Spirit Bird Journey

Book excerpt: Sarah Nelson’s teaching novel follows Clara, a Korean-American archaeologist, to an excavation in her ancestral homeland. The story recounts her experiences as a field archaeologist and as a young woman caught between two cultures. Nelson also tells the story of Flyingbird and the Neolithic people who lived in the mound Clara is excavating. Addressing issues of gender, shamanism, ethnic identity, and Neolithic culture, and written by a leading American archaeologist specializing in these topics, this volume is both a good read and good archaeology. An ideal starting point to introduce archaeology to college students.