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Wonders of Creation
The Archaeology Book
Developed with three educational levels in mind, The Archaeology Book takes you on an exciting exploration of history and ancient cultures. You'll learn both the techniques of the archaeologist and the accounts of some of the richest discoveries of the Middle East that demonstrate the accuracy and historicity of the Bible. In The Archaeology Book you will Filled with vivid full-color photos, detailed drawings, and maps, you will have access to some of the greatest biblical mysteries ever uncovered. With the enhanced educational format of this book and the unique color-coded, multi-age design, it allows the ease of teaching the fundamentals of archaeology through complex insights to three distinct grade levels.
96 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 2010
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62 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 14, 2024
Very interesting book, showing how archeology not only doesn't contradict religion but actually proves the Bible's accuracy. However, there are times when it seems more about the ancient nations mentioned in the Bible rather than archeology itself. Also, in the Israel chapter, the author would over and over again say that the traditional sites associated with Christ's life "can't be verified" as authentic, yet he fails to prove that local traditions were unreliable.
December 29, 2021
I read this as part of Heart of Dakota’s World Geography curriculum. I don’t care for Answers in Genesis. This book is lavishly illustrated, to the point where the message gets lost. In addition, there is no over-arching narrative to tie everything together.
October 19, 2010
As a kid, I had many backyard archaeological adventures, that in my childhood mind rivaled the excitement of the most recent Indiana Jones movie. Fortunately, my love of archaeology was more than just a passing boyhood fascination. It is an interest and passion that has stuck with me all the way into adulthood. Being somewhat of a self-proclaimed Bible nerd, archaeology of the Ancient Near East has always been a pet subject. As a homeschooling father, I have been searching for age appropriate resources to introduce my children to the exciting history and archaeology of the peoples of the Ancient Near East. Unfortunately my college archaeology textbooks just won’t do as they are way too wordy for my 8 year old and don’t have nearly enough pictures (let alone color pictures) for my 5 year old. For some time now, I have been on the lookout for a book with engaging color pictures, maps and drawings as well as biblically-relevant content that is accessible for a broad range of age groups. The Archaeology Book published by Master Books is exactly the type of resource I have been looking for.
The Archaeology Book is the latest addition to the Wonders of Creation series. One distinct enhancement in this book over previous books in the series is that the chapters have been organized with three educational levels in mind. Level 1 content is coded yellow and is appropriate for 5th-6th graders, level 2 content is coded blue/gray and is appropriate for 7-8th graders, and level 3 content is coded white and is appropriate for 9th-11th graders. I believe this change enhances the return on investment for this book, allowing it to be more effectively used across multiple grade levels. A more detailed explanation of this new layout is found on page 5 of the book. I expect this layout will be also be utilized for future books in the Wonders of Creation series.
This book is by no means small, coming in at just under one hundred pages. The topics are divided across eleven chapters. Topics covered include:
* Chapter 1: What Archaeology is all About
* Chapter 2: Land of Egypt
* Chapter 3: The Hittites
* Chapter 4: Assyria
* Chapter 6: Babylon: City of Gold
* Chapter 7: Persia
* Chapter 8: Petra
* Chapter 9: The Phoenicians
* Chapter 10: The Dead Sea Scrolls
* Chapter 11: Israel
Each chapter begins with five questions related to the who, what where, why and how of the chapter’s topic. This is especially useful for letting readers know the key information they should be watching for as they work through the chapter. There are many words used in the book that may be new to younger readers. Each of the chapters with especially difficult or unique words includes a list of key terms (i.e. words to know). Definitions for these words can be found in the glossary / index on pages 94-95 at the back of the book.
From beginning to end, readers of all ages will be captivated by the numerous full-color photos, maps, and detailed drawings found throughout the entire book. Children and adults will come away from this book with a better appreciation for the archaeology and history of the peoples of the Ancient ear East. I especially appreciated that David Down makes a good case for how the biblical record fits well with the ongoing discoveries being made in Ancient Near Eastern archaeology. He does an excellent job of putting the people groups in a biblical context, relating biblical accounts of the many people groups mentioned throughout the book. Based on the new content organizational structure, the general age range for this book is fifth through eleventh grades. While this is the target age range, my children as young as five listened intently and enjoyed the many pictures. We will be using The Archaeology Book as supplemental material for year one of Tapestry of Grace homeschool curriculum. If you are planning on incorporating The Archaeology Book into your homeschooling curriculum, you will want to download a copy of the great printable study guide that is available as a free PDF on the Master Books web site.
