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French Colonial Pottery: In chapter 5, “Nearly Half a Century of An International Conference Research in Québec,” Marcel Moussette summa- George Avery (editor) rizes 50 years of research on French pottery in the St. Lawrence Valley. The field took off with Northwestern State University historical archaeology in the 1960s. Two Parks of Louisiana Press, Nachitoches, Canada laboratories, Ottawa and Louisbourg, 2007. 486 pp. $75.00 paper. played an instrumental role in putting out the first publications. Then, the still indispensable Could this be the “better” guide to French Collection Patrimoine on Place Royale was ceramics on colonial sites? The volume was started. Most of these early publications were, born of a conference on French pottery in North appropriately, very descriptive. More recently, America held in September 2002 in Marksville, there has been a shift away from the stylistic Louisiana. It showcased speakers from the U.S., approach, towards archaeometric analysis. This Canada, and France. Out of the 14 chapters is partly due to the problem of the identification gathered by editor George Avery, 13 were pre- of coarse earthenwares and because locally made sented at this meeting. The conference poster vessels look like imported ones. With micro- and program, as well as a list of participants morphological and chemical analyses, Michel and their paper abstracts are included at the end Blackburn and Moussette proved that some of the book. As Avery warns his readers, some “North Devon” coarse earthenwares were in fact chapters are more like transcripts of oral presen- not English at all. Given this great result, more tations rather than formal research papers. archaeometric studies are underway, including a Gregory Waselkov and John Walthall published promising survey of Laurentian potters by Yves their classification system for French faiences Monette. This chapter has 18 excellent pictures shortly before the conference took place, making of ceramics from the sites of the Intendant’s the gathering a natural venue to discuss their Palace in Quebec city, La Prairie near Montreal, work. Because chapters 2, 3, 4, and 14 specifi- and Nouvelle-Ferme on Île-aux-Oies. cally deal with this topic, they will be examined As discussed in chapter 6, “Archaeometric together after the others have been reviewed. Applications in the St. Lawrence Valley,” Yves Chapter 1, “Update on the ‘Tunica Treasure,’” Monette, Marc Richer-LaFlèche, and Marcel by Earl Barbry, Jr., opens the volume with the Moussette also analyzed the coarse earthen- transcript of a conversation that he had with wares from the farming site of the Rocher H. F. “Pete” Gregory and George Avery. Their de la Chapelle on Île-aux-Oies. They applied exchange focuses on the “Tunica Treasure” petrographic analysis and ICP-MS (inductively after it was repatriated to the Tunica-Biloxi coupled plasma mass spectrometry) to 77 tribe of Louisiana. The tribe was committed sherds. They found out that local wares do to handling this important collection with care, have a distinct composition, and in particular, and wanted to use it as a public education tool. higher levels of sodium. They also came up They restored some of the ceramics and decided with new groupings for the ceramics that seem to display both sherds and whole vessels to to indicate that more than one local potter was denounce the effects of grave looting on their involved in their production. Variations in the culture. Interestingly, they came to see the pres- rubidium-strontium ratio (Rb/Sr) may ultimately ervation of the ceramics in their museum as a help identify various workshops, and perhaps symbolic reburial, and one that precludes a real narrow down their locations in the St. Law- re-interment of this fundamental collection. This rence Valley. The authors have included the chapter exhibits 53 beautiful pictures of whole scatter plots and tables mentioned in the text, ceramic vessels from the “Tunica Treasure.” The which facilitate the reading. There is also a pictures are striking but come with very little handy appendix of the compositional data of information about the ceramics themselves. the ceramics they analyzed.
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Chapter 7, “A Provence Perspective,” is by nent. Beside faiences from Marseilles, Moustiers, Henri Amouric and Lucy Vallauri, two long- and Varages, they identify Huveaune tableware, standing specialists in French ceramics from cookware from both Vallauris and Biot, and Provence, in southeastern France. Since their storage vessels from Biot in colonial assem- chapter is written in French, it will be sum- blages. Huveaune ceramics were all slip deco- marized in more detail here. rated, but either painted, decorated with circles In France, the work of Jean Chapelot on the of dots, or marbled. Their background appeared Saintonge potters was a stepping-stone for stud- red or yellow. The better pieces were incised ies of ceramics on colonial sites. More recently, and show flowers, birds, fish, and sometimes the development of historical archaeology in people. Bowls, basins, and chamber pots were the French Caribbean, of urban excavations of the most exported forms. both consumer sites and pottery, and archival Pottery at Biot and Vallauris thrived for research in southern France have all pushed the centuries because of their location next to the field forward. Mediterranean Sea and their clay rich in kao- Amouric and Vallauri first address the issue of linite. For the colonies they made cooking pots, ceramic identification. They note that stonewares cooking pans, bowls, chafing dishes, and some from the Loire Valley remain the least well tableware. Biot also specialized in large oil jars known of the French stonewares. For French and container pots for fresh grapes. In the latter, faiences, decoration style seems more significant grapes could be preserved long enough to reach than origin. Some of the popular local decora- New France, or be stored until Christmastime. tions have been found not only in Moustiers, In the authors’ view, Italian ceramics from Marseille, and Varages, but also Toulouse and the Gulf of Genoa are inextricably linked to Montpellier. Other Moustiers decorations were Provence potteries. To their surprise, Albisola copied in Bordeaux and Samadet. Geochemical wares have been identified on colonial sites, analyses are sometimes helpful. For example, but not plain white faiences from Genoa and they helped distinguish between faiences from blue-on-white faiences from Savona. Amouric Moustiers and others from Varages, Nevers, or and Vallauri claim to recognize some of them Montpellier. Plain faience, blanche or brune, in the faiences from Place Royale. poses an even bigger identification problem, and Their conclusions about the colonial ceramic plain French and Italian tin-glazed earthenware trade are that ceramics came from the regions can appear identical. that dominated Atlantic commerce. Saintonge The authors then acknowledged the recent earthenwares and stonewares were most common advances also made outside of Provence. from 1650 to 1700, when French cities on the There is now no doubt that Albisola ware, that Atlantic Coast were in the lead. In the 18th appeared at the end of the 17th century in Italy, century, some of this trade was redirected to was widely imitated in France, in Toulouse, the southeast of France and its Mediterranean Bordeaux, Nevers, and Lyon for example. Sain- ports. The routes were either direct across seas, tonge dominated the colonial market in the 17th or indirect and transported through southwestern century, but other potteries competed with it in France. Marseilles traded heavily with the Antil- the next century. Amouric and Vallauri suspect les, but also with New France, and between that green-glazed tableware and sugar forms 1731 and 1770 with New Orleans. from Sadirac, for example, were exported to the Amouric and Vallauri conclude by noting the colonies. They mention the presence of coarse absence of ceramics from Saint-Quentin-la-Pot- earthenware cooking pots and painted tableware erie, Dieulefit, or Saint-Jean-de-Fos on colonial from Cox on colonial sites as well. In fact, sites—rather surprising since those were major Cox alone did not produce all of these ceram- pottery centers. For the faiences, they think ics. Painted tableware and cooking pots were that exports from Provence largely dominated also made in Giroussens and Lomagne, near the colonial market, which is debatable. They Toulouse, and Giroussens wares seem to be the wish that Spanish and Italian tin-glazed ceram- most frequent type found on colonial sites. ics could be more easily distinguished, and that Amouric and Vallauri’s comments on their more 19th-century sites were studied. Hypotheti- area of expertise, Marseilles, are the most perti- cally, Turkish pipes and ceramics could have 134 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 43(4) reached the colonies through the same routes acknowledges the difficulty of distinguishing as Chinese porcelain—these Turkish wares are between some French and Spanish ceramics. not rare in Provence. Finally, they wonder about Her pictures of coarse earthenware, faience, and what kind of faience might have been made in majolica illustrate the point. New Orleans by the potter Pierre Paul Caussy. Chapter 10 is titled “Onboard La Belle.” The colonial archives contain traces of his activ- Ceramics from La Belle amounted to 31 whole ity there, between 1729 and 1732, and before or almost complete vessels and 258 sherds. he relocated to Rouen. Nancy Reese’s paper focuses on the whole ves- This text is richly illustrated. Most of its 54 sels: 5 faience, 14 coarse earthenware, and 12 pictures depict ceramics from Provence and stoneware. The faience vessels were all plain Italy, and have already appeared in previous apothecary jars called albarelle or albarello in French publications. French. It is unlikely that they were made in La In chapter 8, “From Texas, La Belle and Rochelle however, as Reese proposes. Even if Fort St. Louis,” authors James Bruseth and La Rochelle were indeed specialized in apoth- Jeff Durst present the excavations of the ship ecary jars, the faience pottery there only started La Belle and Fort St. Louis. French explorer in 1721, while La Belle sank in 1686. As a city René Robert Cavelier de La Salle was trying to which specialized in medicinal faience, Montpel- locate the mouth of the Mississippi River when lier is a better candidate. It hosted one of the he landed on the Texas coast in 1684. Fort St. oldest and most famous schools of medicine in Louis was the location of his short-lived colony, Europe. Faience making developed early, in the and La Belle was the last ship to survive this 1570s, and specifically to cater to pharmacists expedition. Eventually, La Salle also lost La and physicians. Medicinal jars were one of Belle in a storm, with all his cargo aboard. Montpellier’s specialties. The shipwreck was found in 1995. A cofferdam Looking at coarse earthenware, Reese reminds allowed James Bruseth and his team to excavate the reader that Saintonge ceramics come both the wreck as a terrestrial site. They dismem- with and without slip. La Belle had to resup- bered its hull timber by timber and recovered ply in St. Domingue after the supply ship St. over a million artifacts. François was lost, and this seems to explain the Archaeological work at Fort St. Louis started presence of coil-made coarse earthenware in its in the 1950s. It was Kathleen Gilmore who con- assemblage. Another fascinating finding of Reese firmed in the 1970s that this was indeed the site is that some of the coarse earthenware pots were of La Salle’s colony (chapter 9, this review). used as weapons. Filled with oil, they were lit Magnetometer survey and excavations have and thrown onto enemy ships to set their decks yielded maps of both its Spanish and French on fire. The nine fire pots from La Belle are occupations. The density of green lead-glazed probably the largest collection in existence. ceramics helped narrow down the location of Some of the French stonewares were apoth- the French fort. This chapter has interesting ecary jars from Beauvaisis, and the rest were fieldwork pictures, survey maps, and site plans drinking pitchers from Normandy and Germany. of Fort St. Louis. It also has pictures from La Unfortunately, Reese did not comment further Chapelle-des-Pots in France, where the authors on the function of this assemblage, except for took a trip to see Saintonge ceramics. Please the fire pots. For example, the apothecary jars note that the name of this village is misspelled seem to indicate that the crew either faced or as “La Chapelle de Pots” in the book. Spelling were expected to face frequent wounds and does matter, as there is also an historic pottery injuries. Also, the absence of stoneware stor- called La Chapelle-aux-Pots in Beauvaisis. age vessels seems striking, but perhaps this In chapter 9, “Ceramics from Fort St. Louis,” is common on non-merchant ships. La Belle’s Kathleen Gilmore contributed a delightful ceramics deserve a more