A Little History of Archaeology

By: Brian Fagan

Narrated by: Kevin Scollin

The thrilling history of archaeological adventure, with tales of danger, debate, audacious explorers, and astonishing discoveries around the globe

What is archaeology? The word may bring to mind images of golden pharaohs and lost civilizations or Neanderthal skulls and Ice Age cave art. Archaeology is all of these, but also far more: the only science to encompass the entire span of human history - more than three million years!

This Little History tells the riveting stories of some of the great archaeologists and their amazing discoveries around the globe: ancient Egyptian tombs, Mayan ruins, the first colonial settlements at Jamestown, mysterious Stonehenge, the incredibly preserved Pompeii, and many, many more. In 40 brief, exciting chapters, the book recounts archaeology's development from its 18th-century origins to its 21st-century technological advances, including remote sensing capabilities and satellite imagery techniques that have revolutionized the field.

Shining light on the most intriguing events in the history of the field, this absolutely up-to-date book illuminates archaeology's controversies, discoveries, heroes and scoundrels, global sites, and newest methods for curious listeners of every age.

Cover illustrations by Joe McLaren

©2018 Brian Fagan (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

Great performance, expansive content.

Chronological story of archaeological history spanning multiple periods, regions and individuals. The performance was well done.

Wonderful Overview! Highly Recommend!

Pro Tip: Speed up the recording. It's much more enjoyable at about 1.2-1.5x speed.

Fagan does a wonderful job of tracing the history of archaeology through specific digs & discoveries, individuals, civilizations, and the theories and techniques of the discipline. Easy to listen to & understand, it is concise but still detailed.
It does get a little dry around the bioanthropology section (ch 28-32ish) but keep going and it is well worth it!!

Highly recommend!

If you Know NOTHING about Archaeology - then.....

this book is for you! Brain Fagan is an excellent Archaeologist, but this book does not do him justice. It is a slow listen. The narrator not so great. And if you are well versed in the profession don't bother getting. If you know nothing and want to learn than it will be worth it.

Like Kent Brockman reading me the encyclopedia

I have a lot of respect for Brian Fagan, but this book of 40 short chapters reads more like an encyclopedia than a history--none of the people or archaological sites "come alive" in any way. I'm as annoyed by this book as I was by my Intro to Archaeology class in college: archaeology is one of the most interesting of all possible subjects, since it covers lost mysteries of humanity, treasures of art and culture (and some gold and jewels too!), real-life human adventurers, beautiful remote locations...and this book turns it into a series of dry facts. It seems like some specialists in this field forget that overviews of their subject can have both scholarly AND narrative value.

The narrator was a bad choice, too--it sounds like he's enclosing every fifth word in scare quotes.

Overall, I'd say this one isn't worth a credit.