Books, Science, Archaeology

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Sharon Waxman
Loot: The Battle over the Stolen Treasures of the Ancient World
by Times Books (Hardcover) (Release Date: 2008-10-28)

A journey across four continents to the heart of the conflict over who should own the great works of ancient artWhy are the Elgin Marbles in London and not on the Acropolis? Why do there seem to be as many mummies in France as there are in Egypt? Why are so many Etruscan masterworks in America? For the past two centuries, the West has been plundering the treasures of the ancient world to fill its great museums, but in recent years, the countries where ancient civilizations originated have begun to push back, taking museums to court, prosecuting curators, and threatening to force the return of these priceless objects.Where do these treasures rightly belong? Sharon Waxman, a former culture reporter for The New York Times and a longtime foreign correspondent, brings us inside this high-stakes conflict, examining the implications for the preservation of the objects themselves and for how we understand our shared cultural heritage. Her journey takes readers from the great cities of ...

Nina Burleigh
Unholy Business: A True Tale of Faith, Greed and Forgery in the Holy Land
by Collins (Hardcover) (Release Date: 2008-10-21)

In 2002, an ancient limestone box called the James Ossuary was trumpeted on the world's front pages as the first material evidence of the existence of Jesus Christ. Today it is exhibit number one in a forgery trial involving millions of dollars worth of high-end, Biblical era relics, some of which literally re-wrote Near Eastern history and which could lead to the incarceration of some very wealthy men and embarrass major international institutions, including the British Museum and Sotheby's. Set in Israel, with its 30,000 archaeological digs crammed with biblical-era artifacts, and full of colorful characters—scholars, evangelicals, detectives, and millionaire collectors—Unholy Business tells the incredibly story of what the Israeli authorities have called "the fraud of the century." It takes readers into the murky world of Holy Land relic dealing, from the back alleys of Jerusalem's Old City to New York's Fifth Avenue, and reveals biblical archaeology as it is pulled apart ...

Barry Cunliffe
Europe Between the Oceans: 9000 BC-AD 1000
by Yale University Press (Hardcover)

Europe is, in world terms, a relatively minor peninsula attached to the Eurasian land mass. Yet it became one of the most innovative regions on the planet, generating restless adventurers who traversed the globe to trade, to explore, and often to settle. By the fifteenth century Europe was a driving world force, but the origins of its success have until now remained obscured in prehistory.  In this magnificent book, distinguished archaeologist Barry Cunliffe views Europe not in terms of states and shifting political land boundaries but as a geographical niche particularly favored in facing many seas. These seas, and Europe’s great transpeninsular rivers, ensured a rich diversity of natural resources while also encouraging the dynamic interaction of peoples across networks of communication and exchange. The development of these early Europeans is rooted in complex interplays, shifting balances, and geographic and demographic fluidity. Weaving together titanic concepts while ...

Zecharia Sitchin
The End of Days: Armageddon and Prophecies of the Return (The Earth Chronicles)
by Harper (Mass Market Paperback) (Release Date: 2008-03-25)

Why is it that our current twenty-first century A.D. is so similar to the twenty-first century B.C.? Is history destined to repeat itself? Will biblical prophecies come true, and if so, when? It has been more than three decades since Zecharia Sitchin's trailblazing book The 12th Planet brought to life the Sumerian civilization and its record of the Anunnaki—the extraterrestrials who fashioned man and gave mankind civilization and religion. In this new volume, Sitchin shows that the End is anchored in the events of the Beginning, and once you learn of this Beginning, it is possible to foretell the Future. In The End of Days, a masterwork that required thirty years of additional research, Sitchin presents compelling new evidence that the Past is the Future—that mankind and its planet Earth are subject to a predetermined cyclical Celestial Time. In an age when religious fanaticism and a clash of civilizations raise the specter of a nuclear Armageddon, Zecharia Sitchin ...

Bryan Sykes
The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry
by W. W. Norton & Company (Hardcover)

As Provocative as Stephen Jay Gould's The Mismeanure of Man and as controversial as E. O. Wilson's Sociobiology, The Seven Daughters of Eve offers a fascinating history of the world as revealed through genetics. After years of research that resulted in headlines across the world, Bryan Sykes, an Oxford University geneticist, now lays the foundation for an entirely new branch of the study of DNA. After being summoned in 1997 to an archaeological site in Italy to examine the remains of a five-thousand-year-old man, Sykes ultimately was able to prove not only that the man was a European but also that he has relatives living in England today. Sykes found a particular strand of DNA that passes unbroken through the maternal line, allowing us to trace our genetic make-up back to prehistoric times to seven primeval women, or the "seven daughters of Eve". This book is popular science at its best, and its scientific and cultural reverberations will be discussed for years to come.

Graham Hancock
Fingerprints of the Gods (Alternative History)
by Audio Literature (Audio Cassette)

Using tools as varied as archaeo-astronomy, geology, and computer analysis of ancient myths, author Graham Hancock presents a compelling case to suggest that the story of mankind is far older than was previously believed. 2 cassettes.

Ruth M. Wright, Alfredo Valencia Zegarra
The Machu Picchu Guidebook: A Self-Guided Tour
by Johnson Books (Paperback)

Whether you have three hours or three days at Machu Picchu, this guidebook will help you see things of significance that otherwise might just blend in with the overall grand impressions of this magical place. Built in the mid-fifteenth centruy by Incan royalty and "rediscovered" by Hiram Bingham in 1911, Machu Picchu is the stuff of legends. The authors offer an almost step-by-step tour, constantly guiding the traveler to understand key elements of the function and construction of these remarkably well-designed, well-built, and well-preserved ruins. A full-color foldout map along with some 150 illustrations, many of them in full color as well, will make this the indispensable guide. No traveler should go to Machu Picchu without this superb little book.

Kim MacQuarrie
The Last Days of the Incas
by Simon & Schuster (Paperback)

In 1532, the fifty-four-year-old Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro led a force of 167 men, including his four brothers, to the shores of Peru. Unbeknownst to the Spaniards, the Inca rulers of Peru had just fought a bloody civil war in which the emperor Atahualpa had defeated his brother Huascar. Pizarro and his men soon clashed with Atahualpa and a huge force of Inca warriors at the Battle of Cajamarca. Despite being outnumbered by more than two hundred to one, the Spaniards prevailed -- due largely to their horses, their steel armor and swords, and their tactic of surprise. They captured and imprisoned Atahualpa. Although the Inca emperor paid an enormous ransom in gold, the Spaniards executed him anyway. The following year, the Spaniards seized the Inca capital of Cuzco, completing their conquest of the largest native empire the New World has ever known. Peru was now a Spanish colony, and the conquistadors were wealthy beyond their wildest dreams.But the Incas did not ...

Gary Kinder
Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea
by Abacus (Paperback)

Richard Buxton
The Complete World of Greek Mythology
by Thames & Hudson (Hardcover)

A retelling of Greek myths is combined here with a comprehensive account of the world in which the myths developed - their themes, their relevance to Greek religion and society, and their relationship to the landscape.

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