in-depth study, and it account of how she became acquainted with is eagerly awaited. French ceramics, and how she identified the In chapter 11, “A Survey of Texas Missions,” Keeran site as Fort St. Louis. She recognized Shawn B. Carlson looks at the distribution of early on the importance for French colonial French ceramics at five Texas missions from sites of green-glazed coarse earthenware, and ca. 1720 to 1820. Despite the “wide variety of REVIEWS 135 ceramics” available at these sites, Carlson only second half of the 18th century. The presence studies tin- and lead-glazed earthenware. His of this sherd might indicate that the assemblage analysis is based on two ratios and a chronol- dates closer to the mid- rather than early 18th ogy table. The first ratio of French to Mexican century. This would seem to fit with two other ceramics shows that French ceramics entered sherds pictured in figure 2, a sherd of Rouen the area from New Orleans. This seems to fit polychrome, a ware that appears in post-1740 recent views of New Orleans as the epicenter contexts in the Mississippi Valley and at least of a vast regional market, and as a contraband after 1725 in New France, and a Moustiers hub for the Caribbean. blue-on-white sherd with flower decoration that The chronological analysis that follows next is was popular around the 1730s and 1740s. awkward, and frankly, not very useful. Carlson Aubra L. Lee’s chapter 13, “A French Pottery does not indicate which ceramics and which in Louisiana,” presents the excavation of another dates of production he selected. This is a con- exciting new site, a French pottery at Wilton cern since some of the dates that he uses else- Plantation, lower Louisiana. This is the first kiln where are incorrect. For example, 1690–1765, site excavated in the whole colony of Louisiane. the usual range for Seine polychrome faiences, Among its features, Lee identified two working does not work for La Rochelle polychrome, floors, some dismantled flue and fireboxes, a since again, La Rochelle faiences did not exist portion of the firing chamber, and remains of before 1721. Furthermore, because most of these a shed-like building that covered the kiln. She ceramics have a long period of production, determined that the site corresponded to a 5 m Carlson ends up with a table that spans the high circular updraft kiln, which is a common years 1650 to 1899 for missions that were only type in Western Europe. The documents from occupied between the 1710s and the 1820s. the Wilton Plantation site are great, the pictures Finally, his third ratio compares the amount of kiln or shed-like construction from France of various coarse earthenwares to the amount of less so. Reports about kiln excavation in France French faiences at each site. Carlson uses these are hard to locate, but these remains could be figures to highlight the respective degrees of compared to standing preserved kilns, either influence at the different missions of Mexican shed covered, as at La Chapelle-des-Pots, or wares, local wares, and British imports. Why inside the potter’s workshop, as at Cox. these observations could not have been made The ceramics made at Wilton Plantation using simple proportional percentages instead of were low-fired, slipped, and lead-glazed coarse faience ratios is not clear. earthenwares. The color of the glaze varied a Chapter 12, by John H. House, introduces a lot. Several bowls, a jar, a jug, and a covered new colonial site on the lower Arkansas River. pot—mislabeled as another jar—are pictured in Wallace-Bottom was serendipitously discovered the book. In Lee’s view, it is probable that other in 1998 a few hundred yards south of Menard- forms were made. Even for classic utilitarian Hodges, the official French post in Arkansas. In vessels like these, it would have been great to reality, four decades of archaeology at Menard- include profile drawings of the products of this Hodges have failed to confirm that it is without new pottery. Note that Lee’s bibliography is a doubt, a French colonial site. Wallace-Bottom, missing a few references cited in her text. on the other hand, has a clear French colonial Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 14 deal with the component. The post was occupied between Walthall-Waselkov classification system for 1686 and 1749, and this corresponds to the French faiences. In chapter 2, Walthall recalls dating of the artifacts found at Wallace-Bottom. his discovery of faience, after he identified the House proposes that this new site might be the remains of the French church of the Cahokia original French Arkansas post. tribe in the top levels of Monks Mound. He House studies 66 sherds that came from sur- also describes how French ceramics were used face collection and small-scale excavation. Most in colonial Illinois. The absence of a lot of of them are French, and a few are illustrated coarse earthenware indicates that “the French in the article. Figure 3 exhibits an Albisola did not do a lot of cooking in pottery” and sherd. Albisola ware is usually found on French preferred metallic cookware. Also, faiences are colonial sites in contexts that date from the usually 30 or 40 years older than the sites’ 136 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 43(4) periods of occupation, and show traces of repair. During the colonial period Brittany was in fact This means that they probably were curated and a very minor faience area. Until the end of the used for special occasions rather than as every- 18th century, its main pottery, Quimper, only day ware. Some of the 13 pages of pictures, made copies of popular designs from Nevers, mostly of faiences from French colonial sites, Moustiers, and Rouen. Its famous folk style, show examples of mended vessels with lead- which probably inspired the attribution of the filled drill holes, and of sherds shaped as game simple line design to the region, only showed pieces or pendants. up during the 19th century. Significantly also, As for his faience classification system, this decoration was first attributed to Brittany Walthall initially wanted to help standardize potteries based on a personal communication the description of these ceramics. Comparison and not a publication. There is then no evidence between sites would then become easier. He so far that Brittany came up with the “Brittany” decided to stay clear of French folk names and decoration. This case illustrates well how the from naming types after type-sites. Instead, he names chosen by Walthall can cloud the discus- chose to name them for the “general area or sion about French faiences. style that they were named for in France.” From On another point, Waselkov insists that he the beginning, Walthall warned that these styles and scholars like Walthall are only focusing on were not to be confused with the real place of colonial faiences. The faiences found in France, origin of the faiences, because popular patterns on 18th-century urban sites, for example, are were copied all over. Rather, “styles” described very similar to their colonial counterparts, how- decorative traditions of certain areas. Another ever. The two areas of study should not remain great contribution of his, is how his system forever separated. took into account the variety of rim types. After In chapter 4, Ed Jelks applies Walthall and George A. Long in Canada, Walthall helped Waselkov’s classification system to faiences promulgate the classification of these recurrent from Louisbourg. The crux of his contribution rim patterns. is not its short text—Jelks could not come to The way in which he deals with types is more the conference and H. F. “Pete” Gregory instead problematic. First, the fact that some types are presented his paper—but its 51 pages of pictures defined based on glaze and patterns, and others of faiences and coarse earthenwares. Jelks’s work on glaze and colors can be confusing. Walthall illustrates the difficulties that arise when this also named these types for regions or cities in system is applied to sites outside of the Illi- France, all somewhat related to faience history, nois area. For New France and the Caribbean a but he chose from among many possibilities. greater number of rim types need to be included, So the type names are both arbitrary and real. and the variations of already-classified rim types They are not easy to remember, since they are have to be better defined. Also, the classifica- non-descriptive French geographic names, and tion system works best for tableware sherds, but also not easy to forget, given that the faiences shows its limits when it comes to classifying named for these locations were not necessarily other types of vessels, like hollowwares. made in these places. In chapter 14, George Avery, H. F. “Pete” In chapter 3, Gregory A. Waselkov explains Gregory, Jason Emery, and Jeffrey Girard how he helped transform this classification describe faiences from northwest Louisiana also system by incorporating more of the existing using Waselkov and Walthall’s classification French literature on the subject. French books terms. They survey 10 sites, but the bulk of on historical ceramics are abundant but biased. their 2,996 sherds come from the Los Adaes They are often based on museum collections, (2,204 sherds) and Tauzin-Wells sites (501 sometimes potteries’ archives, and rarely on sherds), that date from the period before and archaeological research. Museum pieces can be after the 1770s, respectively. A table summarizes a far cry from common wares. which styles, types, and rim varieties are pres- Waselkov rightly points out that the Brit- ent at each site, and vessel forms are discussed tany type has probably nothing to do with the in the text. region of Brittany itself. “Brittany” faiences The authors conclude, for example, that faience have a simple line or band around the rim. blanche dominates in northwest Louisiana before REVIEWS 137
1770s, and is then replaced by faience brune. The The historic value of this document, in that it data about rim varieties is the most interesting. shows how French pottery research developed, Some rim varieties, like Rim G, for example, is much appreciated. Also valuable were the can be good temporal markers. Before the 1770s, chapters that presented new sites or new discov- the most popular rims are the various Provence eries, although they did not necessarily fit with types, at least at Los Adaes. They represent 240 Avery’s larger agenda. Overall, the numerous out of 526 decorated faience sherds, or 42%. and lavish illustrations look professional. Unfor- After the 1770s, Rim G and all of its derivatives tunately at $75, this is a very expensive ceramic dominate: at Tauzin-Wells, 29 out of 138 painted album, and as Avery suggested, this volume faience sherds, or 21% of the total, are Rim G might only be affordable to CRM firms and to and variations on G. Similarly, Rim G was popu- the National Park Service. This is regrettable, lar after the mid-18th century in Illinois. especially since nowadays the Internet offers a With this volume, George Avery hoped to convenient way to illustrate and update typolo- advance French pottery classification and publish gies that are accessible to all. a reference for French ceramics. Its 14 essays are very diverse in tone, topic, and quality, My r i a m Ar c a n g e l i however. Specific information about French De p a r t m e n t o f Ar c h a e o l o g y coarse earthenware, stoneware, and faience is Bo s t o n Un i v e r s i t y dispersed throughout the book, which does not 675 Co m m o n w e a l t h Av e n u e make it the most adequate artifact guide. Bo s t o n , MA 02215 138 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 43(4)
Lost Architecture of the Rio Grande States, collaborating with the Instituto Nacional Borderlands de Antropología e Historia in Mexico, carried out W. Eugene George surveys and salvage archaeology of prehistoric and historic sites, along with documenting extant Texas A&M University Press, architecture in ranches and towns between 1949 College Station, 2008. 105 pp., and 1953. The work was truncated when, as a index. $35.00 cloth. result of heavy precipitation, the water rose in early 1953, two years earlier than predicted. The construction of dams whenever, wherever, Prehistoric and historic archaeological sites, and for whatever noble purposes, always has del- along with the abandoned towns and ranches eterious effects on the people to be relocated and on both sides of the border were flooded (pp. on their built landscape destined for inundation. xv–xxiii). So as not to become hazards to navi- This work is a study of architecturally signifi- gation, many of the standing structures on the cant buildings in the United States and Mexico American side of the river were dynamited or border zone inundated by the Falcón Reservoir bulldozed (Texas Beyond History
