A gripping account of 200 years of archaeological research, excavation and thought, told through the life stories of 70 of the world’s greatest pioneers and practitioners.

Brian Fagan has assembled a team of some of the world’s greatest living archaeologists to write knowledgeably and entertainingly about their distinguished predecessors. Full of fascinating anecdotes, personal accounts and unexpected insights, this comprehensively illustrated book encompasses more than two centuries of research and excavation round the globe.

Controversial figures such as Heinrich Schliemann of Troy fame, and Aurel Stein, plunderer of ancient manuscripts from Central Asia, are reassessed. Little-known pioneers – for example, Max Uhle in Peru and Li Chi in China – are set beside the giants in the field: Lepsius, Mariette and Carter in Egypt; Koldewey, Dörpfeld and Woolley in the Near East; Stephens and Catherwood, discoverers of the Maya of Mexico; and Louis and Mary Leakey, who transformed knowledge of our African ancestry. Other indomitable women here include Gertrude Bell, explorer of Arabia and Iraq, Kathleen Kenyon, the excavator of Jericho, and the script-decipherer Tatiana Proskouriakoff.

'A compelling range of brilliance, imagination and eccentricity, conveying not just a sense of what being an archaeologist involves, but of how much archaeology has achieved as a contribution to human understanding' - British Archaeology
'Whether you are interested in the desert romance of Ur of the Chaldees or the recreation of Viking ships in Roskilde, this book is one to savour' - Minerva

Brian Fagan is Emeritus Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author or editor of forty-six books, including Ancient North America, Discovery! and The Complete Ice Age, as well as seven widely used undergraduate college texts. He is a contributing editor to American Archaeology and Discover Archaeology magazines, and formerly wrote a regular column for Archaeology magazine.