Author Information:
David Down has experienced the wonders of archaeological discoveries in Egypt, the Middle East and Israel for over 48 years. David shares his latest discoveries in a monthly archaeology journal called “Diggings,” and a bi-monthly magazine called “Archaeological Diggings” produced and distributed in the United States.
Disclaimer:
This book was provided by Master Books for review. The reviewer was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.
The Archaeology Book is the latest addition to the Wonders of Creation series. One distinct enhancement in this book over previous books in the series is that the chapters have been organized with three educational levels in mind. Level 1 content is coded yellow and is appropriate for 5th-6th graders, level 2 content is coded blue/gray and is appropriate for 7-8th graders, and level 3 content is coded white and is appropriate for 9th-11th graders. I believe this change enhances the return on investment for this book, allowing it to be more effectively used across multiple grade levels. A more detailed explanation of this new layout is found on page 5 of the book. I expect this layout will be also be utilized for future books in the Wonders of Creation series.
This book is by no means small, coming in at just under one hundred pages. The topics are divided across eleven chapters. Topics covered include:
* Chapter 1: What Archaeology is all About
* Chapter 2: Land of Egypt
* Chapter 3: The Hittites
* Chapter 4: Assyria
* Chapter 6: Babylon: City of Gold
* Chapter 7: Persia
* Chapter 8: Petra
* Chapter 9: The Phoenicians
* Chapter 10: The Dead Sea Scrolls
* Chapter 11: Israel
Each chapter begins with five questions related to the who, what where, why and how of the chapter’s topic. This is especially useful for letting readers know the key information they should be watching for as they work through the chapter. There are many words used in the book that may be new to younger readers. Each of the chapters with especially difficult or unique words includes a list of key terms (i.e. words to know). Definitions for these words can be found in the glossary / index on pages 94-95 at the back of the book.
From beginning to end, readers of all ages will be captivated by the numerous full-color photos, maps, and detailed drawings found throughout the entire book. Children and adults will come away from this book with a better appreciation for the archaeology and history of the peoples of the Ancient ear East. I especially appreciated that David Down makes a good case for how the biblical record fits well with the ongoing discoveries being made in Ancient Near Eastern archaeology. He does an excellent job of putting the people groups in a biblical context, relating biblical accounts of the many people groups mentioned throughout the book. Based on the new content organizational structure, the general age range for this book is fifth through eleventh grades. While this is the target age range, my children as young as five listened intently and enjoyed the many pictures. We will be using The Archaeology Book as supplemental material for year one of Tapestry of Grace homeschool curriculum. If you are planning on incorporating The Archaeology Book into your homeschooling curriculum, you will want to download a copy of the great printable study guide that is available as a free PDF on the Master Books web site.
Author Information:
David Down has experienced the wonders of archaeological discoveries in Egypt, the Middle East and Israel for over 48 years. David shares his latest discoveries in a monthly archaeology journal called “Diggings,” and a bi-monthly magazine called “Archaeological Diggings” produced and distributed in the United States.
Disclaimer:
This book was provided by Master Books for review. The reviewer was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.
May 11, 2010
"The Archaeology Book" is educational nonfiction about archaeology, with a focus on Bible-related archaeology, for grades 5-8. The full-color photographs of ancient ruins, digs, etc., were lovely, and the maps were useful. I liked the "David Downs Journal" sections which told of his experiences while on digs. Other archaeologists were also quoted describing a find or commenting on archaeology. There was a glossary in the back, though most words were either explained in the text or could be figured out from the context.
The book started with information on archaeology, like how a dig is laid out, what archaeologists look for, what that tells them, how layers are given a date, and why there can be controversy among archaeologists about the interpretation of a find. Then the book covered various Middle Eastern civilizations: Israel, Egypt, the Hittites, Ur, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Petra, and the Phoenicians. It told how the civilization was "found" again by archaeologists, where the civilization was located, and information about those kings mentioned in the Bible or Biblical events related to that civilization. (For those who care, the author's alignment of ancient civilizations to the Bible was based on Courville's & Velikovsky's ideas.)
There was a section on the Dead Sea Scrolls. It described ancient writing, writing material, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, where they were found, what was found, and how the scrolls were pieced back together. He described how critics said the Bible was full of copying errors, so I was very surprised and disappointed that he never explained that the Dead Sea Scrolls showed how accurately the Bible had been copied over thousands of years. He did mention that the many copies of the book of Daniel in the find meant that they thought Daniel was a genuine book of prophesy, but that's about it.
