Three Stones Make a WallBy Eric H. ClinePrinceton University Press, 2017Archaeology has an image problem. It is ultimately concerned with analyzing and interpreting the material remains of the human past. However, dinosaurs, Indiana Jones, and supernatural phenomena infiltrate popular representations of this branch of the social sciences, and it is not always clear that the public recognizes what archaeology is or why it is important. Dr. Eric H. Cline of George Washington University is a prolific archaeologist and rigorous scientist, and it is always exciting to see broad public communication come from the academy. In his latest book, Three Stones Make a Wall: The Story of Archaeology, he posits that it

…is time for a new introductory volume, meant for people of all ages… In the past few decades, tremendous numbers of discoveries, as well as great advances in archaeology, have been made.

As an archaeologist myself, I really wanted to like this book. In the chapters where Cline immerses the reader in the monumentality of the Classical and Biblical worlds, he does not disappoint. He is a gifted narrator, and brings to life the remains of great cities and monuments that were part of people’s daily lives hundreds and thousands of years ago, especially in the Mediterranean region. Throughout the process, he delivers evidence-based blows to the pseudoarchaeology that masks the true achievements of people and societies of the past. However, archaeology is more than the great cities and monuments, and where he does delve into areas outside of the Classical realm, the content is thin, patchy, and unsatisfying. There are also some problems with the way he defines the archaeology of earlier time periods. The Classical and Biblical Mediterranean are worthy of time and attention, but there is plenty of equally interesting and important archaeology in the rest of the world. In terms of ethical concerns, the discussion of looting is essential and thorough. However, the complex issues surrounding the colonial history of the field and ownership of the past that have become a key part of archaeological ethics and scholarship in the past few decades are largely unaddressed. While engaging, this volume clings to old Eurocentric biases that prevent it from being a well-rounded introduction to archaeology.Cline begins his volume with a discussion of the history of archaeology as a field, beginning with antiquarians of the 1700s, who were largely glorified looters, through to the present-day practitioners of specialized systematic analyses. After his introduction to the field, Cline takes us on an express tour through much of human history. Beginning with the story of the recent Homo naledi discoveries by Lee Berger and his team of spelunking scholars, he introduces us to both paleoanthropologists and archaeologists and the work they have conducted on early hominins (humans, their immediate ancestors, and other closely related extinct species), as well as the archaeology of modern Homo sapiens who lived as hunter-gatherers tens of thousands of years ago. Often, this work is not only an intellectual challenge, but also a physical one. On H. naledi:

The bones may be up to 2.8 million years old. They were all found in the almost-inaccessible chamber in the cave in 2013 and 2014, after the two spelunkers showed Berger how to get there. As Jamie Shreeve of National Geographic describes it, this required going through a passageway known as Superman’s Crawl, which is less than ten inches high and can be traversed only if you hold one arm tight against your body and extend the other above your head, like Superman when he is flying; then climbing up a vertical wall of jagged rock called the Dragon’s Back…

However, Cline tells us that:

Berger’s discoveries are within the subfield of prehistoric archaeology, otherwise known as palaeoanthropology. Archaeologists in this field study a period that covers millions of years – from our earliest hominin ancestors right up until the beginnings of recorded history.

As a largely prehistoric archaeologist myself, I take issue with this conflation of paleoanthropology with prehistoric archaeology. Paleoanthropology is concerned primarily with fossil hominin remains, and is generally considered a branch of biological anthropology. Prehistoric archaeology, on the other hand, concerns itself largely with the material culture that humans have left behind. Both are crucial to understanding the human past, and plenty of prehistoric archaeologists collaborate with paleoanthropologists, but they are distinct fields employing different skill sets.We learn about several of the individual members of the renowned Leakey family, a lineage of paleoanthropologists who have discovered and published on several ancient hominins from the area around Africa’s Olduvai gorge, including Australopithecus afarensis and Homo habilis. H. habilis, which is:

often found associated with stone tools…translates roughly as ‘handy man.’

This is the earliest hominin known to have regularly constructed and used tools. Moving forward through human history, we learn of Neanderthals and modern H. sapiens sapiens, and evidence that these two closely related species knew of each other’s existence throughout Europe and western Asia. This is important in both interpreting the archaeological record and in understanding the lineage of modern humans. Cline also takes us on fairly comprehensive tours of Lascaux and Chauvet Caves, painted by paleolithic humans tens of thousands of years ago. Eventually, we linger in Southwest Asia around the dawn of agriculture in that region.

We usually talk about the Neolithic Revolution when we are discussion this period, because it sees the beginning of a whole new way of life. Not only do stone tools change…but this is when we see the first domestication of plants and animals, including wheat and barley, sheep and goats, in an arc of sites running from the top of the Persian Gulf up across to where Turkey meets Syria and then down the Mediterranean coast all the way to modern-day Israel—the Fertile Crescent.

