Best of
Archaeology

2016

The Coelho Medallion


Kevin Tumlinson - 2016
    An ancient medallion is unearthed in Pueblo, Colorado, revealing a secret that will rewrite the history of North America—the Vikings somehow made it to the continent's interior, centuries before Columbus made landfall, and there they built a city of gold. But today the COELHO MEDALLION has been stolen, and a linguist and researcher has been abducted in connection with the crime. Could the abductors be after the fabled city of gold? Or do they have a more sinister plot in mind? DAN KOTLER is an independent researcher who often finds himself in more trouble than he was expecting. But when his colleague is abducted he finds himself being investigated by the FBI, he must use all of his brilliance and expertise to find her and absolve himself. ANWAR ADHAM has plans for a terrorist action on U.S. soil, and information from the Pueblo research site can give him everything he needs to put his plans in motion. Unless Adham is stopped, thousands and possibly millions will die. Whoever wins this contest of wits and wills will hold the fate of thousands in his hands, and will also lay claim to the fabled city of gold. It's an adventure that can redefine the history of America as we know it. Kotler finds himself facing off against both the FBI and Adham's terrorist network as he struggles to solve the mystery of Vikings in Colorado, to rescue Evelyn and stop Adham's plans before it's too late. “Kevin has crashed onto the action-thriller scene as only an action-thriller author can: with provocative plot lines, unforgettable characters, and enough adrenaline to keep you awake all night.” —Nick Thacker, author of 'The Enigma Strain' — HERE'S WHAT READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT KEVIN TUMLINSON'S BOOKS: ★★★★★ “[Kevin Tumlinson] is what every writer should be—entertaining and thought-provoking.” — Shana Tehan, Press Secretary, U.S. House of Representatives ★★★★★ “There was something so fascinating about [Citadel] and the cast of characters [Kevin Tumlinson] put together.” — Leah Petersen, Author of Fighting Gravity ★★★★★ "I discovered Kevin Tumlinson from The Creative Penn podcast and immediately got his novel, Evergreen. I read it in like 3 seconds. It's the most fast paced story I've encountered." —R.D. Holland, Independent Reviewer ★★★★★ "[Sawyer Jackson and the Long Land] was a great read! I love these style of books—magic, science fiction, alternate reality. I couldn't put it down." —S., Independent Reviewer

No Trespassing


K.D. Robichaux - 2016
    Having graduated with her degrees in history and archaeology, you’d think she could just waltz right in wherever she wanted, right? Wrong. Dean Savageman, host of The Adventure Channel’s No Trespassing, is the rock star of documentaries, and is always called first to explore the most forgotten, dangerous, and inaccessible places around the country. No one gets dibs before him—certainly not the huffy wanna-be archeologist who keeps showing up at the most obscure undocumented locations, no matter how beautiful she is. After years of run-ins—and unwanted fantasies—with her self-proclaimed mortal enemy and having given up on gaining entry to one of her dream sites the legal way, Emmy sneaks into the NOLA Catacombs, having no idea Dean is in their depths. What happens when these two get trapped together, alone, twenty-five feet under the streets of New Orleans is one for the history books, or at least an episode of… No Trespassing.

Jungle of Stone: The True Story of Two Men, Their Extraordinary Journey, and the Discovery of the Lost Civilization of the Maya


William Carlsen - 2016
    Seized by the reports, American diplomat John Lloyd Stephens and British artist Frederick Catherwood—both already celebrated for their adventures in Egypt, the Holy Land, Greece, and Rome—sailed together out of New York Harbor on an expedition into the forbidding rainforests of present-day Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico. What they found would upend the West’s understanding of human history.In the tradition of Lost City of Z and In the Kingdom of Ice, former San Francisco Chronicle journalist and Pulitzer Prize finalist William Carlsen reveals the remarkable story of the discovery of the ancient Maya. Enduring disease, war, and the torments of nature and terrain, Stephens and Catherwood meticulously uncovered and documented the remains of an astonishing civilization that had flourished in the Americas at the same time as classic Greece and Rome—and had been its rival in art, architecture, and power. Their masterful book about the experience, written by Stephens and illustrated by Catherwood, became a sensation, hailed by Edgar Allan Poe as “perhaps the most interesting book of travel ever published” and recognized today as the birth of American archaeology. Most important, Stephens and Catherwood were the first to grasp the significance of the Maya remains, understanding that their antiquity and sophistication overturned the West’s assumptions about the development of civilization.By the time of the flowering of classical Greece (400 b.c.), the Maya were already constructing pyramids and temples around central plazas. Within a few hundred years the structures took on a monumental scale that required millions of man-hours of labor, and technical and organizational expertise. Over the next millennium, dozens of city-states evolved, each governed by powerful lords, some with populations larger than any city in Europe at the time, and connected by road-like causeways of crushed stone. The Maya developed a cohesive, unified cosmology, an array of common gods, a creation story, and a shared artistic and architectural vision. They created stucco and stone monuments and bas reliefs, sculpting figures and hieroglyphs with refined artistic skill. At their peak, an estimated ten million people occupied the Maya’s heartland on the Yucatan Peninsula, a region where only half a million now live. And yet by the time the Spanish reached the “New World,” the Maya had all but disappeared; they would remain a mystery for the next three hundred years.Today, the tables are turned: the Maya are justly famous, if sometimes misunderstood, while Stephens and Catherwood have been nearly forgotten. Based on Carlsen’s rigorous research and his own 1,500-mile journey throughout the Yucatan and Central America, Jungle of Stone is equally a thrilling adventure narrative and a revelatory work of history that corrects our understanding of Stephens, Catherwood, and the Maya themselves.

The Lost Ancients: Books 1-3


Marie Andreas - 2016
    Giles has spent her life mining the ruins of the elves who vanished from the Four Kingdoms a thousand years ago. But when her patrons begin disappearing too—and then turning up dead—she finds herself unemployed, restless, and desperate. So she goes looking for other missing things: as a bounty hunter. Tracking her first fugitive—the distractingly handsome and strangely charming Alric—she unearths a dangerous underworld of warring crime lords, demonic squirrels, and a long-lost elven artifact capable of unleashing a hell on earth. Chased, robbed, kidnapped, and distressingly low on rent money, Taryn just wants one quiet beer and to catch her fugitive. But there’s more to Alric than his wicked grin—is he a wanted man or the city’s only hope? With menacing mages in pursuit and her three alcoholic faery sidekicks always in her hair, Taryn’s curiosity might finally solve the mystery of the elves… or be the death of her and destroy her world.

