25th October 2010, 07:56 PM
Archaeology books don't tend to tell a gripping story any more like they used to (ok, so in the past the story was often pretty wrong)..... it takes a pretty sad character to enjoy a good evening in with a modern site report (so I don't tell anyone, and wine's usually involved anyway to blur the pain), the last popular gripping archaeological read I can remember that I actually managed to get some non archaeologists to read was Hengeworld. Think part of the problem is the rather structured way that reports have to be written these days, which doesn't encourage creative thinking amongst the commercial end of the profession (who generally don't have time anyway, what with trying to earn a living etc), and as has been discussed before on this site alot of the academic end of things seem to have strayed off the path somewhat, and even if they haven't, the way academic funding is structured they're hardly encouraged to fill the gap. Can't see EH having much scope to contribute in the near future either......