Adrian praetzellis death by theory uses prose fiction in an attempt to expose the reader to various anthropological and archaeological theory concepts while maintaining a mystery novel effect the books author an archaeologist with a phd in anthropology also incorporates his own illustrations and diagrams to assist the reader in understanding some of these key concepts the intended audience could be anyone with an interest in reading a mystery story but the book is . Death by theory is not great literature and not really that great of a mystery but thats ok because it does one important thing very very well it presents archaeological and anthropological theory in a totally non threatening way and in a way that a beginning or forgetful student is likely to remember its not going to tell the serious archaeology student everything he or she needs to know but its a great jumping off point for further discussion as well as a good basic . Death by theory is not great literature and not really that great of a mystery but thats ok because it does one important thing very very well it presents archaeological and anthropological theory in a totally non threatening way and in a way that a beginning or forgetful student is likely to remember its not going to tell the serious archaeology student everything he or she needs to know but its a great jumping off point for further discussion as well as a good . Hanna is accompanied by her nephew sean doyle who is attempting to find meaning to his life by pursuing archaeological studies tuliver needs hanna greens stamp of approval on his preposterous project excavating a neolithic european site on an island off the coast of washington state the plot takes a number of weird and wacky turns as new age goddess worshippers good old boy looters and archaeology students stumble over and around each other with each turning of the page but the