Prehistoric Investigations: From Denisovans to Neanderthals; DNA to stable isotopes; hunter-gathers to farmers; stone knapping to metallurgy; cave art to stone circles; wolves to dogs


Christopher Seddon - 2016
    In addition to fieldwork and traditional methods, paleoanthropologists and archaeologists now draw upon genetics and other cutting-edge scientific techniques. In fifty chapters, Prehistoric Investigations tells the story of the many thought-provoking discoveries that have transformed our understanding of the distant past.

The Horse Encyclopedia


Elwyn Hartley Edwards - 2016
    A fascinating introduction takes you through the evolution of the horse, horse disciplines like polo and show jumping, the animal's place in history, art, culture, and much more. With expert advice on horse health and care, including feeding, grooming, and conditioning, The Horse Encyclopedia can even guide you through the experience of becoming a first-time owner.The Horse Encyclopedia is a visually stunning celebration of all things equine and a must-have for every horse lover.

Archaeology: An Introduction to the World's Greatest Sites


Eric H. Cline - 2016
    Archaeology brings us face-to-face with our distant ancestors, with treasures of the past, and with life as it was lived in long-ago civilizations.Despite the fascinating and often romantic appeal of archaeology, many of us have little idea of what the field actually involves. What, exactly, do archaeologists do? What takes place on an archaeological dig? And how does the reality of the work differ from what we see in Indiana Jones movies?Archaeology: An Introduction to the World's Greatest Sites, taught by renowned archaeologist and National Geographic Explorer Eric H. Cline, answers these questions and more in rich and provocative detail. These 24 thrilling lectures, produced in partnership with National Geographic, introduces you to over 20 of the most significant and enthralling archaeological sites on the planet, providing both in-depth looks at the sites themselves and an insider's view of the history, science, and technology of archaeology. Prepare yourself for a vivid and detailed exploration of archaeology's most magnificent discoveries in the company of an expert archaeologist with decades of experience in the field.

Hidden Histories: A Spotter's Guide to the British Landscape


Mary-Ann Ochota - 2016
    Photographs and diagrams point out specific details and typical examples to help the curious Spotter ‘ get their eye in’ and understand what they’ re looking at, or looking for. Specially commissioned illustrations bring to life the processes that shaped the landscape (from medieval ploughing to Roman road building).  Stand-alone capsules explore interesting aspects of history (like the Highland Clearances or the coming of Christianity), and text boxes provide definitions of jargon or handy references as required (like a glossary of what different field names mean).   Each chapter culminates in a checklist of key details to look for, other things it might be, and gives details of where to find some of the best examples in Britain.

What Is Paleolithic Art?: Cave Paintings and the Dawn of Human Creativity


Jean Clottes - 2016
    While other books focus on particular sites and surveys, Clottes’s work is a contemplative journey across the world, a personal reflection on how we have viewed these paintings in the past, what we learn from looking at them across geographies, and what these paintings may have meant—what function they may have served—for their artists. Steeped in Clottes’s shamanistic theories of cave painting, What Is Paleolithic Art? travels from well-known Ice Age sites like Chauvet, Altamira, and Lascaux to visits with contemporary aboriginal artists, evoking a continuum between the cave paintings of our prehistoric past and the living rock art of today. Clottes’s work lifts us from the darkness of our Paleolithic origins to reveal, by firelight, how we think, why we create, why we believe, and who we are.

Archaeology of the Bible: The Greatest Discoveries From Genesis to the Roman Era


Jean-Pierre Isbouts - 2016
    Richly illustrated and written from an objective and nondenominational perspective, author Jean-Pierre Isbouts uses the latest scientific and archaeological discoveries to place biblical stories in the framework of human history. Chapters, beginning with the dawn of human civilization and ending with present day and the future of archaeology, chronicle hundreds of sites and artifacts found in Sumer, Babylon, the Second Temple, along the route of the Exodus, and in many other regions across the Middle East. Timelines bridge hundreds of years and several empires, maps give readers a visual sense of location, while hundreds of photos and illustrations of rare artifacts and ancient places add to the visual splendor. lt concludes with details of what remains to be found and the evolving dynamic of biblical faith in an increasingly scientific world in which archaeologists make daily breakthroughs.

Stonehenge: The Story of a Sacred Landscape


Francis Pryor - 2016
    Its purpose—place of worship, sacrificial arena, giant calendar—is unknown, but its story is one of the most extraordinary of any of the world's prehistoric monuments.Constructed in several phases over a period of some 1500 years, beginning in 3000 BC, Stonehenge's key elements are its “bluestones,” transported from West Wales by unexplained means, and its sarsen stones quarried from the nearby Marlborough Downs.Francis Pryor delivers a rigorous account of the nature and history of Stonehenge, but also places the enigmatic monument in a wider cultural context, bringing acute insight into how antiquarians, scholars, writers, artists–and even neopagans—have interpreted the mystery over the centuries.

Mythos Christos


Edwin Herbert - 2016
    She vows to save as much of the ancient knowledge as she can, especially certain telling documents concerning the origins of Christianity. But rather than merely hiding the heretical scrolls and codices in desert caves and hoping for the best, Hypatia contrives a far more ingenious plan. She sets up an elaborate sequence of burials, each of which is governed by actual ancient linguistic and geometrical riddles which must be solved to gain access. Only one steeped in Platonic mysticism would be capable of finding and unlocking the buried secrets.Oxford, England / June, 2006 ─ American Rhodes scholar Lex Thomasson is sent to Alexandria to aid a mysterious Vatican group known only as “The Commission.” They require a specialist in ancient languages to solve a sequence of Greek Mystery puzzles in what soon becomes evident is Hypatia’s ancient treasure hunt. The Oxford paleographer demonstrates his unique talents by unlocking the secrets along the trail. It does not take long, however, for him to become suspicious of the Commission’s true motives, and the trail becomes a trial fraught with danger.The scene alternates between the two time periods. In both, assassins lurk and fanatics abound. And all along, religious Faith and historical Truth struggle for supremacy.

