The Future of the Past: Archaeology in the 21st Century - Hardcover

Most scientific disciplines experienced fundamental revolutions during the twentieth century. But not archaeology. Its time has now come, however. More and more highly specialized scientists are taking over the investigation of the past. Using satellites, aircraft and helicopters, they are screening entire regions around the world in an attempt to find hidden traces of the past. What's more, their discoveries are changing our views of prehistoric civilizations - and the new views are often in complete contrast to archaeology's established schools of thought. It is becoming increasingly clear that the ancients knew more than we expected - perhaps more than we can imagine. What was the effect of the volcanic eruption of Thera? What caused the collapse of the Minoan kingdom on Crete? Did Atlantis ever exist? Where was the cradle of Western civilization? In THE FUTURE OF THE PAST, the renowned geoarchaeologist Eberhard Zangger addresses these and many other questions.

He takes the reader into the field to look at various excavations around the world; explains current thinking in archaeological research; and explores the new methods and techniques that have only recently become available and the new insights gained from them. The result is a refreshingly novel view of the past that reveals the latest discoveries in a uniquely fascinating way.

Eberhard Zangger, born in 1958, is an expert in the reconstruction of archaeological landscapes. He earned a PhD in geology from Stanford University, and was Senior Research Associate in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge. In 1991, he founded his own consulting bureau Geoarchaeology International in Zurich. Archaeological institutes across the world have invited Zangger to investigate the landscapes around many important archaeological sites. He has written and co-authored about seventy scientific articles which have appeared in AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY, JOURNAL OF FIELD ARCHAEOLOGY and HESPERIA.