot

13

Archaeological Theory

Matthew Johnson

4.4

This is a lively overview of the major ideas and concepts in archaeological theory.

14

1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed

Eric H. Cline

4.4

In 1177 B.C., marauding groups known only as the "Sea Peoples" invaded Egypt. The pharaoh's army and navy managed to defeat them, but the victory so weakened Egypt that it soon slid into decline, as did most of the surrounding civilizations. After centuries of brilliance, the civilized world of the Bronze Age came to an abrupt and cataclysmic end. Kingdoms fell like dominoes over the course of jus

15

The Janus Stone (Ruth Galloway, #2)

Elly Griffiths

4.4

It’s been only a few months since archaeologist Ruth Galloway found herself entangled in a missing persons case, barely escaping with her life. But when construction workers demolishing a large old house in Norwich uncover the bones of a child beneath a doorway—minus its skull—Ruth is once again called upon to investigate. Is it a Roman-era ritual sacrifice, or is the killer closer at hand?

Ruth an

16

Fingerprints of the Gods: The Evidence of Earth's Lost Civilization

Graham Hancock

4.4

Could the story of mankind be far older than we have previously believed? Using tools as varied as archaeo-astronomy, geology, and computer analysis of ancient myths, Graham Hancock presents a compelling case to suggest that it is.
In Fingerprints of the Gods, Hancock embarks on a worldwide quest to put together all the pieces of the vast and fascinating jigsaw of mankind’s hidden past. In ancient

17

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon

DAVID GRANN

4.4

A grand mystery reaching back centuries. A sensational disappearance that made headlines around the world. A quest for truth that leads to death, madness or disappearance for those who seek to solve it. The Lost City of Z is a blockbuster adventure narrative about what lies beneath the impenetrable jungle canopy of the Amazon.

After stumbling upon a hidden trove of diaries, New Yorker writer David

Recommended by The Jupiter Girl.

The Jupiter Girl

The Lost City of Z (I have the book and it remains unread in Australia) is an odd little film, it's really more about the father-son relationship rather than what motivates Fawcett. It's a slow and dreamy film about a dreamer searching for some great achievement in his life [source]

18

A History of Archaeological Thought

Bruce G. Trigger

4.4

The development of archeological thought is analyzed by examining archeological history to determine to what extent its trends reflect archeologists' personal & collective interests.
List of Illustrations
Preface
The relevance of archaeological history
Classical archaeology & antiquarianism
The beginnings of scientific archaeology
The imperial synthesis
Culture-historical archaeology
Soviet archaeology

19

The Curse of the Pharaohs (Amelia Peabody, #2)

Elizabeth Peters

4.4

Victorian Amelia Peabody continues to journal her Egypt adventures, toddler Ramses left in England. Husband Radcliffe Emerson's old friend Lady Baskerville fears a curse killed her husband Sir Henry, and soon engages the attentions of American Cyrus. The will funds continued excavation. But a lady dressed in white floats, flutters, spreads fear, and more death.

Cover unavailable

20

The Source

James A. Michener, Steve Berry

4.4

In the grand storytelling style that is his signature, James Michener sweeps us back through time to the very beginnings of the Jewish faith, thousands of years ago. Through the predecessors of four modern men and women, we experience the entire colorful history of the Jews, including the life of the early Hebrews and their persecutions, the impact of Christianity, the Crusades, and the Spanish In

Recommended by Ben Shapiro.

Ben Shapiro

Basically a bunch of short stories. But a bunch of them are really, really compelling and interesting. … It's a long read but it's an easy read. [source]

21

Lives in Ruins: Archeologists and the Seductive Lure of Human Rubble

Marilyn Johnson

4.3

The author of The Dead Beat and This Book is Overdue! turns her piercing eye and charming wit to the real-life avatars of Indiana Jones—the archaeologists who sort through the muck and mire of swamps, ancient landfills, volcanic islands, and other dirty places to reclaim history for us all

Pompeii, Machu Picchu, the Valley of the Kings, the Parthenon—the names of these legendary archaeological site

22

The Bog People: Iron-Age Man Preserved

Peter Vilhelm Glob

4.3

One spring morning two men cutting peat in a Danish bog uncovered a well-preserved body of a man with a noose around his neck. Thinking they had stumbled upon a murder victim, they reported their discovery to the police, who were baffled until they consulted the famous archaeologist P.V. Glob. Glob identified the body as that of a two-thousand-year-old man, ritually murdered and thrown in the bog

23

The Mummy Case (Amelia Peabody, #3)

Elizabeth Peters

4.3

Disgusted when he is denied access to the pyramids of Dahshoor and assigned to a rubble heap, Emerson finds his curiosity piqued when an antiquities dealer is murdered and a mummy case disappears. Reissue.

