Time Detectives: How Archeologists Use Technology to Recapture the Past - Tapa dura

Today's archeologists are not treasure hunters but time detectives, utilizing advanced technology to vividly reconstruct the past from minute clues. With the focus in archeology shifting from the recovery of artifacts and antiquities to learning more about how our ancestors lived, archeologists now work in different ways. Frequently they are part of multidisciplinary teams of scientists who, for example, can reconstruct ancient diets from examination of bone collagen remains or describe millennia-old landscapes from fossilized seeds and grains. These new techniques enable us not only to better understand our past, but to better preserve it - excavations today move less earth in two years than those a couple of generations ago moved in a month. Time Detectives takes us around the world and through more than 15,000 years of human history as we visit the sites of some of the most breathtaking and significant finds of recent years. A fascinating journey into the world of archeology today, Time Detectives shows us not only how the past can be recaptured, but how our knowledge and understanding of the past expands our vision of human experience today.

Brian Fagan is currently professor of anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.