I detectives dell'archeologia. Le grandi scoperte archeologiche nel racconto dei protagonisti

by C.W. Ceram, Luciana Bonaca Boccaccio (Traduttore)

Chi sono i detective cui si devono i più celebri ritrovamenti del mondo dei faraoni, dei re di Micene, degli Ittiti e degli Aztechi? Chi sono realmente Schliemann, Winckelmann, Evans, Carter (per fare solo i nomi più celebri)? In questo volume Ceram presenta i più famosi archeologi affidando a loro stessi il racconto delle avventure di cui furono, e sono, protagonisti. Ne esce una galleria di personaggi e, al tempo stesso, una storia dell'archeologia.

Genres: History, Archaeology, Nonfiction

422 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.