24

Britain BC: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans

Francis Pryor

4.3

Francis Pryor's radical re-examination of Britain and Ireland before the coming of the Romans, based on compelling new evidence recently uncovered by aerial photography, coastal erosion and advanced scientific techniques, reveals a much more sophisticated life among the Ancient Britons than has previously been supposed.

It bounds along, wonderfully enlivened by Pryor's earthy enthusiasm. If you wan

25

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

Elizabeth Kolbert

4.3

Preview Summary

Over the last half-billion years, there have been five mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring the sixth extinction, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. This time around, the cataclysm is us.

In prose that is at once fran

Recommended by Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and 6 others.

Barack Obama

Former USA President

The president also released a list of his summer favorites back in 2015: All That Is, James Salter The Sixth Extinction, Elizabeth Kolbert The Lowland, Jhumpa Lahiri Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates Washington: A Life, Ron Chernow All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr [source]

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, by Elizabeth Kolbert. Climate change is a big problem—one of the biggest we’ll face this century—but it’s not the only environmental concern on the horizon. Humans are putting down massive amounts of pavement, moving species around the planet, over-fishing and acidifying the oceans, changing the chemical composition of rivers, and more. Natural scientists posit that there have been five extinction events in the Earth’s history (think of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs), and Kolbert makes a compelling case that human activity is leading to the sixth. Unlike a lot of people who write about the environment, Kolbert doesn’t resort to hype. She just lays out the facts and wraps them in memorable anecdotes. It’s a sobering but engaging and informative read. [source]

Jeff Bezos

Founder/Amazon

"In his autobiography, Walmart's founder expounds on the principles of discount retailing and discusses his core values of frugality and a bias for action — a willingness to try a lot of things and make many mistakes. Bezos included both in Amazon's corporate values," Brad Stone writes. [source]

26

The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code

Margalit Fox

4.3

In the tradition of Simon Winchester and Dava Sobel, The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code tells one of the most intriguing stories in the history of language, masterfully blending history, linguistics, and cryptology with an elegantly wrought narrative. When famed archaeologist Arthur Evans unearthed the ruins of a sophisticated Bronze Age civilization that flowered on C

27

A Room Full of Bones (Ruth Galloway, #4)

Elly Griffiths

4.3

Combine a splash of Alan Bradley with a pinch of Kathy Reichs and you have a gripping new Ruth Galloway Mystery -- a good-hearted mystery series with a dark edge.

Set in Norfolk, England, A Room Full of Bones embroils, once again, our brainy heroine in a crime tinged by occult forces. On Halloween night, the Smith Museum in King's Lynn is preparing for an unusual event -- the opening of a coffin c

28

After the Ice: A Global Human History, 20,000-5000 BC

Steven Mithen

4.3

20,000 B.C., the peak of the last ice age--the atmosphere is heavy with dust, deserts, and glaciers span vast regions, and people, if they survive at all, exist in small, mobile groups, facing the threat of extinction.

But these people live on the brink of seismic change--10,000 years of climate shifts culminating in abrupt global warming that will usher in a fundamentally changed human world. Afte

29

The Outcast Dead (Ruth Galloway, #6)

Elly Griffiths

4.3

Ruth Galloway uncovers the bones of what might be a notorious Victorian child murderess and a baby snatcher known as "The Childminder" threatens modern-day Norfolk in the latest irresistible mystery from Elly Griffiths.

Forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway uncovers the bones of a Victorian murderess while a baby snatcher threatens modern-day Norfolk in this exciting new entry in a beloved series.
Ev

30

Thunderhead (Nora Kelly #0)

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

4.3

Nora Kelly, a young archaeologist in Santa Fe, receives a letter written sixteen years ago, yet mysteriously mailed only recently. In it her father, long believed dead, hints at a fantastic discovery that will make him famous and rich---the lost city of an ancient civilization that suddenly vanished a thousand years ago. Now Nora is leading an expedition into a harsh, remote corner of Utah's canyo

31

A History of the World in 100 Objects

Neil MacGregor

4.2

Neil MacGregor's A History of the World in 100 Objects takes a bold, original approach to human history, exploring past civilizations through the objects that defined them. Encompassing a grand sweep of human history, A History of the World in 100 Objects begins with one of the earliest surviving objects made by human hands, a chopping tool from the Olduvai gorge in Africa, and ends with objects w

Recommended by Grey Baker.

Grey Baker

The best thing I read recently was A History of the World in 100 Objects, which is absolutely brilliant. It charts the history of humanity through objects from the British Museum’s collection, and is wonderfully holistic. I can’t recommend it enough for anyone looking to broaden their perspective. [source]

32

The House at Sea's End (Ruth Galloway, #3)

Elly Griffiths

4.2

Ruth Galloway has just returned from maternity leave and is struggling to juggle work and motherhood. When a team from the University of North Norfolk, investigating coastal erosion, finds six bodies at the foot of the cliff, she is immediately put on the case.

