Archaeology: The Comic (Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira, 2003; $24.95), by rock-art expert and contract archaeologist Johannes H.N. Lobser, is perhaps the most unusual introduction to the field ever. This clever, informative, and often goofy book-length comic follows the adventures of a young rural girl named Squizee as she discovers archaeology after pot hunters dig up one of her father's fields. Through a shifting cast of characters that includes a cadaverous bone expert and a wild-eyed crew chief, Lobser succeeds in putting together a breezy but informative overview of all things archaeological, from carbon dating to ethical debates over human remains.
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Aztecs (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2003; $85), the hefty catalog edited by Eduardo Matos Moctezuma and Felipe Solís Olguín for the Royal Academy of the Arts exhibition of the same name, is packed with 500 large glossy photos of some of the finest stone carving, metallurgy, ceramic effigies, turquoise inlay, bright featherwork, and painted codex pages. The volume contains brief but expert essays on Aztec society and the themes--from the human form to symbols of status--represented in its art.
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With two feature films on Alexander due out next year, you might want to get a jump on Hollywood by reading Alan Fildes and Joann Fletcher's Alexander the Great: Son of the Gods (Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2003; $24.95). The authors combine two Roman-era accounts of Alexander--by the biographer Plutarch and the military historian Arrian--and follow the conqueror's life, cradle to grave. Supplementary text boxes cover everything from robes, crowns, and perfume to life on the march. The photos of ancient monuments, sculptures, and other artifacts are of the highest quality.
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