Jane McIntosh. 1999. The Practical Archaeologist: How We Know What we Know About the Past. Checkmark Books (imprint of Facts on File), New York City. 173 pp, bibliography and index.
There are several things one needs in a good introductory text in archaeology. You need a little history of the science: how it developed, who were the first archaeologists, where were the first excavations. You need a discussion of the various techniques developed over the years: aerial photography, underwater archaeology, survey methodology. You need a big section on excavation, its methods and drawbacks. You need something on dating, something on forgeries, something on conservation. A little something on the use of ethnography and history would be useful. Pollen analysis, faunal studies, field notes, tools of the trade, DNA, computer methods, use and misuse of ancient literature; all this is good. Something on human origins; something on the repatriation movement. And it should be written clearly, and attractively illustrated, and you should have lots of examples of archaeological sites, from all over the world. A bibliography and index would be vital. Fortunately, in some cases, this is not too much to ask.
Jane McIntosh's second edition of The Practical Archaeologist, subtitled "How we know what we know about the past," is an excellent example of the arcane art of distilling all of archaeology into an attractive, readable package; as a bonus, it is under 200 pages long and costs under $20 US. Directed to the beginning student, The Practical Archaeologist would also find an audience in interested amateurs, or anyone fired up by the Indiana Jones movies. Originally produced by the Paul Press of London, the book has a clearly Western, primarily British slant to it; and professional archaeologists will most likely fret at the necessary simplification of many of the concepts. But on the whole, this is a highly successful book at presenting the science of archaeology to the general public.