33

The Ghost Fields (Ruth Galloway, #7)

Elly Griffiths

4.2

The chilling discovery of a downed World War II plane with a body inside leads Ruth and DCI Nelson to uncover a wealthy family’s secrets in the seventh Ruth Galloway mystery.

Norfolk is suffering from record summer heat when a construction crew unearths a macabre discovery—a downed World War II plane with the pilot still inside. Forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway quickly realizes that the skelet

Cover unavailable

34

Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times

Elizabeth Wayland Barber

4.2

New discoveries about the textile arts reveal women's unexpectedly influential role in ancient societies.

Twenty thousand years ago, women were making and wearing the first clothing created from spun fibers. In fact, right up to the Industrial Revolution the fiber arts were an enormous economic force, belonging primarily to women.

Despite the great toil required in making cloth and clothing, most bo

35

Come, Tell Me How You Live

Agatha Christie Mallowan

4.2

Recommended by Neal Ascherson.

Neal Ascherson

I was surprised to see a book by Agatha Christie on your list: Come , Tell me How You Live. [source]

36

A Dying Fall (Ruth Galloway, #5)

Elly Griffiths

4.2

Ruth’s old friend Dan Golding dies in a house fire. But before he died Dan wrote to Ruth telling her that he had made a ground-breaking archaeological discovery. Could this find be linked to his death and who are the sinister neo-Nazi group who were threatening Dan? Ruth makes the trip to Blackpool to investigate, wary of encroaching on DCI Harry Nelson’s home ground. Soon Ruth is embroiled in a m

37

Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology

Kenneth Feder

4.2

This textbook presents the scientific method and applies it to popular frauds and misconceptions in the field of prehistoric archaeology, such as the Cardiff Giant, Piltdown Man, Atlantis, America's first inhabitants, creationism, Noah's Ark, and the Newark Holy Stones. Black and white photographs are provided. The fifth edition adds a chapter on a

38

Motel of the Mysteries

David Macaulay

4.2

It is the year 4022; all of the ancient country of Usa has been buried under many feet of detritus from a catastrophe that occurred back in 1985. Imagine, then, the excitement that Howard Carson, an amateur archeologist at best, experienced when in crossing the perimeter of an abandoned excavation site he felt the ground give way beneath him and found himself at the bottom of a shaft, which, judgi

39

Europe Between the Oceans: 9000 BC-AD 1000

Barry Cunliffe

4.2

In this magnificent book, distinguished archaeologist Barry Cunliffe reframes our entire conception of early European history, from prehistory through the ancient world to the medieval Viking period. Cunliffe views Europe not in terms of states and shifting political land boundaries but as a geographical niche particularly favored in facing many seas. These seas, and Europe’s great transpeninsular

40

The Fires of Vesuvius: Pompeii Lost and Found

Mary Beard

4.2

Pompeii is the most famous archaeological site in the world, visited by more than two million people each year. Yet it is also one of the most puzzling, with an intriguing and sometimes violent history, from the sixth century BCE to the present day. Destroyed by Vesuvius in 79 CE, the ruins of Pompeii offer the best evidence we have of life in the Roman Empire. But the eruptions are only part of t

41

The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art

David Lewis-Williams

4.2

Emerging from the narrow underground passages into the chambers of caves such as Lascaux, Chauvet, and Altamira, visitors are confronted with symbols, patterns, and depictions of bison, woolly mammoths, ibexes, and other animals.

Since its discovery, cave art has provoked great curiosity about why it appeared when and where it did, how it was made, and what it meant to the communities that created

Recommended by Hector McDonnell.

Hector McDonnell

This book has been my constant companion as I have tried to understand Ireland’s prehistory. [source]

42

The Mummies of Ürümchi

Elizabeth Wayland Barber

4.2

Some of Ürümchi's mummies date back as far as 4,000 years—contemporary with the famous Egyptian mummies but even more beautifully preserved. Surprisingly, these prehistoric people are not Asian but Caucasoid—tall, large-nosed and blond with thick beards and round eyes. What were these blond Caucasians doing in the heart of Asia? What language did they speak? Might they be related to a "lost tribe"

43

Underworld: The Mysterious Origins of Civilization

Graham Hancock

4.2

What secrets lie beneath the deep blue sea? Underworld takes you on a remarkable journey to the bottom of the ocean in a thrilling hunt for ancient ruins that have never been found—until now.

In this explosive new work of archaeological detection, bestselling author and renowned explorer Graham Hancock embarks on a captivating underwater voyage to find the ruins of a mythical lost civilization hid

44

In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology and Myth

J. P. Mallory

4.2

An archaeological and linguistic monograph on the origins and expansion of the Indo-European

45

Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction

Paul Bahn, Bill Tidy

4.2

This volume aims to reflect the enduring popularity of archaeology - a subject which appeals as a pastime, career, and academic discipline, encompasses the whole globe, and surveys 2.5 million years. From deserts to jungles, from deep caves to mountain tops, from pebble tools to satellite photographs, from excavation to abstract theory, archaeology interacts with nearly every other discipline in i

46

Three Stones Make a Wall: The Story of Archaeology

Eric H. Cline

4.1

From the bestselling author of 1177 B.C., a comprehensive history of archaeology--from its amateur beginnings to the cutting-edge science it is today.

