Encyclopedia of Archaeology: The Great Archaeologists, Volumes I-II, edited by Tim Murray. ABC­-CLIO Inc., Santa Barbara, 1999

Andrew L Christenson

doi:10.5334/bha.11107

Abstract

There have been two previous volumes published on Great Archaeologists, one for young adults (Daugherty 1962) and one a collection of articles from the Illustrated London News (Bacon 1976). What really distinguishes this two volume set from the earlier books is that who was included was decided by archaeologists, rather than by educators or journalists. Archaeologists whose lives are considered great for didactic or journalistic reasons are most likely to be active in spectacular field work and the Gordon Childes or James B Griffins are less likely to be included.

Highlights

Archaeologists whose Jives are considered great for didactic orjournalistic reasons are most likely to be active in spectacular field work and the Gordon Childes or James B
Because who is considered great is very much the result of one's training, one's first reaction to the volume could be to carp about who isn't included. The editor gives his own list of significant omissions in the introduction, but the focus should be what is in the volume rather than who isn't, The GreatArchaeologists begins with William Camden born in 1551 and ends with David Clarke born in 1935
One intriguing discovery that came out of reading the lives of mid-20th century archaeologists is the amount of archaeological field work done in occupied countries during WorldWar n

Summary

Introduction

Archaeologists whose Jives are considered great for didactic orjournalistic reasons are most likely to be active in spectacular field work and the Gordon Childes or James B . The volumes under review contain articles on 58 archaeologists and represents a unique resource for thos of us interested in the history of the discipline (BHA 10[1]:41-44) gives a complete list of the subjects and authors).

Results

Conclusion