Overall, the information was very good and was presented in an easy-to-understand and interesting fashion. The more difficult topics, like carbon-14 dating and the reasons for revising the Egyptian chronology, could have been explained in a little more depth, in my opinion, for the high schoolers. I think high schoolers would find the book pretty basic.
The book had three levels of information. Grades 5 & 6 are supposed to read the sections with the yellow background. Grades 7 & 8 can read the sections with the yellow background and the blue background. Grades 9-11 can read all the sections (including those with the white background). Sometimes, this worked out. Other times, the information would be disjointed and confusing if read this way. For example, several times a story was being told and the background would switch from white to yellow (or blue) under the text of the story. Yet the yellow (or blue) section would make no sense without reading the white section first.
The book as a whole seemed appropriate for grades 5-8. Personally, I'd recommend ignoring the colored backgrounds, letting the child read the whole thing, and helping anytime they have trouble. I've explained much more advanced chronological ideas to a 6th grader with no problem, so it may be just a matter of the child's reading level.
I'd recommend this book as an interesting introduction to Biblical archaeology for tweens on up...as long as the reader also takes time to learn about how the Dead Sea Scrolls confirm the Bible's accuracy.
I received this book as a review copy from the publisher.
The book started with information on archaeology, like how a dig is laid out, what archaeologists look for, what that tells them, how layers are given a date, and why there can be controversy among archaeologists about the interpretation of a find. Then the book covered various Middle Eastern civilizations: Israel, Egypt, the Hittites, Ur, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Petra, and the Phoenicians. It told how the civilization was "found" again by archaeologists, where the civilization was located, and information about those kings mentioned in the Bible or Biblical events related to that civilization. (For those who care, the author's alignment of ancient civilizations to the Bible was based on Courville's & Velikovsky's ideas.)
There was a section on the Dead Sea Scrolls. It described ancient writing, writing material, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, where they were found, what was found, and how the scrolls were pieced back together. He described how critics said the Bible was full of copying errors, so I was very surprised and disappointed that he never explained that the Dead Sea Scrolls showed how accurately the Bible had been copied over thousands of years. He did mention that the many copies of the book of Daniel in the find meant that they thought Daniel was a genuine book of prophesy, but that's about it.
Overall, the information was very good and was presented in an easy-to-understand and interesting fashion. The more difficult topics, like carbon-14 dating and the reasons for revising the Egyptian chronology, could have been explained in a little more depth, in my opinion, for the high schoolers. I think high schoolers would find the book pretty basic.
The book had three levels of information. Grades 5 & 6 are supposed to read the sections with the yellow background. Grades 7 & 8 can read the sections with the yellow background and the blue background. Grades 9-11 can read all the sections (including those with the white background). Sometimes, this worked out. Other times, the information would be disjointed and confusing if read this way. For example, several times a story was being told and the background would switch from white to yellow (or blue) under the text of the story. Yet the yellow (or blue) section would make no sense without reading the white section first.
The book as a whole seemed appropriate for grades 5-8. Personally, I'd recommend ignoring the colored backgrounds, letting the child read the whole thing, and helping anytime they have trouble. I've explained much more advanced chronological ideas to a 6th grader with no problem, so it may be just a matter of the child's reading level.
I'd recommend this book as an interesting introduction to Biblical archaeology for tweens on up...as long as the reader also takes time to learn about how the Dead Sea Scrolls confirm the Bible's accuracy.
I received this book as a review copy from the publisher.
August 14, 2016
As book one in my history curriculum this year, I was very excited when I started reading this, and discovered I really loved it! I found the chapters to be just the right length--not to long, not to short--and the information was retainable, and also enjoyable. There is a parent book that goes with this that has the worksheets, quizzes, and test for this book (along with the others in this course). I found the worksheets good, along with the quizzes. In the worksheets there was extra 'homework', which I found I liked because it challenged me. One of the challenges I liked the most was to go to the library and find a book on the Hebrew alphabet, and learn all the letters if possible, and some words or phrases. Another I liked was looking up Psalm 119, and seeing that for every 8 verses, there was a Hebrew letter. I applaud David Down for the excellent job he did with his book. To me, it seemed he wrote this with Christian homeschoolers in mind. I am now moving on to the second book in this curriculum titled "Unwrapping the Pharaohs".
August 27, 2016
Written with multi-level grades in mind, this book makes learning basic archaeology interesting. Full-color photos on each page keeps the most inattentive learner active.
December 11, 2015
Very interesting book! I wish their had been more 'DD's journal' segments, those were fascinating.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews