May SFFKIT: Archaeology!

Welcome to May! This month read a book that involves finding something from the past, and trying to find out what the heck it is.

Here's a Tagmash for some titles.


I've particularly enjoyed James Rollins and Jack McDevitt for this subgenre.

Here's the Wiki

I'll be reading Diving into the Wreck by K. K. Rusch

I do have a Jack McDevitt called Deepsix and also Artifact by Gregory Benford on my virtual wishlists. Both are tagged archaeology and SF.

I am planning to read Echo by Jack McDevitt, if I recieve it soon enough

McDevitt really is the reigning master of this sub-genre, isn't he? I've got The Engines of God lined up for May.

>5 KeithChaffee: I guess there aren't that many masters of that specific sub-genre to choose from:-)
Some of the Murderbot books might count as well, if corporations digging for alien remnants to make money qualify as archeology.
I was contemplating Once and future antiquities as a sort of archeology of ideas in science fiction and fantasy, but maybe a bit of a stretch.

I would have expected a whole raft of fantasy-archeology stories, but the only one I found in my own library was The Buried Pyramid.

>1 majkia: I also really enjoy the science & history built into novels by Rollins. And despite the fact that they're shoot-'em-ups, they keep me reading.

I’m probably going to read The City & the City by China Miéville, since it also qualifies for the May PrizeCAT. I’m not sure how much archeology it actually deals with, so if anyone’s read it, let me know if you think it qualifies. Failing that, I’ll probably read Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke.

It's been a few years since I read The City and the City, but I wouldn't have thought of it as an archeology book. I could easily be forgetting some element of the plot, though.

>9 KeithChaffee: Well, I’ll have to read both then!

>7 ReneeMarie: Yes, he's really imaginative using true things and twisting them just enough...

>8 Charon07: Yeah, I've been scratching my head about City and the City too. I think I vaguely remember something that works for this. But whatever, I'm always ready to count near-hits and near-misses for these things. Whatever you choose you'll be fine.

>6 amberwitch: Murderbot is a good option. Too bad I'm up-to-date on reading the series.

I've had Labyrinth sitting around for a while, so this is a good prompt. If you haven't read 2001: A Space Odyssey, or any of the sequels, those would be good choices too.

James Rollins is a longtime favorite of mine, so I've got him earmarked for this month :)

Aha! Dragon Haven involves the search for the dragons' Atlantis!

I'm reading probability moon which involves alien artifacts with unknown qualities. Very interesting

Anybody interested in forensic archaeology/anthropology might enjoy this story of the victims of a mass murder being uncovered on Mars: Buried Deep by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

>17 majkia: I've owned a copy of this for years, didn't know much about it except it was sci fi. Maybe this will be the time I finally get around to reading it.

>19 staci426: It's hard sci fi and I had to look up a few sciencey things I didn't know, but I'm really intrigued by it. Lots of alien interaction that is confusing to the protags.

I absolutely devoured The Blood Gospel by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell this week. It may be slightly closer to a horror thriller than his usual sci-fi thrillers, but whatever the genre-blend is, I loved it! Full review written :)

>21 whitewavedarling: Oh, great to here. I'll move it up on the TBR.

>22 majkia:, Definitely do!

The one caveat... my normal bedtime on weekends is around midnight at the latest, and I didn't leave the couch and my reading spot until 3:30 in the morning last night because I just had to finish!

>20 majkia: Interesting. I was able to find an audio version of this, so will be starting it shortly. Hopefully the science isn't too over my head.

I just finished The Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan, book 3 in the Lady Trent Memoirs series. This one has a small archaeological aspect which I didn't realize when I started, one of the characters is an archaeologist studying Draconic ruins.

I finished The City and the City by China Miéville, and I’m pleased to report that archeology is a pretty central element. An archeological dig in Ul Qoma and the artifacts found there are essential to the mystery. The murder victim is an archeological student; the artifacts she stole and the reason she did are why she was killed and what underlay the whole plot.

>25 Charon07: Ah! I'd forgotten all that, focusing on the whole city and city thing I guess.

If you want to get really classic, a number of Andre Norton books deal with searching for and uncovering Forerunner artifacts and ruins.

I read The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt.

>28 KeithChaffee: I loved that book.

Read Echo by Jack McDevitt for this challenge. Not the best outing in the Alex Benedict series in my opinion, and pretty low on actual space archeology, although there were plenty of archeologists and archeology organisations.

Apologies for the delay, all, but the June thread is up! https://www.librarything.com/topic/360894

I did end up reading Probability Moon by Nancy Kress for this month. I thought it was pretty good, interesting low-tech alien world that she created. I also read the novelette, The Flowers of Aulit Prison, which was the precursor to this series. It didn't have any of the archaeological aspects, but it was interesting to see an earlier version of this world and the changes she made to it in the novel.

I finished City of Bones by Martha Wells, whose main characters are relic hunters in a plot that focuses on properly interpreting a group of magical artifacts and sites. It's one of her earlier works (maybe her earliest publication?) and it's not on the same level as Murderbot, but it was enjoyable once I got far enough into it to connect with the characters and plot.

>33 susanna.fraser: that is a good one - I wouldn’t have thought of it, but you are right about the antiques and historical sites.
I think it was my first Martha Wells book, something like 25 (?!?) years ago.

I also read Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke this month. It was my backup in case The City & the City didn’t offer enough archeology, but I wanted to read it anyway for my personal classic SF challenge. It was very good in that classic, hard science fiction way that’s pretty much out of style these days.

COMPLETED Deepsix by Jack McDevitt. Intriguing archaeology in a not so thrilling story.

I finally finished Labyrinth by Kate Mosse, which I really liked. It's about a woman volunteering on an archaeology dig in France who makes a big discovery and ends up triggering quite a chase; there is also a parallel timeline in the Middle Ages.