The House of Ravens

"You're an archaeologist? That must be so exciting!" Archaeologists hear this often. I'm always tempted to respond, "Mostly what we do is get hot, cold, dirty, tired, hungry, and lost. And then we get the truck stuck." But there is more to it than that, of course. Those of us who have lived intimately with the deserts and canyons of the Southwest, who have reached back across time and touched the remnants of lives lived long ago share a special bond.



The House of Ravens is a lightly fictionalized account of three months in the lives of a small team of archaeologists camped in a remote part of the Navajo Indian Reservation while excavating ancient sites soon to be destroyed by a strip mine. Sebastian sensitively and realistically portrays the human story of a field crew as it is intertwined with the archaeological story being revealed by their investigations. If you are one of those people who wish they had gone into archaeology and wonder what it would really be like, or if you are just looking for a well-told story with interesting characters, this book is for you.

Keith Kintigh

Emeritus Professor of Anthropology

Arizona State University