David Macaulay is one of my favorite authors and illustrators of childrens books, so when I saw this in our Friends of the Library book sale, I claimed it immediately.
It is the year 4022; all of the ancient country of Usa has been buried under many feet of detritus from a catastrophe that occurred back in 1985. Imagine, then, the excitement that Howard Carson, an amateur archaeologist at best, experienced when in crossing the perimeter of an abandoned excavation site he felt the ground give way beneath him and found himself at the bottom of a shaft, which, judging from the DO NOT DISTURB sign hanging from the archaic doorknob, was clearly the entrance to a still-sealed burial chamber.
(Excerpt from the blurb on the back cover)
Unlike most of his books, which beautifully illustrate history and technology with pen-and-ink images and diagrams, this book is a parody of archaeology, particularly Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922.
The first part of the book recounts the discovery of a "tomb complex" and "sealed burial chamber" in the ruins of the Toot'n'C'mon Motel. The room/tomb is comically misinterpreted in considerable detail. The second part is a series of "exhibits" going into even further detail on various objects in the room.
The Sacred Pendant
This book is exactly the kind of absurdist humor that I love, but your mileage may vary. It was published in 1979, so the anachronistic elements of the "history" depicted are pretty close to what I remember from my childhood in the 1980s. The misinterpretation of artifacts makes you wonder how skeptical you should be when claims are made on shows like Ancient Aliens, if you aren't already taking everything there with a massive grain of salt, too.
In any case, I strongly suggest looking up this author at your local library. Even if this book doesn't tickle your fancy, The Way Things Work and his various books on architecture are all amazing.
I loved, loved, loved this book as a child. Holy cow, I took this out of the library so often and as I got older, grew to realize just how often archaeologists of today have to make their best guesses and how easy it would be to make mistakes which could take decades, or even centuries, to be understood and reversed.
Like you, I also loved The Way Things Work (mammoths were never so exciting!), and his architecture books with their amazing cut-aways and the clear pen-and-ink linework are still amazing to this day. An author to be cherished, for sure!
I don't think I've read this one but it sounds hilarious XD
And also I guess would really make people think about how much educated guesswork goes into archaeology.
Do the same problems exist in the book where people prefer existing theories despite potential new evidence that might contradict it?
Perhaps you've heard this one: "religious" or "ceremonial" are both cop-outs that archaeologists use as a way of saying "we have no idea what this thing is." Not every artifact has some great significance, a lot of them are just decorative items, but no-one wants to hear that for some reason.
I have not heard that one, but that doesn't surprise me.
It's not that much of an in-depth story. Just a silly take on misinterpreted history.
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