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Two sites in Texas are also illustrated. He makes This is an important discussion. The description succinct observations on the looting and site of techniques and materials would serve any destruction occurring with lowered water levels. archaeologist well for investigating structures George presents the basic architectural descrip- throughout northern Hispanic America. Finally, tive data (black-and-white photographs, plan the author presents a brief reconstruction of life views, and elevations) with some historical data along the Rio Grande, incorporating the structures on founding dates and occupants in chapter 5. in and around which that life took place. One of In the introduction and chapters 1–4, George the more interesting notes here is his presentation includes the same types of illustrative materials of the architectural legacy of a late-19th-century but with the addition of line drawings of various priest, Pierre Yves Keralum. architectural details and perspectives. He proposes This work is an important contribution to the and briefly discusses the need to understand anthropology of Hispanic America. Brief, but vernacular architecture in terms of its historical well illustrated, the work presents historical archi- roots, its environmental contexts, the building tectural information from a two-century period technology used, and the social and cultural func- during which Mexico became independent and tions of the structures. lost substantial lands in the north. It would be The settlements studied are descendants of interesting to determine if the degree of continu- communities and ranches established in the area ity and change differed among those communities along the Rio Grande after 1750, as part of a separated between two national systems. Apart strategy to secure the northern borderlands and from a few comments on ceramics, George does communication lines of the Viceroyalty of New not mention any excavations of historic sites. Yet Spain. George suggests that the structures and at least one was carried out at the Leal Ranch towns had roots in several centuries of commu- and is reported at the web address he cites, nity development in New Spain. He goes into Texas Beyond History
Archaeological Ethics and Capitalism: present-day communities. The sections of the From Ethics to Politics book tackle differing aspects of the larger issue Yannis Hamilakis and Philip Duke and provide unique perspectives drawn from individual experiences. (editors) The chapters in part 2 take on the debate of Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, CA, objectivity in archaeology and the interpretation 2007. 325 pp., index. $79.00 cloth. of the past. The authors dismiss all notions of objectivity and argue for a shift in focus that Archaeological Ethics and Capitalism: From urges all archaeologists to recognize that knowl- Ethics to Politics is an edited volume in which edge is produced in the present, and therefore the authors scrutinize the centralized position archaeological work should be accountable to of archaeology in the contemporary world, and contemporary groups and include them in the archaeology’s political and social impact on creation of research designs. Alongside com- diverse publics. The work is a culmination of munity involvement in knowledge production various position papers from the symposium, An and restructuring archaeological ethics resides Ethical Archaeology in a Capitalist World, held a prevalent theme in each chapter—ownership at the fifth meeting of the World Archaeology of the past. Alexander Bauer, Shane Lindsay, Congress. The chapters cover various aspects and Stephen Urice raise the issue that existing of long-established ethics in archaeology, and ethical standards are inefficient in terms of how critically evaluate archaeologists’ self-imposed descendant communities view their own heritage responsibilities and relevance in the modern and antiquities. The authors suggest that without capitalist world. What is called into serious intimate knowledge of the descendant commu- question is archaeologists’ position within soci- nity and the values of its heritage and ancestors, ety, and the book is a call for all archaeologists archaeologists claiming objectivity, control of to understand that they are part of the social materials and knowledge, and stewardship may and political capitalist structures that serve to not be all that different from looters. George organize, motivate, and constrain approaches Nicholas and Julie Hollowell argue for a stron- to the study of the past and its application in ger applied approach to archaeology, involving the present. In each particular case, the authors a shift in focus that entails using archaeology to argue that this critical thinking will lead to a find solutions to the social, political, economic, more socially and politically informed, and thus and environmental problems of present-day com- ethical, archaeology. munities. Charles Riggs and Nick Shepard bring The book is set up in four parts, headed to light pitfalls and miscues when archaeologists “Introduction,” “Ethics in Questions, Archae- try to remain objective or serve the discipline, ology in Capitalism,” “Archaeology as Capi- while at the same time attempting to work with talism,” and “Ethical Futures, Emancipatory a diverse community. Shepard’s cautionary tale Archaeologies.” Fodder for discussion and a of Cape Town is revealing, and illustrates the call for action begin with the first pages of the contestation of ownership of, and empowerment book. Randall McGuire sets the stage with his through archaeological remains in the face of introduction questioning the craft of archaeology modern development. and toward whom it is or should be directed. Part 3 shines a light on the practice of archae- It is an important query that requires in-depth ology influenced and shaped by modern capital- thought and a repositioning of the archaeolo- ism. It is not a study of capitalism, but rather gist in the study of the past produced in the it is a critique, and challenges archaeologists to present. This critical stance is carried through acknowledge their culpability within contempo- each chapter, culminating in Dean Saitta’s rary capitalist practices. The authors structure final commentary on the social, economic, and archaeological practice based on the idea (or political impacts of archaeological research on ideology) of archaeological knowledge being
Historical Archaeology, 2009, 43(4):140–142. Permission to reprint required. REVIEWS 141 produced and the disseminated knowledge being relevant archaeological praxis. The chapters in consumed. Paul Everill looks at the system of this section, such as those by Ermengol Gas- labor (highly trained, poorly paid archaeolo- siot Balbé, Joaquim Puigdoménech, Elena Sintes gists) and the extraction of the raw materials Olives, and Dawine Wolfe Steadman, and Rein- (archaeological data) for knowledge creation. hard Bernbeck and Susan Pollock, confront the Everill argues that contract archaeology is role of archaeology and the ideology of memor- increasingly market driven, which creates com- alization and identity politics. Memorials lead to petition, which in turn creates tensions between a collective amnesia, as monuments are offered budgets and deadlines, and leads ultimately to up as closure rather than discussion of events the decline in the quality of life for thousands past and present. The authors from this sec- of the discipline’s highly educated proletariat. tion astutely identify that these memorials avoid In a different view of archaeology and capital- confrontation, as they create an environment of ism, three chapters written by Pedro Funari and what is called a “reconciliatory consensus” that Erika Robrahan-González, Neil Silberman, and deadens the monuments’ impact on the politics Alison Kehoe look at market forces and their of the present. Balbé and his colleagues argue impact within the business of heritage manage- that archaeology should be firmly positioned in ment, and how archaeological sites are used political praxis that entails fusion between the to pander to heritage tourism—the profits only archaeologist and the activist. Maggie Ronayne benefit non-indigenous developers. Silberman follows a similar call to activism working with further explains how heritage sites, originally present-day Kurdish communities. Ronayne’s meant to be used as tools for public education, study is very interesting because she intention- have succumbed to capitalist forces through the ally moves away from any instinctual feeling idea of earning revenue as sanitized leisure-time to excavate or attempt to “recover the past” in destinations. Helaine Silverman also looks into light of major government construction displacing heritage tourism and competition for knowl- whole villages—and destroying the archaeologi- edge (and profit) between an indigenous, local cal record. Instead, Ronayne identifies the local museum and a privately operated, sanitized, population’s concern with archaeology and its upscale tourist-driven museum. Tamima Mourd’s correlation with government activities. Her work chapter is a call to reevaluate the position of sheds a cold light of reality on how archaeology archaeologists in the political context of the area can be perceived outside the discipline. in which they work, as well as archaeologists’ The overall goal of the book is to challenge ethical responsibility in aiding and participating critically the foundations of archaeology in order in imperialists’ projects. In Mourd’s case she is to promote discussion and create a new path speaking directly about archaeologists participat- for archaeological practice. The scholars in this ing in various military-funded or -headed proj- book certainly meet, and at times surpass the ects, and revealing the impact of European and book’s expectations. If there is a downside it is U.S. colonialism and oppression in the Near and the number of complex topics and examples in Middle East. Her research is a plea to question a single book. It is evident that each section in humanitarian values and archaeological ethics as its own right represents a separate book. The they relate to conducting archaeology in areas sheer number of diverse locations and specific of conflict or war zones. The idea of protection case studies makes it somewhat easy for the and cultural rights come into question, and this, reader to lose the common theme or thread of according to the author, conflicts with any ven- the entire treatise. As a result, the flow between ture associated with military occupation. sections, and at times chapters, loses a bit of The work in part 4 provides directions for continuity. The book may have benefited from archaeology’s ethical future. It revolves around the inclusion of a section with discussion among the realization that archaeologists’ responsibili- the authors in the form of reaction papers. This ties rest with both descendant communities and is probably next to impossible in the book’s non-descendant populations in areas where the current state, because it would simply add to practice of archaeology will have an impact. With the already copious amounts of information, differing approaches, the chapters in this section making for an extremely long book. This is a are a call to action through political and socially very minor point, and should not detract from 142 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 43(4) an otherwise well-written and thought-provoking necessary, and certainly relevant to archaeologists book. Although this is a critique, it is also a and archaeology students of all levels. testament to the level of scholarship, since the reader wants to know more about what each St e p h e n A. Br i g h t o n De p a r t m e n t o f An t h r o p o l o g y author is thinking. As stated above, such things Ce n t e r f o r He r i t ag e Re s o u r c e St u d i e s are minor critiques of what is a fantastic book. It Un i v e r s i t y o f Ma r y l a n d does successfully educate and inspire. It is timely, Co l l e g e Pa r k , MD 20742 REVIEWS 143