Discussion of the transition from hunting-gathering to farming includes a review of some of the most important sites in the Fertile Crescent from the dawn of agriculture, including Gӧbekli Tepe, Jericho, and Çatalhöyük. These are rich sites, and the material culture from permanent structures to plastered skulls to paintings gives us a window into the lives of the people who inhabited them. However, this chapter does not delve much into the zoological and botanical data from the region that provide insight into the domestication process and the complicated entanglements between humans, plants, and animals. Furthermore, there is not even a mention of the fact that the Fertile Crescent does not have a monopoly on the origins of agriculture; it developed independently in several areas of the world. Where are the rice-producers of the Yangtze Valley, the early maize farmers of southern Mexico, or the taro swamps cultivated by highlanders of New Guinea?Interspersed into the discussion are methods chapters addressing how archaeologists do what they do. “Archaeology is both a technique and a craft and knowing how it is done is part of its story as well,” he writes. It is rare for popular books to discuss archaeological methods in detail, and Cline educates masterfully through historical and modern stories as well personal anecdotes. We learn of the history of the low-tech (but still essential) pedestrian survey, as well as recent technology like remote sensing. He explains how archaeologists systematically dig, how we use scientific techniques to figure out how old things are, and some of the ethical considerations by which archaeologists abide. Throughout it all, he emphasizes context:

It is the context of each ancient object that is a large part of what makes it so important and what separates the work of the archaeologist from that of a treasure hunter or a looter. If I am shown, or read an article about, a gold bracelet or some other artifact, the first thing I’m going to say is, ‘Wow, where did it come from? What was its context?’ If we don’t know an artifact’s context, it loses most of its inherent value for archaeologists, because it means that it’s not known where it was found, or when it was found, or what other objects were found with it, or anything about its findspot at all.

Cline includes nine vibrant chapters on the archaeology of the Mediterranean region, where we learn about ancient Greeks and Romans, as well as biblical archaeology. He also discusses the history of archaeology in this region in some detail. Highlights include the city of Knossos and the Minoans on Crete; the eruption of Santorini, the city of Akrotiri and the non-troversy that is “Atlantis”; Pompeii; the archaeology of what happened at Masada; and of course, the Dead Sea Scrolls. An entire chapter is devoted to underwater archaeology and the shipwrecks of the Mediterranean. These shipwrecks were terrible tragedies when they happened. However, perhaps their silver lining, centuries and millennia later, is that they are a legacy by which the history and culture of their people and relationships can be understood. On the Uluburun shipwreck off of the southwest coast of Turkey, he tells us:

The ship, which sank around 1300 BCE, is – without exaggeration – one of the most important archaeological discoveries of all time. Shipwrecks always represent a snapshot in time, from the Titanic on back, but it unusual to find one from so early and so full of cargo.

The last part of the book focuses on the archaeology of the Americas. These chapters describe monumental sites of South and North America such as Machu Picchu, the Nazca Lines, Teotihuacán, and Cahokia. Countering racist narratives of the past that invoke aliens rather than accept the impressive architectural achievements of prehistoric peoples of the Americas, Cline states plainly:

In any case, there is simply no need to invoke extraterrestrial visitors in order to explain the amazing Nazca Lines. The phenomenon of building these geoglyph figures on the ground has a long tradition over many centuries in many places in Peru, most of which were very visible to the people for whom they were made.

The chapter focusing on archaeology of North America does not do the size and diversity of the American archaeological record justice. More attention is given to colonial Euro-American sites than to the 13,000+ years of habitation by the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas. The American Indian sites that do get attention are primarily those that are defined by monumentality, such as the mounds at Cahokia in Illinois and the pueblos of Chaco Canyon in the southwest. The important issues surrounding NAGPRA (the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act) and Kennewick Man/The Ancient One that are central to conducting archaeology in the Americas get two pages. Given the legacy of archaeology in the Americas that has too often ignored modern American Indian communities and the substantial (yet imperfect) attempts the archaeological establishment has made in the past few decades to do better, this approach is unfortunately lacking.Largely absent from the book were discussions about ownership of the past and the rights of descendant communities, such as those of modern American Indians. Modern archaeology has its roots in the colonial enterprise, and has acted at times to both support and undermine colonial claims to land and sovereignty. Part of this legacy means that if archaeologists are not careful, their work can continue the damage of colonialism. This does not mean that archaeological cannot be pursued ethically and responsibly, but it is a dynamic of which to be aware. NAGPRA was the result of the activism of indigenous Americans, who wanted sovereignty over the remains of their ancestors and ancestral sites. Similar indigenous movements have happened all over the world, and archaeology has changed in response. Collaborative archaeological projects, which incorporate descendant and local communities as (ideally) equal partners in the archaeological process, are increasingly becoming the future of archaeology. After all, who does the past impact more than the direct descendants of the people whose lives are being studied?Even when this dynamic is less obvious, complicated issues about ownership of the past remain. For example, Cline tells us that in Athens, “Before the archaeologists can excavate anywhere…they have to purchase the houses and other structures that are currently standing in the area where they intend to dig.” What, then, are the attitudes of homeowners facing archaeologists who want to buy their property for excavations? What choices do they and the archaeologists have to meet whatever their individual goals may be? These questions are interesting and important to modern archaeology, and a short discussion would be greatly enriching.In many ways, this book is an impressive achievement that expertly communicates many aspects of archaeological method and interpretation without the jargon and minutiae that are standard in academic publications. However, this is not The Story of Archaeology. Rather, it is a detailed window onto the study of the archaeology of the Mediterranean and the Classical world, with interspersed stories from around the globe. With the ever-increasing specialization in the field, I respect that it is nearly impossible for one archaeologist to write an introductory book that fairly incorporates what archaeology is to everyone. It calls for a trimming that would transform this book into an excellent popular introduction to Classical and Biblical archaeology instead of the introduction to all of archaeology that it strives for and falls short of being.____Maureece Levin is a postdoctoral scholar in archaeology at Stanford University, specializing in archaeobotany. This is her first review for Open Letters Monthly.