Best archaeology books according to redditors

We found 51 Reddit comments discussing the best archaeology books. We ranked the 35 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.

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Top Reddit comments about Archaeology:

u/BroGinoGGibroni · 79 pointsr/creepy

Yeah, and it's only $624.26 on Amazon! Get your copy today!

u/Silverseren · 38 pointsr/movies

Generally, by actual historians and anthropologists, it's not that controversial. It's been strongly agreed upon to be bunk. It's a popular science book and doesn't properly represent the subject its talking about. Which isn't helped by the fact that Diamond has no actual experience in said fields either.

Of course, his later book, The Collapse, was viewed even worse and prompted several people in the field to actually write an entire book of essays in response debunking it.

See here: https://www.amazon.com/Questioning-Collapse-Resilience-Ecological-Vulnerability/dp/0521733669

u/earthvexing_dewberry · 36 pointsr/AskHistorians

I think that the best way of answering this is by focusing on the strictly archaeological perspective of the 'historical' Jesus, as opposed to any other spiritual of ideological view-points.

In this case I think it is fairly important to delineate between an archaeological approach and a historical approach, an archaeological one being based on the material evidence and the historical, being based on the written word. As you say, the Jewish people tended to be good at documenting (particularly their own) history and thus the 'Historical Jesus' crops up.

However, what you are asking really is dealing with an 'archaeological Jesus,' and therein lies the complication. As has been mentioned by a previous commenter, there isn't really that much surprise that there isn't any archaeological evidence for Jesus. To take it down to the bare facts, to trace a single individual, a member of (what we could consider) the lower classes, who is not known for his coin-minting or building projects, nor stone masonry, there really isn't very much to work with.

While we could work this in to a discussion of relics and whether these could be counted among the true 'archaeological' remains of a 'historical Jesus' is another issue altogether, as these have had a tendency to be more along the lines of Medieval 'replicas' of what was imagined to be the (for instance) part of the remains of the cross on which Jesus was crucified.

For more research into the subject I'd recommend A Very Short Introduction to Biblical Archaeology and A Very Short Introduction to Jesus both of which will be able to have a far more erudite argument than mine here, and have recommendations for further reading. If you are interested in furthering your knowledge of the archaeological perspective (in a general sense, not related to biblical archaeology) then investigating Renfrew and Bahn's Book, 'Archaeology: Theories, Methods and Practice' would also be good (although if at all possible borrow it from a library as it is a little on the weighty text-book side of research!).

u/Athardude · 20 pointsr/askscience

Archaeologist here. We have a history of being a bit environmentally/geographically deterministic when it comes to looking at cultures. This has changed in the past couple decades to emphasize more the individual agency and multiple historical tragectories that contribute to the nature of a culture. Diamond isn't an archaeologist really, but he is still very much in that deterministic frame of mind.

Diamond has a history of simplifying things a bit to fit his narrative. The same thing happened in Collapse. The point you make about the strength of many African societies before colonization is just one among other possible exceptions to his sweeping rules.

I'm still glad that Diamond wrote these books though because they come up in conversations like these, and people who may not know much about the history or anthropology of these subjects can begin to grapple with these questions.

Another nice thing about it is that the publication and popularity of his books have spurred a bunch of anthropologists to publish critiques of his work. This one is a nice example: http://www.amazon.com/Questioning-Collapse-Resilience-Ecological-Vulnerability/dp/0521733669 which picks apart both "guns germs and steel" as well as "collapse.

u/w4rfr05t · 13 pointsr/WTF

Goddamn, Man After Man was a cool book. There is some seriously disturbing shit in there.

The giant blobby meat-humans in particular.

I'd never have pictured that as a holiday card, but y'know...it really works!

u/klystron · 10 pointsr/MapPorn

The name Dilmun in the South-East of the map brought back a memory. Read Looking for Dilmun: The search for a lost civilization A great tale of travel and archaeological research in the Persian Gulf.

u/LRE · 8 pointsr/exjw

Random selection of some of my favorites to help you expand your horizons:

The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan is a great introduction to scientific skepticism.

Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris is a succinct refutation of Christianity as it's generally practiced in the US employing crystal-clear logic.

Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor by Anthony Everitt is the best biography of one of the most interesting men in history, in my personal opinion.

Travels with Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuscinski is a jaw-dropping book on history, journalism, travel, contemporary events, philosophy.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson is a great tome about... everything. Physics, history, biology, art... Plus he's funny as hell. (Check out his In a Sunburned Country for a side-splitting account of his trip to Australia).

The Annotated Mona Lisa by Carol Strickland is a thorough primer on art history. Get it before going to any major museum (Met, Louvre, Tate Modern, Prado, etc).

