El mundo de la arqueología

by C.W. Ceram

Foreword/ C.W. CeramThe ideal archaelogist/ C.L. WoolleyHow to buy antiquities/ C.L. WoolleyHow to steal antiquities/ C.M. LericiA strange bargain/ C.L. WoolleyLeagalized art robberyThe complete forger/ C.L. WoolleyThe Olympia conventionThe foundation of the British Museum/ H. SloaneA troublesome legacy/ H. WalpoleThe controversial bequest of Lord ElginThe treasure of Priam/ H. SchliemannA stolen treasure/ H. SchliemannA Mycenaen ruler/ H. SchliemannWinkelmann in HerculaneumThe plaster corpses of Pompeii/ A. GoldsmidtThe discovery of the 'Venus de Milo'/ C. TarralThe charioteer of DelphiThe discovery of the Hermes of Praxiteles/ E. CurtiusThe rebuilding of the Stoa/ P. MackendrickThe London Mithraeum/ R.L.S. Bruce-MitfordTraces of the Ethruscans/ G. DennisThe bull of Minos/ A.J. EvansReconstruction work at Knossos/ A.J. EvansVentris deciphers the Cretan script/ W. TaylourThe tourist and the monuments/ A.F. MarietteExcavations in Egypt/ J.L. BurckhardtA visit to Thebes/ D.V. DenonThe opening of a pyramid/ G.B. BelzoniA cache of mummies at Thebes/ G.B. BelzoniThe temple of Abu Simbel/ J.L. BurckhardtCoffee at Abu Simbel/ A. EdwardsAppeal by Mr V. VeroneseA hoard of royal mummies/ G.C. MasperoA false interpretation of the hieroglyphs/ A. KircherHow the Rosette Stone came to the British Museum/ T.H. TurnerChampollion deciphers the hieroglyphsA fantastic interpretation of the Great Pyramid/ C.P. SmythThe underwater tomb/ W.F. PetrieThe discovery of the Amarna tablets/ E.A. BudgeTutankhamen/ H. CarterThe golden coffin/ H. CarterThe buried pyramid/ Z. GoneimA second solution to the cuneiform script/ H.C. RawlinsonWas Babylon here?/ C.J. RichThe walls of Babylon/ R. KoldeweyA curious sculpture/ R. KoldeweyProblems at the excavation of Nineveh/ P.E. BottaExcavations at Nimrud/ A.H. LayardDiscoveries and alarms/ A.H. LayardThe Gilgamesh Epic is found/ G. SmithEarly technical achievements/ H.V. HilprechtThe royal graves of Ur/ C.L. WoolleyDigging up pergamon/ C. HumannThe discovery of the Hamah stones/ W. WrightTo boghazköy!/ H. WincklerHrozný deciphers the Hittite cuneiform/ L. MatousExcavations at the Black mountain/ H. BossertThe royal residence on the 'River of Nymphs'/ F.K. DörnerThe discovery of Ugarit/ C.F. SchaefferSolomon's foundries/ N. GlueckThe dead sea scrolls/ J.M. AllegroThe pyramid of Cholula/ A. Von HumboldtTravels in the Yucatan/ J.M. WaldeckThe purchase of a city/ J.L. StephensThe palace at Palenque/ J.L. StephensThe elephant in America?/ G. Elliot SmithThe temple pyramid of Tepoxtlan/ E. SelerA royal tomb at Palenque/ A. RuzMachu Picchu, the sacred city/ H. BinghamThe bridge of San Luis Rey/ V.M. Von HagenA problem of Tihuanacu/ A PosnanskyArchaeology from the air/ O.G. CrawfordThe blue museum/ J.-Y. CousteauAtomic physics in archaeology/ T.G. BibbyThe Lerici periscope/ C.M. LaericicPhotogrammetryComputer decipherment?List of SourcesIndex

Genres: History, Archaeology, Nonfiction

609 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

C.W. Ceram was the pseudonym of German journalist and author Kurt Wilhelm Marek, known for his popular works about archaeology. He chose to write under a pseudonym to distance himself from his earlier work as a propagandist for the Third Reich.

Ceram was born in Berlin. During World War II, he was a member of the Propagandatruppe. His works from that period include Wir hielten Narvik, 1941, and Rote Spiegel - überall am Feind. Von den Kanonieren des Reichsmarschalls, 1943.

In 1949, Ceram wrote his most famous book, Götter, Gräber und Gelehrte — published in English as Gods, Graves and Scholars: The Story of Archaeology — an account of the historical development of archaeology. Published in 28 languages, Ceram's book eventually received a printing of over 5 million copies, and is still in print today.

Other books by the author include The Secret of the Hittites, March of Archaeology and The First American, a book on ancient North American history.

Kurt Marek was responsible for the publication of A Woman in Berlin, presented as the non-fiction account of a German woman raped by Red Army troops.

He died at Hamburg in 1972.

Ceram Prize in archaeology is named after him.

Reviews

[Sigrid Fry-Revere · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was so fun to read the excitement in the voices of archaeologists as they talked about their finds and their significance. Of course, I needed to look up and read elsewhere almost as much as I read in this book to make sure I knew the most up-to-date thoughts on what was found --some of the old theories having been debunked or changed.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Other than presumably selecting the pieces for inclusion, Ceram appears to have little to do with the text of this book, many, if not all, of the introductory biographical essays being composed, and credited, to another. One supposes that this book followed the wake of success attending his previous.

What this amounts to are many essays written from the 18th to the mid-20th centuries by amateur and professional archaeologists, most of the authors and their topics (usually sites of Africa, Asia, Europe or South America) being well known. As such, it makes for a good bedtime book, the selections being short.