In 1922, Howard Carter peered into Tutankhamun's tomb for the first time, the only light coming from the candle in his outstretched hand. Urged to tell what he was seeing through the small opening he had cut in the door to the tomb, the Egyptologist

Recommended by Sarah Parcak.

Sarah Parcak

Do you want a wonderful intro to archaeology book? Then get Prof Cline's...it's well written, the arc is excellent, and the stories he shares are fantastic. https://t.co/eXzzkqmaaR [source]

47

Lion in the Valley (Amelia Peabody, #4)

Elizabeth Peters

4.1

The 1895-96 season promises to be an exceptional one for Amelia Peabody, her dashing Egyptologist husband, Radcliffe Emerson, and their precocious (some might say rambunctious) eight-year-old son, Ramses. The long-denied permission to dig at the pyramids of Dahshoor has finally been granted, and the much-coveted burial chamber of the Black Pyramid is now theirs for the exploring.

Before the young f

48

SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome

Mary Beard

4.1

In SPQR, an instant classic, Mary Beard narrates the history of Rome "with passion and without technical jargon" and demonstrates how "a slightly shabby Iron Age village" rose to become the "undisputed hegemon of the Mediterranean" (Wall Street Journal). Hailed by critics as animating "the grand sweep and the intimate details that bring the distant past vividly to life" (Economist) in a way that m

Recommended by Olly Murphy (Wycombe Abbey).

Olly Murphy (Wycombe Abbey)

I think SPQR is a wonderful book. Ancient Roman history is so very dense and intricate that it can be difficult to teach and learn about. Mary Beard makes it accessible—and she goes through it all, from the early days right up until the present day. [source]

49

Archaeology: A Brief Introduction

Brian M. Fagan

4.1

Brief and highly engaging, this introduction to the fundamental principles of method and theory in archaeology begins with the goals of archaeology, then goes on to consider the basic concepts of culture, time, and space, and the finding and excavation of archaeological sites.

50

Haunted Ground (Nora Gavin, #1)

Erin Hart

4.1

A dazzling debut -- already an international publishing sensation -- combining forensics, history, archaeology, and suspense.
Introducing Erin Hart, who brings the beauty, poignancy, mystery, and romance of the Irish countryside to her richly nuanced first novel.

When farmers cutting turf in a peat bog make a grisly discovery -- the perfectly preserved severed head of a young woman with long red h

51

Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time

Mark Adams

4.1

What happens when an adventure travel expert-who's never actually done anything adventurous-tries to re-create the original expedition to Machu Picchu?

July 24, 1911, was a day for the history books. For on that rainy morning, the young Yale professor Hiram Bingham III climbed into the Andes Mountains of Peru and encountered an ancient city in the clouds: the now famous citadel of Machu Picchu. N

52

The Chalk Pit (Ruth Galloway, #9)

Elly Griffiths

4.1

Boiled human bones have been found in Norwich's web of underground tunnels. When Dr Ruth Galloway discovers they are recent - the boiling not the medieval curiosity she thought - DCI Nelson has a murder enquiry on his hands.

Meanwhile, DS Judy Johnson is investigating the disappearance of a local rough sleeper. The only trace of her is the rumour that she's gone 'underground'. This might be a figur

53

The Shadowy Horses

Susanna Kearsley

4.1

The Invincible Ninth Roman Legion Marches from York to Fight The Northern Tribes. and then Vanishes from the Pages of History.

Archaeologist Verity Grey has been drawn to the dark legends of the Scottish Borderlands in search of the truth buried in a rocky field by the sea.

Her eccentric boss has spent his whole life searching for the resting place of the lost Ninth Roman Legion and is convinced he'

54

Lucy: the beginnings of humankind

Donald C. Johanson, Maitland Edey

4.1

“A glorious success…The science manages to be as exciting and spellbinding as the juiciest gossip” (San Franscisco Chronicle) in the story of the discovery of “Lucy”—the oldest, best-preserved skeleton of any erect-walking human ancestor ever found.

