Archaeology Books for Fun

This time we take a look the beginnings of historical archaeology in the U.S., ceramics and what they tell us about the past, and several New England archaeological sites. "In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American Life" by James Deetz is a remarkable book because it is informative, yet a very pleasant read from a time when most writing on archaeology was anything but....

Topping out at 30,000 residents, Cahokia was the largest city of the Mississippian Culture and is located in the same place as current day St. Louis. One of its defining features today is the massive earthen mounds, many that still exist today. Much of this city's story is lost, but archaeology and oral traditions can help us learn a surprising amount. This wraps up our reading of "Book:...

The ancient city of Angkor in Cambodia held almost one million people at its peak. Though it was never lost, it ended its time as a major city due to political upheaval and climate disasters. Sound familiar? Book: Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age, by Annalee Newitz ___ Want to support this podcast? Check out the donation link below! https://www.fpan.us/give/ ___ #archaeology #An...

Did you know that the ancient Roman city of Pompeii was a bustling tourist town before it was destroyed by a volcano? This was a community that was at the heart of Rome in a lot of ways and it reflects a lot of their advancements and changing social structures. Its loss was so traumatic to that only a single written record of the catastrophe exists today. Book: Four Lost Cities: A Secret History o...

Join us as we start a new book looking at four ancient cities, how they developed and, ultimately, why they died. We start of by taking a look at the world's oldest "city" Çatalhöyük! We get a chance to dispel some common myths about the city, see how the community operated, how people had to figure out how to live around so many strangers, and we get a detailed peek at what life mig...

After a holiday hiatus we are ready to return and finish up "Captain Kidd's Lost Ship: The Wreck of the Quedagh Merchant" by Frederick H. Hanselmann. This half of the book features the archaeological investigations into the shipwreck itself as well as its development as a Living Museum in the Sea. For our next episode we will go back about 9,000 years ago and read about the ancient c...

This time we dive into the world of underwater archaeology and pirates with "Captain Kidd's Lost Ship: The Wreck for the Quedagh Merchant" by Frederick H. Hanselmann. In this episode we talk about how it's okay to skip theory chapters in archaeology books, we look at some of the big picture events in the world during Kidd's time, and finally we discuss Kidd's career and d...

For this episode, we finish "The Dig" by John Preston. This is an historical fiction book featuring the events and people involved in the discovery and excavation of the Sutton Hoo site in England in 1938 which changed our understanding of the "Dark Ages." In this episode we learn more about the site as the excavation comes under new management and Basil Brown getting pushed as...

For our very first episode we are talking about the book "The Dig" by John Preston. This is an historical fiction book featuring the events and people involved in the discovery and excavation of the Sutton Hoo site in England which changed our understanding of the "Dark Ages." An adaptation of this story was recently released for streaming on Netflix. ___ Want to support this p...

Archaeology Books for Fun is a podcast about reading archaeology-related books that anyone can enjoy. This short episode will introduce the hosts, Tristan Harrenstein and Barbara Clark, the Florida Public Archaeology Network, and explain what the podcast is about. Florida Public Archaeology Network You can also find us on Facebook , Instagram , and YouTube . ___ Want to support this podcast? Check...