Review: The World Encyclopedia of Archaeology: The World's Most Significant Sites and Cultural Treasures

The World Encyclopedia of Archaeology: The World's Most Significant Sites and Cultural Treasures by Aedeen Cremin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is an odd review because I don't know a lot of people who read encyclopedias, but, then, apparently I do. And, really, while this is clearly a reference work, it is a good encyclopedia to read, given that it has a pretty narrow focus (ish, it is world archaeology, after all). That is, it's pretty comprehensive within a fairly narrow disciplinary focus.

The format is pretty straightforward. The guts of the encyclopedia are the entries on various of the most important archaeological sites in the world, along with short articles on various archaeological foci important to some of these sites. They are grouped geographically by region and represent a pretty thorough sampling of the most important sites and topics in archaeology from the paleolithic to the modern era. They are, of course, thumb-nail sketches, but they are written to address the main issues and questions which the reader can follow up on.

For anyone interested in archaeology, this is a very good book and well worth reading to get some familiarity with the archaeologies of various cultures and regions, as well as given the big picture look that we sometimes miss.

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