When Donald Johanson found a partical skeleton, approximately 3.5 million years old, in a remote region of Ethiopia in 1974, a headline-making controve

55

The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog (Amelia Peabody, #7)

Elizabeth Peters

4.1

Alternate cover for ISBN 13: 9780446364782

A brand-new Elizabeth Peters novel is one of the uncompromising pleasures in life. As Peter Theroux in the New York Times Book Review points out, "Her wonderfully witty voice and her penchant for history lessons of the Nile both ancient and modern keep [her] high adventure moving for even the highest brows." In her previous outing, The Last Camel Died at N

56

Temples, Tombs & Hieroglyphs: A Popular History of Ancient Egypt

Barbara Mertz

4.1

An eye-opening, edifying, and endlessly entertaining tour through an astonishing bygone world—the acclaimed classic history of ancient Egypt, now newly revised and updated

Writing as Elizabeth Peters, world-renowned Egyptologist Barbara Mertz is the author of the phenomenally popular New York Times bestselling mystery series featuring archaeologist Amelia Peabody. In Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs

57

The Archaeology of Death and Burial (Texas A&M University Anthropology, 3)

Michael Parker Pearson

4.1

The archaeology of death and burial is central to our attempts to understand vanished societies. Through the remains of funerary rituals we learn not only about prehistoric people's attitudes toward death and the afterlife but also about their culture, social system, and world view. This ambitious book reviews the latest research in this huge and important field and describes the sometimes controv

58

The Leopard's Tale: Revealing the Mysteries of Catalhoyuk

Ian Hodder

4.1

A firsthand account of the discoveries at this seminal ancient site in Turkey, one of the first farming settlements in history.
Catalhoyuk, in central Turkey, became internationally famous in the 1960s when an ancient town--thought to be the oldest in the world--was discovered there together with wonderful wall paintings and animals, including leopards, sculpted in high relief. The archaeological

59

Artifacts (Faye Longchamp, #1)

Mary Anna Evans

4.1

Faye Longchamp has lost nearly everything except for her quick mind and a grim determination to hang onto her ancestral home, Joyeuse, a moldering plantation hidden along the Florida coast. No one knows how Faye's great-great-grandmother Cally, a newly freed slave barely out of her teens, came to own Joyeuse in the aftermath of the Civil War. No one knows how her descendants hung onto it through R

60

The Hippopotamus Pool (Amelia Peabody, #8)

Elizabeth Peters

4.1

Amelia, her husband Emerson, their 13-year-old son Ramses, and their beautiful ward Nefret return to Egypt for an exciting excavation. The dig is at an undisturbed Royal Tomb, a true find--and an irresistible temptation for art thieves, jealous colleagues, looters, the press, and the countless evil-doers. As Ramses and Nefret rub elbows with thieves and thugs, Amelia finds herself faced with a sur

61

The Keepsake (Rizzoli & Isles, #7)

Tess Gerritsen

4.1

New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen knows how to expertly dissect a brilliantly suspenseful story, all the while keeping fascinated readers riveted to her side. By turns darkly enthralling and relentlessly surprising, The Keepsake showcases an author at the peak of her storytelling powers.

For untold years, the perfectly preserved mummy had lain forgotten in the dusty basement of Bos

62

Sandstorm (Sigma Force, #1)

James Rollins

4.1

An inexplicable explosion rocks the antiquities collection of a London museum, setting off alarms in clandestine organizations around the world.

And now the search for answers is leading Lady Kara Kensington; her friend Safia al-Maaz, the gallery's brilliant and beautiful curator; and their guide, the international adventurer Omaha Dunn, into a world they never dreamed existed: a lost city buried

63

In Search of the Trojan War

Michæl Wood

4.1

Tales of Troy & its heroes--Achilles, Hector, Paris & the legendary beauty Helen--have fired the imagination for 3000 years. With In Search of the Trojan War, Michael Wood brings to life the legend & lore of the Heroic Age in an archeological adventure that sifts thru the myths & speculation to provide a fresh view of the riches & the reality of ancient Troy. This gripping story shows why the lege

64

Red Land, Black Land: Daily Life in Ancient Egypt

Barbara Mertz

4.1

65

House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest

Craig Childs

4.1

Drawing on scholarly research and archaeological evidence, the author examines the accomplishments of the Anasazi people of the American Southwest and speculates on why the culture vanished by the 13th century.

66

1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created

Charles C. Mann

4.1

A deeply engaging new history of how European settlements in the post-Colombian Americas shaped the world, from the bestselling author of 1491. Presenting the latest research by biologists, anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians, Mann shows how the post-Columbian network of ecological and economic exchange fostered the rise of Europe, devastated imperial China, convulsed Africa, and for t

Recommended by Harsh Gupta, Louise Fresco, and Tim @Realscientists.

Harsh Gupta

Have you read the 1491 and 1493 book series? About the discovery of Americas and what it meant. Fascinating stuff. Have been reading 1493 by Charles Mann on Kindle. [source]

Louise Fresco

Charles Mann has many interesting stories about many foods, but the main message is the importance of trade and the fact that there have been massive movements of foods backwards and forwards. [source]

Tim @Realscientists

I highly recommend @CharlesCMann's fantastic book "1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created" for perspective on Andean potato history and its outsized influence on world history (see: Irish potato famine). https://t.co/soMV0uzawP [source]

67

Relic (Pendergast, #1)

Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

4.1

Just days before a massive exhibition opens at the popular New York Museum of Natural History, visitors are being savagely murdered in the museum's dark hallways and secret rooms. Autopsies indicate that the killer cannot be human...

