Rating: 
Summary: Civilization future vindicates civilizations past.
Review: What Ceram does that I admire is put into the foreground the achievements of modern scholars in solving the riddles that have separated civilized man from his origins for centuries, through great mental feats, tireless physical effort, and a little dumb luck. He shows the civilized man who yearns to learn more about his predecessor, and by extention more about himself. This comparison is an invaluable tool for a civilization--if only the Babylonians had had it!Some past reviewer seems to suggest that for every achievement of a man you must also list a proportionate failure. The truth is that as archaeologists, Carter, Layard, Champollion, Botta, Evans, Koldewey and all the others in the book were the exceptions of their times, and their merits deserve to stand by themselves. The preveous reviewer is in fact a fitting example of the kind of obstacles these men faced in their times. Those intellelctually inclined and with a positive outlook will be encouraged by Ceram to explore further into the past, and his book covers ample topics to start out in virtually any direction you wish to take.
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