Archaeology as Political Action shortcomings. On the one hand, McGuire Randall H. McGuire presents inspiring discussions of class and University of California Press, material inequality, and these discussions are a significant contribution to a humanistic Berkeley, 2008. 312 pp., 9 b&w archaeology of capitalism. On the other hand, photos, 3 maps, index. $29.95 his critique that political ideologies mask and paper. obscure the political nature of the past (p. 235), might not give people enough credit for McGuire urges archaeologists to take action recognizing that they are oppressed. It is a and make the world a better place, whether that complex debate that will not be resolved here. is by uncovering lost truths through archaeol- Nonetheless, McGuire’s point that archaeol- ogy, collaborating with subaltern communities, ogy is inherently political is well taken. It is or making conditions more fair within the field grounded in a vivid mosaic of examples from itself. He uses dialectical Marxist theory to around the world, demonstrating how archaeol- describe how he strives to accomplish this in ogy has made a difference, for better or worse. his own work. He argues that archaeologists He also provides two lengthier case studies of should engage in praxis, which he describes as his own research in the U.S. and Mexico. These “seeking to know the world, critique the world, examples and case studies are the strength of and most important to take action in the world” the book and give readers guidance in prac- (p. 220). This Marx-inspired view of praxis is ticing the transformational archaeology that more specific than the praxis found in post- McGuire advocates. modern practice theory. McGuire focuses on One chapter details his collaborative work in transformational and emancipatory actions that Mexico, as well as the history of archaeology benefit humankind. He emphasizes collective in Mexico and its connections with perceived action, rather than individual agency, and uses U.S. imperialism and Mexican nationalism. He class as a launching point for his work. He contextualizes modern archaeology in Mexico acknowledges that the use of Marxism is not within an age of fast capitalism and neoliberal- the only means of praxis, for example, citing ism that increasingly results in commodified and similarly transformational work in feminist, privatized archaeology, not unlike trends in the indigenous, and other critical archaeologies. U.S. Stories from this chapter indicate some The cover art for this book looks like a red of the challenges of international collaboration, flag. Be aware, reading the first half of the book ranging from differences in participants’ research feels like being shaken by the shoulders and goals, resources, languages, and even expecta- berated for engaging in bourgeois self-indulgence tions regarding dining in the field. In describing and political apathy. For example, he suggests his collaborative work, he outlines the complex that unlike the working classes, “the bourgeoisie relationships between Mexican archaeologists, have no interests in transformation [of the world]” U.S. archaeologists, Norteños (Spanish descen- (p. 96). According to McGuire, many American dants in northern Mexico), and members of the archaeologists in particular dislike politics. They Tohono O’odham nation (whose traditional lands wish that everyone would just be friends so they span the U.S.-Mexico border). For example, he can “get back to sorting potsherds” (p. 17). Read- describes a failed attempt to repatriate Tohono ers might wonder if these are fair accusations. O’odham inhumations after consultation among McGuire passionately urges readers to do some the three nations was unsuccessful. soul searching as to how their archaeological Perhaps the strongest chapter in this book practices might contribute to oppression within outlines archaeological work by a field school the world and within the discipline. at the Ludlow Massacre site, which was part of As a text firmly grounded in Marxist theory, the Colorado Coalfield War, 1913–1914. The site the book bears Marxism’s merits and potential was the location of a bloody conflict between
Historical Archaeology, 2009, 43(4):143–144. Permission to reprint required. 144 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 43(4)
Colorado National Guardsmen and armed strik- meet unionized miners who were then striking ers, resulting in the deaths of men, women, for many of the same issues (such as an eight- and children. At this site and in this chapter, hour day) that were the catalysts of the Ludlow McGuire collaborated with other archaeologists, massacre almost a hundred years ago. On a calling themselves the Ludlow Collective. They similar note, field school students were only cite their main target audience as unionized asked to work five eight-hour days each week. laborers, rather than the middle classes who This was arranged with the express purpose of are typically drawn to archaeology. Similar teaching students their rights as workers, and to the chapter on Mexico, this chapter only leading them to question longer workdays that briefly discusses the excavations on the site (for will surely be asked of them once they enter more on that work, see a fascinating book by the field professionally. another member of the Ludlow Collective, Dean As part archaeology, part ethnography, part J. Saitta, 2007, The Archaeology of Collective political history, part humanist manifesto, this Action, University Press of Florida, Tallahassee). book will be of interest to diverse audiences, Here, McGuire uses the project as a platform to such as those in historical archaeology, applied discuss a number of concrete ideas for doing anthropology, and indigenous studies. It should archaeology in a way that benefits people other raise awareness for professionals in academia than the lead archaeologists themselves. For and heritage management, and selections from example, archaeologists worked with Colorado the book could be used in the classroom for public schools to develop teaching materials fruitful discussions of archaeological theory and based on the events at Ludlow. They also coor- practice, as well as collaborative archaeology. dinated the archaeological field school to overlap Sa r a h E. Co w i e with the United Mine Workers of America’s De p a r t m e n t o f An t h r o p o l o g y annual memorial service at the massacre site. Un i v e r s i t y o f Ar i z o n a There, field school students had opportunities to Tu c s o n , AZ 85721-0030 REVIEWS 145
Guide to Documentary Sources and Spanish churchmen’s studies of Indian for Andean Studies, 1530–1900 cultures, languages, and “idolatrous” religion. (3 vols.) The one body of 19th-century sources that receives sustained treatment is the writings of Joanne Pillsbury (editor) foreign scientific travelers, from the Germans University of Oklahoma Press, Johann Jakob von Tschudi and Max Uhle, to Norman, 2008. 1,296 pp., index. the American Ephraim George Squier. $195.00 cloth. Within these parameters, the book is remark- ably complete. The entries in volumes 2 and 3 This is the first book of its kind: a compre- are almost uniformly clear, full, and succinct. hensive guide to published documentary sources Especially useful are the entries’ bibliographies for the early modern Andes, covering virtually of manuscripts, first editions, and later editions all genres—chronicles, treatises, administrative and translations up to today. The entries have inspections (visitas), travelers’ accounts, belles fascinating details, such as the dry crust of lettres, theological and pastoral literature, and bread thrown in a Harvard College food fight, Amerindian linguistics. In three sturdy, large-for- by which the 19th-century historian William mat volumes on heavy paper, with elegant maps Prescott lost much of his sight. Some are mar- and attached red-ribbon bookmarks, the Guide vels of encapsulation, as when Rolena Adorno is a luxury production. As authors, the editor synthesizes the fruit of her decades of work recruited some of the best Andean scholars of on the indigenous artist and chronicler Felipe South America, North America, and Europe, Guaman Poma de Ayala. The linguist Rodolfo many of them the foremost authorities on their Cerrón-Palomino contributes a compact biog- subjects. They include (among many others) raphy of the author of the first grammar of Rolena Adorno, Xavier Albó, Noble David Mochica, the now-lost language of the north Cook, Pierre Duviols, Teodoro Hampe, Catherine Peruvian coast; the historian Kenneth Mills does Julien, Sabine MacCormack, Luis Millones, the same for Diego de Ocaña, a curious and Kenneth Mills, Juan Ossio, Franklin Pease, observant cleric who toured the Andes to raise Frank Salomon, Nicolás Sánchez-Albornoz, John funds for a Spanish shrine. Alongside the well- Frederick Schwaller, and Gary Urton. Volume 1 known Andean authors, the Guide includes many has essays on documentary genres, while vol- less familiar ones: an entry by Caesar Farah and umes 2 and 3 are an alphabetical encyclopedia Stuart Schwartz on Ilyas ibn Hanna al-Mausuli of almost 200 authors and texts. (a Syrian Christian priest and traveler, who in The Guide’s coverage is more selective 1668 produced the first Arabic-language account than its title suggests. While the first volume of the Andes), one by Teresa Gisbert and Tom has some useful information about archival Cummins on the Prince of Sansevero (an 18th- documents, the Guide is essentially devoted to century Italian freemason and Inca enthusiast), published sources. Furthermore, in spite of its and another by Gisbert on Melchor Maria broad genre coverage, it pays relatively little Mercado (a 19th-century watercolor painter of attention to the 18th and 19th centuries, to the Peruvian and Bolivian scenes). Chilean, Venezuelan, and Colombian Andes, Volume 1 is somewhat less well executed than or to Hispanic colonial society. The heart the other two. Its thematic essays are sophisti- of the project is a subject that has occupied cated but not always systematic. It lacks an inte- ethnohistorians’ attention for the last half grated account of the government institutions that century: colonial documentation of indigenous produced many of the documents. The various peoples in what had been the Inca heartland. The types of church councils are the subject of three key documents discussed are Spanish chronicles separate essays, yet their institutional context is of the Inca and colonial states, administrative never fully explained. A number of the essays, inspections of tribute-paying Indian communities, however, are excellent and systematic surveys of
Historical Archaeology, 2009, 43(4):145–146. Permission to reprint required. 146 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 43(4) their subjects. Among them are Regina Harrison’s is taken up by three pages of crude woodcuts, on church doctrinal treatises, Sabine Dedenbach- originally published with Cieza’s text, and repro- Salazar’s on indigenous-language dictionaries, duced much larger than necessary. Noble David Cook’s on administrative inspections In spite of relatively minor reservations, this and censuses, Barbara Mundy’s on relaciones book will be vital for a range of readers, par- geográficas, and Raquel Chang-Rodríguez’s on ticularly historical archaeologists. The colonial literary poetry and prose. Andes produced one of the richest documentary The volumes also have abundant full-page records available for any premodern society, but black-and-white illustrations, which are well one that is singularly opaque to a nonspecialist. printed (if somewhat low contrast). Many are The early modern Spanish had an information facsimiles from illustrated manuscripts, such as culture: their state was bureaucratic, their soci- drawings by Guaman Poma, and an extraordi- ety legalistic, their scribes and authors numer- nary cosmological line drawing by the Indian ous. Many documents were published, some author Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui Salca- in their own time, others in later centuries. maygua. Equally lovely are lithographs and These sources (like all historical sources) are engravings from 19th-century scientist’s books, complex, treacherous, but indispensable. Vital which include images of Inca ruins, botanical complements to field archaeology for both the diagrams, and maps. pre-colonial and colonial eras, these colonial In spite of the three volumes’ length (total- sources are available in any research library, but ing well over 1,000 pages), space is sometimes are all but useless without an understanding of wasted. The illustrations are not always well their historical context. Fortunately, historians served by full-page reproduction, such as 16th- and literary scholars have produced a large century book frontispieces that were smaller body of knowledge about their authors, genres, in their original versions. Some of their space modes of production, and agendas. The Guide might have been better devoted to text, since to Documentary Sources provides much of this some entries are too brief to do their subjects information in a single reference guide. justice. The entry on the important chronicler Pedro de Cieza de León by the late Franklin Je r e m y Ra v i Mu m f o r d De p a r t m e n t o f Hi s t o r y Pease—perhaps the world’s most qualified author Un i v e r s i t y o f Mi s i s s i p p i on the subject—is far too short at 1,000 words Ox f o r d , MS 38677 (apart from bibliography). Much of the space REVIEWS 147
