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ALPHABETICAL BRAIN™ VOCABULARY
HUMANIST GALAXY
OF SECULAR SCIENCE STARS
ERIC CLINE
September 5, 2021
THREE STONES MAKE A WALL:
The Story of Archaeology
by Eric H. Cline and
illustrated by Glynnis Fawkes.
Princeton University Press, 2017
(455 pages)
Quote =
"One stone is a stone.
Two stones is a feature.
Three stones is a wall,
Four stones is a building,
Five stones is a palace.
Six stones is a palace built by aliens."
(From Archaeological Axiom quoted by author, Eric Cline, page viii)
BOOK OUTLINE
note = Numbers in parentheses refer to pages
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS (vii-viii)
PREFACE — A PETRIFIED MONKEY'S PAW (xi-xix)
PROLOGUE — "WONDERFUL THINGS:" KING TUT AND HIS TOMB (1-9)
PART 1 — EARLY ARCHAEOLOGY AND ARCHAEOLOGISTS (11-94)
1) SHES IN ANCIENT ITALY (13-23)
2) DIGGING UP TROY (24-37)
3) FROM EGYPT TO ETERNITY (38-51)
4) MYSTERIES IN MESOPOTAMIA (52-65)
5) EXPLORING THE JUNGLES OF CENTRAL AMERICA (66-79)
DIGGING DEEPER 1 — How do you know where to dig? (80-94)
note = “As mentioned above, archaeologists have also added LiDAR to their toolkit. It is most useful in places like Central America or Southeast Asia, because it can see through the trees in a jungle or rain forest, by the firing of lasers at the ground, and provide images of lost temples. buildings, and even cities that are completely overgrown and almost inaccessible now, like the Maya city of Caracol in Belize that was found in 2010. In June 2016 archaeologists working in Cambodia announced that they had found “previously undocumented medieval cities not far from the ancient temple city of Angkor Wat... that promise to upend key assumptions about south-east Asia’s history.” The cities are between nine hundred and fourteen hundred years old and were found by Australian archaeologist Damian Evans, who used LiDAR data captured by an instrument mounted in a helicopter during an aerial survey in 2015 that fully covered 734 square miles. Evans believes that “the colossal, densely populated cities would have constituted the largest empire on earth at the time of its peak in the 12th century.” Other archaeologists agree with his assessment, saying that these are the most significant archaeological discoveries in the region in the past century.” (86)
note = “LiDAR also is useful in areas without tremendous amounts of vegetation and has been used to map the site of Jezreel in northern Israel and is yet another way to locate Roman roads in England. We have also used it at ground level at our site at Tel Kabri in Israel to quickly and accurately record the wine cellar that we found in 2013, which I described at the beginning of this book. Most recently, archaeologists have added commercial drones to their toolkit as well, flying the drones much as hobbyists Hy model airplanes. both to find and document sites and to detect looting. From them, it is possible to take either low- or high-level photos of a region, sometimes sending the results directly to a computer for future manipulation and analysis.” (86)
note = “There are other remote-sensing techniques that are ground-based and can help to figure out whether there is something under the ground where one might want to dig. They include electronic resistivity or conductivity, which basically works by running an electric current through the ground between two poles. If there is something like a buried wall in the way, it will interrupt the current; if there is not, then it will not be interrupted... This is where “ground truthing” comes in. Ground truthing means double checking or confirming what has been spotted in the photographs or remote sensing images to make certain it is real or has been properly interpreted. It frequently involves foot surveys or actual excavation.” (86-87)
note = “The same principles work with magnetometers, which measure the magnetic field in area that are of interest to archaeologists. If there are buildings or ditches or other archaeological features that are buried underground, they may show up in a magnetometer reading, because such features affect the magnetic field in the area. (87)
PART 2 — AFRICA, EUROPE, AND THE LEVANT: Early hominins to farmers (95-127)
6) DISCOVERING OUR EARLIEST ANCESTORS (97-114)
7) FIRST FARMERS IN THE FERTILE CRESCENT (115-127)
PART 3 — EXCAVATING THE BRONZE AGE AEGEAN (129-168)
8) REVEALING THE FIRST GREEKS (131-145)
9) FINDING ATLANTIS? (146-156)
10) ENCHANTMENT UNDER THE SEA (157-168)
PART 4 — UNCOVERING THE CLASSICS (169-218)
11) FROM DISCUS-THROWING TO DEMOCRACY (171-187)
12) WHAT HAVE THE ROMANS EVER DONE FOR US? (188-203)
note = "It may seem irreverent to quote a Monty Python chapter title in an archaeology book, but we have already invoked Indiana Jones more than once, and — in any even — the answer that was promptly given in the 1979 movie, Life of Brian, was concise and reasonably accurate: “sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health.” Although the Romans may not have invented all of these things, they certainly spread them throughout a large part of the Roman Empire during the centuries of its existence, especially during the first century BCE through the fifth century CE. They also brought us large-scale entertainment and arenas such as the Roman Colosseum in which to watch them." (188)