But the museum's directors plan to go ahead with a big bash to celebrate the new exhibition, in spite of the murders.

Museum researcher Margo Green must find out who-or

68

Cahokia: Ancient America's Great City on the Mississippi (Penguin's Library of American Indian History)

Timothy R. Pauketat

4.1

The fascinating story of a lost city and an unprecedented civilization

Almost a thousand years ago, a Native American city flourished along the Mississippi River near what is now St. Louis. Cahokia was a thriving metropolis at its height with a population of twenty thousand, a sprawling central plaza, and scores of spectacular earthen mounds. The city gave rise to a new culture that spread across

69

The Mummy Congress: Science, Obsession, and the Everlasting Dead

Heather Pringle

4.1

The Mummy Congress takes us on a journey over five continents and back nearly 7,000 years. Pringle tells how mummies have been venerated as saints, fought over by politicians, collected as artistic treasures and investigated for clues to ancient civilization's drug use. In these pages lie child mummies of northern Chile, preserved household pets of ancient Egypt and the new crop of mummification s

70

The Last Camel Died at Noon (Amelia Peabody, #6)

Elizabeth Peters

4.1

Bestselling author Peters brings back 19th-century Egyptologist Amelia Peabody and her entourage in a delicious caper that digs up mystery in the shadow of the pyramids.

71

The Third Gate (Jeremy Logan, #3)

Lincoln Child

4.1

Under the direction of famed explorer Porter Stone, an archaeological team is secretly attempting to locate the tomb of an ancient pharaoh who was unlike any other in history. Stone believes he has found the burial chamber of King Narmer, the near mythical god- king who united upper and lower Egypt in 3200 B.C., and the archaeologist has reason to believe that the greatest prize of all—Narmer’s cr

72

Martin's Hundred

Ivor Noël Hume

4.1

The author describes his archeological excavation of a seventeenth-century English settlement in Virginia and his discovery of evidence of the early colonial way of life.

73

Tomb of the Golden Bird (Amelia Peabody, #18)

Elizabeth Peters

4.1

Convinced that the tomb of the little-known king Tutankhamon lies somewhere in the Valley of the Kings, eminent Egyptologist Radcliffe Emerson and his intrepid wife, Amelia Peabody, seem to have hit a wall. Having been banned forever from the East Valley, Emerson, against Amelia's advice, has tried desperately to persuade Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter to relinquish their digging rights. But Eme

74

The Neanderthals Rediscovered: How Modern Science is Rewriting Their Story

Dimitra Papagianni, Michael A. Morse

4.1

In recent years, the common perception of the Neanderthals has been transformed, thanks to new discoveries and paradigm-shattering scientific innovations. It turns out that the Neanderthals’ behavior was surprisingly modern: they buried the dead, cared for the sick, hunted large animals in their prime, harvested seafood, and communicated with spoken language. Meanwhile, advances in DNA technologie

75

He Shall Thunder in the Sky (Amelia Peabody, #12)

Elizabeth Peters

4.0

1914 finds archaelogists Amelia Peabody, narrator, and husband Radcliffe Emerson back in Egypt for another dig, despite civil unrest. Defiantly pacifist son Ramses hides his spy activity with cousin David. He rescues Molly, and his dazzling smile conquers yet another female. An artifact from Giza confirms the return of archnemesis Sethos.

76

Seeing a Large Cat (Amelia Peabody, #9)

Elizabeth Peters

4.0

The year is 1903. The place is Cairo. And preparing to tackle an archaeological dig in the Valley of Kings, the intrepid Amelia Peabody dreams of a large cat, an Egyptian sign of good luck. In fact, an ominous message warning “Stay away from tomb Twenty-A” only intrigues her. But Amelia soon acquires a fearful headache when teenage son Ramses and her beautiful ward Nefret sneak about to help a pre

77

Finders Keepers: A Tale of Archaeological Plunder and Obsession

Craig Childs

4.0

To whom does the past belong? Is the archeologist who discovers a lost tomb a sort of hero--or a villain? If someone steals a relic from a museum and returns it to the ruin it came from, is she a thief? Written in his trademark lyrical style, Craig Childs's riveting new book is a ghost story--an intense, impassioned investigation into the nature of the past and the things we leave behind. We visit

78

The Ape Who Guards the Balance (Amelia Peabody, #10)

Elizabeth Peters

4.0

The Ape Who Guards the Balance begins in 1907 in England where Amelia is attending a suffragettes' rally outside the home of Mr. Geoffrey Romer of the House of Commons. It seems Romer is one of the few remaining private collectors of Egyptian antiquities, and a series of bizarre events at the protest soon embroil Amelia in grave personal danger. Suspecting that the Master Criminal, Sethos, is behi

79

Jungle of Stone: The Extraordinary Journey of John L. Stephens and Frederick Catherwood, and the Discovery of the Lost Civilization of the Maya