Not the Impossible Faith by Richard Carrier is a detailed refutation of the whole 'Christianity could not have survived the early years if it weren't for god's providence' argument.

Six Easy Pieces by Richard Feynman are six of the easier chapters from his '63 Lectures on Physics delivered at CalTech. If you like it and really want to be mind-fucked with science, his QED is a great book on quantum electrodynamics direct from the master.

Lucy's Legacy by Donald Johanson will give you a really great understanding of our family history (homo, australopithecus, ardipithecus, etc). Equally good are Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors by Nicholas Wade and Mapping Human History by Steve Olson, though I personally enjoyed Before the Dawn slightly more.

Memory and the Mediterranean by Fernand Braudel gives you context for all the Bible stories by detailing contemporaneous events from the Levant, Italy, Greece, Egypt, etc.

After the Prophet by Lesley Hazleton is an awesome read if you don't know much about Islam and its early history.

Happy reading!

edit: Also, check out the Reasonable Doubts podcast.

u/Link2999 · 5 pointsr/AdviceAnimals

Happened to me this semester, but said I could use the older copy since I already owned it (took the class last semester; withdrew for medical reasons). I have another Professor who makes us buy his own books - and it might sound bad, but his books are actually interesting as opposed to other textbooks (this is the one I'm reading now: http://www.amazon.com/Frauds-Myths-Mysteries-Pseudoscience-Archaeology/dp/0078035074/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1380588501)

u/steadycoffeeflow · 4 pointsr/history

There's quite a few books on zooarchaeology and paleoarch that you might find useful.

Starting off, there's more of a trade-appeal book that might lack more academic, research upmh but should get the overall job done - Domesticated: Evolution in a Man-Made World by Richard Francis.

However, more in the same vein but seems to be a bit more researched is Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History by a two experts in the field who have spent almost three decades researching canine evolution. Rather than link wolves to domestic dogs, it traces back for the common ancestor through genetics and fossilized remains.

Then I suggest Dogs: History, Myth, Art, if only because it's pretty and I read it over a break once. Has a lot of illustrations and material evidence of humans depicting dogs throughout the ages. Just kind of fun and relevant.

Now if you want academic papers edited into one volume, there's Dogs and People in Social, Working, Economic or Symbolic Interaction but that doesn't just look at the evolution of dogs through genetics like the first two. Rather, it examines the social place dogs have in human society, and how those roles have shifted depending on culture, location, time, and religious influences. In the same vein as Dogs (above) but not as fun? Definitely more dense and I've only read a few of the selected papers for reference.

Lastly, definitely more broad and applicable to more animals than JUST dogs, there's Care or Neglect? that seems just to be archaeological research into how people cared for animals, nursing them through diseases and injuries. It predominantly features dogs (and horses) though because of their importance to humans.

Steady reading, hope this helps that novel!

Edit: Oh! And if you want even more reads, I know there's quite a bit in Egyptology fields about animal care and remains, some of which focus on dogs and others more on myths. Not quite evolutionary track, like you seem to be asking for, but still of fringe relevance.

u/SpruceWayne · 3 pointsr/WTF

credit where credit is due: Inspired by this post, which is art from this book.

u/IrreverentArchaeolog · 3 pointsr/MapPorn

Arctic archaeology is certainly an interesting thing to study at the moment. A lot of questions are unanswered and there's a hell of a lot of work to be done. So I think that the archaeological community is divided on a lot of issues. There are some that view the people living in the Arctic (at least in Canada and Greenland) as fairly isolated. So they would say that no or little interaction occurred between the Dorset, Norse, and Thule. I am of the thought that we are very much underestimating the size of networks at this time (at least the networks between Arctic peoples). Lots of new archaeological evidence too is pointing to a much more complex situation.

I would say that studying the Arctic is still very much divided into those regions you mentioned. In some ways, it has to do with modern boundaries and in others it does reflect the realities of the past. There is certainly a lot of evidence that shows population movements between Greenland and Canada than there is between Greenland and Siberia. And, indeed Greenlandic Inuit are different from Canadian Inuit. I would say that cultures within those regions certainly interacted with each other and there is some very interesting links that are being drawn between the Saami, Siberian people, and Dorset (the archaeology of shamanism book I linked in my first post talks about this a lot). They certainly did not contact each other but there are some interesting cultural continuities among Arctic groups of different regions. Hell, there is even a case where you get ritually buried walrus skulls in a Norse site in Greenland and a Dorset site in southern Baffin Island (slight differences between the two but still very similar).