Who Owns the Dead?: The Science and Politics of Death at Ground Zero


Jay D. Aronson - 2016
    They would attempt to identify and return to families every human body part recovered from the site that was larger than a thumbnail. As Jay D. Aronson shows, delivering on that promise proved to be a monumentally difficult task. Only 293 bodies were found intact. The rest would be painstakingly collected in 21,900 bits and pieces scattered throughout the skyscrapers debris.This massive effort the most costly forensic investigation in U.S. history was intended to provide families conclusive knowledge about the deaths of loved ones. But it was also undertaken to demonstrate that Americans were dramatically different from the terrorists who so callously disregarded the value of human life.Bringing a new perspective to the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history, Who Owns the Dead? tells the story of the recovery, identification, and memorialization of the 2,753 people killed in Manhattan on 9/11. For a host of cultural and political reasons that Aronson unpacks, this process has generated endless debate, from contestation of the commercial redevelopment of the site to lingering controversies over the storage of unclaimed remains at the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum. The memory of the victims has also been used to justify military activities in the Middle East that have led to the deaths of an untold number of innocent civilians."

The Fifth Beginning: What Six Million Years of Human History Can Tell Us about Our Future


Robert L. Kelly - 2016
    I know tomorrow.” This inscription in Tutankhamun’s tomb summarizes The Fifth Beginning. Here, archaeologist Robert L. Kelly explains how the study of our cultural past can predict the future of humanity.   In an eminently readable style, Kelly identifies four key pivot points in the six-million-year history of human development: the emergence of technology, culture, agriculture, and the state. In each example, the author examines the long-term processes that resulted in a definitive, no-turning-back change for the organization of society. Kelly then looks ahead, giving us evidence for what he calls a fifth beginning, one that started about AD 1500. Some might call it “globalization,” but the author places it in its larger context: a five-thousand-year arms race, capitalism’s global reach, and the cultural effects of a worldwide communication network.   Kelly predicts that the emergent phenomena of this fifth beginning will include the end of war as a viable way to resolve disputes, the end of capitalism as we know it, the widespread shift toward world citizenship, and the rise of forms of cooperation that will end the near-sacred status of nation-states. It’s the end of life as we have known it. However, the author is cautiously optimistic: he dwells not on the coming chaos, but on humanity’s great potential.

The Best of B.C.: 58 Years of Pithy Prehistoric Puns and Fun


Johnny Hart - 2016
    comic strips specially selected by the Hart family and a foreword from Jim Davis - creator of Garfield.B.C. is a daily American comic strip created by cartoonist Johnny Hart. Set in prehistoric times, it features a group of cavemen and anthropomorphic animals from various geologic eras in lives that strongly correspond with the world of today.

The Royal Tombs of Ancient Egypt


Aidan Dodson - 2016
    This book is a history of the burial places of the rulers of Egypt from the very dawn of history down to the country's absorption into the Roman Empire, three millennia later. During this time, the tombs ranged from mudbrick-lined pits in the desert, through pyramid-topped labyrinths to superbly-decorated galleries penetrating deep into the rock of the Valley of the Kings. The first book to embrace in detail the entire range of royal tombs, the present volume covers the full extent of royal funerary monuments, which comprised not only the actual burial place, but also the place where the worlds of the living and the dead came together in the temples built to provide for the dead pharaoh's soul.

A Tale Well Travelled


Cherry Shephard - 2016
    Will the find be significant? What tale do they have to tell? YOU now sit at the crossroads, YOU are in control, YOU have five unique tales to follow. Which way will you go?Which path will you choose?

Outwitting Tomorrow: Secrets For Living From the Great Pyramid


Valiant Thor - 2016
     This book is perfect for today's Westerner, who understands the basic principles of Christianity, yet wants to expand their knowledge into more galaxial realms. Outwitting Tomorrow is inspired writing - a timely, practical prescription for survival and growth through the cataclysmic events aligning for this planet, as prophesied of old. The author's mastery becomes apparent due to the complete absence of authoritarian rules. Instead, he focuses on how to expand one's perspective in an intuitive, positive, life-affirming, self-loving way.

The Small Isles


John Hunter - 2016
    The shores they landed on were deserted. After making camp, they struck out to hunt and explore. We know this because the evidence of their presence has been preserved down the millennia - in traces of flint and quartz, in charred fragments of grain and animal bone, in great heaped piles of ancient shellfish.The islands were Rum, Eigg, Canna and Muck - four distinctive shapes rising from the waters of the Inner Hebrides between Ardnamurchan and Skye. Collectively, they are known as the Small Isles. From those first moments on, people have been working these islands and using their resources, adapting each landscape to suit the changing needs of the communities they served. In this definitive new book, archaeologist John Hunter searches for the stories of the Small Isles in the evidence that survives - from the fragmentary physical remains of dwellings, defences, places of worship and monuments, to the records of early antiquarians, historians and travellers.This is a journey to rediscover communities that were erased by the mass migrations of the nineteenth century, and the rise of the Victorian sporting estate. Within a few generations cultural identity on the islands disappeared and a new order developed. Placenames were changed, buildings and structures abandoned, and traditions forgotten. The Small Isles became islands without memories. This comprehensive guide - illustrated with a wealth of photographs, maps and drawings - takes readers on a tour of both place and time. Crisscrossing the landscapes of four fascinating and evocative islands, it reveals traces of a forgotten past in everything that has been left behind.

Why Preservation Matters


Max Page - 2016
    As we approach the October 2016 anniversary of the United States National Historic Preservation Act, historian Max Page offers a thoughtful assessment of the movement’s past and charts a path toward a more progressive future.   Page argues that if preservation is to play a central role in building more-just communities, it must transform itself to stand against gentrification, work more closely with the environmental sustainability movement, and challenge societies to confront their pasts. Touching on the history of the preservation movement in the United States and ranging the world, Page searches for inspiration on how to rejuvenate historic preservation for the next fifty years. This illuminating work will be widely read by urban planners, historians, and anyone with a stake in the past.

The Tale of the Axe: How the Neolithic Revolution Transformed Britain


David Miles - 2016
    They farmed and domesticated animals, created new tools, built monuments, and began preserving and storing food. What brought about this shift? What difference did it make to the overall population? And what effects did this Neolithic Revolution have on generations to come?The Tale of the Axe explores the New Stone Age—named for the new types of stone tools that appeared at that time, specifically the ground stone axe—taking Britain as its focus. David Miles takes the reader on a journey through Neolithic Britain by way of its ancestors, geographical neighbors, and the species from which humans emerged before turning an eye to the future and those aspects of the Neolithic Revolution that live on today: farming, built communities, modern man, and much more.

