archaeology
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
. He chose to write using a pseudonym — spelling his own name backward as an
ananym
An anadrome is a word whose spelling is derived by reversing the spelling of another word. It is therefore a special type of anagram. There is a long history of names being coined as ananyms of existing words or names for entities related to the ...
, and latinizing the ''K'' as ''C'' — to avoid association with his earlier work as a propagandist for the Third Reich.
Ceram was born in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
. During World War II, he was a member of the Propagandatruppe. His works from that period include ''Wir hielten
Narvik
( se, Áhkanjárga) is the third-largest municipality in Nordland county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Narvik. Some of the notable villages in the municipality include Ankenesstranda, Ball ...
'', 1941, and ''Rote Spiegel - überall am Feind. Von den Kanonieren des Reichsmarschalls'', 1943.
In 1949, Ceram wrote his most famous book, ''Götter, Gräber und Gelehrte'' — published in English as '' Gods, Graves and Scholars: The Story of Archaeology'' — an account of the historical development of archaeology. Published in 28 languages, Ceram's book eventually received a printing of more than 5 million copies, and is still in print. His very first article of this type was about
epigraphy
Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...
entitled: ''On the Decipherment of an Unknown Script'' and was published in the Berliner Illustrierte (1935).
Other books by the author include ''The Secret of the Hittites'' (1956), ''March of Archaeology'' (1958) and ''The First American'' (1971), a book on ancient North American history. Using his actual name he published ''Yestermorrow: Notes on Man's Progress'' (1961); ''Hands on the Past: The Pioneer Archaeologists Tell Their Own Story '' (1966).
Kurt Marek was responsible for the publication of ''
A Woman in Berlin
''A Woman in Berlin'' (german: Eine Frau in Berlin) is a memoir by German journalist Marta Hillers, originally released anonymously in 1954. The identity of Hillers as the author was not revealed until 2003, after her death. The memoir covers th ...
'', the anonymous memoir of a German woman raped by Red Army troops.
He died at
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
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