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Title: Gods, Graves & Scholars: The Story of Archaeology
ISBN: 0394743199
Author:
C.W. Ceram
Publicate Date: 1986-07-12
Publish: 1986-07-12
List Price: $12.77
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Mass Market Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $12.77
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $1.80
Amazon Merchant Price: $13.27
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Intellectual Adventuring
If there's an archeologist inside you struggling to get out, here's an inspiring book.
This is an old book and much has happened in the field since its publication, but since this book presents the stories behind past archeological discoveries, that is not a crucial weakness.
It's great strength is the writing. Author C.W. Ceram (actually German journalist Kurt Wilhelm Marek) has a knack for turning drudgery into the sort of adventure that stirs the romantic dreamer in us. An intellectual's idea of adventure.
I haven't been the same since I first read it.
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2: A mesmerizing, yet inaccurate, incomplete, and potentially harmful way of looking at archaelogy
Nice, fun, but superficial book which makes heroes of treasure hunters who destroyed half of the artifacts that they were digging for because of poor technique, put thousands of years old treasure around their wife's neck to take a picture, and secretly smuggled entire treasures out of the country where they were found (read: Schliemann). Does not mention scholars who built their work on other scholars' work but took all the credit. This would be a good book for a child under 12, but for anyone older than that, it is too much "popular" and not enough "science" and does make heroes out of antiheroes.
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3: A tribute to the pioneers of Archaeology and their work.
This book was first published in 1949 and then enlarged in 1967. Altogether it has been translated into 26 languages and read by many millions of people. It is easy to see why.
This book traces the origins of Archaeology and those who were involved in the great discoveries. Commencing with the great statues of Pompeii, Troy, Mycenae and Crete, we then move on to the Pyramids - with sections about all those who became involved from Napoleon to Carter. Next we find the great Towers of Assyria, Babylon and Sumeria before concluding with the great Temples of the Aztecs, Mayas and Toltecs.
This is a fascinating book which is able to give the layman an expert's insight into the greatest archaeological finds of history.
NM
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4: Unveiling the Past.
This wonderful book was first published in 1953. Fifty years of new archeological discoveries and theories had elapsed.
Nevertheless it stands, undiminished, as magnificent introduction to Archeology and the Worlds of the Past: Egypt, Sumeria, Greece and Yucatan.
Mr. Ceram (pen name of the author) writes passionately about his subject.
The reader starts a discovery travel going along with amazing characters: with Schliemann in his search of Troy; with Champollion in search of the key for reading Egyptian hieroglyphs; with Carter and Howard for the unearthing of Tutankhamen's tomb. The list continues jumping from one era to other; from one continent to a different and distant one. They constitute a heterogeneous bunch united by a burning desire for knowledge, wild imagination and undaunted persistence to make their dreams real.
I first read this work when I was seventeen and discovering Europe. It helped me a lot to understand and appreciate the archeological treasures of European museums and sites.
It also instilled in me an unstoppable desire to "be there". In my adult years, I was fortunate to visit some of those places and always before starting a journey I went back to reread "Gods, Graves and Scholars".
One more feature: at the end of the book you will find useful chronologies, maps and genealogic charts, which will aid the reader to visualize easily the events described.
A book to enjoy and start a romance with the origins of our culture.
Reviewed by Max Yofre.
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5: You'll find a treasure in this book
Gods, Graves and Scholars didn't begin as a pleasure read, as it was required reading for an undergraduate archaeology class. The 482 pages seemed daunting, even for a small paperback. But, beginning with page three and continuing through to the end, I found this book a real page-turner. Ceram successfully and craftfully takes the reader through archaeology's history, captivates the reader with personal anecdotes, and is unpretentious with language and content. Place it on your reading list or in your home library if you haven't already--this is a keeper.
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