I am glad to see that there will be a book signing event at Period
Designs for Ivor Noël Hume’s autobiography *A Passion for the Past: The
Odyssey of a Transatlantic Archaeologist*.  I just finished reading the book
two weeks ago and found it to be very entertaining and informative.  Better
than half of the book deals with Noël’s growing up in England and his
transition into archaeology beginning by mud larking on the Themes, being
taken under Adrian Oswald’s wing at London’s City Museum and involvement in
salvage archaeology of bombed out sights in London.



Noël’s description of the transition to Colonial Williamsburg in 1957 was
very interesting.  One of the good battles that he fought was to get the
architects to quit diagonally trenching lots to find building remains and to
begin to excavate in contextual units and dealing with archaeological
assemblages.  Along the way, he produced his books such as *A Guide to
Artifacts of Colonial America* that must be one of the most cited references
by historical archaeologists.  The end of Noël’s autobiography lists 16
books written by Noël dealing with archaeology and the past.  I highly
recommend the book for its insights into the development of historical
archaeology at Colonial Williamsburg.



Peace,

George L. Miller


2010/10/8 somerwell <[log in to unmask]>

> Nationally-known historical archaeologist and author Ivor Noël Hume of
> Williamsburg will be on hand Sunday October 17 at Period Designs in Yorktown
> to meet and greet and to autograph his recently published autobiography—“A
> Passion for the Past.”
>
>  Published in September by the University of Virginia Press, “A Passion for
> the Past—The Odyssey of a Transatlantic Archaeologist,” tells the remarkable
> story of this self-made professional. About the author and book, one
> reviewer said, “A fisherman, thespian, mud lark, painter, playwright,
> producer, publicist/promoter, novelist, essayist, organizer, lecturer, and
> dry humorist in addition to having been among the founders of historical
> archaeology in the United States, Noël-Hume here shares his insights
> concerning archaeology and archaeologists, social classes, ethnic awareness,
> and much more.”
>
> The book signing will take at Period Designs on October 17, 2010; 1 - 3
> p.m.  Please spread the word among our colleagues.
>
> For those that can not make it, I will take orders for signed, personalized
> copies for $35.00 includes mailing.
>
> Please let me know if there is interest--but please respond OFF LIST!
>
> Period Designs
> 401 Main Street
> PO Box 401
> Yorktown, VA 23690
>