DIGGING FOR HISTORY

The years since World War II have been perhaps the most fruitful fifteen years in archaeological history. Edward Bacon, responsible for the archaeological features of the Illustrated London News has brought together the findings in an immensely readable book for the layman. Archaeology has become a popular subject, due to wider travel in such areas as Greece and Sicily, due, too, to such dramatic and highly publicized findings as the Dead Sea scrolls. But this book carries one to all parts of the world -- of necessity superficially for China and Russia, but in extraordinary detail for parts of Europe- England, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy; for Turkey and the Near East. The Americas are less minutely explored than American readers might ask, possibly because the interruption of the war was less acute, the new findings less important. New techniques in the field and in the laboratory are discussed- in non-technical terms. All in all, ancient history emerges in a wholly new light, open to all kinds of reinterpretation, changes of focus, fresh understanding. It is an exciting adventure in reading and the 63 pages of photographs and drawings -- while their distribution (in the English edition anyhow) seems unrelated to the text, repay close study.