REVIEWS 91 notes that his final phase, Bidwell, which stood as two examples, chosen somewhat should occupy the final 400-600 years of the arbitrarily, from a range of variation which prehistoric period, was not found on the sites changed both spatially and temporally in the he excavated but was evident elsewhere in the better watered valleys of the Great Basin. valley. He attributes this to the small sample of sites excavated. However, a similar situation REFERENCES prevailed in the Warner Valley, which adjoins Surprise Valley to the north. Here, too. Madsen, David B., and Michael S. Berry Side-notched points are not found on sites with 1975 A Reassessment of Northeastern Great deep deposits. Rather, they occur in other Basin Prehistory. American Antiquity locations in association with rock architecture. 40: 391-405. I believe that O'Connell has overlooked another set of changes in settlement pattern, one that is at least as suggestive, if not as well documented, as the earlier one which draws his attention, and one that is crucial to under­ standing the relevance of models derived from ethnography for the study of adaptive pro­ cesses in the Great Basin. As is often the case when field investi­ Background to Prehistory of the Yuha Desert gation is limited and not explicitly designed to Region. Philip J. Wilke. ed. Ramona, Cal­ yield the data critical to the questions the ifornia: Ballena Press Anthropological investigator wants to explore, O'Connell's Papers No. 5. 1976. 109 pp. $4.95 (paper). discussion and conclusions are speculative and suggestive, but not strongly substantiated. He Reviewed by WILLIAM J. WALLACE suggests tests for the climatic explanation of Redondo Beach, change, but does not offer testable alternative explanations. Originally prepared as a background study O'Connell proposes a synthesis that for the Bureau of Land Management, the six recognizes three regional settlement-subsist­ papers making up this publication survey the ence systems within the Great Basin, but it geology, ethnography, ethnohistory, and seems unlikely that this typology will prove archaeology of the Yuha Desert, a sandy, useful. Surely dependence on pine nuts in areas inhospitable tract occupying the southwestern of the Great Basin where they occur in quantity portion of the arid Basin of resulted in a distinct settlement-subsistence California. system. However, Madsen and Berry (1975) In the first paper, David L. Weide sketches have challenged the assertion that pine nuts the region's surface geology. Of special interest could have been important prior to 3000 B.P., is the history of Lake which at times so there is a question as to the time depth ofthe inundated the land. During the lake's stands Reese River strategy. He differentiates the the Yuha Desert offered much more favorable Lower Humboldt and Surprise Valley types by circumstances for human exploitation and the greater use of fish and marsh resources and settlement than it does today. larger, more stable settlements in the former. A summary of ethnographic material, However, the Surprise Valley and Lower prepared by James P. Barker, follows. In Humboldt Valley are perhaps better under­ historic times the Yuha Desert lay between 92 JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA ANTHROPOLOGY territories ofthe Kamia of and Around A.D. 1400 or 1500, however, the lake the Southern Diegueno of the Peninsular began to evaporate rapidly and a population Range. Neither group made much use of the movement out of the Yuha district occurred. area, though travelers and traders passed Taken together, the six papers provide a through it. A topical arrangement (agriculture, useful summary of current knowledge about gathering, hunting, etc.) is followed in han­ an interesting stretch of desert country and its dling the ethnographic data. Perhaps separate native inhabitants, historic and prehistoric. synopses of Kamia and Southern Diegueno cultures might have been more meaningful. Next, the ethnohistorical sources are dealt with fully and admirably by Harry W. Lawton. Because all routes from the to r?. the Pacific Coast crossed the Yuha Desert, 0) many travelers trudged across its sandy wastes. But most of these wanderers did not linger Death Valley: Geology, Ecology, Archae­ long, for, until they reached Carrizo Wash, ology. Charles B. Hunt. Berkeley: Uni­ there was no large and certain supply of water. versity of California Press. 1976. 234 pp. Consequently, their journals and diaries Illustrations. $14.95 (cloth). $6.95 (paper). contain at best only brief mention of the region's native inhabitants. Although no Reviewed by WILLIAM J. WALLACE complete picture of Indian life can be drawn Redondo Beach, California from these scraps of information they do provide some valuable insights into aboriginal A refreshing feature of this attractively utilization of the land. produced book is that its primary data come The remaining three papers, all written by from fieldwork and first-hand observation Margaret L. Weide, are concerned with rather than from the body of tired, overworked archaeology. The first presents a history of facts and non-facts so often drawn upon by prehistoric research. To date, no study of the writers of general accounts of Death Valley. Yuha Desert as such has been undertaken. From 1955 to 1960, the author, Charles B. Nevertheless, parts of it have been searched, Hunt, studied the geology of Death Valley for most often in connection with larger investi­ the United States Geological Survey, concen­ gations, beginning with Malcolm J. Rogers' trating his efforts in and around the salt pan, a pioneer explorations in the Colorado and great expanse of rough and pitted salt in the Mojave . A rapid and rather superficial lowest part of the valley floor. The results of his survey of museum collections makes up the work appeared in three of the Survey's second paper. The problem of human occu­ professional papers. At the same time, his wife, pation is tackled in the third. Scanty evidence Alice Hunt, made an archaeological reconnais­ points to two main periods of habitation. The sance of the same general area. Her findings earliest (corresponding to Rogers' hazy San were published by the University of Utah as Dieguito 1) began about 9000 years ago when one of its Anthropological Papers. The essence the countryside was much better watered. of the four reports is presented here in a very Then followed a long time span for which only readable, often witty style. scant traces of man's presence exist. With the As expected, the bulk of the volume deals final filling of , ca. A.D. 1050, with earth history. After a brief introduction to people entered the region in some numbers. this famous (or infamous) valley, its geology is