Decribes the role of the archaeologist, including what they do, what tools they use in the field, and the future of the profession.

This is one of the few films to document archaeological work on ancient civilizations in Africa. It also deals with an important subject, African iron smelting, and presents convincing evidence for early indigenous technologies far more complex than previously expected.

Historical revisionism and propaganda were important elements of apartheid ideology, proclaiming that black peoples were not the owners of Southern Africa by stating that the whites arrived in the same areas at nearly the same time. Today a crucial objective of South African education is to erase this interpretation as presented in earlier textbooks, and to give their students a genuine history of their country.

Qudad is an ancient lime waterproofing plaster that has been used for several millennia in the Arabian Peninsula. In Yemen, where it most likely originated, it is found on religious and secular buildings and archaeological sites. Because of its elaborate and labor-intensive application (it takes a full year to set properly), this strong, resistant material has barely been in use for the past 30 years. As a consequence, very few masons know how to...

Sophie the archaeologist leads a dig in a farmer's cornfield where some prehistoric spear points were uncovered with a plow.

200,000 years ago we took our first steps in Africa. Today there are seven billion of us living across the planet. How did our ancestors spread from continent to continent? This is a global detective story, featuring the latest archaeological discoveries and genetic research. On each continent, we track down the earliest members of our species, Homo sapiens. Who were these First Peoples? What drove them to the ends of the earth?

The second edition of Contemporary Archaeology in Theory: The New Pragmatism, has been thoroughly updated and revised, and features top scholars who redefine the theoretical and political agendas of the field, and challenge the usual distinctions between time, space, processes, and people. [This edition:] defines the relevance of archaeology and the social sciences more generally to the modern world; challenges the traditional boundaries between prehistoric...

As the foundations of the modern world were being laid at the beginning of the 19th century, Annapolis, Maryland, identified itself as the Ancient City. This unusual appellation has served Annapolis into the present as a city that has consistently defined and redefined for itself what being ancient means. The process of historical recognition and preservation that has played out in Annapolis provides valuable insights into the way modern Americans...