Lives in Ruins: Archaeologists and the Seductive Lure of Human Rubble

by Marilyn Johnson

Overview

The author of The Dead Beat and This Book is Overdue! turns her piercing eye and charming wit to the real-life avatars of Indiana Jones—the archaeologists who sort through the muck and mire of swamps, ancient landfills, volcanic islands, and other dirty places to reclaim history for us all.

Pompeii, Machu Picchu, the Valley of the Kings, the Parthenon—the names of these legendary archaeological sites conjure up romance and mystery. The news is full of archaeology: treasures found (British king under parking lot) and treasures lost (looters, bulldozers, natural disaster, and war). Archaeological research tantalizes us with possibilities (are modern humans really part Neandertal?). Where are the archaeologists behind these stories? What kind of work do they actually do, and why does it matter?

Marilyn Johnson’s Lives in Ruins is an absorbing and entertaining look at the lives of contemporary archaeologists as they sweat under the sun for clues to the puzzle of our past. Johnson digs and drinks alongside archaeologists, chases them through the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, and even Machu Picchu, and excavates their lives. Her subjects share stories we rarely read in history books, about slaves and Ice Age hunters, ordinary soldiers of the American Revolution, children of the first century, Chinese woman warriors, sunken fleets, mummies.

What drives these archaeologists is not the money (meager) or the jobs (scarce) or the working conditions (dangerous), but their passion for the stories that would otherwise be buried and lost.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062127228
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	11/11/2014
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	371,283
File size:	821 KB

About the Author

Marilyn Johnson is a former editor and writer for Life, Esquire, and Outside magazines, and lives with her husband, Rob Fleder, in New York's Hudson Valley.

Hometown:

Briarcliff, New York

Place of Birth:

St. Louis, Missouri

Education:

B.A., University of Pennsylvania; M.A., University of New Hampshire

Website:

http://www.marilynjohnson.net

Table of Contents

Down and Dirty: Studying people who study people 1

Boot Camp

Field School: Context is everything 15

The Survivalist's Guide to Archaeology: Our ancestors were geniuses 37

Extreme Beverages: Taking beer seriously 68

Pig Dragons: How to pick up an archaeologist 74

My Life Is In Ruins: Jobs and other problems 85

Road Trip Through Time: Our partner, heartbreak 95

Underwater Mysteries: Slow archaeology, deep archaeology 101

The Classics

Explorers Clubs: Classics of the ancient world and Hollywood 123

Field School Redux: The earth-whisperers 134

Archaeology and War

The Bodies: Who owns history? 155

Evidence of Harm: Bearing witness 175

Archaeology in a Dangerous World: A historic alliance 190

Avoidance Targets: Mission: respect 199

Heritage

Buckets of Archaeologists: If archaeologists tried to save the world 219

Acknowledgments 241

Select Bibliography 245

Index 259

Editorial Reviews

★ 11/01/2014
Johnson's (This Book Is Overdue) wonderful and engaging work peels back the superficial glamour surrounding archaeology and archaeologists, offering an account that is a step above the typical book on the subject. The author sets out to explore what archaeology is really like and puts herself in the mainstream of her subject. Through personal experiences, interviews, and research, she exposes the suffering that archaeologists must endure to pursue their "craft" and honestly portrays the relentless, glamourless pursuit of the human condition through material culture. While Johnson provides great insight into why someone would choose to become an archaeologist, she also notes that success rarely occurs from monumental or notable discoveries. Rather, victory for an archaeologist is often found in the small, the hidden, and often unimpressive bits of flotsam and jetsam of prehistory. Johnson's contribution to this genre is unmatched. VERDICT Without glitz, the author has created a very enjoyable work that will be appreciated by experts in the field and casual readers alike. Well suited to anyone contemplating archaeology as a career, those curious about what the profession is like, lovers of history and science, and readers who enjoy and are grateful for the lure of prehistory and discovery as a mental process.—John Dockall, Austin, TX

Library Journal

…[a] lively survey of archaeology and the people who practice it…Human history is a broad topic…and there are archaeologists all around the world studying the remnants of virtually every era. But [Johnson] chases down a colorful sampling and produces a series of enlightening glimpses into the profession…Johnson writes entertainingly, employing many quirky tidbits gleaned from the likably eccentric intellects she meets.

