How Archaeological Artifacts Inspire Imagination. A Study of Two Dozen Poets and Novelists Who Describe the Prehistoric Past

"Literary criticism and archaeology illuminate one another; they can easily be enlisted as metaphors for one another; they share processes of interpretation, analysis and evaluation. As there is an affinity between material artifacts and literature so there is an equally close affinity between the scholarly disciplines dedicated to the study of both fields. There is an increment of understanding when the archaeologist adopts processes and insights of the literary critic and vice versa. John Wyatt's thoughtful, absorbing groundbreaking book points the way to a more inclusive, broader and deeper form of total cultural history.
Professor James Sambrook, The University of Southampton

Foreword by James Sambrook

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Section One: Speculating on the Meaning of Visible Antiquities

Section Two: Early Digging, Archaeology Emerging Out of Antiquarianism to a Wider World

Section Three: Archaeology Comes of Age

Section Four: Classifying Time: Consolidating Discoveries: A New Age Responds to the Oldest Ages

Section Five: Imagination Following Process: The Short Twentieth Century

Section Six: Interpreting Archaeology: The Personal Meaning of Place

Conclusion

Further Reading

Bibliography

Index