Digging Deep: A Journey Into Southeast Asia's Past Paperback -

"Higham charts an archaeological Odyssey from Roman Britain via the Bronze Age stock-breeders of central Europe to prehistoric Thailand and the origins of Angkor. This complements a personal journey equally eventful, from a double first and rugby blue at Cambridge to building a university department in New Zealand. Here is a life laden with academic honours and the thrill of discovery on a series of digs that have transformed understanding of the human past in a hitherto-under-evaluated part of the ancient world." - Professor Norman Hammond, Senior Fellow, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge University.

"Charles Higham presents a readable and often witty account of a golden age in archaeological excavation in Thailand, Neolithic to Iron Age, from his perspective as a fundamental contributor. A must-read for colleagues, students, and the interested public are like." - Emeritus Professor Peter Bellwood, Australian National University.

In this unique memoir, Charles Higham, one of the great archeologists of his generation, describes the inside story of how his many excavations have introduced Southeast Asia's past to a worldwide audience. For over 50 years, he and his Thai colleagues have explored the arrival of early humans, the impact of the first farmers, the remarkable rise of social elites with the spread of metallurgy and the origins of civilizations. Once seen as a cultural backwater, Southeast Asia now takes center stage in understanding the human past.