Book excerpt: A Turkish farmer finds a large obsidian mirror on top of a mound. How did it get there? What did it mean for its creator, and what does it mean for us? In this teaching novel by writer Rob Swigart, the story toggles back and forth between a Neolithic village—and the changing fortunes of the family who finds this wondrous tool—and modern archaeologists whose excavated treasure stirs journalists, governments, and goddess worshippers alike. Through an engrossing tale across millennia, Swigart’s novel provides both a basic reconstruction of Neolithic lifeways and a primer on contemporary archaeological politics and practice. For archaeology students, and for anyone curious about artifacts past and present, Stone Mirror will be a fun, informative introduction both to archaeology and to the people they study.