The First Signs: Unlocking the Mysteries of the World's Oldest Symbols


Genevieve von Petzinger - 2016
    The place: Europe. The time: 25,000 years ago, the last Ice Age. In reality, you live in an open-air tent or a bone hut. But you also belong to a rich culture that creates art. In and around your cave paintings are handprints and dots, x’s and triangles, parallel lines and spirals. Your people know what they mean. You also use them on tools and jewelry. And then you vanish—and with you, their meanings.Join renowned archaeologist Genevieve von Petzinger on an Indiana Jones-worthy adventure from the open-air rock art sites of northern Portugal to the dark depths of a remote cave in Spain that can only be reached by sliding face-first through the mud. Von Petzinger looks past the beautiful horses, powerful bison, graceful ibex, and faceless humans in the ancient paintings. Instead, she’s obsessed with the abstract geometric images that accompany them, the terse symbols that appear more often than any other kinds of figures—signs that have never really been studied or explained until now.Part travel journal, part popular science, part personal narrative, von Petzinger’s groundbreaking book starts to crack the code on the first form of graphic communication. It’s in her blood, as this talented scientist’s grandmother served as a code-breaker at Bletchley. Discernible patterns emerge that point to abstract thought and expression, and for the first time, we can begin to understand the changes that might have been happening inside the minds of our Ice Age ancestors—offering a glimpse of when they became us.

The White Shaman Mural: An Enduring Creation Narrative in the Rock Art of the Lower Pecos


Carolyn E. Boyd - 2016
    Perhaps the greatest of these masterpieces is the White Shaman mural, an intricate painting that spans some twenty-six feet in length and thirteen feet in height on the wall of a shallow cave overlooking the Pecos River. In The White Shaman Mural, Carolyn E. Boyd takes us on a journey of discovery as she builds a convincing case that the mural tells a story of the birth of the sun and the beginning of time—making it possibly the oldest pictorial creation narrative in North America.Unlike previous scholars who have viewed Pecos rock art as random and indecipherable, Boyd demonstrates that the White Shaman mural was intentionally composed as a visual narrative, using a graphic vocabulary of images to communicate multiple levels of meaning and function. Drawing on twenty-five years of archaeological research and analysis, as well as insights from ethnohistory and art history, Boyd identifies patterns in the imagery that equate, in stunning detail, to the mythologies of Uto-Aztecan-speaking peoples, including the ancient Aztec and the present-day Huichol. This paradigm-shifting identification of core Mesoamerican beliefs in the Pecos rock art reveals that a shared ideological universe was already firmly established among foragers living in the Lower Pecos region as long as four thousand years ago.

The History of Central Asia: The Age of Islam and the Mongols (Volume 3)


Christoph Baumer - 2016
    In the first half of the thirteenth century it was also the pre-eminent centre of power in the largest land-based empire the world has ever seen. This third volume of Christoph Baumer's extensively praised and lavishly illustrated new history of the region is above all a story of invasion, when tumultuous and often brutal conquest profoundly shaped the later history of the globe. The author explores the rise of Islam and the remarkable victories of the Arab armies which inspired by their vital, austere and egalitarian desert faith established important new dynasties like the Seljuks, Karakhanids and Ghaznavids. A golden age of artistic, literary and scientific innovation came to a sudden end when, between 1219 and 1260, Genghiz Khan and his successors overran the Chorasmian-Abbasid lands. Dr Baumer shows that the Mongol conquests, while shattering to their enemies, nevertheless resulted in much greater mercantile and cultural contact between Central Asia and Western Europe."

A History of Boston in 50 Artifacts


Joseph M. Bagley - 2016
    Though not the most popular construction project, Boston’s Big Dig has contributed more to our understanding and appreciation of the city’s archaeological history than any other recent event. Joseph M. Bagley, city archaeologist of Boston, uncovers a fascinating hodgepodge of history—from ancient fishing grounds to Jazz Age red-light districts—that will surprise and delight even longtime residents. Each artifact is shown in full color and accompanied by description of the item’s significance to its site location and the larger history of the city. From cannonballs to drinking cups and from ancient spears to chinaware, A History of Boston in 50 Artifacts offers a unique and accessible introduction to Boston’s history and physical culture while revealing the ways objects can offer a tantalizing entrée into our past. Packed with vivid descriptions and art, this lively history of Boston will appeal to all manner of readers, locals and visitors alike.

Teche: A History of Louisiana's Most Famous Bayou


Shane K. Bernard - 2016
    Bernard's Teche examines this legendary waterway of the American Deep South. Bernard delves into the bayou's geologic formation as a vestige of the Mississippi and Red Rivers, its prehistoric Native American occupation, and its colonial settlement by French, Spanish, and, eventually, Anglo-American pioneers. He surveys the coming of indigo, cotton, and sugar; steam-powered sugar mills and riverboats; and the brutal institution of slavery. He also examines the impact of the Civil War on the Teche, depicting the running battles up and down the bayou and the sporadic gunboat duels, when ironclads clashed in the narrow confines of the dark, sluggish river.Describing the misery of the postbellum era, Bernard reveals how epic floods, yellow fever, racial violence, and widespread poverty disrupted the lives of those who resided under the sprawling, moss-draped live oaks lining the Teche's banks. Further, he chronicles the slow decline of the bayou, as the coming of the railroad, automobiles, and highways reduced its value as a means of travel. Finally, he considers modern efforts to redesign the Teche using dams, locks, levees, and other water-control measures. He examines the recent push to clean and revitalize the bayou after years of desecration by litter, pollutants, and invasive species. Illustrated with historic images and numerous maps, this book will be required reading for anyone seeking the colorful history of Louisiana and the Gulf Coast.As a bonus, the second part of the book describes Bernard's own canoe journey down the Teche's 125-mile course. This modern personal account from the field reveals the current state of the bayou and the remarkable people who still live along its banks.

