The Great Archaeologist
Brian Fagan, editor-in-chief
Translated by Li Zhipeng and Li Fan
Archaeology, as a discipline that studies the past of mankind through material remains, has evolved over more than two centuries from a leisure activity once reserved for the wealthy and amateur classes of Europe to an international science that spans multiple disciplines and has a large number of well-trained scholars.
We now know that the first tools were made in Africa 2.5 million years ago, not in Europe, as previously thought, in Europe.
We now know that civilization originated independently in six or seven locations in different parts of the globe, rather than first originating in Egypt and the Near East and then spreading to the rest of the globe.
We now know that the Maya in Mexico, the Zimu in Peru, and the Khmers in Cambodia all built ancient cities, and they created a magnificent artistic style that scholars of the 18th and early 19th centuries could not have imagined.
How did this cognitive metamorphosis arise?
Who made those amazing discoveries and unearthed the treasures on display in the world's major museums today?
These people rediscovered lost ancient civilizations and ancient cultures. John Lloyd Stephens, for example, rediscovered the ancient Mayan city that had been sleeping in the jungle for thousands of years in the 1840s and foresaw that the hieroglyphs found on stone tablets would reveal the history of its dynasties. His description of the city of Copán is poetic: the city of Copan sleeps quietly in the rainforest, and the only thing that breaks the silence is the noisy monkeys overhead.
Introduction:
An archaeological history of 70 archaeologists, taking you through the ups and downs of archaeology over the past 300 years.
"The Great Archaeologist" outlines the development trajectory of archaeology since the middle of the 19th century, faithfully presenting readers with the persistence and persistence, wisdom and foresight, confusion and unwillingness of archaeology pioneers...
The legendary experiences of great archaeologists echo some important moments in world history: the rise of science and the widespread acceptance of evolutionary theory; the expansion and decolonization of Western colonialism; the awakening of women and the rise of feminism; the rise of postmodernism in the 1970s... This book is highly readable, both as a popular book for archaeology and as a work on the history of archaeology and science.