William Carlsen

4.0

New York Times Bestseller (Expeditions)

“Thrilling. … A captivating history of two men who dramatically changed their contemporaries’ view of the past.” — Kirkus (starred review)

"[An] adventure tale that make[s] Indiana Jones seem tame.” — Library Journal

In 1839, rumors of extraordinary yet baffling stone ruins buried within the unmapped jungles of Central America reached two of the world’s most in

80

Labyrinth (Languedoc, #1)

Kate Mosse

4.0

In the Pyrenees mountains near Carcassonne, Alice, a volunteer at an archaeological dig, stumbles into a cave and makes a startling discovery-two crumbling skeletons, strange writings on the walls, and the pattern of a labyrinth. Eight hundred years earlier, on the eve of a brutal crusade that will rip apart southern France, a young woman named Alais is given a ring and a mysterious book for safek

81

The First Americans: In Pursuit of Archaeology's Greatest Mystery

James Adovasio

4.0

J. M. Adovasio has spent the last thirty years at the center of one of our most fiery scientific debates: Who were the first humans in the Americas, and how and when did they get there?

At its heart, The First Americans is the story of the revolution in thinking that Adovasio and his fellow archaeologists have brought about, and the firestorm it has ignited. As he writes, “The work of lifetimes ha

82

The Human Past: World Prehistory and the Development of Human Societies

Christopher Scarre

4.0

In The Human Past, a team of leading archaeologists, all well-known specialists in their fields, provides a seamless yet uniquely authoritative account of human prehistory on a global scale. It highlights the enormous diversity of human experience and the ways in which archaeologists are able to learn about it. This includes the deep prehistory of human evolution, the more recent prehistory of pos

83

The Woman in Blue (Ruth Galloway, #8)

Elly Griffiths

4.0

In the next Ruth Galloway mystery, a vision of the Virgin Mary foreshadows a string of cold-blooded murders, revealing a dark current of religious fanaticism in an old medieval town.

Known as England’s Nazareth, the medieval town of Little Walsingham is famous for religious apparitions. So when Ruth Galloway’s druid friend Cathbad sees a woman in a white dress and a dark blue cloak standing alone

84

Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States

James C. Scott

4.0

An Economist Best History Book 2017

“History as it should be written.”—Barry Cunliffe, Guardian

“Scott hits the nail squarely on the head by exposing the staggering price our ancestors paid for civilization and political order.”—Walter Scheidel, Financial Times

Why did humans abandon hunting and gathering for sedentary communities dependent on livestock and cereal grains, and governed by precursors

85

An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya

Mary Ellen Miller

4.0

The myths and beliefs of the great Precolumbian civilizations of Mesoamerica have baffled and fascinated outsiders ever since the Spanish Conquest. Yet, until now, no single-volume introduction has existed to act as a guide to this labyrinthine symbolic world. In The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya nearly 300 entries, from accession to yoke, describe the main gods and symbols of th

86

Britain Begins

Barry Cunliffe

4.0

The ancient Celts believed they were descended from Father Dis (Dis Pater), a god of the dead who resided in the west where the sun set. Today, ideas of our prehistoric origins are more likely based on ocean core samples, radio-carbon dating, and archeological artifacts. But as Barry Cunliffe reminds us in Britain Begins, an archaeologist writing of the past must be constantly aware that the past

87

Inside the Neolithic Mind: Consciousness, Cosmos, and the Realm of the Gods

David Lewis-Williams, David Pearce

4.0

What do the headless figures found in the famous paintings at Catalhoyuk in Turkey have in common with the monumental tombs at Newgrange and Knowth in Ireland? How can the concepts of "birth," "death," and "wild" cast light on the archaeological enigma of the domestication of cattle? What generated the revolutionary social change that ended the Upper Palaeolithic?

David Lewis-Williams's previous bo

88

Map of Bones (Sigma Force, #2)

James Rollins

4.0

During a crowded service at a cathedral in Germany, armed intruders in monks' robes unleash a nightmare of blood and destruction. But the killers have not come for gold; they seek a more valuable prize: the bones of the Magi who once paid homage to a newborn savior . . . a treasure that could reshape the world.

With the Vatican in turmoil, SIGMA Force leaps into action. An elite team of scientific

89

The Deeds of the Disturber (Amelia Peabody, #5)

Elizabeth Peters

4.0

Can fear kill? There are those who believe so but Amelia Peabody is skeptical. A respected Egyptologist and amateur sleuth, Amelia has foiled felonious schemes from Victoria's England to the Middle East. And she doubts that it was a Nineteenth-Dynasty mummy's curse that caused the death of a night watchman in the British Museum. The corpse was found sprawled in the mummy's shadow, a look of terror

Cover unavailable

90

Archaeology from Space: How the Future Shapes Our Past

Sarah Parcak

4.0

National Geographic Explorer and TED Prize-winner Dr. Sarah Parcak welcomes you to the exciting new world of space archaeology, a growing field that is sparking extraordinary discoveries from ancient civilizations across the globe.

