A professional field guide and practical companion to archaeology, packed with information to take the amateur or student from beginner to advanced level. Features how-to photographic sequences of field surveys and step-by-step excavations, plus guidance on handling and recording finds and dating artefacts. Explores a wide range of the world's most important archaeological sites, spanning every period. Includes fascinating profiles of some of the world's most famous archaeologists, such as J.F Champollion, decoder of the Rosetta Stone, and Howard Carter, discoverer of Tutankhamen's tomb. Authoritative but highly accessible text, illustrated with over 1200 photographs and site maps. The first part of the book explores the many fields of archaeology, from forensics applied to burial sites through to the deciphering of ancient languages. The techniques involved in an excavation are unravelled, from the initial surface sampling of a site to the post-excavation practice of dating finds and building matrices. The book then looks at the people who have been responsible for many of the most important discoveries in world archaeology, and the final section of the book is an overview of the world's greatest archaeological sites broken down into sections on specific geographic regions.