Unfortunately, there is no single "go-to" book concerning Arctic history. There is one book called "Prehistory of the Eastern Arctic" (1985) by Moreau Maxwell but it costs a small fortune. I would suggest reading Ancient People of the Arctic and The Last Imaginary Place both by Robert McGhee (a legendary Arctic archaeologist). The latter even goes into Siberian cultures too. They can generally be found fairly cheap and most libraries would have a copy. They are written for a wider audience too so they never get too bogged down in the specifics. There's also Voices in Stone by Peter Schledermann (another fantastic Arctic archaeologist). I've found this book slightly harder to find but the writing is just as strong. The Schledermann book also focuses more on the High Arctic (e.g. Ellesmere Island) since that is where the author did most of his fieldwork.

u/AlchemistImaging · 2 pointsr/Archeology

Fagan's Ancient Lives is the Archaeology 101 textbook at Arizona State University, where I am completing my degree. I greatly enjoyed it.
https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Lives-Introduction-Archaeology-Prehistory/dp/1138188794/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=K9JJFHA5QDMBQ0KFZRKK

u/qmackie · 2 pointsr/Archaeology

I'd definitely recommend Madonna Moss's "Northwest Coast Archaeology as Deep History". It's fairly recent (2011), is an easy read, and would point you deeper into the literature. It's available as a paperback (despite what Amazon says) or as an e-book, the latter is only 10$ I think.

Also, The Midden, which is the newsletter of the Archaeological Society of BC has recently gone digital and open access. Link..

u/verveinloveland · 2 pointsr/atheism

Based on the evidence of historians etc. Most experts would concede the evidence for the case of a person named "Jesus" existing justifies the claim. However this says nothing to the claims of his actions, miracles etc.

one audiobook I was listening to Myths and mysteries in archeology was mentioning a letter from a man named Jesus to a man named Jesus about a third man named Jesus... Good book if you get a chance...

u/alriclofgar · 2 pointsr/AskHistorians

I'm most familiar with data from the 6th and 7th centuries, so forgive me for answering a few centuries earlier than the Viking Age. But in these centuries, it definitely makes a difference whether we identify biological sex from the human remains, or from the cultural, gendered objects found with the body. Not so much in the first half of the 6th century - there, only about 1 in 50 of the people buried with weapons are biologically female. But in the late 6th / early 7th century, 1 in 6 weapon burials is female (working from a national dataset I've compiled for my PhD, of about 700 weapon graves / 70 sites). This change in the 7th century mirrors other social changes - the rise of new elites, the restriction of weapon burial (and all furnished inhumation) to a smaller and wealthier subsection of society, the foundation of monastic centres by wealthy women - which all point toward a greater participation of women in spheres of power closely associated with the display, ownership, and gifting of weapons. To my reading, this suggests that (some) women's fortune seems to be rising along with their male family members, and this is opening new avenues for these women to enter formerly male spheres of authority. But we don't get to talk about this if we ignore the osteology.

We have the osteological data, but disagreements between osteological sex and gendered grave goods are typically dismissed as errors in the osteology (as, for example, in this study). My survey is finding a greater number of cases, though, than can be easily written off. And even though the weapons == male association is generally robust enough that you could confidently put money on the sex of a skeleton buried with a spear, the outliers seem to be telling an important story.

u/lanthano · 2 pointsr/HomeworkHelp

This Amazon page offers an "About the Author" section that provides the following information:

  • In addition to The Annals John Richardson has written a social history of London as well as histories of Covent Garden, Camden Town, Hampstead, Islington, Highgate and Kentish Town.

  • He participated in founding the London Arts Board.

  • He lives in London.

    A review from Reed Business Information (on the same web page) describes Mr. Richardson as an "historian, writer, lecturer, publisher, and borough politician."

    Though the web doesn't seem to reveal much more, you could try seeking further information from Mr. Richardson directly by writing to him through Historical Publications, a publishing house he founded. His e-mail address is available on the company's web site.
u/astronautsaurus · 2 pointsr/exmormon

https://www.amazon.ca/Frauds-Myths-Mysteries-Pseudoscience-Archaeology/dp/0078035074

Read this for a course in university. It completely destroys the notion Joseph Smith was uniquely inspired, as it goes in detail how everyone in 19th century New England was doing the exact. Same. Thing. Ancient Israelites in America and everything. Also destroys biblical literalism and new-age doomsday preppers.

u/quodo1 · 2 pointsr/france

Sur la question de ses deux livres, je t'invite à lire Questionning Collapse, une collection d'essais de spécialistes des sujets qu'il traite, et qui expliquent en quoi ses interprétations sont douteuses.