Dreams of the Americas: statesmen—like Champlain, Iberville, and La Overview of New France Salle—than about the common individuals who Archaeology traded with native peoples, farmed the land, mined natural resources, and voyaged by canoe Christian Roy and Hélène Côté via the inland rivers. Until recently, researchers (editors) had generally ignored the role of France in the Association des Archéologues European settlement of the Americas or focused du Québec, QC, 2008. 242 pp., solely on the superstars of French exploration illus., index. $25.00 paper. and colonization. Fortunately, in the past several decades historians and archaeologists have begun to explore France’s unique colonial policies, The bilingual volume Dreams of the Ameri- practices, and establishments in North America, cas: Overview of New France Archaeology is as well as the lives of French inhabitants and a superb introduction to the extremely varied traders who toiled in relative anonymity. Dreams studies being conducted on French colonial of the Americas participates in this crucial archaeological sites throughout the hemisphere, enrichment of the historical record through a and the benefits that can result from academic variety of studies that showcase the architecture, cooperation and communication across interna- industrial exploits, foodways, maritime trans- tional borders. Published to commemorate the portation, and diverse material culture of New 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec France’s colonial inhabitants. city, this ambitious volume succeeds in celebrat- Since Dreams of the Americas was published ing that French heritage by calling attention to to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of the impact of French traders, colonists, soldiers, Quebec city, it logically follows that the first merchants, and sailors throughout the former two, as well as the last of the volume’s thirteen colonial domain. The book accomplishes the articles concern archaeology in Quebec. Fran- impressive goal of presenting research conducted çoise Niellon’s excellent resume of the history throughout the French colonies, from the frozen of the city’s earliest years is a fitting introduc- reaches of northern Canada to the humid isles tion to the volume’s exceptional scholarship. of the French West Indies, by some of the most Through detailed archival research and well- recognizable names in French colonial archaeol- selected graphics, Neillon evokes a poignant ogy today. image of the hardships endured by Quebec’s Although the legacy of France’s colonial earliest European settlers. Marcel Moussette American empire is readily apparent in franco- and William Moss, two researchers intimately phone Canada and the islands of Guadeloupe familiar with archaeology in Quebec, continue and Martinique, this French heritage is not nearly the discussion by bringing the reader up to as tangible in other areas of this formerly vast speed on the colonial archaeology conducted realm. Once comprising a significant portion of throughout the city. In addition, Moussette and the North American continent and the Caribbean, Moss place Quebec in context through a com- much of the French colonial domain was gradu- parison to Montreal, and a broader look at the ally conquered by, or traded to colonial rivals. differences in colonial expansion between the Although French is one of Canada’s national French in Canada and the British in America. languages, French place names dot much of the Following this introduction to Quebec city, mid-continent, and spicy étouffées still feature Peter Pope provides an excellent discussion on creole menus, many North Americans are of the importance of the North American cod more familiar with the continent’s British, and fishery to France and the industry’s impact on even Spanish, heritage. Even those well informed a specific region of Newfoundland, through the about French colonial history are typically more framework of a maritime cultural landscape knowledgeable about famous explorers and study, an approach that successfully integrates
Historical Archaeology, 2009, 43(4):147–148. Permission to reprint required. 148 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 43(4) a consideration of both terrestrial and maritime analysis reveals insights into the owners, build- archaeological resources. ers, and tenants of various buildings, insights Kenneth Kelly next transports the reader from that would have remained hidden in an indi- the cold Canadian north to the tropical islands vidual consideration of each site. Paul-Gaston of the French Antilles, and introduces planta- L’Anglais’s chapter on faience investigates the tion archaeology in an oft-ignored corner of the temporal introduction of various plate styles Caribbean. Kelly’s examination of plantations on that may assist in dating archaeological features both Guadeloupe and Martinique presents some and sites, along with other attributes such as intriguing disparities and interesting conclusions decoration. Unfortunately, L’Anglais limits his about the effect of different colonial regimes examination of faience plates to those found and historical trajectories on the institution of in Quebec, whereas a more expansive look at slavery in the Caribbean. Returning to Canada, faience from archaeological excavations through- Marc Lavoie’s summary and interpretation of out the French colonies might have strengthened the archaeological work conducted on Acadian his conclusions. Terrance Martin’s assessment homesteads in Belle-Isle, Novia Scotia, in con- of faunal remains from various sites in the nection with his careful reading of the relevant Illinois Country, and Yves Monette’s study of historical documents, provides a comprehensive lead deposits and lead exploitation in New view of Acadian life in this corner of the France demonstrate the utility of specialized colony, especially in regard to the familial con- analysis for intersite comparison that reveals nections that bound residents together and struc- trends among sites and differences between tured their interactions. Though Lavoie provides them. Finally, Daniel LaRoche’s chapter ends several tables and figures, the chapter would the volume where the reader began—Quebec have benefited from a graphic illustration of the city—and rounds out the volume by presenting complex genealogical associations described, as an analysis of three French colonial maritime the relationships between several generations of vessels found in the city during construction on Acadians are less than clear to a reader unfa- the riverfront. miliar with the area’s former inhabitants. Though a comprehensive work that intro- Venturing into the central regions of France’s duces the reader to French colonial archaeology North American colonies, the following three throughout the former empire, as with any good chapters explore French occupation in Ameri- compilation, Dreams of the Americas merely ca’s heartland at Fort St. Joseph in Michigan whets the reader’s appetite for more informa- (Michael Nassaney), Fort Toulouse in Alabama tion on different regions, especially the Antilles (Craig Sheldon, Ned Jenkins, and Gregory and the colony of Louisiane, and specializations Waselkov), and Pointe Coupée in Louisiana within the discipline, such as isotope analysis (Rob Mann). Recent excavations at these sites, and maritime archaeology. Nevertheless, this as described in the chapters, highlight the poten- book is an ideal text for introductory courses tial each holds for illuminating the history of on French colonial archaeology, and due to the French in the mid-continent. In addition, the an equal distribution of French- and English- widely separated locations of these occupation language articles, appeals to native speakers of sites confront the reader with the reality of the both languages. The volume’s broad coverage by vast expanse once claimed by France. renowned experts in the field of French colonial Following these site- and region-specific stud- archaeology makes it a superlative addition ies, the final five chapters examine particular to any library on general colonial history and types or categories of material culture across archaeology, and essential to any collection of broader segments of the French colonial empire. works on the French colonies. Hélène Côté’s superb article compares vernacu- lar architecture in New France to its counter- Ke n d r a Ke n n e d y part in France to determine the possible social, De p a r t m e n t o f An t h r o p o l o g y economic, and ecological reasons for the choice Un i v e r s i t y o f We s t Fl o r i d a of particular styles in the colonies. Her broader Pe n s a c o l a , FL 32514 REVIEWS 149
The History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Roman, and then Christian lenses. The blurring Heretics, and Pagans of sorcery with demonology, and association Jeffrey B. Russell and with things un-Christian led to the medieval and Renaissance concept of the evil witch. It Brooks Alexander is unfortunate that the authors drop the discus- Thames & Hudson, New York, NY, sion of everyday sorcery/magic, as for much of 2008. 216 pp., 105 illus., index. medieval and modern history one is far more $21.95 paper. likely to encounter evidences of these phenom- ena than of witchcraft as they define it. Witchcraft is perhaps not at the top of the In the chapter on the origins of European list of subjects historical archaeologists need witchcraft (leaving the rest of the world behind to brush up on, but as with all other religious at this point) the authors examine the interaction phenomena, material culture associated with of various belief systems to codify witchcraft as the practice of witchcraft or sorcery may be an activity of evil. There are many strands of encountered and require interpretation. The thought, ranging from the growth of dualism in second edition of this overview of historical Western monotheism (i.e., Satan in opposition themes in witchcraft adds to the original 1980 to God), cultural traditions of the festivals of volume a second author, a revised introduction, Dionysos and Bacchus leading to the witches’ and two new chapters on contemporary witch- sabbat (early anti-Jewish attitudes emerging), craft. Essentially an intellectual history, it does and the long process of replacement of north- not examine material culture in detail, but does ern European paganism with Christianity. Here provide a framework and background that may also, the authors discuss various schools of his- have utility for researchers. torical thought, including ecclesiastical invention, The introduction gives the reader a useful folkloric/pagan survival, and Christian heresy. overview of topics covered (and not covered) Clearly, they see the stereotype of the witch— as well as an important lesson in terminology. attending the orgiastic sabbat, riding a broom, The authors provide etymological background on killing and eating children, desecrating the cross, the many terms thrown around in these circles— making a pact with Satan—as a composite of witch, sorcerer, magician, pagan, wicca—and concepts from these historical strains of thought place them in the perspectives of the disciplines that did not crystallize until the 14th century. that use them. Anthropologists, historians, and One particularly enlightening thread of discus- practitioners prefer different definitions and look sion is the continuing conflation of sorcery with at witchcraft from unique angles, and a review demonology (only evil spirits could be com- of these distinctions is important to understand- manded), and thus its inevitable link with heresy, ing the remainder of the book. a religious rather than civil crime. Attacks on Russell and Alexander begin by discussing heretical sects such as the Cathars and Waldenses sorcery, initially as a worldwide phenomenon, its on the continent set the stage for a series of context in ancient history, then as an element of church inquisitions resulting in the torture, later European witchcraft which absorbs the next confession, and burning of many thousands of several chapters. By sorcery, the authors mean the accused from 1450 to 1700. Curiously, in the attempt to manipulate the hidden connections Britain (and the colonies) witchcraft was not so among natural phenomena, and include various connected to heresy, and thus was treated as a kinds of magic within that sphere. Official reli- civil crime with capital punishment in the form gion or private act, mechanical or spirit-based of hanging. Separate chapters on the witch craze in conception, high (alchemy, astrology) or low on the continent and in Britain examine these (midwifery, spells), the complexity of sorcery trends, both intellectual and legal, in detail. The and paganism was simplified, distilled, and year 1450 is a key date in the spread of witch categorized over time through Hebrew, Greek, prosecutions, when the number of trials dramati-