In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World


Christian Marek - 2016
    In this handsome English-language edition of the critically acclaimed German book, Christian Marek masterfully weaves together illuminating citations from the ancient sources with vivid sketches of civic institutions, urban and rural society, agriculture, trade and money, the influential Greek writers of the Second Sophistic, the notoriously bloody exhibitions of the gladiatorial arena, and more.In the Land of a Thousand Gods is truly panoramic in scope. Blending rich narrative history with in-depth analyses of political, social, and economic achievements, it traces Asia Minor's shifting orientation between East and West in the ancient world and examines its roles as both a melting pot of nations and a bridge for cultural transmission. Marek takes readers from the earliest known Stone Age settlements to the appearance and downfall of Bronze and Iron Age empires. He covers the emergence of early Greek poetry and science, the invention of coinage, Persian domination and the prosperity of cities under the Hellenistic kings, and the establishment of Roman provinces. Marek draws on the latest research--in fields ranging from demography and economics to architecture and religion--to describe how Asia Minor became a civilized and wealthy part of the Roman Empire, and shows how the advancement of Hellenization and civic autonomy was the irreversible legacy of the Pax Romana.A breathtaking work of scholarship, In the Land of a Thousand Gods is destined to become the standard reference book on the subject in English.

Akhenaten: The Heretic Pharaoh


Brien Foerster - 2016
    At birth his title was Amenhotep IV, but he changes it to Akhenaten, and with move and others changed all of Egyptian society. Hi wife Nefertiti is perhaps even more famous than him, regarded as one of the most beautiful and graceful women of her time. And Tutankhamun; was he their son, or a nephew that was a puppet of the all powerful Amun priesthood, after the death, and likely murder of Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and their 6 daughters, who were often depicted in Egyptian art as having elongated heads.

Saga Six Pack 7 - Tales of the Enchanted Islands, Saga of King Harald Grafeld, The Death of Baldur, The Magic Mead, The Viking’s Code and The Vikings Discover America (Illustrated)


Emilie Kip Baker - 2016
    Saga Six Pack 7 is a sizzling smorgasbord of sagas for fans of Viking literature and history. Tales of the Enchanted Islands of the Atlantic by Thomas Wentworth Higginson. Saga of King Harald Grafeld and of Earl Hakon Son of Sigurd by Snorri Sturluson. The Death of Baldur by Jean Song. The Story of the Magic Mead by Emilie Kip Baker. The Viking’s Code by Florence Holbrook. The Pre-Columbian Discovery of America by the Northmen by Benjamin Franklin DeCosta. Includes image gallery and The Sagas essay by anthropologist Andrew Lang.

An Archaeological Study of the Bayeux Tapestry: The Landscapes, Buildings and Places


Trevor Rowley - 2016
    

Architecture and Empire in Jamaica


Louis P. Nelson - 2016
    Architecture and Empire in Jamaica offers the first scholarly analysis of Jamaican architecture in the long 18th century, spanning roughly from the Port Royal earthquake of 1692 to Emancipation in 1838. In this richly illustrated study, which includes hundreds of the author’s own photographs and drawings, Louis P. Nelson examines surviving buildings and archival records to write a social history of architecture.   Nelson begins with an overview of the architecture of the West African slave trade then moves to chapters framed around types of buildings and landscapes, including the Jamaican plantation landscape and fortified houses to the architecture of free blacks. He concludes with a consideration of Jamaican architecture in Britain. By connecting the architecture of the Caribbean first to West Africa and then to Britain, Nelson traces the flow of capital and makes explicit the material, economic, and political networks around the Atlantic.

Lost White Tribe: Explorers, Scientists, and the Theory That Changed a Continent


Michael F. Robinson - 2016
    Stanley's discovery of this African "white tribe" haunted him and seemed to substantiate the so-called Hamitic Hypothesis: the theory that the descendants of Ham, the son of Noah, had populated Africa and other remote places, proving that the source and spread of human races around the world could be traced to and explained by a Biblical story. In The Lost White Tribe, Michael Robinson traces the rise and fall of the Hamitic Hypothesis. In addition to recounting Stanley's "discovery," Robinson shows how it influenced others, including that of the Ainu in Japan; or Vilhjalmur Stefansson's tribe of "blond Eskimos" in the Arctic; or the 9,000-year-old skeleton found in Washington State with what were deemed "Caucasian features." As Robinson shows, race theory stemming originally from the Bible only not only guided exploration but archeology, including Charles Mauch's discovery of the Grand Zimbabwe site in 1872, and literature, such as H. Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines, whose publication launched an entire literary subgenre dedicated to white tribes in remote places. The Hamitic Hypothesis would shape the theories of Carl Jung and guide psychological and anthropological notions of the primitive. The Hypothesis also formed the foundation for the European colonial system, which was premised on assumptions about racial hierarchy, at whose top were the white races, the purest and oldest of them all. It was a small step from the Hypothesis to theories of Aryan superiority, which served as the basis of the race laws in Nazi Germany and had horrific and catastrophic consequences. Though racial thinking changed profoundly after World War Two, a version of Hamitic validation of the "whiter" tribes laid the groundwork for conflict within Africa itself after decolonization, including the Rwandan genocide. Based on painstaking archival research, The Lost White Tribe is a fascinating, immersive, and wide-ranging work of synthesis, revealing the roots of racial thinking and the legacies that continue to exert their influence to this day.

Skaar: A Novel of Archaeology, Revolution and Betrayal


Rowland B. Reeve - 2016
    Their destination--the mouth of a jungle river that will lead then deep into the heart of an ancient mystery.Honduras at the turn of the twentieth century is a land of treasure hunters, banana barons, mercenaries and revolutionaries. Into this volatile mix, arrives headstrong Miss Cyrilia Hathaway determined to lead an archaeological expedition to the remote Mayan ruins of Copán. Having crossed half the globe from the narrow lanes of Oxfordshire, England to the shores of the Caribbean Sea, Lia Hathaway must navigate a country torn by revolution to reach the ruined city and decipher the secret her grandfather discovered there forty years earlier. But Lia is not the only one seeking her grandfather's secret, and she soon finds her expedition threatened by a shadowy adversary and aided by a most unlikely ally. A richly imagined novel of archaeology and adventure, Skaar takes the reader along on a journey from the back alleys of Belize Town through the lush islands of the Caribbean and into the verdant twilight of the Honduran jungle. Its memorable heroine and richly drawn cast of characters make Skaar a delightful discovery for lovers of mystery, travel and adventure.

