Popular culture is rife with movies, books, and television shows that address our collective curiosity about what the world was like long ago. From historical dramas to science fiction tales of time travel, audiences love stories that reimagine the world before our time. But what if there were a field that, through the advancements in technology, could bring us closer to the past than ever before?
Written by a preeminent expert in geospatial archaeology, Maps for Time Travelers is a guide to how technology is revolutionizing the way archaeologists study and reconstruct humanity’s distant past. From satellite imagery to 3D modeling, today archaeologists are answering questions about human history that could previously only be imagined. As archaeologists create a better and more complete picture of the past, they sometimes find that truth is stranger than fiction.
Mark D. McCoy is an expert in geospatial archaeology and Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Southern Methodist University. He is the author of over forty scientific journal articles on the archaeology of the Pacific Islands.
"An eye-opening and engaging look at the science and technology of modern archaeology that will be of interest to any time traveler—and since we are all traveling through time at the rate of one second per second, this set definitely includes you!"––Ryan North, author of How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler
"It is hard to imagine a more compelling use of geospatial technology than in revealing the human past, and in making it possible to see the world as it used to be. This book tells the story of maps in archaeology in a fresh, inspiring, and lively way, helping to make a complex technology understandable to the general reader."––Michael Frank Goodchild, Emeritus Professor of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara
"McCoy is a splendid guide to archaeology's use of geospatial technologies to discover and interpret the past. He is curious, knowledgeable, approachable, and engaging. This book is an excellent introduction to an important subject. Even better, it is a fun read."––David J. Bodenhamer, coeditor of The Spatial Humanities: GIS and the Future of Humanities Scholarship
"An engaging and accessible introduction to contemporary archaeological practice and the digital technologies used to document and interpret human life in the past. If you want to know how archaeology really operates in the twenty-first century, this is the book to read. I recommend it highly and will be using it in my classes at all levels!"––David G. Anderson, Professor, University of Tennessee, and founder of the Digital Index of North American Archaeology and the Paleoindian Database of the Americas
278 pp.5.5 x 8.25Illus: 21 b/w images
9780520389724$24.95|£21.00Paper
Apr 2022