Historical Archaeology, 2009, 43(4):149–150. Permission to reprint required. 150 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 43(4) cally increased just as legal/religious treatises on historic drawings of witches cavorting with witchcraft such as Malleus Malificarum (1486) the Devil, to presumably more-accurate render- were rolling off the earliest printing presses. The ings of gallows, burning grounds, and torture spread of knowledge coincided with the spread chambers. The witch house in Bamberg, Ger- of fear in significant ways. many in the early 1600s (no longer standing) After working through the conceptual and is displayed in elevation and plan view (p. 87), legal basis for witchcraft prosecutions, Russell both fascinating in its detail and horrific in and Alexander discuss the nature of witchcraft its implications. Contemporary photos display and society during this period. Suggesting that modern paraphernalia of neopagan ritual, along searching for the social mechanisms involved in with a couple of temporary ritual sites in use. accusations limits a broader understanding of the The illustration of a Bellarmine jug containing phenomenon, they elaborate on issues related to human hair, nail clippings, and a pin-stuck gender, the Reformation and its effects, and the cloth heart from excavations at Westminster (p. psychological and cultural climate that fueled 19), begs further discussion, but as with many the witch craze. The decline of witch hunts is of the other objects displayed in this volume, placed squarely in the realm of changing cul- they are illustrative rather than subjects of tural and religious attitudes brought about by the analysis. The authors do better with paintings skeptical philosophy, where maleficium lost its and drawings in terms of incorporating them credibility, and witchcraft and possession were into their discussions. begun to be seen as individual aberrant behavior In summary, this is a good, concise over- rather than a supernatural conspiracy. view of the history of witchcraft, focusing in Late chapters detail the intellectual origins turn on Europe, Britain, and most recently, of the modern witchcraft movement, begin- America. As intellectual history it provides ning with the Romantic revival of pagan ideas excellent background information and a good melded with occult interests, secret societies, bibliography for further research on the topic. and suspect scholarship. The authors characterize For the historical archaeologist it falls short, modern witchcraft as a combination of surviv- largely in using material culture as a source als and revivals, with many neopagan concepts of interesting illustrations rather than as an largely inventions of the 20th century. This integral part of its presentation. For a more thesis is laid out in some detail, ending with directly relevant study, the reader should an up-to-date chapter on contemporary trends, consult Ralph Merrifield’s The Archaeology including feminism, 1960s counterculture, and of Ritual and Magic (1988, New Amsterdam the use of the Internet to create the modern Books, New York, NY). Wiccan community. These last sections are enjoyable, but somewhat breathless in pace, and Je f f Wa n s e r less relevant to historical archaeologists. Hi r a m Co l l e g e Li b r a r y Of particular interest are the many images Hi r a m Co l l e g e presented in the book, ranging from fanciful Hi r a m , OH 44234 131
Reviews
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Edited by Charles R. Ewen 132 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 43(4)
French Colonial Pottery: In chapter 5, “Nearly Half a Century of An International Conference Research in Québec,” Marcel Moussette summa- George Avery (editor) rizes 50 years of research on French pottery in the St. Lawrence Valley. The field took off with Northwestern State University historical archaeology in the 1960s. Two Parks of Louisiana Press, Nachitoches, Canada laboratories, Ottawa and Louisbourg, 2007. 486 pp. $75.00 paper. played an instrumental role in putting out the first publications. Then, the still indispensable Could this be the “better” guide to French Collection Patrimoine on Place Royale was ceramics on colonial sites? The volume was started. Most of these early publications were, born of a conference on French pottery in North appropriately, very descriptive. More recently, America held in September 2002 in Marksville, there has been a shift away from the stylistic Louisiana. It showcased speakers from the U.S., approach, towards archaeometric analysis. This Canada, and France. Out of the 14 chapters is partly due to the problem of the identification gathered by editor George Avery, 13 were pre- of coarse earthenwares and because locally made sented at this meeting. The conference poster vessels look like imported ones. With micro- and program, as well as a list of participants morphological and chemical analyses, Michel and their paper abstracts are included at the end Blackburn and Moussette proved that some of the book. As Avery warns his readers, some “North Devon” coarse earthenwares were in fact chapters are more like transcripts of oral presen- not English at all. Given this great result, more tations rather than formal research papers. archaeometric studies are underway, including a Gregory Waselkov and John Walthall published promising survey of Laurentian potters by Yves their classification system for French faiences Monette. This chapter has 18 excellent pictures shortly before the conference took place, making of ceramics from the sites of the Intendant’s the gathering a natural venue to discuss their Palace in Quebec city, La Prairie near Montreal, work. Because chapters 2, 3, 4, and 14 specifi- and Nouvelle-Ferme on Île-aux-Oies. cally deal with this topic, they will be examined As discussed in chapter 6, “Archaeometric together after the others have been reviewed. Applications in the St. Lawrence Valley,” Yves Chapter 1, “Update on the ‘Tunica Treasure,’” Monette, Marc Richer-LaFlèche, and Marcel by Earl Barbry, Jr., opens the volume with the Moussette also analyzed the coarse earthen- transcript of a conversation that he had with wares from the farming site of the Rocher H. F. “Pete” Gregory and George Avery. Their de la Chapelle on Île-aux-Oies. They applied exchange focuses on the “Tunica Treasure” petrographic analysis and ICP-MS (inductively after it was repatriated to the Tunica-Biloxi coupled plasma mass spectrometry) to 77 tribe of Louisiana. The tribe was committed sherds. They found out that local wares do to handling this important collection with care, have a distinct composition, and in particular, and wanted to use it as a public education tool. higher levels of sodium. They also came up They restored some of the ceramics and decided with new groupings for the ceramics that seem to display both sherds and whole vessels to to indicate that more than one local potter was denounce the effects of grave looting on their involved in their production. Variations in the culture. Interestingly, they came to see the pres- rubidium-strontium ratio (Rb/Sr) may ultimately ervation of the ceramics in their museum as a help identify various workshops, and perhaps symbolic reburial, and one that precludes a real narrow down their locations in the St. Law- re-interment of this fundamental collection. This rence Valley. The authors have included the chapter exhibits 53 beautiful pictures of whole scatter plots and tables mentioned in the text, ceramic vessels from the “Tunica Treasure.” The which facilitate the reading. There is also a pictures are striking but come with very little handy appendix of the compositional data of information about the ceramics themselves. the ceramics they analyzed.
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Chapter 7, “A Provence Perspective,” is by nent. Beside faiences from Marseilles, Moustiers, Henri Amouric and Lucy Vallauri, two long- and Varages, they identify Huveaune tableware, standing specialists in French ceramics from cookware from both Vallauris and Biot, and Provence, in southeastern France. Since their storage vessels from Biot in colonial assem- chapter is written in French, it will be sum- blages. Huveaune ceramics were all slip deco- marized in more detail here. rated, but either painted, decorated with circles In France, the work of Jean Chapelot on the of dots, or marbled. Their background appeared Saintonge potters was a stepping-stone for stud- red or yellow. The better pieces were incised ies of ceramics on colonial sites. More recently, and show flowers, birds, fish, and sometimes the development of historical archaeology in people. Bowls, basins, and chamber pots were the French Caribbean, of urban excavations of the most exported forms. both consumer sites and pottery, and archival Pottery at Biot and Vallauris thrived for research in southern France have all pushed the centuries because of their location next to the field forward. Mediterranean Sea and their clay rich in kao- Amouric and Vallauri first address the issue of linite. For the colonies they made cooking pots, ceramic identification. They note that stonewares cooking pans, bowls, chafing dishes, and some from the Loire Valley remain the least well tableware. Biot also specialized in large oil jars known of the French stonewares. For French and container pots for fresh grapes. In the latter, faiences, decoration style seems more significant grapes could be preserved long enough to reach than origin. Some of the popular local decora- New France, or be stored until Christmastime. tions have been found not only in Moustiers, In the authors’ view, Italian ceramics from Marseille, and Varages, but also Toulouse and the Gulf of Genoa are inextricably linked to Montpellier. Other Moustiers decorations were Provence potteries. To their surprise, Albisola copied in Bordeaux and Samadet. Geochemical wares have been identified on colonial sites, analyses are sometimes helpful. For example, but not plain white faiences from Genoa and they helped distinguish between faiences from blue-on-white faiences from Savona. Amouric Moustiers and others from Varages, Nevers, or and Vallauri claim to recognize some of them Montpellier. Plain faience, blanche or brune, in the faiences from Place Royale. poses an even bigger identification problem, and Their conclusions about the colonial ceramic plain French and Italian tin-glazed earthenware trade are that ceramics came from the regions can appear identical. that dominated Atlantic commerce. Saintonge The authors then acknowledged the recent earthenwares and stonewares were most common advances also made outside of Provence. from 1650 to 1700, when French cities on the There is now no doubt that Albisola ware, that Atlantic Coast were in the lead. In the 18th appeared at the end of the 17th century in Italy, century, some of this trade was redirected to was widely imitated in France, in Toulouse, the southeast of France and its Mediterranean Bordeaux, Nevers, and Lyon for example. Sain- ports. The routes were either direct across seas, tonge dominated the colonial market in the 17th or indirect and transported through southwestern century, but other potteries competed with it in France. Marseilles traded heavily with the Antil- the next century. Amouric and Vallauri suspect les, but also with New France, and between that green-glazed tableware and sugar forms 1731 and 1770 with New Orleans. from Sadirac, for example, were exported to the Amouric and Vallauri conclude by noting the colonies. They mention the presence of coarse absence of ceramics from Saint-Quentin-la-Pot- earthenware cooking pots and painted tableware erie, Dieulefit, or Saint-Jean-de-Fos on colonial from Cox on colonial sites as well. In fact, sites—rather surprising since those were major Cox alone did not produce all of these ceram- pottery centers. For the faiences, they think ics. Painted tableware and cooking pots were that exports from Provence largely dominated also made in Giroussens and Lomagne, near the colonial market, which is debatable. They Toulouse, and Giroussens wares seem to be the wish that Spanish and Italian tin-glazed ceram- most frequent type found on colonial sites. ics could be more easily distinguished, and that Amouric and Vallauri’s comments on their more 19th-century sites were studied. Hypotheti- area of expertise, Marseilles, are the most perti- cally, Turkish pipes and ceramics could have 134 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 43(4) reached the colonies through the same routes acknowledges the difficulty of distinguishing as Chinese porcelain—these Turkish wares are between some French and Spanish ceramics. not rare in Provence. Finally, they wonder about Her pictures of coarse earthenware, faience, and what kind of faience might have been made in majolica illustrate the point. New Orleans by the potter Pierre Paul Caussy. Chapter 10 is titled “Onboard La Belle.” The colonial archives contain traces of his activ- Ceramics from La Belle amounted to 31 whole ity there, between 1729 and 1732, and before or almost complete vessels and 258 sherds. he relocated to Rouen. Nancy Reese’s paper focuses on the whole ves- This text is richly illustrated. Most of its 54 sels: 5 faience, 14 coarse earthenware, and 12 pictures depict ceramics from Provence and stoneware. The faience vessels were all plain Italy, and have already appeared in previous apothecary jars called albarelle or albarello in French publications. French. It is unlikely that they were made in La In chapter 8, “From Texas, La Belle and Rochelle however, as Reese proposes. Even if Fort St. Louis,” authors James Bruseth and La Rochelle were indeed specialized in apoth- Jeff Durst present the excavations of the ship ecary jars, the faience pottery there only started La Belle and Fort St. Louis. French explorer in 1721, while La Belle sank in 1686. As a city René Robert Cavelier de La Salle was trying to which specialized in medicinal faience, Montpel- locate the mouth of the Mississippi River when lier is a better candidate. It hosted one of the he landed on the Texas coast in 1684. Fort St. oldest and most famous schools of medicine in Louis was the location of his short-lived colony, Europe. Faience making developed early, in the and La Belle was the last ship to survive this 1570s, and