The difficulties of writing real research as exciting as the crap

"Archaeologists are trained as anthropologists to recognize and celebrate the diversity of humanity, both today and in the past.  Eric Cline succinctly explains this in his review, noting “pseudoarchaeologists cannot accept the fact that the mere humans might have come up with great innovations such as the domestication of plants and animals or built great architectural masterpieces such as the Sphinx all on their own; rather, they frequently seek or invoke divine, or even alien, assistance to explain how these came to be.”

"But these books are perhaps most problematic for archaeologists because, as Lekson notes, “alternative archaeology is more interesting than the stuff we write… more interesting to more people, that is.”  Academic archaeologists are not trained to write readably, which means there is a large opening for authors to connect with the “guy on the airplane.” Archaeologists like Brian Fagan who do write more approachable books have to walk a fine line between making data interesting and not making extraordinary claims."

I, for one, highly recommend Britain B.C. by Francis Pryor (yes, even if you're not British). It does an amazing job of making what could be an incredibly boring subject absolutely fascinating.

http://www.amazon.com/Britain-BC-Ireland-Before-Romans/dp/000712693X

You can also find the T.V. documentary online, but honestly the book is so much better.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2015/09/03/what-archaeologists-really-think-about-ancient-aliens-lost-colonies-and-fingerprints-of-the-gods