A Turkish farmer
finds a large obsidian mirror on top of a mound. How did it get
there? What did it mean for its creator, and what does it mean for
us? In this teaching novel by writer Rob Swigart, the story toggles
back and forth between a Neolithic village―and the changing fortunes
of the family who finds this wondrous tool―and modern archaeologists
whose excavated treasure stirs journalists, governments, and goddess
worshippers alike. Through an engrossing tale across millennia,
Swigart’s novel provides both a basic reconstruction of Neolithic
life ways and a primer on contemporary archaeological politics and
practice. For archaeology students, and for anyone curious about
artefacts past and present, Stone Mirror will be a fun, informative
introduction both to archaeology and to the people they study. |