Death by Theory: A Tale of Mystery and Archaeological Theory

By Adrian Praetzellis

Book Overview

A European Neolithic burial. A large stone Venus. Nothing unusual about it_except that it was found on an island in the Pacific Northwest. Archaeologist Hannah Green and her shovelbum nephew find themselves in a tangled web of competing interests-avaricious land owners, hungry media, and a cult of goddess worshippers-while investigating one of the finds of the century. In untangling the mystery of the Washington Venus, Hannah and Sean have to confront questions of archaeological evidence, of ethics, of conflicting interpretation of data, and of the very nature of archaeological truths. Helping them are a cadre of disdainful graduate students who propose various theories-processualist, marxist, feminist, postmodernist-to explain the bizarre events. Teach your students archaeological theory in a fashion they'll enjoy, while they solve the mystery in Adrian Praetzellis's delightful textbook-as-novel.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0742503593
• ISBN13: 9780742503595
• Release Date: December 2000
• Publisher: AltaMira Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.1" x 1.1" x 6.2"

Customer Reviews

Great read for beginners and old pros

The author does an excellent job of easing the reader into such arcane topics as diffusionism and the post-modern non-method along with standard archaeological history and current cultural/ethical issues. And he does it with a funny and engaging storyline. I definitely recommend this book for enthusiasts and old pros alike. Can't wait to read the next one.

Good for an archaeolgoy class

Basic archaeology theory in a kind of illustrated novel. I enjoyed it a lot.

Great for an Intro Archaeology Class

I bought this book for two reasons; I was curious to see if it would be worth using with an Intro to Archaeology class, and I have a terrible head for theory myself, so am always curious to see how other people approach it."Death by Theory" is not great literature, and not really that great of a mystery, but that's ok because it does one important thing very very well. It presents archaeological and anthropological theory in a totally non-threatening way, and in a way that a beginning (or forgetful) student is likely to remember. It's not going to tell the serious archaeology student everything he or she needs to know, but it's a great jumping off point for further discussion, as well as a good, basic reference that students will likely return to.The illustrations are amusing and insightful, and there's enough humor and plot to keep the reader turning the pages. If I ever have the opportunity, I would definitely use this book with an intro class, and I am quite happy to add this book to my own reference library.

Excellent way of teaching archaeological theory!

Death by Theory is a novel, but one with a purpose. The author teaches the reader all the concepts of archaeological theory while solving an archaeological mystery. I highly recommend this book for all beginning archaeology students, and anyone interested in the subject. I also got a kick out of the illustrations.

Great!

This book is both a good narrative and an introduction to archaeological theory. It is *very* well written, *highly* competent and insightful (but without any jargon), *beautifully* illustrated, and *extremely* funny -- for archaeologists anyway. What more do you want? I wish there were more books like this that challenged the conventions of archaeological writing and argument in such sophisticated ways. Congratulations to Altamira Press for taking the risk that is necessarily involved in printing such a book *and* selling it at such a good price. These are the kind of publishers that actually move the discipline of Archaeology forward...