In Archaeology from Space, Sarah Parcak shows the evolution, major discoveries, and future potential of the young field of satellite archaeology. From surprise advanceme

Recommended by Monica Byrne.

Monica Byrne

HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAY to @indyfromspace! You should buy this book RIGHT NOW. I read it in two delicious sittings—part memoir, part science, part science fiction—and it was like taking a master class in archaeology over a beer. So fascinating, so enjoyable, so fun. Go get it! https://t.co/PWbBZUOn6C [source]

91

Warrior Women: An Archaeologist's Search for History's Hidden Heroines

Mona Behan, Jeannine Davis-Kimball

4.0

"Warrior Women" weaves science, mythology, and mystical cultures into a bold new historical tapestry of female warriors, heroines, and leaders who have been left out of the history books...until now. From China to Celtic lands, warriors, priestesses, and matriarchs come to life in this accessible and dramatic account of one archaeologist's search for the truth. Jeannine Davis-Kimball, a real-life

92

The Ancient Celts

Barry Cunliffe

4.0

Fierce warriors and skilled craftsmen, the Celts were famous throughout the Ancient Mediterranean World. They were the archetypal barbarians from the north and were feared by both Greeks and Romans. For two and a half thousand years they have continued to fascinate those who have come into contact with them, yet their origins have remained a mystery and even today are the subject of heated debate

93

The Oxford Illustrated History of Prehistoric Europe

Barry Cunliffe

4.0

Ranging from the earliest settlements through the emergence of Minoan civilization to the barbarian world at the end of the Roman Empire, this extraordinary volume provides a fascinating look at how successive cultures adapted to the landscape of Europe. In synthesizing the diverse findings of archeology, Barry Cunliffe and a team of distinguished experts capture the sweeping movements of peoples,

94

The Alexander Cipher (Daniel Knox, #1)

Will Adams, Asaf Cohen

4.0

Non stop adventure and death defying chases in Will Adam's outstanding debut novel. It's 318 BC in the deserts of Libya, and Alexander the Great is buried as only a God should be, placed in a Crystal Sarcophagus in a catacomb of chambers, each packed with diamonds, rubies and gold. This was how he should have remained, but time waits for no-one.

It's 2007 and underwater archaeologist Daniel Knox h

95

Timeline

Michael Crichton

4.0

In an Arizona desert, a man wanders in a daze, speaking words that make no sense. Within twenty-four hours he is dead, his body swiftly cremated by his only known associates. Halfway around the world, archaeologists make a shocking discovery at a medieval site. Suddenly they are swept off to the headquarters of a secretive multinational corporation that has developed an astounding technology. Now

96

The Maya (Ancient Peoples & Places)

Michael D. Coe

4.0

Professor Coe incorporates the latest ideas and research in a fast-changing field. Spectacular tomb discoveries at the city of Copan reveal some of the early artistic and architectural splendours at this major site. New finds here and elsewhere entail a complete reinterpretation of the relationship between the warrior-kings of the classic Maya lowlands and Teotihuacan, the greatest city of pre-Con

97

Excavation

James Rollins

4.0

High in the Andes, Dr. Henry Conklin discovers a 500-year-old mummy that should not be there. While deep in the South American jungle, Conklin's nephew, Sam, stumbles upon a remarkable site nestled between two towering peaks, a place hidden from human eyes for thousands of years. Ingenious traps have been laid to ensnare the careless and unsuspecting, and wealth beyond imagining could be the rewar

98

Rubbish!: The Archaeology of Garbage

William Rathje, Cullen Murphy

4.0

It is from the discards of former civilizations that archaeologists have reconstructed most of what we know about the past, and it is through their examination of today’s garbage that William Rathje and Cullen Murphy inform us of our present. Rubbish! is their witty and erudite investigation into all aspects of the phenomenon of garbage. Rathje and Murphy show what the study of garbage tells us ab

99

Children of the Storm (Amelia Peabody, #15)

Elizabeth Peters

4.0

The fifteenth adventure for Amelia, Emerson and the whole Peabody-Emerson clan!

At last the Great War is over. Amelia, her distinguished Egyptologist husband Emerson and their extended family are preparing for another season of excavation in Egypt. To everyone's great joy their son Ramses and his wife Nefret have become parents. Amelia, enjoying her role of fond (yet firm) grandmother, hopes that

100

Seahenge: a quest for life and death in Bronze Age Britain

Francis Pryor

4.0

A lively and authoritative investigation into the lives of our ancestors, based on the revolution in the field of Bronze Age archaeology which has been taking place in Norfolk and the Fenlands over the last twenty years, and in which the author has played a central role.

One of the most haunting and enigmatic archaeological discoveries of recent times was the uncovering in 1998 at low tide of the s