I ranted a bit about an excerpt from the book by Annalee Newitz due to what I saw as an unrealistic approach to the level of certainty archaeologists could reach from preliterate data, but the subject and writing was enough to interest me in actually attending a book club presentation by the author on zoom, and I want to retrench. They are really articulate and knowledgeable on the subject, enough so that I ordered the book and am rethinking my own positions on a subject which I thought myself fairly familiar with. It’s always good to be open to new information and perspectives, and their presentation, good sense and breadth of knowledge was impressive. I think this book will also be a good companion piece to another archaeological book I like, “After the Ice”, which covers the period from about 20,000 BCE (the end of the last Ice Age) to about 6000 BCE, which is right about where this new book picks up in its examination of four prototypical emerging cities.
A Diary of Interesting Times 