In 26 essays, the author of this book--a novelist, armchair archaeologist, and American expatriate--dwells on the objects he finds in the fields near his adopted home in Provence. Writing about fragments of Roman tile, ax heads, and other debris too minor to be catalogued in museums, Sobin thinks his way back into the past and extracts detailed histories and heady philosophical meditations from the simple artifacts he stumbles on. The book includes reflections on ways in which modernity resembles prehistory and a lament for the transformation of archaeology from an art to a dry science. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.