Heaven's Oasis


Jeff W. Horton - 2016
    She’s been the love of Kevin Foster’s life for as long as he can remember; his soulmate, and his best friend. Before she dies, Claire, an archaeologist, goes on an expedition to the Middle East and comes across evidence supporting the existence of a biblical, antediluvian site the ancients called Heaven’s Oasis, and that certain ancient artifacts can lead her to it. Claire believes that finding this site will help prove the Bible's veracity, and provide indisputable evidence of God's existence.Following her unexpected death Claire's expeditions become public knowledge, and the subsequent assaults against her reputation from the scientific community and the media are both brutal and relentless.Furious at the public ridicule and to prove she was right, Kevin decides to pick up where Claire left off in her search and to finish what she started. He’s willing to sacrifice everything, even his life, to restore her reputation and to honor her memory. A billionaire arms dealer named Kain Masterson has also been searching for the Oasis, however, intending to keep what he finds for himself. The deadly competition soon becomes a struggle just to stay alive in the race to find the artifacts, follow the clues, and ultimately to find Heaven’s Oasis.

Greek Art and Archaeology C. 1200-30 BC


Dimitris Plantzos - 2016
    The book begins with an introductory chapter covering the basic principles of archaeological research as well as a concise survey of the developments that led to the establishment of classical archaeology as an academic discipline. Four chapters follow, covering developments in Greek art and archaeology in the Early Iron Age, the Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods respectively. Through concise, systematic coverage of the main categories of classical monuments, the reader is taken on a tour of ancient Greece through the most important period in its history, the first millennium BC. Architecture and city planning, sculpture, painting, pottery, metallurgy, jewelry, and numismatics are some of the areas covered. The book caters primarily to the nonspecialist looking for the essential in ancient Greece. The text is divided into accessible, user-friendly sections including case studies, terminology, charts, maps, a timeline, and full index. Designed as an academic textbook, the volume will interest anyone seeking an inclusive and detailed survey of the most important material remains of ancient Greek civilization. Originally published in Greek by Kapon Edtions (Athens 2011), Greek Art and Archaeology is now expanded with additional material and illustrations specially provided for this edition, and in a translation by Nicola Wardle.

Lost City, Found Pyramid: Understanding Alternative Archaeologies and Pseudoscientific Practices


Jeb J. CardTerry Barnhart - 2016
    It examines how nonscientific pursuit of myths and legends warps both public perceptions of archaeology and of human history itself.   A collection of twelve engaging and insightful essays, Lost City, Found Pyramid does far more than argue for the simple debunking of false archaeology. Rather, it brings into focus the value of understanding how and why pseudoarchaeology captures the public imagination. By comprehending pseudoarchaeology’s appeal as a media product, cultural practice, and communication strategy, archaeologists can enhance and enliven how they communicate about real archaeology in the classroom and in the public arena.   The first part of Lost City, Found Pyramid provides numerous case studies. Some examine the work of well-intentioned romantics who project onto actual archaeological data whimsical interpretative frameworks or quixotic “proofs” that confirm legends, such as that of the Lost White City of Honduras, or other alternative claims. Other case studies lay bare how false claims may inadvertently lead to the perpetuation of ethnic stereotypes, economic exploitation, political adventurism, and a misunderstanding of science.   Offering much of interest to scholars and students of archaeology, archaeology buffs, as well as policy-makers involved in the discovery, curation, and care of archaeological sites and relics, Lost City, Found Pyramid provides an invaluable corrective and hopeful strategy for engaging the public’s curiosity with the compelling world of archaeological discovery.

Sunken Cities: Egypt's Lost Worlds


Franck Goddio - 2016
    Pioneering underwater excavations have yielded a wealth of ancient buildings and artifacts, including temples, harbor installations, and no fewer than sixty-nine shipwrecks. Some of the greatest of these treasures will be exhibited in London for the first time in 2016.Through these spectacular finds, this book explains how two monumental ancient civilizations, Egypt and Greece, interacted in the late first millennium bc, from the founding of Thonis-Heracleion, Naukratis, and Canopus as trading and religious centers to the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great; the ensuing centuries of Ptolemaic (Hellenistic) rule; the suicide of Cleopatra, the last active pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt; and the ultimate dominance of the Roman Empire. Throughout, Greeks and Egyptians lived alongside one another in these lively cities, sharing their politics, religious beliefs, languages, and customs.Sunken Cities showcases a spectacular collection of artifacts, coupled with an insightful presentation of the history by world-renowned experts in the subject.

The Persians


Geoffrey Parker - 2016
    One group of these people would find themselves encamped in an unpromising, arid region just south of the Caspian Sea. From these modest and uncertain beginnings, they would go on to form one of the most powerful empires in history: the Persian Empire. In this book, Geoffrey and Brenda Parker tell the captivating story of this ancient civilization and its enduring legacy to the world.    The authors examine the unique features of Persian life and trace their influence throughout the centuries. They examine the environmental difficulties the early Persians encountered and how, in overcoming them, they were able to develop a unique culture that would culminate in the massive, first empire, the Achaemenid Empire. Extending their influence into the maritime west, they fought the Greeks for mastery of the eastern Mediterranean—one of the most significant geopolitical contests of the ancient world. And the authors paint vivid portraits of Persian cities and their spectacular achievements: intricate and far-reaching roadways, an astonishing irrigation system that created desert paradises, and, above all, an extraordinary reflection of the diverse peoples that inhabited them.             Informed and original, this is a history of an incomparable culture whose influence can still be seen, millennia later, in modern-day Iran and the wider Middle East.

Latin Inscriptions (Ancient languages)


Dirk Booms - 2016
    To the uninitiated such Latin inscriptions can appear daunting — a jumble of letters seemingly without structure or meaning. However, since they were meant to be understood by all levels of ancient Roman society, even those who couldn’t read, these ancient inscriptions followed strict grammatical rules and standardized abbreviations that could be easily decoded.   This book will teach readers — even those with no knowledge of Latin — how to decipher these ancient messages. Each illustrated inscription is accompanied by a transcription, a transliteration in which all abbreviations are spelled out, a translation, and finally an interpretation of the text’s meaning and significance.   Even the smallest piece of information in an inscription can aid classicists in reconstructing the daily lives of Romans, especially those less visible in the archaeological record: the poor, slaves, and women. In conveying devastation at the death of a loved one, comradery among soldiers, or the key events in individual lives, inscriptions can reveal much about ancient Roman history and culture.