La review suivante me semble assez parlante :

> Here are some basic observations about what this book is and is not:
>
> It is an edited volume of essays by various authors.
>
> It is not only about Collapse, but also about Guns, Germs, and Steel.
>
> It is less about Collapse and Guns, Germs, and Steel, than it is about (1) the issues and case studies addressed by Diamond in those books, and (2) the ways in which Diamond addresses those issues and case studies.
>
> Surprisingly, it is not dry or difficult to read, in fact if anything it is even more readable and engaging than Diamond's books (which have been praised for these very reasons).
>
> Here is why so many reviewers, myself included, have found themselves exasperated and even angered by this book:
>
> The essays collected in Questioning Collapse generally do not offer careful readings of Diamond's arguments. Some of the authors even take, at times, a rather unscholarly and strident tone. Some of the authors seem unfamiliar with the scholarly, or at least logical, principle, that good reading must be (among other things) both fair and charitable. This is especially perplexing because all the authors in this book seem to have the same overall goals and concerns as Diamond, as the book's introductory chapter points out.
>
> Here is why this book gets five stars:
>
> Its shortcomings aside, Questioning Collapse does offer detailed accounts and analyses of many of the historical events that Diamond has written on.
>
> The authors of each essay, unlike Diamond, have specialized and done primary research on the societies that each writes about.
>
> Most of Diamond's sources in Collapse (I imagine this is also the case for Guns, Germs, and Steel) are not primary but secondary sources. Not that there is anything wrong with secondary sources. However, of necessity they leave out most of the information to be found in the relevant primary sources. They also add a further layer of interpretation to the primary sources, which is problematic if one is not familiar with the primary sources as well. But perhaps the biggest problem with Diamond's over-reliance on secondary sources is that they lag, again of necessity, far behind the current state of knowledge in a given field. The reader of Questioning Collapse will find specific examples where these gaps and lags in knowledge, allegedly, massively impair Diamond's historical reconstructions.
>
> The historical reconstructions in Questioning Collapse are far more cautious than those of written by Diamond. That is, they are far more honest about what is not known, what is highly conjectural, etc. They are also far more explicit about why they think that one hypothesis seems more likely than another.
>
> The essays in Questioning Collapse are generally far more cautious about projecting modern, and modern western, concerns and values onto times and places where those concerns and values may have been significantly different (in ways that are relevant to the questions at hand). They are also careful not to project the technical and political capabilities of the modern world onto the non-modern world. This is also one of the criticisms of Diamond's work: that it sometimes inappropriately makes these projections, and that these errors impair his analyses. Very specific examples are given, along with counter-narratives that (it is claimed) do not make the same errors.
>
> Another shortcoming of Diamond's work is that it fails to adequately take into account factors such as "ideology" (i.e. belief-and-value systems), political-economic factors that are external to a society and yet control its course, and historical factors where past events unique to a given society continue to determine its present course and dynamics. Again, detailed examples from the authors' area of expertise and field research are provided.
>
> The examples and narratives in Questioning Collapse all concern the events that Diamond writes about. They thus provide a different version and a different analysis of what happened. For one who has read both Diamond's work and Questioning Collapse, the tension between these perspectives, reconstructions, and analyses, should provide them with an opportunity for far more critical [critical in a good way] and informed reflections on the problems collapse, decline, etc.
>
> In the end, this book neither refutes nor really even rebuts Diamond's work, but complements and continues it, albeit by way of critique. As a supplement, it most certainly changes that to which it is added. It probably could have been done better, and hopefully someone else will take up the challenge of doing so. Even so, Questioning Collapse is an important (and, quite honestly, a highly entertaining) read.
>
> In connection with this book and with Jared Diamond's work, I also recommend the following: The Environment in Anthropology: A Reader in Ecology, Culture, and Sustainable Living, and Anthropology and Contemporary Human Problems.

u/Rattus_Faber · 2 pointsr/history

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Isles-History-Norman-Davies/dp/0333692837

This is a good overview which also covers a bit of Ireland. British history is almost always conflated with English history which this book avoids.

u/[deleted] · 1 pointr/Anthropology

I have to admit I am currently struggling through Archaeology as Process. Tough going....

u/Mictlantecuhtli · 1 pointr/history

The earrings are really common in the figures. In fact, I think they were the only culture in Mesoamerica to use multiple earrings rather than ear spools (ancient equivalent of gauges).

