Archaeological sites often seem to be idyllic, even romantic, places where scientists recover and analyze fascinating data that can inform us of past times and the past lives of our recent historical and ancient prehistoric human forebears. Too often, however, unrecognized dangers lie within: bacterial and viral infections hidden in the soil, concealed in the animals that roam through our sites, or even lying in wait in organic remains we excavate; toxic substances produced by the historical technologies we study and that continue to poison the sites where people once worked; the bodies of people who died of historical scourges that once afflicted humanity and whose excavated mortal remains may still harbor the pathogens that killed them, dormant and lying in wait for an unsuspecting and largely no-longer immune modern population. It's enough to make an archaeologist swear off fieldwork

The truth is, however, that archaeologists need to be alerted to the dangers present in fieldwork and advised of the reasonable precautions that should be taken to insure the safest possible working environment. "Dangerous Places" brings together an enormous body of information regarding the threats that archaeologists face every day, and the best ways of behaving proactively to avoid or mitigate these threats.

This book provides a fascinating, encyclopedic antidote for the mysticism and pseudoscience surrounding well-known or highly publicized archaeological and anthropological "discoveries." Archaeology attempts to answer the question "where do we come from?" in the broadest sense possible; as a result, it is a highly interesting topic for all mankind. When did human beings first walk the earth? How did civilization develop? What compelled our human ancestors to build things like the pyramids, the Great Sphinx, or Monk's Mound? This book presents the widely unknown scientific facts behind the most popular and enthralling "mysteries" of our world from an expert archaeological perspective—and lays out the information and research in a manner that is approachable, engaging, and entertaining for any reader. Encyclopedia of Dubious Archaeology: From Atlantis to the Walam Olum contains detailed and highly descriptive definitions for—and explanations of—terms related to extraordinary claims about human antiquity and its study. Some of the terms in this extensive list of topics relate to archaeological hoaxes. Many of the entries relate to dubious interpretations of the human past; some of the terms relate to far-fetched arguments that actually have produced evidence in support of their veracity.

Deep in the woods of Barkhamsted, Connecticut, archaeologist Kenneth Feder found a series of irregular cellar holes. That discovery led to the archaeological and genealogical investigation into what had become the legend of Barkhamsted Lighthouse. The long told story as it appeared in local newspaper articles, a school play, and even a book-length poem focused on Molly Barber, a white woman born in central Connecticut in the middle of the eighteenth century. Molly, the legend goes, abandoned her family, her friends, and her privilege to marry the man she loved, James Chaugham, a Narragansett Indian from Block Island in Long Island Sound. Molly and James ultimately had several children and their growing community became a magnet for other outcasts including Native Americans as well as people of African and European descent. Some of these newcomers married into the family and together created a community in their little village. As a tale of rebellion, race, resistance, and resilience the legend called out for investigation. The site was excavated intermittently between 1986 and 2009, and Feder also started a genealogical investigation of James and Molly and their descendants. After meeting with Raymond Ellis, a seventh-generation descendant of the founding couple, Feder recognized that this was more than just a historical mystery to solve, it was also a chance to connect archaeology of historic places with the present-day relatives of those who once lived there.

Field Methods in Archaeology has been the leading source for instructors and students in archaeology courses and field schools for 60 years since it was first authored in 1949 by the legendary Robert Heizer. Left Coast has arranged to put the most recent Seventh Edition back into print after a brief hiatus, making this classic textbook again available to the next generation of archaeology students. This comprehensive guide provides an authoritative overview of the variety of methods used in field archaeology, from research design, to survey and excavation strategies, to conservation of artifacts and record-keeping. Authored by three leading archaeologists, with specialized contributions by several other experts, this volume deals with current issues such as cultural resource management, relations with indigenous peoples, and database management as well as standard methods of archaeological data collection and analysis.

Historian Wallace Stegner characterized America's National Park system as "the best idea we ever had." One can quibble with that, but, indeed, it was a pretty good idea! This book specifically is a guide and a celebration of 30 of those national parks, national historical parks, and national monuments that, each in its own way, reveals the histories and cultures of America's first inhabitants, the Native Americans. Its pages will take you to: great mounds in Ohio where the dead were laid to rest in sumptuous splendor 2,000 years ago a place in Iowa where 1,000 years ago, Native Americans sculpted earth into the forms of giant bears and birds a quarry in Minnesota where Native People have, for hundreds of years, extracted blood-red stone for their ceremonial pipes the remains of a village in North Dakota visited by Lewis and Clark in the early 1800s and the home of their guide Sacagewea truly breathtaking, more than 700-year-old cliff dwellings in Arizona and Colorado, that will astonish you in their ethereal beauty and architectural ingenuity phantasmagorical images of 7-foot-tall, wide-eyed spirit beings in Utah painted more than 1,000 years ago And many more. All of these sites have in common the fact that, at the insistence of Native and non-Native people, men and women, the federal government of the United States set them aside as places to preserve, study, and revere as part of the American story no matter where your ancestors came from, how they got here, or how long ago. Read this book and visit the historically sacred sites enshrined in our national parks, national historical parks, and national monuments, places that reveal the creativity and genius of the Native People of North America. With 180 color photographs and complete visitor information, this is a wonderful guide to Native American archaeology in our national parks and monuments.

Does evidence show that Native Americas residing in Utah a thousand years ago lived among dinosaurs, depicting those creatures in their rock art? Did some of those same ancient Americans also encounter visitors from other planets, painting images of space-suited aliens on canyon walls? Have archaeologists discovered evidence that members of the Lost Tribes of Israel visited ancient America, leaving their mark by engraving the Ten Commandments in Hebrew on rocks in New Mexico? And Ohio? Is there archaeological evidence of ancient Celtic visitors to the New World in the form of messages etched in stone, megalithic monuments, and even the remnants of the villages in which they lived? Are American archaeologists covering up the remains of lost cities deeply ensconced in a secret cave in Arizona and in a subterranean chamber in Missouri? Finally, have archaeologists discovered the far western outpost of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, not in Egypt or even Africa, but in, of all places, California? Those questions and more are answered by archaeologist Ken Feder in Archaeological Oddities: A Field Guide to Forty Claims of Lost Civilizations, Ancient Visitors, and Other Strange Sites in North America that the above listed questions and others addressed in his book represent the equivalent of "fake news" about America's ancient past. The forty sites he highlights are, in fact, fascinating and fun places to visit. Feder's guide provides an entertaining summary of those forty sites along with the practical information you'll need to visit them. This full-color book includes over 100 fascinating photographs.

Archaeological sites often seem to be idyllic, even romantic, places where scientists recover and analyze fascinating data that can inform us of past times and the past lives of our recent historical and ancient prehistoric human forebears. Too often, however, unrecognized dangers lie within: bacterial and viral infections hidden in the soil, concealed in the animals that roam through our sites, or even lying in wait in organic remains we excavate; toxic substances produced by the historical technologies we study and that continue to poison the sites where people once worked; the bodies of people who died of historical scourges that once afflicted humanity and whose excavated mortal remains may still harbor the pathogens that killed them, dormant and lying in wait for an unsuspecting and largely no-longer immune modern population. It's enough to make an archaeologist swear off fieldwork

The truth is, however, that archaeologists need to be alerted to the dangers present in fieldwork and advised of the reasonable precautions that should be taken to insure the safest possible working environment. DEGREESIDangerous Places DEGREESR brings together an enormous body of information regarding the threats that archaeologists face every day, and the best ways of behaving proactively to avoid or mitigate these threats.

An accessible, thoroughly integrated introduction to physical anthropology and archaeology.