There have been two previous volumes published on Great Archaeologists, one for young adults (Daugherty 1962) and one a collection of articles from the Illustrated London News (Bacon 1976). What really distinguishes this two volume set from the earlier books is that who was included was decided by archaeologists, rather than by educators or journalists. Archaeologists whose lives are considered great for didactic or journalistic reasons are most likely to be active in spectacular field­ work and the Gordon Childes or James B Griffins are less likely to be included.