Here are some examples,

http://www.archaeology.org/images/ND2013/Tattoos/western-shaft-tomb-tattoo.jpg

http://collections.lacma.org/node/253536

http://collections.lacma.org/node/253548

http://collections.lacma.org/node/253549

http://collections.lacma.org/node/253566

http://collections.lacma.org/node/253588

http://collections.lacma.org/node/179319

http://collections.lacma.org/node/184399

http://collections.lacma.org/node/188689

http://collections.lacma.org/node/253589

http://collections.lacma.org/node/253548

http://collections.lacma.org/node/253616

http://collections.lacma.org/node/237937

http://collections.lacma.org/node/2159024

Also, if you want a book to read, my advisor (Beekman) and his colleague recently put out an edited volume on the shaft tomb peoples

https://www.amazon.com/Shaft-Tombs-Figures-Mexican-Society/dp/0981979998/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481411553&sr=8-1&keywords=shaft+tomb

Here are some other common books

https://www.amazon.com/Shaft-Tomb-Figures-West-Mexico/dp/B002N7KAXA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1481411553&sr=8-2&keywords=shaft+tomb

https://www.amazon.com/Sculpture-Ancient-West-Mexico-Collection/dp/082631175X/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481411616&sr=1-4&keywords=west+mexico

https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-West-Mexico-archaeology-past/dp/0865591717/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481411616&sr=1-5&keywords=west+mexico

https://www.amazon.com/Sculpture-Ancient-West-Mexico-Collection/dp/0875870406/ref=sr_1_31?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481411647&sr=1-31&keywords=west+mexico

https://www.amazon.com/Heritage-Power-Sculpture-Collection-Metropolitan/dp/030010488X/ref=sr_1_35?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481411647&sr=1-35&keywords=west+mexico

https://www.amazon.com/Anecdotal-sculpture-ancient-Angeles-Publication/dp/B0006W0TB2/ref=sr_1_55?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481411676&sr=1-55&keywords=west+mexico

https://www.amazon.com/Greater-Mesoamerica-Archaeology-Northwest-Mexico/dp/0874809509/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481411791&sr=1-1&keywords=greater+mesoamerica

https://www.amazon.com/Archaeology-West-Northwest-Mesoamerica/dp/0813302013/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481411822&sr=1-1&keywords=michael+foster+phil+weigand

u/LDexter · 1 pointr/AskReddit

It plays heavily into the fear aspect of society and culture. Bigbuddhabelly hits a big point since it looks at the worst case scenario that one idea must fit all. If you read or watch the documentary then I advise you also read [Questioning Collapse] (http://www.amazon.com/Questioning-Collapse-Resilience-Ecological-Vulnerability/dp/0521733669) just as open and intently.

u/evenem · 1 pointr/effondrement

Il y a ce bouquin qui fait une critique complète de Collapse : https://www.amazon.com/Questioning-Collapse-Resilience-Ecological-Vulnerability/dp/0521733669 aussi. Mais à priori c'est moitié constructif, moitié rageux, un peu comme la critique qui était paru dans le monde diplomatique. Y a personne de constructif qui pour invalide son boulot, les critiques principales tournent autour n'inexactitudes ou de raccourcis pas du fond.

u/Solivaga · 1 pointr/Archaeology

In terms of actual archaeological theory (as in, not methods, techniques and practice) I'd agree absolutely - easily the best text on archaeological theory available, and damned comprehensive too.

Having called the OP lazy above, I will say that if OP is looking more for method and practice (and not theory) then Renfrew and Bahn's Archaeological Theories, Methods and Practice is probably the best overall reader available.

u/not-drowning-waving · 1 pointr/history

I recommend Norman Davies book The Isles: A History which partly covers this period.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Isles-History-Norman-Davies/dp/0333692837

u/buried_treasure · 1 pointr/UKhistory

A good book that treats Britain (and Ireland) as a frequently-varying collection of nations rather than as a single political entity is The Isles: A History by Norman Davies.

u/notdiscovery · 1 pointr/Archaeology

grab this book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Bluffers-Guide-Archaeology-Guides/dp/1902825470

it'll help you sound like a pro in no time.

u/waffle299 · 1 pointr/todayilearned

For those interested in a thorough, devastating academic critique of the Ancient Aliens nonsense, I recommend Frauds, Myths and Mysteries. In it, the author examines the alleged evidence, often showing photographs, and allows the reader to see just how much creative license is required for the alien explanation.

For example, Von Dankien alleges that one Aztek painting shows a space suited human lying in a spaceship cockpit, hands near the controls. Then he points out how the cockpit is really a stylized tree and the space suit is just a jaguar mask.

u/The_Accountemist · 1 pointr/exmormon

> Frauds, Myths and Mysteries, 6th Edition, page 169, by Kenneth Feder

Too bad the cost is inflated by textbook pricing, it sounds fascinating.