Digging in Yucatan

This book was the book for me in college, studying archaeology and specifically pre-Columbian studies. Ann Axtell Morris is an oft-forgotten but critically important archaeologist, usually ignored in favor of the men in the field (shocker). She was an equal participant in digs that spanned the American Southwest and the Yucatan peninsula and wrote captivating books for the public describing what she saw and found. She's been a nearly life-long inspiration to me and deserves to be more well-known.

How could you not want to pick up a book that starts like this?

"To my way of thinking, archeology is the most interesting and exciting career in the world. You go places and do and see things at which no one else ever gets a chance. It means exploring and digging up buried treasure, traveling to strange countries, meeting delightful people, and best of all, finding out what was happening in the world before the first page of your history book starts. I don't care how long that volume is or how thick.

Page One is no more the first page and the beginning, than W is the first letter of the alphabet."

She died at the age of 45.