Archaeology Magazine - December 1959 - 69

achievementsof Casper J. Kraemer, Jr.
Some of the papyri were found in a
storeroom of the Church of St. Mary,
the rest in the monasterychurch of SS.
Sergius and Bacchus.These documents
include different kinds of legal contracts, accounts, requisitions, records
and orders. They date from the sixth
and seventh centuries, thus spanning
roughly the last century of Byzantine
control of this frontier area and most
of the first century of Arab rule. The
table listing the contents and dates of
the documentsgives a total of 195. All
are in Greek; a few from the years
675-689 have an Arabic portion as
well. These papyri give us some insight into the daily life of people living in a period of transition.
W. S. T.

blurb, Ivar Lissner has written a personalized and highly readable book
which was a best seller in Germany,
France, Italy and Holland. Presumably
America will follow suit.
In reviewing this type of book I
feel that two questions must be considered: Is the discussionfactual? Will
the book hurt archaeology in the eyes
of the public? The answer to the first
question is a horrendous shudder. Although Dr. Lissner proclaims: "I have
at all times taken into account the
latest available scientific data," fact
and fancy are combinedin a gay abandon of half-truths and value judgments. A few examples will suffice.
"The small country of Palestine has
had a greater impact on humanityon its ideas, ethics, and beliefs- than
mighty Babylonia, Assyria, Persia,
Egypt, India or China" (page 123).
No comment. And when did Mexico
THE LIVINGPAST,by IVARLlSSNER. welcome Pizarro as the "White SavTranslated by J. Maxwell Brown- ior"
(page 128)? "Stone preceded
john. 44 pages, 4 figures, 14 maps. bronze and bronze
preceded iron; this
G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York 1957 was the same the world
over" (page
$5.95
319). As a bona fide Neo-Evolutionist,
World traveler and Doctor of Juris- even I shudder at this generalization.
prudence, according to the book jacket Dr. Lissner's loose discussions of

Greece, Carthage and Rome will shake
the most humanistic of Classical archaeologists. Another value judgment
which has grave implications for the
hindsight schoolof history reads: "The
battles of Marathon, Thermopylae,
Salamis, Plateaea and Mycale were
contests between the Persian giant and
the Greek midget. And in the end the
midget won. Why? Because he was
morally and intellectually superior to
the giant" (page 332).
Will Dr. Lissner's book hurt archaeology?I think not. Actually, it will
give the field more publicity, and as
someone once remarked, "any publicity is good publicity." Few professional
archaeologistswill bother to read The
Living Past. I must confess I read it
only because I was asked to review it.
The author seldom attempts to separate theory from fact, but for all his
inaccuracies and misconceptionshe is
trying to say one thing: "We should
always remember that man is by no
means indispensable to the cosmos.
The earth would go on rotating about
the sun even if he ceased to exist"
(page 21). Out of the mass of repetitive detail and useless generalitiesthis

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I960
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A scholarshipis availableto membersof the Cost: $640.00, including tuition, all
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Prof. Alexander G. McKay, McMaster For application forms, address the Tour Director: Prof. Charles
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Early applicationis advised.
289

Archaeology Magazine - December 1959

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - December 1959