Does evidence show that Native Americas residing in Utah a thousand years ago lived among dinosaurs, depicting those creatures in their rock art? Did some of those same ancient Americans also encounter visitors from other planets, painting images of space-suited aliens on canyon walls? Have archaeologists discovered evidence that members of the Lost Tribes of Israel visited ancient America, leaving their mark by engraving the Ten Commandments in Hebrew on rocks in New Mexico? And Ohio? Is there archaeological evidence of ancient Celtic visitors to the New World in the form of messages etched in stone, megalithic monuments, and even the remnants of the villages in which they lived? Are American archaeologists covering up the remains of lost cities deeply ensconced in a secret cave in Arizona and in a subterranean chamber in Missouri? Finally, have archaeologists discovered the far western outpost of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, not in Egypt or even Africa, but in, of all places, California? Those questions and more are answered by archaeologist Ken Feder in Archaeological Oddities: A Field Guide to Forty Claims of Lost Civilizations, Ancient Visitors, and Other Strange Sites in North Americathat the above listed questions and others addressed in his book represent the equivalent of “fake news” about America’s ancient past. The forty sites he highlights are, in fact, fascinating and fun places to visit. Feder’s guide provides an entertaining summary of those forty sites along with the practical information you’ll need to visit them. This full-color book includes over 100 fascinating photographs.

Historian Wallace Stegner characterized America’s National Park system as “the best idea we ever had.” One can quibble with that, but, indeed, it was a pretty good idea! This book specifically is a guide and a celebration of 30 of those national parks, national historical parks, and national monuments that, each in its own way, reveals the histories and cultures of America’s first inhabitants, the Native Americans. Its pages will take you to: great mounds in Ohio where the dead were laid to rest in sumptuous splendor 2,000 years ago a place in Iowa where 1,000 years ago, Native Americans sculpted earth into the forms of giant bears and birds a quarry in Minnesota where Native People have, for hundreds of years, extracted blood-red stone for their ceremonial pipes the remains of a village in North Dakota visited by Lewis and Clark in the early 1800s and the home of their guide Sacagewea truly breathtaking, more than 700-year-old cliff dwellings in Arizona and Colorado, that will astonish you in their ethereal beauty and architectural ingenuity phantasmagorical images of 7-foot-tall, wide-eyed spirit beings in Utah painted more than 1,000 years ago And many more. All of these sites have in common the fact that, at the insistence of Native and non-Native people, men and women, the federal government of the United States set them aside as places to preserve, study, and revere as part of the American story no matter where your ancestors came from, how they got here, or how long ago. Read this book and visit the historically sacred sites enshrined in our national parks, national historical parks, and national monuments, places that reveal the creativity and genius of the Native People of North America. With 180 color photographs and complete visitor information, this is a wonderful guide to Native American archaeology in our national parks and monuments.

“An exciting new steampunk adventure” featuring living machines, murderous betrayals, and Ireland’s most ruthless family (School Library Journal). The slow collapse of the British Empire in the nineteenth century meant opportunity for anyone with ammunition and wit. Now the Wildensterns are by far the most powerful family—and the most ruthless. Trained from childhood in the arts of assassination and conspiracy and endowed with the supernatural ability to live for more than a century, the clan has grown rich, vicious, and seemingly invincible. After nearly two years away, eighteen-year-old Nate has returned. But his homecoming is shattered when his eldest brother, Marcus, is mysteriously killed. Following the Rules of Ascension, which allow one male family member to murder another, Nate is being blamed. Nate knows he isn’t the murderer, but who is? With the help of his sister-in-law, Daisy, and his cousin Gerald, Nate intends to find out. Their investigation brings them into the underbelly of the Wildenstern empire, where living machines, conspiring relatives, and undercover mercenaries do their dirty work. But when a disaster uncovers the ancient remains of Wildenstern ancestors, the lives of the family members and their struggle for power will take a bizarre and gruesome turn.

Evolutionary Research in Archaeology seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of contemporary evolutionary research in archaeology. The book will provide a single source for introduction and overview of basic and advanced evolutionary concepts and research programs in archaeology. Content will be organized around four areas of critical research including microevolutionary and macroevolutionary process, human ecology studies (evolutionary ecology, demography, and niche construction), and evolutionary cognitive archaeology. Authors of individual chapters will address theoretical foundations, history of research, contemporary contributions and debates, and implications for the future for their respective topics. As appropriate, authors present or discuss short empirical case studies to illustrate key arguments. ​

Misanthropology: Science, Pseudoscience, and the Study of Humanity introduces students to key concepts in critical thinking across the four core branches of anthropology: cultural, linguistic, biological, and archaeological. It combines a critical analysis of anthropology as a field with current concepts in scientific skepticism. By deconstructing a range of global case studies in which anthropological research runs aground, the book teaches students to distinguish between legitimate science and pseudoscience. It covers key concepts in critical thinking and rigorous research, such as cognitive biases and logical fallacies, data collection and consensus, probabilistic thinking, as well as political, nationalist, racist biases. Students learn not only how to apply these concepts to anthropological research and fieldwork, but also to their consumption of everyday information. This book will appeal to anthropology students and will be particularly useful for instructors of introductory anthropology courses, as well as instructors of courses across the humanities and social sciences focused on inculcating critical thinking skills.

By exploring the development of archaeology, this book helps us understand what archaeology is and why it matters.