Gr 4-6-Both entertaining and useful, these titles discuss different aspects of ancient Egyptian and Greek cultures and history, explaining how knowledge of these societies was pieced together by archaeological discoveries. Topics are presented on double-page spreads with generous use of color and black-and-white photographs and color illustrations of artifacts, buildings, monuments, and archaeologists at work. Hicks covers early civilizations, Classical Greece, Athens, warfare, science, transportation, and pottery. Shuter includes sections on early burials, pyramids, hieroglyphs, mummies, Tutankhamun's tomb, temples, and towns. Each book takes a fascinating look at the techniques used to study these civilizations, including an explanation of how facial reconstruction is accomplished using skulls found in tombs. Both titles offer project ideas and short biographies of archaeologists. Information is not in-depth but is adequate for reports and sure to whet appetites for further reading. Louise James's How We Know about the Egyptians and How We Know about the Greeks (both Peter Bedrick, 1997) also combine archaeological contributions with cultural background, but they concentrate more on daily life.-Cynthia M. Sturgis, Ledding Library, Milwaukee, OR Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

These books provide historical background about Aztec, Greek, Roman, and Egyptian societies, with an emphasis on how archaeologists discovered and excavated the ruins of the cities. The layout of color photos and bland text is choppy and includes insets describing recent improvements in research and preservation techniques, as well as simple craft activities related to each society. Time lines are included. Bib., glos., ind.