This informed and practical guide shows how anyone with an interest can take part in archaeology at many different levels, whether through fieldwork undertaken individually or by joining an excavation. Stephen Wass, himself an enthusiast with long experience, provides all that a beginner needs to know: what is archaeology all about? the range of skills that can be learnt examples of ideas for projects advice on what to expect on a dig clear explanations of archaeological techniques. There are some 177 local archaeological societies in Britain with 40,000 members, as well as numerous school, extramural and university courses in archaeology. It is one professional area in which the amateur, however inexperienced, can still not only participate but also make a real contribution and this book positively encourages people to join in.

This informed and practical guide shows how anyone with an interest can take part in archaeology at many different levels, whether through fieldwork undertaken individually or by joining an excavation. Stephen Wass, himself an enthusiast with long experience, provides all that a beginner needs to know: what is archaeology all about? the range of skills that can be learnt examples of ideas for projects advice on what to expect on a dig clear explanations of archaeological techniques. There are some 177 local archaeological societies in Britain with 40,000 members, as well as numerous school, extramural and university courses in archaeology. It is one professional area in which the amateur, however inexperienced, can still not only participate but also make a real contribution and this book positively encourages people to join in.

Field Man is the captivating memoir of renowned southwestern archaeologist Julian Dodge Hayden, a man who held no professional degree or faculty position but who camped and argued with a who's who of the discipline, including Emil Haury, Malcolm Rogers, Paul Ezell, and Norman Tindale. This is the personal story of a blue-collar scholar who bucked the conventional thinking on the antiquity of man in the New World, who brought a formidable pragmatism and "hand sense" to the identification of stone tools, and who is remembered as the leading authority on the prehistory of the Sierra Pinacate in northwestern Mexico. But Field Man is also an evocative recollection of a bygone time and place, a time when archaeological trips to the Southwest were "expeditions," when a man might run a Civilian Conservation Corps crew by day and study the artifacts of ancient peoples by night, when one could honeymoon by a still-full Gila River, and when a Model T pickup needed extra transmissions to tackle the back roads of Arizona. To say that Julian Hayden led an eventful life would be an understatement. He accompanied his father, a Harvard-trained archaeologist, on influential excavations, became a crew chief in his own right, taught himself silversmithing, married a "city girl," helped build the Yuma Air Field, worked as a civilian safety officer, and was a friend and mentor to countless students. He also crossed paths with leading figures in other fields. Barry Goldwater and even Frank Lloyd Wright turn up in this wide-ranging narrative of a "desert rat" who was at once a throwback and--as he only half-jokingly suggests--ahead of his time. Field Man is the product of years of interviews with Hayden conducted by his colleagues and friends Bill Broyles and Diane Boyer. It is introduced by noted southwestern anthropologist J. Jefferson Reid, and contains an epilogue by Steve Hayden, one of Julian's sons.

It is the year 4022; all of the ancient country of Usa has been buried under many feet of detritus from a catastrophe that occurred back in 1985. Imagine, then, the excitement that Howard Carson, an amateur archeologist at best, experienced when in crossing the perimeter of an abandoned excavation site he felt the ground give way beneath him and found himself at the bottom of a shaft, which, judging from the DO NOT DISTURB sign hanging from an archaic doorknob, was clearly the entrance to a still-sealed burial chamber. Carson's incredible discoveries, including the remains of two bodies, one of then on a ceremonial bed facing an altar that appeared to be a means of communicating with the Gods and the other lying in a porcelain sarcophagus in the Inner Chamber, permitted him to piece together the whole fabric of that extraordinary civilization.

Amateur, or avocational, archaeologists have made extraordinarily important contributions to our knowledge of prehistory. In order for them to do so, it is essential that they be able to identify the artifacts their discoveries and that, when they find sites that warrant intensive investigation, they report them to those who maintain state records and who can refer them to well-qualified professionals. This book should be very helpful for amateurs who truly care about archaeology and who wish to increase their knowledge and to contribute to the preservation and interpretation of remains of prehistoric cultures.

Learn where to look for and how to identify and preserve your own collection of common and rare stone artifacts in this respected and ethical handbook.