In retrospect, the most valuable thing I learned in archaeology is how to use a shovel to dig really precise holes in the ground. Interestingly, this is a skill that will earn you more money than many professional archaeologists.

By the way, for each interesting paper to come out of archaeology, there are hundreds that are soul-numbingly boring. This is also why archaeologists are fun to hang around with -- they drink a lot.

Wow. I think this may be the first time I ever recommended a book on Indo-European linguistics to someone, and they actually read it.

Incidentally, in my experience Indo-Europeanists don't need to drink--their brains are already fried. I know Old Irish caused me permanent brain damage.

I read 1491 a couple of years ago and admire it greatly, though I sometimes suspect it's part of the post-post-colonial backlash - the Indians were human beings just like us so it's really OK that we broke all those treaties and laid them low with smallpox and measles and other diseases from herding livestock for thousands of years that we had some resistance to ...

And, I gave my wife The Horse, The Wheel, and Language for Christmas! (Among other things, of course ...) And she's in the bedroom reading it right now!

Nice to see your posts on iTunes and archaeology. I keep trying to tell people that there other subjects of interest besides our current economic crisis. Please continue to back me up on this.

:-)

I'm greatly enjoying Europe Between the Oceans by Barry Culliffe, covering Europe between 9000BC/ 1000AD. It's also a beautiful, well illustrated book.

Makes the point that history changes as we learn and look in different ways. A sweeping picture of the interplay between trade, technology, and culture.

And let's not forget that Charles Mann was also the author of the recent National Geographic article on Yacouba Sawadogo, who is of course another HTWW fan favorite.

While zaï holes aren't related to archaeology, they are holes in the ground, and they have disproved a commonly accepted "fact" (that desertification can't be reversed).

Ever tried to strike up a conversation with someone about different theories regarding history/archaeology/anthropology? It's difficult because no one else usually cares, glad to know there are others out there like me.

BTW I thoroughly enjoyed Crosby's The Columbian Exchange. It's a bit dated now but still a great book.

Graham Hancock can be fun but not to be taken too seriously but his first book The Sign and the Seal is a very fascinating book about the Beta Israel and the Ark of the Covenant (even for a non-religious person such as my self).

I've said it more than once - this type of post is what HTWW absolutely excels at. Economics (or anything to do with numbers) not so much...

Does this mean that there were no discoveries in 2008?

As a doctoral student in archaeology, it is fascinating how quickly the field is changing with the influx of new technologies and just honestly more excavations. I work specifically in Peru and there are many assumptions that are being overturned especially as lesser known regions are being studied.

But don't forget there is also a new set of Top Discoveries for 2008-- http://www.archaeology.org/0901/topten/index.html

Have you read "1421" by Gavin Menzies? He asserted in this book that the Chinese had traveled the world and visited the Americas before the Europeans. Since he is a retired British naval officer and not an archeologist, various reviewers were skeptical, to say the least, of some of his conclusions. Nevertheless, I found his book pretty convincing. Consistent with your statement about each new discovery.....

at my age, I seem to be able to remember most of history.lol

I loved Mann's "1491" and have recommended it to many and those that do read it have come away with a new appreciation and a questioning mind regarding long held notions that are seemingly foundational to our understanding of our history and the natural world.

Interestingly, Mann occasionally answers readers questions on his Amazon forum site and there have been some interesting ones too.

While I havent read the book on the bronze age horse cultures your suggestion certainly whets my appetite.

And if I may, allow me to predict one book that might make this list next year; Richard Firestone's "Cycles of Cosmic Catasrophe" which explores a topic which has been making some interesting waves lately; the extinction of the megafuana at the end of the Pleistocene the climate change that followed it pointing to a meteor or comet impact; which suggests that in truth, the greatest threat to civilization isn't a bit of warming and rising sealevels but something far more devastating. A warning, while the book is written in a capable amalgam of literary journalism and scientific treatise, the title cover-art is really bad, as if a clumsy title weren't enough of a barrier. History, it ain't what it used to be.

I see that Gavin Menzie's book "1421" has been mentioned. I'm very impressed with Menzie's book and the on going web site ("1421") that adds current findings. Many "real" archeologists have disparaged "1421" but I can't see that they have disproved the claims. Their main argument is that it is "improbable".

Nontheless Menzie put together an account that is fascinating to contemplate.

Now, card carrying archeologists just hate amateur insight. Thor Heyerdahl carried on at length sixty years ago about Asian chickens, (Araucanas) being present in pre-Columbian South America.I would hasten to do a mini chide as to the DNA information proving Polynesian travel to America. There were new world Yams and sweet potatoes as an established staple in the early south Pacific which thoroughly amazed the earliest European explorers. This could as easily indicate that South Americans traveled to Polynesia. The tubers puzzling presence was exacerbated by the fact that they had the same name as that used in coastal and Andean South America. The Inca historians told tales of naval expeditions into the south Pacific on raiding quests. If you can see through Heyerdahl's shameless self promotion there was an fascinating intellect and indomitable will at work. This shouldn't be too big a stretch for archeologists. There are more "Indy" fedoras at a gathering of archeologists than there are Concho belts and capes at an Elvis impersonator convention.