Archaeology Books PLEASE NOTE: This section is no longer being updated. Karl Bodmer's North American Prints  Ruud, B., ed. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004. ISBN 0803213263. While strictly ethnographical, this book is a beautiful collection of the engravings and prints made from Bodmer's watercolors and sketches of the diverse Great Plains Indians he met on his 1832-34 travels with the German scientist Maximilian. They are some of the first accurate depictions of these peoples. 400 pages. New Perspectives on China's Past: Twentieth-Century Chinese Archaeology  Yang, X., ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004. ISBN 0300096348. This expansive two-volume set, edited by the curator of Chinese Art at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, details archaeological treasures from China's ancient culture. 800 pages. Stories and Stone: Writing the Ancestral Pueblo Homeland  Ellis, R., ed. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2004. ISBN 0871088789. This book is a quirky, ruminative collection of essays, stories, travelogues, and poems from four centuries of visitors to the archaeological remains of the Anasazi in the Four Corners region. In an excerpt from a Willa Cather novel, a woman uses her thumb to dislodge "flakes of carbon from the rock roof--the cooking smoke of the Ancient People"; in a passage from the sixteenth-century Coronado Expedition, Pedro de Castaneda notes that one house "had been built by a civilized and warlike race of strangers...." Native writers form a big part of the collection. 244 pages. The Moundbuilders  Milner, G. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2004. ISBN 050002118X. A readable overview of the complex prehistoric cultures of the eastern United States, this book by archaeologist George Milner succeeds on several levels. Gorgeous color illustrations of the most spectacular copper and ceramic artifacts discovered at mound sites are among the finest published presentations of these objects. The book also features a guide to dozens of mound centers, including major sites like Cahokia, near St. Louis, as well as smaller and more obscure ones. 224 pages. The Naked Olympics: The True Story of the Olympic Games  Perrottet, T. New York: Random House, 2004. ISBN 081296991X. Travel writer Tony Perrottet's enjoyable and vivid take on the ancient games re-creates the contests in all their original gritty glory. 214 pages. Archaeologists: Explorers of the Human Past  Chamberlain, A., and M. Pearson New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0195119460. Though intended for younger readers, Brian Fagan's compendium of biographical sketches should prove a valuable reference for readers of all ages. 192 pages. Archaeology: The Comic  Lobser, J. Walnut Creek: AltaMira, 2003. ISBN 075910381X. 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. 21 pages. Aztecs  Moctezuma, E., and F. Olguín, eds. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2003. ISBN 1903973139. This catalog of 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. 520 pages. Complete Idiot's Guide to Human Prehistory  Meier, R. New York: Alpha Books, 2003. ISBN 1592571433. Archaeologist Robert J. Meier has set out to furnish readers with enough informational nuggets to hold their own in any conversation about our prehistoric ancestors. This book does the job admirably, focusing mainly on hominid origins and the Old World Paleolithic, though colonization of North America and the Pacific gets thrown into the mix as well. 336 pages. Conversations With the High Priest of Coosa  Hudson, C. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003. ISBN 0807854212. This "fictionalized ethnography" recounts imaginary meetings between an elder from one of the biggest North American chiefdoms and a sixteenth-century Spanish priest. Hudson makes the most of the opportunity to weave an engaging tale filled with accounts of the ancient legends and ritual of the Southeastern United States. 248 pages. = Editors' Picks More books: 1 2 3 4 5 6 Bookstore Main Page © 2007 by the Archaeological Institute of America www.archaeology.org/bookstore/