The New York Times Book Review - John Glassie

★ 09/15/2014
In this lively love letter to archaeologists, former Esquire editor Johnson (This Book is Overdue!) travels the world, getting her hands dirty as she studies archaeologists in their natural habitats. She joins field schools, attends conferences, and chats with the legendary and the up-and-coming practitioners of the discipline and displays infectious enthusiasm for the material. Johnson samples drinks prepared from recipes discovered in ancient tablets, braves bad weather and worse food, visits body farms, and hobnobs with the military all in an effort to examine and explore every aspect of archaeologist’s life. Her experiences are eye-opening, engaging, and occasionally frustrating, and she talks about the downsides of the occupation: “Those who persevere in the profession fight like cats to get these jobs and work like dogs to keep them. And for all their expertise, competence, breadth of experience, and even cockiness, they are continually humbled by their subject. For people who know so much, there is so much they can never know.” But, as Johnson states, it’s all about “trying to locate a spark of the human life that had once touched that spot there.” Many archaeologists credit Indiana Jones with sparking their passion, and Johnson may well inspire a new generation to take up this calling. Agent: Chris Calhoun, Chris Calhoun Agency. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

World travel, drinking, lust in the dust-our lives are all in ruins, indeed, and Johnson reveals why we wouldn’t want it any other way.

Sarah Parcak

The great pleasure with which I read this book took me back to when I was eight years old and wanted to be an archaeologist. Marilyn Johnson does a wonderful job uncovering the delight in this tough, important, and exhilarating profession.

Ian Frazier

Johnson writes entertainingly, employing many quirky tidbits gleaned from the likably eccentric intellects she meets.

New York Times Book Review

Lives in Ruins is…delectable.

Salon

Johnson writes in a charming and thoughtful manner, weaving in her personal observations, insightful quotes from her subjects and a wide-eyed fascination with her subjects.

Seattle Times

"Many archaeologists credit Indiana Jones with sparking their passion, and Johnson may well inspire a new generation to take up this calling." —Publishers Weekly starred review

From the Publisher

As she did in her previous books about librarians and obituary writers, Johnson finds that the line between inspirationally nutty and actually crazy is measured in the joy of the work.

Entertainment Weekly

★ 2014-10-07
Science reporter Johnson (This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All, 2010, etc.) explores the work of archaeologists.In her latest endeavor, the author, who makes a habit of looking into atypical subjects and then writing about them with brio and dash, takes on the discipline of archaeology, which is on a bit of a hot streak, thanks to technological advances, war, commercial development, violent weather and warming temperatures, all doing their parts to reveal our past. On her journeys, Johnson attended a field-training school—on St. Eustatius in the Caribbean—where she received a glimmering of how backbreaking, tedious work can be imbued with high suspense. Throughout, she demonstrates a learned hand in her minibiographies of various practitioners of the discipline—e.g., Joan Connelly of New York University, who told the author, "Good archaeology fills in the blanks of history. It tells the losers' story. It teases out the history that falls between the cracks." Much like Mary Roach, another sharp writer who often tackles a single topic, Johnson casts her net widely, from the Caribbean to Stony Brook and Fishkill, New York, to the Pine Barrens of New Jersey to Agios Georgios, a small village in Greece. However, she's also mesmerized by the smaller-scale elements: gorgeous blue beads from the wreck of an old galleon, the never-ending steam of lectures and conferences ("The audience at an archaeology lecture is ancient. I watched them stream in, drawn to slides of artifacts and talk of ruins: snowy-haired, with canes and sensible shoes. They listened with hunger") and the pure, magical allure of the lost: "significant sites that are so humble in appearance, or buried, or otherwise hidden." An engrossing examination of how archaeologists re-create much of human history, piece by painstaking piece.

Kirkus Reviews