Women in Antiquity: Real Women Across the Ancient World


Stephanie Lynn Budin - 2016
    The book is divided into ten sections, nine focusing on a particular area, and also includes almost 200 images, maps, and charts. The sections cover Mesopotamia, Egypt, Anatolia, Cyprus, the Levant, the Aegean, Italy, and Western Europe, and include many lesser-known cultures such as the Celts, Iberia, Carthage, the Black Sea region, and Scandinavia. Women's experiences are explored, from ordinary daily life to religious ritual and practice, to motherhood, childbirth, sex, and building a career. Forensic evidence is also treated for the actual bodies of ancient women. Women in Antiquity is edited by two experts in the field, and is an invaluable resource to students of the ancient world, gender studies, and women's roles throughout history.

Danish Prehistory


Paul Otto Nielsen - 2016
    A description of artifacts and history of the prehistoric artifacts in the National Museum of Denmark from the Stone Age to the Viking age.

Bison and People on the North American Great Plains: A Deep Environmental History


Geoff Cunfer - 2016
    This interpretation remains seductive because of its simplicity; there are villains and victims in this familiar cautionary tale of the American frontier. But as this volume of groundbreaking scholarship shows, the story of the bison’s demise is actually quite nuanced.Bison and People on the North American Great Plains brings together voices from several disciplines to offer new insights on the relationship between humans and animals that approached extinction. The essays here transcend the border between the United States and Canada to provide a continental context. Contributors include historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, paleontologists, and Native American perspectives. This book explores the deep past and examines the latest knowledge on bison anatomy and physiology, how bison responded to climate change (especially drought), and early bison hunters and pre-contact trade. It also focuses on the era of European contact, in particular the arrival of the horse, and some of the first known instances of over-hunting. By the nineteenth century bison reached a “tipping point” as a result of new tanning practices, an early attempt at protective legislation, and ventures to introducing cattle as a replacement stock. The book concludes with a Lakota perspective featuring new ethnohistorical research.Bison and People on the North American Great Plains is a major contribution to environmental history, western history, and the growing field of transnational history.

Ancient Southeast Asia


John N. Miksic - 2016
    Well-illustrated throughout, this comprehensive account explores the factors which established Southeast Asia as an area of unique cultural fusion. Miksic and Goh explore how the local population exploited the abundant resources available, developing maritime transport routes which resulted in economic and cultural wealth, including some of the most elaborate art styles and monumental complexes ever constructed.The book's broad geographical and temporal coverage, including a chapter on the natural environment, provides readers with the context needed to understand this staggeringly diverse region. It utilizes French, Dutch, Chinese, Malay-Indonesian and Burmese sources and synthesizes interdisciplinary theoretical perspectives and data from archaeology, history and art history. Offering key opportunities for comparative research with other centres of early socio-economic complexity, Ancient Southeast Asia establishes the area's importance in world history.

Stonehenge: Making Sense of a Prehistoric Mystery


Mike Parker Pearson - 2016
    Built around 5000 years ago, it stands for mystery and forgotten secrets waiting to be decoded. In this latest book in the Council for British Archaeology's Archaeology for All' series, Professor Mike Parker Pearson presents an up-to-date interpretation of Stonehenge and its landscape. Drawing on his years of research and excavation, the author presents a highly readable account that is lavishly illustrated with images by the renowned photographer Adam Stanford and the reconstruction artist Peter Dunn."

Artifacts of the Battle of Little Big Horn: Custer, the 7th Cavalry & the Lakota and Cheyenne Warriors


Will Hutchison - 2016
    Years were spent photographing and acquiring artifacts in museums and private collections, which are presented here in vivid, high-resolution color photographs, shot from various angles with the researcher and collector in mind. The photographs are catalogued under chapters devoted to the battle, Custer's 7th Cavalry, and the Lakota and Cheyenne warriors who fought them. Hundreds of photographic images accompanying the chapters are filled with informative descriptions regarding physical properties, history, origin of the items, and the stories behind them. This definitive work will provide a valuable resource for military researchers and historians, as well as an aesthetically stunning photographic essay to compliment any collection or library.

Freedom, 25,000 BC: Out From the Shadow of Popocatépetl (Pre-Clovis Archaeological Sites in the Americas Book 1)


Bonnye Matthews - 2016
    . a book of hearts and minds.” Grace Cavalieri, award-winning author, host of The Poet and the Poem from the US Library of Congress.After years of abuse from his father, Wing leaves the only home he's ever known. As the male lion leaves its pride, he must find a new home or die. He is sixteen, frail, injured, and alone in the mountainous untamed and untouched wilderness of Mexico of 250,000 BC. Wing struggles to survive, proving himself against a bear, where he learns elementary freedom. Award-winning writer of prehistoric fiction Bonnye Matthews’ novella, Freedom, 250,000 BC, brings to life primitive early Americans through Wing's growing understanding of what freedom is and its importance for life.Freedom, 250,000 BC is dedicated to the archaeological site south of Puebla, Mexico at the Valsequillo Reservoir. The site is an amazingly rich prehistoric view of the glory and infamy of human life in the Americas, specifically Mexico, in 250,000 BC. “The outstanding Winds of Change series is highly and enthusiastically recommended for personal reading lists, as well as both community and academic library historical fiction collections.” Midwest Book Review

Holes in the Head: The Art and Archaeology of Trepanation in Ancient Peru


John W. Verano - 2016
    Anthropologists and medical historians have been investigating ancient trepanation since the mid-nineteenth century, but questions remain about its origins, evolution, and the possible motivations for conducting such a dangerous surgical procedure. Peru is particularly important to these questions, as it boasts more trepanned skulls than the rest of the world combined. This volume presents the results of a long-term research project that examined more than 800 trepanned skulls from recent archaeological excavations and from museum collections in Peru, the United States, and Europe. It examines trepanation in ancient Peru from a broad anthropological and historic perspective, focusing on the archaeological context of osteological collections and highlighting the history of discoveries. It explores the origins and spread of the practice throughout the Central Andes, with a focus on trepanation techniques, success rates, and motivations for trepanning. It examines the apparent disappearance of trepanation in the Andes following Spanish conquest, while noting that there are reports of trepanations being performed by healers in highland Peru and Bolivia into the twentieth century.

