Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction

By: Paul Bahn

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Synopsis: This little book is merely intended to whet the appetite by presenting some rudiments of the subject of archaeology in the hope that the reader may be stimulated to delve more deeply into its rich literature, to carry out some research or fieldwork, or, in the case of students, decide to take it up as a university course. You may not find employment at the end of such a course, or even at the end of a Ph.D.; but in these days when even the 'safe' areas like banking no longer guarantee a job for life, you might as well enjoy yourself while you can, and - as the late Glyn Daniel often emphasized - archaeology is nothing if it is not about pleasure. Inevitably you may need to shift and sieve a lot of earth, memorize some boring dates, wrap your tongue round meaningless jargon, and try to grapple with the Sumo wrestlers of theory, but at the same time you will be transported into a world of art and artefacts, temples and tools, tombs and treasures, lost cities and mysterious scripts, mummies and mammoths.