specifically to cater to pharmacists expedition. Eventually, La Salle also lost La and physicians. Medicinal jars were one of Belle in a storm, with all his cargo aboard. Montpellier’s specialties. The shipwreck was found in 1995. A cofferdam Looking at coarse earthenware, Reese reminds allowed James Bruseth and his team to excavate the reader that Saintonge ceramics come both the wreck as a terrestrial site. They dismem- with and without slip. La Belle had to resup- bered its hull timber by timber and recovered ply in St. Domingue after the supply ship St. over a million artifacts. François was lost, and this seems to explain the Archaeological work at Fort St. Louis started presence of coil-made coarse earthenware in its in the 1950s. It was Kathleen Gilmore who con- assemblage. Another fascinating finding of Reese firmed in the 1970s that this was indeed the site is that some of the coarse earthenware pots were of La Salle’s colony (chapter 9, this review). used as weapons. Filled with oil, they were lit Magnetometer survey and excavations have and thrown onto enemy ships to set their decks yielded maps of both its Spanish and French on fire. The nine fire pots from La Belle are occupations. The density of green lead-glazed probably the largest collection in existence. ceramics helped narrow down the location of Some of the French stonewares were apoth- the French fort. This chapter has interesting ecary jars from Beauvaisis, and the rest were fieldwork pictures, survey maps, and site plans drinking pitchers from Normandy and Germany. of Fort St. Louis. It also has pictures from La Unfortunately, Reese did not comment further Chapelle-des-Pots in France, where the authors on the function of this assemblage, except for took a trip to see Saintonge ceramics. Please the fire pots. For example, the apothecary jars note that the name of this village is misspelled seem to indicate that the crew either faced or as “La Chapelle de Pots” in the book. Spelling were expected to face frequent wounds and does matter, as there is also an historic pottery injuries. Also, the absence of stoneware stor- called La Chapelle-aux-Pots in Beauvaisis. age vessels seems striking, but perhaps this In chapter 9, “Ceramics from Fort St. Louis,” is common on non-merchant ships. La Belle’s Kathleen Gilmore contributed a delightful ceramics deserve a more in-depth study, and it account of how she became acquainted with is eagerly awaited. French ceramics, and how she identified the In chapter 11, “A Survey of Texas Missions,” Keeran site as Fort St. Louis. She recognized Shawn B. Carlson looks at the distribution of early on the importance for French colonial French ceramics at five Texas missions from sites of green-glazed coarse earthenware, and ca. 1720 to 1820. Despite the “wide variety of REVIEWS 135 ceramics” available at these sites, Carlson only second half of the 18th century. The presence studies tin- and lead-glazed earthenware. His of this sherd might indicate that the assemblage analysis is based on two ratios and a chronol- dates closer to the mid- rather than early 18th ogy table. The first ratio of French to Mexican century. This would seem to fit with two other ceramics shows that French ceramics entered sherds pictured in figure 2, a sherd of Rouen the area from New Orleans. This seems to fit polychrome, a ware that appears in post-1740 recent views of New Orleans as the epicenter contexts in the Mississippi Valley and at least of a vast regional market, and as a contraband after 1725 in New France, and a Moustiers hub for the Caribbean. blue-on-white sherd with flower decoration that The chronological analysis that follows next is was popular around the 1730s and 1740s. awkward, and frankly, not very useful. Carlson Aubra L. Lee’s chapter 13, “A French Pottery does not indicate which ceramics and which in Louisiana,” presents the excavation of another dates of production he selected. This is a con- exciting new site, a French pottery at Wilton cern since some of the dates that he uses else- Plantation, lower Louisiana. This is the first kiln where are incorrect. For example, 1690–1765, site excavated in the whole colony of Louisiane. the usual range for Seine polychrome faiences, Among its features, Lee identified two working does not work for La Rochelle polychrome, floors, some dismantled flue and fireboxes, a since again, La Rochelle faiences did not exist portion of the firing chamber, and remains of before 1721. Furthermore, because most of these a shed-like building that covered the kiln. She ceramics have a long period of production, determined that the site corresponded to a 5 m Carlson ends up with a table that spans the high circular updraft kiln, which is a common years 1650 to 1899 for missions that were only type in Western Europe. The documents from occupied between the 1710s and the 1820s. the Wilton Plantation site are great, the pictures Finally, his third ratio compares the amount of kiln or shed-like construction from France of various coarse earthenwares to the amount of less so. Reports about kiln excavation in France French faiences at each site. Carlson uses these are hard to locate, but these remains could be figures to highlight the respective degrees of compared to standing preserved kilns, either influence at the different missions of Mexican shed covered, as at La Chapelle-des-Pots, or wares, local wares, and British imports. Why inside the potter’s workshop, as at Cox. these observations could not have been made The ceramics made at Wilton Plantation using simple proportional percentages instead of were low-fired, slipped, and lead-glazed coarse faience ratios is not clear. earthenwares. The color of the glaze varied a Chapter 12, by John H. House, introduces a lot. Several bowls, a jar, a jug, and a covered new colonial site on the lower Arkansas River. pot—mislabeled as another jar—are pictured in Wallace-Bottom was serendipitously discovered the book. In Lee’s view, it is probable that other in 1998 a few hundred yards south of Menard- forms were made. Even for classic utilitarian Hodges, the official French post in Arkansas. In vessels like these, it would have been great to reality, four decades of archaeology at Menard- include profile drawings of the products of this Hodges have failed to confirm that it is without new pottery. Note that Lee’s bibliography is a doubt, a French colonial site. Wallace-Bottom, missing a few references cited in her text. on the other hand, has a clear French colonial Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 14 deal with the component. The post was occupied between Walthall-Waselkov classification system for 1686 and 1749, and this corresponds to the French faiences. In chapter 2, Walthall recalls dating of the artifacts found at Wallace-Bottom. his discovery of faience, after he identified the House proposes that this new site might be the remains of the French church of the Cahokia original French Arkansas post. tribe in the top levels of Monks Mound. He House studies 66 sherds that came from sur- also describes how French ceramics were used face collection and small-scale excavation. Most in colonial Illinois. The absence of a lot of of them are French, and a few are illustrated coarse earthenware indicates that “the French in the article. Figure 3 exhibits an Albisola did not do a lot of cooking in pottery” and sherd. Albisola ware is usually found on French preferred metallic cookware. Also, faiences are colonial sites in contexts that date from the usually 30 or 40 years older than the sites’ 136 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 43(4) periods of occupation, and show traces of repair. During the colonial period Brittany was in fact This means that they probably were curated and a very minor faience area. Until the end of the used for special occasions rather than as every- 18th century, its main pottery, Quimper, only day ware. Some of the 13 pages of pictures, made copies of popular designs from Nevers, mostly of faiences from French colonial sites, Moustiers, and Rouen. Its famous folk style, show examples of mended vessels with lead- which probably inspired the attribution of the filled drill holes, and of sherds shaped as game simple line design to the region, only showed pieces or pendants. up during the 19th century. Significantly also, As for his faience classification system, this decoration was first attributed to Brittany Walthall initially wanted to help standardize potteries based on a personal communication the description of these ceramics. Comparison and not a publication. There is then no evidence between sites would then become easier. He so far that Brittany came up with the “Brittany” decided to stay clear of French folk names and decoration. This case illustrates well how the from naming types after type-sites. Instead, he names chosen by Walthall can cloud the discus- chose to name them for the “general area or sion about French faiences. style that they were named for in France.” From On another point, Waselkov insists that he the beginning, Walthall warned that these styles and scholars like Walthall are only focusing on were not to be confused with the real place of colonial faiences. The faiences found in France, origin of the faiences, because popular patterns on 18th-century urban sites, for example, are were copied all over. Rather, “styles” described very similar to their colonial counterparts, how- decorative traditions of certain areas. Another ever. The two areas of study should not remain great contribution of his, is how his system forever separated. took into account the variety of rim types. After In chapter 4, Ed Jelks applies Walthall and George A. Long in Canada, Walthall helped Waselkov’s classification system to faiences promulgate the classification of these recurrent from Louisbourg. The crux of his contribution rim patterns. is not its short text—Jelks could not come to The way in which he deals with types is more the conference and H. F. “Pete” Gregory instead problematic. First, the fact that some types are presented his paper—but its 51 pages of pictures defined based on glaze and patterns, and others of faiences and coarse earthenwares. Jelks’s work on glaze and colors can be confusing. Walthall illustrates the difficulties that arise when this also named these types for regions or cities in system is applied to sites outside of the Illi- France, all somewhat related to faience history, nois area. For New France and the Caribbean a but he chose from among many possibilities. greater number of rim types need to be included, So the type names are both arbitrary and real. and the variations of already-classified rim types They are not easy to remember, since they are have to be better defined. Also, the classifica- non-descriptive French geographic names, and tion system works best for tableware sherds, but also not easy to forget, given that the faiences shows its limits when it comes to classifying named for these locations were not necessarily other types of vessels, like hollowwares. made in these places. In chapter 14, George Avery, H. F. “Pete” In chapter 3, Gregory A. Waselkov explains Gregory, Jason Emery, and Jeffrey Girard how he helped transform this classification describe faiences from northwest Louisiana also system by incorporating more of the existing using Waselkov and Walthall’s classification French literature on the subject. French books terms. They survey 10 sites, but the bulk of on historical ceramics are abundant but biased. their 2,996 sherds come from the Los Adaes They are often based on museum collections, (2,204 sherds) and Tauzin-Wells sites (501 sometimes potteries’ archives, and rarely on sherds), that date from the period before and archaeological research. Museum pieces can be after the 1770s, respectively. A table summarizes a far cry from common wares. which styles, types, and rim varieties are pres- Waselkov rightly points out that the Brit- ent at each site, and vessel forms are discussed tany type has probably nothing to do with the in the text. region of Brittany itself. “Brittany” faiences The authors conclude, for example, that faience have a simple line or band around the rim. blanche dominates in northwest Louisiana before REVIEWS 137
1770s, and is then replaced by faience brune. The The historic value of this document, in that it data about rim varieties is the most interesting. shows how French pottery research developed, Some rim varieties, like Rim G, for example, is much appreciated. Also valuable were the can be good temporal markers. Before the 1770s, chapters that presented new sites or new discov- the most popular rims are the various Provence eries, although they did not necessarily fit with types, at least at Los Adaes. They represent 240 Avery’s larger agenda. Overall, the numerous out of 526 decorated faience sherds, or 42%. and lavish illustrations look professional. Unfor- After the 1770s, Rim G and all of its derivatives tunately at $75, this is a very expensive ceramic dominate: at Tauzin-Wells, 29 out of 138 painted album, and as Avery suggested, this volume faience sherds, or 21% of the total, are Rim G might only be affordable to CRM firms and to and variations on G. Similarly, Rim G was popu- the National Park Service. This is regrettable, lar after the mid-18th century in Illinois. especially since nowadays the Internet offers a With this volume, George Avery hoped to convenient way to illustrate and update typolo- advance French pottery classification and publish gies that are accessible to all. a reference for French ceramics. Its 14 essays are very diverse in tone, topic, and quality, My r i a m Ar c a n g e l i however. Specific information about French De p a r t m e n t o f Ar c h a e o l o g y coarse earthenware, stoneware, and faience is Bo s t o n Un i v e r s i t y dispersed throughout the book, which does not 675 Co mm o n w e a l t h Av e n u e make it the most adequate artifact guide. Bo s t o n , MA 02215 138 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 43(4)
