Steven Erikson is the pseudonym of Steve Rune Lundin, a Canadian novelist, who was educated and trained as both an archaeologist and anthropologist. His best-known work is the on-going series, the Malazan Book of the Fallen.
A series of somewhat related stories of an archaeologist's travels. Runs from weightily meditative to surreal and hilarious (including an early version of Quashie Trapp Blacklight collected in a recent Solaris Fantasy collection). All comes together in the absolutely spectacular final story. Well worth trying to track down for fans of Steven Erikson's Malazan series.