note = "Archaeologists have found and excavated Roman ruins not only in Italy, of course, but also in England, France, Germany, Spain, and elsewhere in Europe, as well as Libya, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and other parts of the Middle East, not to mention Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus." (188-189)
DIGGING DEEPER 2 — How do you know how to dig? (204-218)
PART 5 — DISCOVERIES IN THE HOLY LAND AND BEYOND (219-287)
13) EXCAVATING ARMAGEDDON (221-233)
14) UNEARTHING THE BIBLE (234-244)
15) MYSTERY AT MASADA (245-256)
16) CITIES OF THE DESERT (257-268)
DIGGING DEEPER 3 — How old is this and why is it preserved? (269-287)
PART 6 — NEW WORLD ARCHAEOLOGY (289-332)
17) LINES IN THE SAND, CITIES IN THE SKY (291-302)
18) GIANT HEADS, FEATHERED SERPENTS, AND GOLDEN EAGLES (303-313)
19) SUBMARINES AND SETTLERS; GOLD COINS; AND LEAD BULLETS (314-325)
DIGGING DEEPER 4 — Do you get to keep what you find? (326-332)
note = “Most recently, and looking at current worldwide problems, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation in 2015 that makes it illegal in the United States to sell artifacts that have been looted from Syria. That legislation — now referred to as the Protect and Preserve International Cultural Property Act — was approved by the Senate in April 2016 and signed into law by the president on May 9, 2016. Similarly, a memorandum of understanding between the United States and Egypt was signed on November 30, 2016. This will place restrictions on incoming antiquities from Egypt to help curb the ongoing looting in that country.” (page332)
“Ancient artifacts are part of our collected heritage, and so we can only hope that the new legislation and agreements will help to curtail the looting going on around the world. More can and should be done, from passing legislation to guarding excavation sites and protecting known but un-excavated remains. Those outside the profession can help by not succumbing to the temptation of purchasing an ancient artifact offered in a Middle Eastern market or seen on eBay. Because everything that we excavate, study, and write about took place so long ago, the question that should concern all of us is how we can stem the loss of knowledge about our own shared past before it is too late.” (332)
EPILOGUE --- BACK TO THE FUTURE (333-339)
note = “Weisman published his best-selling book, The World without Us. One shown on the National Geographic Channel and was called After Tomorrow Population Zero. The other was shown on the History Channel and was called Life without People. Both of them looked at what would happen to our cities and monuments in the coming years, if we humans ceased to exist, as did Weisman’s original book. The television shows include; footage of the Eiffel Tower crumbling, the Space Needle in Seattle coming down, lions roaming the grounds of the White House, and the like. What would a team of archaeologists find two hundred years from now if all humans (besides the archaeologists themselves) disappeared today? What about in two thousand years? How would they interpret what they find and how would they reconstruct our society?”
note = “Leaving aside for the moment all the big administrative buildings, schools, homes, highways, bridges, roads, airports, and soon, who would structures like the Washington Zoo or the Smithsonian museums, or even Starbucks and McDonald’s, look like? What would be found in their ruins? Would they be identified properly?” (334)
note = “It is worthwhile thinking about the fact that our current culture may be wildly misinterpreted by future archaeologists and that we may occasionally, or perhaps even often, misinterpret the past. That is an occupational hazard, but usually once enough ground is found — we come to a scholarly consensus about the proper interpretation what about how archaeologists will actually do archaeology in the future — that is, what new tools and techniques will they be using? (= 337)
note = “Of course, we have absolutely no way of knowing the answer... I suspect that there will continue to be advances in technology, which will allow us to peer even more easily beneath the earth, or beneath the tree canopies in Central America and Cambodia, before we begin digging... There must be a better way to conduct remote sensing. Apart from LiDAR, most of the techniques that we are using, such as magnetometers, resistivity, and so on, are now decades old. It is time to try new advances. In fact, advances are already beginning to happen in many cases. For example, fluxgate gradiometers and cesium magnetometers have replaced proton magnetometers on some projects.” (337)
note = “Using remote sensing can minimize the need for digging. Since archaeology is destruction, that would allow us to potentially destroy less and to do more work before ever breaking ground. l wonder, for instance, whether in the future it might be possible to detect things like plaster or other specific materials through a layer of earth, just as we can now detect buried walls and ditches. Could some of the techniques being used by the Transportation Security Administration in airports, for example, to catch drug runners and explosives be repurposed to detect chemical compounds that would belong to artifacts still buried in the earth?” (338)
