The First American: A Story of North American Archaeology

by C.W. Ceram

Book Overview

An account of the origins and early history of the American Indians. It presents the question - who were they, and where did they come from? The text is full of illustrations and pictures. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0151312508
• ISBN13: 9780151312504
• Release Date: January 1971
• Publisher: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
• Length: 357 Pages
• Weight: 1.96 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Must Read for those interested in Ancient America

Note: Mormons have been slamming my reviews, so I would appreciate your "helpful" vote. Obviously they don't want you to read anything that might refute the claims of the Book of Mormon. On Ceram's book: Ceram provides his readers with the kind of quality writing that never goes out of style, and although much new information has come to light in the past thirty years, Ceram's archaeological survey of North America is still solid. Ceram's detailed deconstruction of crackpot theories is excellent. Concerning wide theories about the origins of the American Indians, he writes that these theories have been "eliminated either as wrong or--for example, the theories of the 'ten lost tribes of Israel," of Atlantis and Mu--as simply nonsensical" (p. 347). Then there is the following great line concerning crackpot theories: "They must be given their due; by contrast with their specious glitter, the light of science shines all the more brightly" (p. 252). Two other essential books on ancient America are "The Mound Builders: The Archaeology of a Myth," by Robert Silverberg, and "Lost Tribes and Sunken Continents: Myth and Method in the Study of the American Indians," by Robert Wauchope. Click on the following links, then scroll down to read my reviews. MOUND BUILDERS OF ANCIENT AMERICA: The Archaeology of a Myth Lost Tribes and Sunken Continents Myth Method in the Your comments--positive or negative--are appreciated. Thanks. Please check my one-star reviews of books by Mormon authors. Echoes and Evidences of the Book of Mormon Refuting the Critics: Evidences of the Book of Mormon's Authenticity

One of the best popularizations on archaeology

This book, by the author of the classic Gods, Graves and Scholars, is a very fun read... certainly his second best book (and a very close second at that!). Written much in the same style as his classic book, except that it covers the archaeology of the United States. You'll learn about huge pyramids (one larger than the Great Pyramid of Eygpt), mummies (hundreds), big game hunters, cliff dwellings, even the story of the last wild Indian, Ishi. Did you know that the US has some of the most beautiful archaeological sites in the world? Just how do scientists date ancient settlements... to the EXACT year? What was the critical contribution of the scientifically-literate black cowboy, George McJunkin? And what exactly did Thomas Jefferson do that rates his story in a book on archaeology? Buy this book and find out!

Still fresh after 34 years, deserves a reissue

Going and looking for the first human to occupy the North American continent, in other words, what is called pre-Columbian culture, is a different process than digging up the ruins of Greece and Rome. Though sophisticated in their own right, the native American Indians did not leave behind a recorded language or literature or structures on the level of those in the Mediterranean region. It is a matter of searching for the humans and their societies first-anthropology--and digging their material world second. That's what distinguishes the content of THE FIRST AMERICAN from author C.W. Ceram's GODS, GRAVES AND SCHOLARS, the classic introduction to archeology. Unlike GG & S, THE FIRST AMERICAN fell out of print a long time ago, but it possesses the personality and quality information of its predecessor and deserves a contemporary audience. Ceram, the penname of German journalist Kurt Marek, does a great job of surveying a huge body of information, bringing forth the scientists and adventures behind the finds, as well as the technological tools. He easily sorts out the complicated Carbon-14 dating, dendrology (dating through tree rings) and stratiology, the chief means of assaying cultures that vanished without clues. His voice twinkles with amusement as he observes how often the great discoveries were made by amateurs. Ceram/Marek addresses the Viking encounter with native peoples as well as the Spanish, French and English. He looks primarily at the Southwest, the mounds that dot the South and Midwest and the discovery of mummies. It was Thomas Jefferson, excavating a mound in Virginia, who launched archeology in America, digging for the sake of knowledge, rather than for treasure, as the earliest explorers had done. Published in 1971, this book does not feel dated. The author includes the contributions of women and minorities and is quietly emphatic that the ancient American cultures not be denigrated as primitive just because they may not compare in technology and literate culture. Though Ceram/Marek died a year after this was published and is not around to update it with subsequent findings, this still stands as a fine layperson's introduction to a fascinating world.

An outstanding adventure in North American Archaeology

C W Ceram's style in Gods, Graves and Scholars is continued in this volume. In fact, I feel this book has even more adventure! If you think only the Old World has a fascinating past, you deserve to give this book a look (no pun intended). The archaeologist who explored America's past were/are as interesting as any that explored Eygpt, and some of the finds were just as exciting (for instance, the moment that George McJunkin discovered... well, let me quote American archaeologist Frank C. Hibben: "At that moment, a considerable portion of our early history hung in the balance. For if this cowboy had not been curious, if he had not dismounted to get a closer look at the oddity, who knows how many more years would have passed before there was any proof of an Ice Age hunter in North America." Although out of print, you can find it in used bookstores. THIS BOOK DESERVES REPRINTING!!! I treasure my copy, and it is one of the books I think are absolutely essential for a private library.