Gardens and Gardeners of the Ancient World: History, Myth and Archaeology


Linda Farrar - 2016
    Gardens and Gardeners of the Ancient World traces the beginning of gardening and garden history, from Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, to the Minoans and Mycenaeans, Greeks, Etruscans and Romans, through Byzantine, Islamic and Persian gardens right up to the Middle Ages. It shows how gardens in each period were designed and cultivated. Evidence for garden art and horticulture is gathered from surviving examples of ancient art, literature, archaeology, actual period gardens that have survived the centuries and the wealth of garden myths associated with certain plants. These sources bring ancient gardens and their gardeners back to life, and provide information on which plants were chosen as garden worthy, their setting and the design and appearance of ancient gardens. Deities associated with aspects of gardens and the garden's fertility are featured - everyone wanted a fertile garden. Different forms of public and domestic gardens are explored, and the features that you would find there; whether paths, pools, arbors and arches, seating or decorative sculpture. The ideal garden could be like the Greek groves of the Academy in Athens, a garden so fine that it was comparable with that of the mythical king Alcinoos, the paradise contemplated by the Islamic world, or a personal version of a garden of Eden that Early Christians could create for themselves or in the forecourt of their churches. In general books on garden history cover all periods up to the present, often placing all ancient gardens in one chapter at the beginning. But there is so much of interest to be found in these early millennia. Generously illustrated with 150 images, with plant lists for each period, this is essential reading for everyone interested in garden history and ancient societies.

The Social Archaeology of Food: Thinking about Eating from Prehistory to the Present


Christine A. Hastorf - 2016
    It integrates ethnographic and archaeological case studies from the European and Near Eastern Neolithic, Han China, ancient Cahokia, Classic Maya, the Inka and many other periods and regions, to ask how the meal in particular has acted as a social agent in the formation of society, economy, culture and identity. Drawing on a range of social theorists, Hastorf provides a theoretical toolkit essential for any archaeologist interested in foodways. Studying the social life of food, this book engages with taste, practice, the meal and the body to discuss power, identity, gender and meaning that creates our world as it created past societies.

Political Strategies in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica


Sarah Kurnick - 2016
    Rulers must reinforce social inequality and bolster their own unique position at the top of the sociopolitical hierarchy, yet simultaneously emphasize social similarities and the commonalities shared by all. Political Strategies in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica explores the different and complex ways that those who exercised authority in the region confronted this contradiction.New data from a variety of well-known scholars in Mesoamerican archaeology reveal the creation, perpetuation, and contestation of politically authoritative relationships between rulers and subjects and between nobles and commoners. The contributions span the geographic breadth and temporal extent of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica—from Preclassic Oaxaca to the Classic Petén region of Guatemala to the Postclassic Michoacán—and the contributors weave together archaeological, epigraphic, and ethnohistoric data.Grappling with the questions of how those exercising authority convince others to follow and why individuals often choose to recognize and comply with authority, Political Strategies in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica discusses why the study of political authority is both timely and significant, reviews how scholars have historically understood the operation of political authority, and proposes a new analytical framework to understand how rulers rule. Contributors include Sarah B. Barber, Joanne Baron, Christopher S. Beekman, Jeffrey Brzezinski, Bryce Davenport, Charles Golden, Takeshi Inomata, Arthur A. Joyce, Sarah Kurnick, Carlo J. Lucido, Simon Martin, Tatsuya Murakami, Helen Perlstein Pollard, and Víctor Salazar Chávez.

Ishtar


Louise M. Pryke - 2016
    The polarity of her nature is reflected in her role as goddess of sexual love and war, and has made her difficult to characterise in modern scholarship. By exploring this complexity, Ishtar offers insight into Mesopotamian culture and thought, and elucidates a goddess who transcended the limits of gender, divinity and nature. It gives an accessible introduction to the Near Eastern pantheon, while also opening a pathway for comparison with the later Near Eastern and Mediterranean deities who followed her.

Skeletons: The Extraordinary Form and Function of Bones


Andrew Kirk - 2016
    

Roman Mosaics in the J. Paul Getty Museum


Alexis Belis - 2016
    Paul Getty Museum span the second through the sixth centuries AD and reveal the diversity of compositions found throughout the Roman Empire during this period. Elaborate floors of stone and glass tesserae transformed private dwellings and public buildings alike into spectacular settings of vibrant color, figural imagery, and geometric design. Scenes from mythology, nature, daily life, and spectacles in the arena enlivened interior spaces and reflected the cultural ambitions of wealthy patrons. This online catalogue documents all of the mosaics in the Getty Museum’s collection, presenting their artistry in new color photography as well as the contexts of their discovery and excavation across Rome's expanding empire—from its center in Italy to provinces in southern Gaul, North Africa, and ancient Syria.Reflecting the Getty's commitment to open content, Roman Mosaics in the J. Paul Getty Museum is available online at www.getty.edu/publications/romanmosaics and may be downloaded free of charge in multiple formats. For readers who wish to have a bound reference copy, this paperback edition has been made available for sale.The publication of this online catalogue is issued on the occasion of the exhibition, Roman Mosaics across the Empire, on view at the Getty Villa from March 30 through September 12, 2016.

Fire Over Luoyang: A History of the Later Han Dynasty 23-220 AD


Rafe de Crespigny - 2016
    Comparable in extent and power to the early Roman empire, it dominated east Asia from present-day Vietnam to the Mongolian steppe. Rafe de Crespigny presents here the first full account of this period in Chinese history to be found in a Western language. Commencing with a detailed account of the imperial capital, the history describes the nature of government, the expansion of the Chinese people to the south, the conflicts of scholars and officials with eunuchs at court, and the final collapse which followed the rebellion of the Yellow Turbans and the rise of regional warlords.

The Irrelevant Tales


Othy Jones - 2016
    Discouraged and broke after spending his life savings to get to Paris in a failed attempt to study art at a prestigious university, William takes on odd jobs - like painting portraits in a local cafe-to make ends meet. It is here that one night a mysterious Englishman offers him the chance of a lifetime. Before long, what started out as an opportunity to attend a revolutionary art show leads William into a dangerous web of archaeological treasure chasers, secret societies, and paranormal anomalies where the only person he can rely on calls himself Dr. Irel E. Vant. With no money, no lodgings, and having narrowly survived a brush with a band of masked assailants, William is plunged into the world of the eccentric Dr. Vant where he will trade custodial service for good wages and the full funding of his art. But soon after Dr. Vant's leave for an exotic journey, William's life is threatened once more and what was portrayed as a humble living in a small village turns into an enigmatic storm of shady characters, mystical artefacts, and seemingly irrelevant tales with an immoral epicentre."