note = “l also think that we will see new analytical techniques coming from chemistry, biology, and especially DNA studies, such as are happening already. Conservation techniques also should continue to improve, so that we can preserve more of what we find. Above all, there should a greater sensitivity to community needs and community goals for archaeology and an increase in collaborative projects between archaeologists and local communities. This is so the people whose heritage is being explored have a greater say in what happens to the artifacts of that heritage. l also think that it is fairly safe to say that the actual process of physically digging — that is excavating with picks, shovels, trowels, and dental tools — will continue as it has since the very first days of archaeology.” (338)
note = "The number of ways that one can dig carefully and yet quickly, without destroying the remains, is limited. Still, I could be surprised, for some new digging techniques may be invented that l cannot even begin to imagine at the moment. What will not change is the archaeological axiom that the best things on a dig are always found on the last day of the excavation season... and almost always in the balk ('side wall').” (338)
note = “In my office at George Washington University, in addition to the book on Schliemann that my mother gave me twice, I also have two bumper stickers pasted on the wall. The first one says simply “Archaeology: I’d rather be digging.” The second one says “Archaeologist. The coolest job on Earth. I save the past, what do you do?” just as bumper stickers should, they encapsulate my feelings about archaeology in a nutshell: I really would rather be digging." (339)
But they also issue a challenge to the rest of the world. Archaeology is not only about finding the remains that have been left from past civilizations. It is also about preserving and curating those remains for future generations. I hope that this book lends itself, even in some small way, to that aim.” (339)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (341-342)
NOTES (343-382)
BIBLIOGRAPHY (383-429)
INDEX (431-455)
SELECTED TOPICS HIGHLIGHTED
Africa: early hominins (97-103)
Afterlife beliefs
Age of Enlightenment
Alters
Animal bones
Animals
Archaeological excavations
Archaeological restorations/reconstructions
Archaeological sites
Archaeological techniques: advances in
Archaeology: anthropology and,
Architecture: Athens, etc
Artifacts: antiquities trade
Bible: Hebrew: etc
Bronze: creation of, etc
Bronze Age: Aegean: etc
Bronze artifacts:
Burial sites:
Canaan: Hittites; (31); Hyksos; (42); etc
Egypt
Europe: Age of Enlightenment
Fertile Crescent civilizations
Forensic archaeology
Fossils, hominin: early hominins, etc
Garden of Eden: Archaeological evidence; Biblical account
Gold artifacts:
Grave goods:
Greece/Greek civilization:
Hittite civilization
Holy Land: Dead Sea Scrolls
Hominins: Africa
Houses
Humain remains
Human sacrifice
Hyksos
Late Bronze Age
Legislation
Libraries
LiDAR [Light Detection and Ranging]
Middle Bronze Age
Middle East
Mythology
National Geographic
Neolithic Period
New World archaeology
Paintings
Palaces
Papyri
Plants: domestication of
Pottery:
Pyramids:
Qumran
Radiocarbon dating
Remote sensing:
Rome/Roman Empire
Scrolls: Dead Sea Scrolls
Sculptures:
Seals:
Shell artifacts:
Ships/Shipwrecks:
Silver artifacts:
Skeletons:
Skulls:
South America: excavation techniques
Statues: bronze, etc
Stratigraphy: classical Greece, etc
Symbols:
Tablets:
Temples
Tombs
Tools
Trade: ancient trade routes
Troy
Turkey:
Volcanoes/volcanic eruptions:
Wall paintings:
Walls: buried, detection techniques, etc
Weapons: as artifacts, etc
Writing: preserved: cuneiform, etc
Zeus
AUTHOR NOTES, SUMMARY,
AND BOOK DESCRIPTION
AUTHOR NOTES = Eric H. Cline is Professor of Classics and Anthropology, Director of the Capitol Archaeological Institute, and former Chair of the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at The George Washington University, in Washington DC. A National Geographic Explorer, Fulbright scholar, and NEH Public Scholar with degrees from Dartmouth, Yale, and the University of Pennsylvania, he is an active field archaeologist with more than 30 seasons of excavation and survey experience in Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Cyprus, Greece, Crete, and the United States, including ten seasons at the site of Megiddo (biblical Armageddon) in Israel and eight seasons at Tel Kabri, also in Israel, where he is currently Co-Director. Winner of the 2014 "Best Popular Book" award from the American Schools of Oriental Research for his book "1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed," which was also considered for a Pulitzer Prize, a three-time winner of the Biblical Archaeology Society's "Best Popular Book on Archaeology" Award (2001, 2009, and 2011). Cline is a popular lecturer who has appeared frequently on television documentaries, he has also won national and local awards for both his research and his teaching. He is the author or editor of 17 books, almost 100 articles, and several recorded lecture courses. His previous books written specifically for the general public include "The Battles of Armageddon: Megiddo and the Jezreel Valley from the Bronze Age to the Nuclear Age" (2000), "Jerusalem Besieged: From Ancient Canaan to Modern Israel" (2004), "From Eden to Exile: Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible" (2007), "Biblical Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction" (2009), "The Trojan War: A Very Short Introduction" (2013), "1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed" (2014), and most recently, "Three Stones Make a Wall: The Story of Archaeology (2017).
