ARCHAEOLOGY (See Cover) Even as his spaceships reach toward the future and the stars, modern man is more concerned than ever with his past on his own planet. From China to Peru, diggers are everywhere. And nowhere are they busier than in the ancient heart land of the Near East, where Western culture was born. The pick-and-shovel brigades have invaded Gibeon, where once the sun stood still for Joshua; painstakingly they have probed for the ruins of Gordion, capital of Phrygia, where poor King Midas saw his concubines turn to gold at his touch.

To Painter Alexander Brook, the first goal of an artist should be “to make each work more magical than the one before.” This gets harder as a man gets older. But last week in the summer port of Ogunquit, Me., a new one-man show of 31 paintings by Brook shows that the magic has been pretty well distributed over a long lifetime. The show reaches back to 1924, ranges in subject from an affectionate portrait of a puppy, to broad, brooding landscapes, to snapshots of young girls caught at some moment of loneliness.

Your adorable cat and loyal dog miss you even more than you miss them when you’re away from home. So a pet camera installed in your home that lets you see them snoozing by the front door, lets them know that you’re coming home (and to stop clawing at the carpet) and even tosses them their favorite treat is worth every penny. The ability to virtually “drop in” on your pet anytime from anywhere you have a Wi-Fi signal is reassuring, and finding the best pet camera is really about choosing the right model that works for your unique home, lifestyle, and animals.

Virginia Donelson June 21, 1999 12:00 AM EDT Wiencek tracks the postbellum rise of the black Hairstons against the decline of their former masters, once among the largest slaveholding families in the South. The central narrative unravels the 150-year-old mystery of a lost child, a story as brutal and romantic as anything by Faulkner. CBS is turning the book into a mini-series, but there are enough remarkable tales here for 10.

On the Double (Paramount). Danny Kaye is one of a precious clutch of performers who can still appear alone on a bare stage and hold audiences from riffraff to royalty rapt for hours. Yet Hollywood insists on ballooning his Pied Piper image with Panavision, or multiple-tracking his slap-happy sounds, or painting simple comedy in exotic new colors. His recent films, including this one, have added enough gimmicks and gewgaws to throttle Danny’s vintage gitgatgittle.