Archaeological Incidents and Accidents - David Frankel

Archaeological Incidents and Accidents exposes some of the challenges, realities and pleasures of research. The work may be serious but we should never take ourselves too seriously. This book doesn't. It looks behind the scenes in an odd miscellany of memories of activities rather than a memoir in an assortment of 30 profusely illustrated general stories about archaeological and historical research projects carried out by the author over the last 50 years. Some of the tales are longer, others shorter and a few taller, but all are more-or-less true. Most incidents stem from excavations carried out on historical sites and Indigenous places in Australia, on Bronze Age cemeteries and settlements in Cyprus and in prehistoric villages in Papua New Guinea, but there are also one or two ring-ins. The stories are as much about the unexpected accidents that prompted or affected who did what, and how and why, as they are about the results, interesting though they are in giving insights into different worlds and how they can be discovered and understood. You will find some information and lots of questions, but perhaps fewer answers. Nothing can be taken for granted and you can choose which you want to believe.