SUMMARY = Taking readers from the pioneering digs of the eighteenth century to the exciting new discoveries being made today, the book is a lively and essential introduction to the story of archaeology.
BOOK DESCRIPTION = In 1922, Howard Carter peered into Tutankhamun's tomb for the first time, the only light coming from the candle in his outstretched hand. Urged to tell what he was seeing through the small opening he had cut in the door to the tomb, the Egyptologist famously replied, "I see wonderful things." Carter's fabulous discovery is just one of the many spellbinding stories told in the new book, Three Stones Make a Wall.
Written by Eric Cline, an archaeologist with more than thirty seasons of excavation experience, the book traces the history of archaeology from an amateur pursuit to the cutting-edge science it is today by taking the reader on a tour of major archaeological sites and discoveries, from Pompeii to Petra, Troy to the Terracotta Warriors, and Mycenae to Megiddo and Masada. Cline brings to life the personalities behind these digs, including Heinrich Schliemann, the former businessman who excavated Troy, and Mary Leakey, whose discoveries advanced our understanding of human origins. The discovery of the peoples and civilizations of the past is presented in vivid detail, from the Hittites and Minoans to the Inca, Aztec, and Moche. Along the way, the book addresses the questions archaeologists are asked most often: How do you know where to dig? How are excavations actually done? How do you know how old something is? Who gets to keep what is found?
EDITORIAL BOOK REVIEWS
[1] Intensely readable... Cline is a winning spokesman for his field, with a warm and generous voice evocative of the best university lectures... More than a few readers may feel a sudden urge to rush out to a nearby mound or midden, with spade and trowel in hand. – James Romm, Wall Street Journal.
[2] Eric Cline... doesn't disappoint in his terrific new book. – Steve Donoghue, The National.
[3] Wonderfully engaging... Archaeology has developed over the last two centuries into one of the great human sciences. It steadily expands the known history of humans on earth and thickens our knowledge of human diversity. Cline is fortunate to be a leader in this remarkable profession and readers are lucky that he knows how to write about it with precision and joy. – Robert Fulford, National Post.
[4] This ambitious project is to be warmly welcomed. [Cline] writes clearly, informatively and enthusiastically and tells a good story, often illuminated by personal experiences from working on site... As a general, up-to-date and excellent value introduction to the world of archaeology and the past it reveals, it can be counted a success. – Peter Jones, Classics for All.
PROFESSIONAL ENDORSEMENTS
[1] This book takes your hand and leads you on a magical archaeology mystery tour across the globe. You'll meet famous archaeologists, explore legendary sites, and see the latest discoveries using new technologies. Archaeology is full of ‘wonderful things,' and the book, written by one of its greatest storytellers, is a must-have. – Sarah Parcak, University of Alabama at Birmingham, winner of the 2016 TED Prize.
[2] Eric Cline takes the reader on an amazing journey through the history of archaeology, essentially allowing us to walk in the boots of archaeologists at the moment of the greatest discoveries of all time. This book is at once a wonderful introduction for those curious to know more about archaeology and a relevant read for lifelong excavators who uphold our human responsibility to uncover, preserve, and protect our past. – Kara Cooney, author of The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt.
[3] Three Stones Make a Wall is an experienced archaeologist's fast-paced and fascinating account of the field's ‘greatest hits,' one that will engage all readers no matter what their background. – Jodi Magness, author of The Archaeology of the Holy Land.
[4] In this up-to-date and eminently readable introduction to the field, Eric Cline, one of the world's foremost archaeologists, gives people a chance to peek behind the curtain of the mysterious and exciting world of archaeology. Readers will learn about famous sites and discoveries around the world as well as how to find, dig, and date ancient artifacts without ever leaving the house. – Candida Moss, author of The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom.
[5] I loved this book. Three Stones Make a Wall is a great read filled with many interesting stories. A terrific piece of work. – Kenneth L. Feder, author of The Past in Perspective: An Introduction to Human Prehistory.
[6] Cline provides an excellent history of both civilizations and the archaeological process — his knowledge of the subject is second to none. – Robert R. Cargill, author of The Cities That Built the Bible.
[7] An accurate and engaging picture of archaeology past and present. This book fills a real need within the discipline, as it properly presents archaeology to the public in a way that has not been done before." – Rachel Hallote, author of Bible, Map, and Spade: The American Palestine Exploration Society, Frederick Jones Bliss, and the Forgotten Story of Early American Biblical Archeology.
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