Lost Architecture of the Rio Grande States, collaborating with the Instituto Nacional Borderlands de Antropología e Historia in Mexico, carried out W. Eugene George surveys and salvage archaeology of prehistoric and historic sites, along with documenting extant Texas A&M University Press, architecture in ranches and towns between 1949 College Station, 2008. 105 pp., and 1953. The work was truncated when, as a index. $35.00 cloth. result of heavy precipitation, the water rose in early 1953, two years earlier than predicted. The construction of dams whenever, wherever, Prehistoric and historic archaeological sites, and for whatever noble purposes, always has del- along with the abandoned towns and ranches eterious effects on the people to be relocated and on both sides of the border were flooded (pp. on their built landscape destined for inundation. xv–xxiii). So as not to become hazards to navi- This work is a study of architecturally signifi- gation, many of the standing structures on the cant buildings in the United States and Mexico American side of the river were dynamited or border zone inundated by the Falcón Reservoir bulldozed (Texas Beyond History
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Two sites in Texas are also illustrated. He makes This is an important discussion. The description succinct observations on the looting and site of techniques and materials would serve any destruction occurring with lowered water levels. archaeologist well for investigating structures George presents the basic architectural descrip- throughout northern Hispanic America. Finally, tive data (black-and-white photographs, plan the author presents a brief reconstruction of life views, and elevations) with some historical data along the Rio Grande, incorporating the structures on founding dates and occupants in chapter 5. in and around which that life took place. One of In the introduction and chapters 1–4, George the more interesting notes here is his presentation includes the same types of illustrative materials of the architectural legacy of a late-19th-century but with the addition of line drawings of various priest, Pierre Yves Keralum. architectural details and perspectives. He proposes This work is an important contribution to the and briefly discusses the need to understand anthropology of Hispanic America. Brief, but vernacular architecture in terms of its historical well illustrated, the work presents historical archi- roots, its environmental contexts, the building tectural information from a two-century period technology used, and the social and cultural func- during which Mexico became independent and tions of the structures. lost substantial lands in the north. It would be The settlements studied are descendants of interesting to determine if the degree of continu- communities and ranches established in the area ity and change differed among those communities along the Rio Grande after 1750, as part of a separated between two national systems. Apart strategy to secure the northern borderlands and from a few comments on ceramics, George does communication lines of the Viceroyalty of New not mention any excavations of historic sites. Yet Spain. George suggests that the structures and at least one was carried out at the Leal Ranch towns had roots in several centuries of commu- and is reported at the web address he cites, nity development in New Spain. He goes into Texas Beyond History
Archaeological Ethics and Capitalism: present-day communities. The sections of the From Ethics to Politics book tackle differing aspects of the larger issue Yannis Hamilakis and Philip Duke and provide unique perspectives drawn from individual experiences. (editors) The chapters in part 2 take on the debate of Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, CA, objectivity in archaeology and the interpretation 2007. 325 pp., index. $79.00 cloth. of the past. The authors dismiss all notions of objectivity and argue for a shift in focus that Archaeological Ethics and Capitalism: From urges all archaeologists to recognize that knowl- Ethics to Politics is an edited volume in which edge is produced in the present, and therefore the authors scrutinize the centralized position archaeological work should be accountable to of archaeology in the contemporary world, and contemporary groups and include them in the archaeology’s political and social impact on creation of research designs. Alongside com- diverse publics. The work is a culmination of munity involvement in knowledge production various position papers from the symposium, An and restructuring archaeological ethics resides Ethical Archaeology in a Capitalist World, held a prevalent theme in each chapter—ownership at the fifth meeting of the World Archaeology of the past. Alexander Bauer, Shane Lindsay, Congress. The chapters cover various aspects and Stephen Urice raise the issue that existing of long-established ethics in archaeology, and ethical standards are inefficient in terms of how critically evaluate archaeologists’ self-imposed descendant communities view their own heritage responsibilities and relevance in the modern and antiquities. The authors suggest that without capitalist world. What is called into serious intimate knowledge of the descendant commu- question is archaeologists’ position within soci- nity and the values of its heritage and ancestors, ety, and the book is a call for all archaeologists archaeologists claiming objectivity, control of to understand that they are part of the social materials and knowledge, and stewardship may and political capitalist structures that serve to not be all that different from looters. George organize, motivate, and constrain approaches Nicholas and Julie Hollowell argue for a stron- to the study of the past and its application in ger applied approach to archaeology, involving the present. In each particular case, the authors a shift in focus that entails using archaeology to argue that this critical thinking will lead to a find solutions to the social, political, economic, more socially and politically informed, and thus and environmental problems of present-day com- ethical, archaeology. munities. Charles Riggs and Nick Shepard bring The book is set up in four parts, headed to light pitfalls and miscues when archaeologists “Introduction,” “Ethics in Questions, Archae- try to remain objective or serve the discipline, ology in Capitalism,” “Archaeology as Capi- while at the same time attempting to work with talism,” and “Ethical Futures, Emancipatory a diverse community. Shepard’s cautionary tale Archaeologies.” Fodder for discussion and a of Cape Town is revealing, and illustrates the call for action begin with the first pages of the contestation of ownership of, and empowerment book. Randall McGuire sets the stage with his through archaeological remains in the face of introduction questioning the craft of archaeology modern development. and toward whom it is or should be directed. Part 3 shines a light on the practice of archae- It is an important query that requires in-depth ology influenced and shaped by modern capital- thought and a repositioning of the archaeolo- ism. It is not a study of capitalism, but rather gist in the study of the past produced in the it is a critique, and challenges archaeologists to present. This critical stance is carried through acknowledge their culpability within contempo- each chapter, culminating in Dean Saitta’s rary capitalist practices. The authors structure final commentary on the social, economic, and archaeological practice based on the idea (or political impacts of archaeological research on ideology) of archaeological knowledge being
Historical Archaeology, 2009, 43(4):140–142. Permission to reprint required. REVIEWS 141 produced and the disseminated knowledge being relevant archaeological praxis. The chapters in consumed. Paul Everill looks at the system of this section, such as those by Ermengol Gas- labor (highly trained, poorly paid archaeolo- siot Balbé, Joaquim Puigdoménech, Elena Sintes gists) and the extraction of the raw materials Olives, and Dawine Wolfe Steadman, and Rein- (archaeological data) for knowledge creation. hard Bernbeck and Susan Pollock, confront the Everill argues that contract archaeology is role of archaeology and the ideology of memor- increasingly market driven, which creates com- alization and identity politics. Memorials lead to petition, which in turn creates tensions between a collective amnesia, as monuments are offered budgets and deadlines, and leads ultimately to up as closure rather than discussion of events the decline in the quality of life for thousands past and present. The authors from this sec- of the discipline’s highly educated proletariat. tion astutely identify that these memorials avoid In a different view of archaeology and capital- confrontation, as they create an environment of ism, three chapters written by Pedro Funari and what is called a “reconciliatory consensus” that Erika Robrahan-González, Neil Silberman, and deadens the monuments’ impact on the politics Alison Kehoe look at market forces and their of the present. Balbé and his colleagues argue impact within the business of heritage manage- that archaeology should be firmly positioned in ment, and how archaeological sites are used political praxis that entails fusion between the to pander to heritage tourism—the profits only archaeologist and the activist. Maggie Ronayne benefit non-indigenous developers. Silberman follows a similar call to activism working with further explains how heritage sites, originally present-day Kurdish communities. Ronayne’s meant to be used as tools for public education, study is very interesting because she intention- have succumbed to capitalist forces through the ally moves away from any instinctual feeling idea of earning revenue as sanitized leisure-time to excavate or attempt to “recover the past” in destinations. Helaine Silverman also looks into light of major government construction displacing heritage tourism and competition for knowl- whole villages—and destroying the archaeologi- edge (and profit) between an indigenous, local cal record. Instead, Ronayne identifies the local museum and a privately operated, sanitized, population’s concern with archaeology and its upscale tourist-driven museum. Tamima Mourd’s correlation with government activities. Her work chapter is a call to reevaluate the position of sheds a cold light of reality on how archaeology archaeologists in the political context of the area can be perceived outside the discipline. in which they work, as well as archaeologists’ The overall goal of the book is to challenge ethical responsibility in aiding and participating critically the foundations of archaeology in order in imperialists’ projects. In Mourd’s case she is to promote discussion and create a new path speaking directly about archaeologists participat- for archaeological practice. The scholars in this ing in various military-funded or -headed proj- book certainly meet, and at times surpass the ects, and revealing the impact of European and book’s expectations. If there is a downside it is U.S. colonialism and oppression in the Near and the number of complex topics and examples in Middle East. Her research is a plea to question a single book. It is evident that each section in humanitarian values and archaeological ethics as its own right represents a separate book. The they relate to conducting archaeology in areas sheer number of diverse locations and specific of conflict or war zones. The idea of protection case studies makes it somewhat easy for the and cultural rights come into question, and this, reader to lose the common theme or thread of according to the author, conflicts with any ven- the entire treatise. As a result, the flow between ture associated with military occupation. sections, and at times chapters, loses a bit of The work in part 4 provides directions for continuity. The book may have benefited from archaeology’s ethical future. It revolves around the inclusion of a section with discussion among the realization that archaeologists’ responsibili- the authors in the form of reaction papers. This ties rest with both descendant communities and is probably next to impossible in the book’s non-descendant populations in areas where the current state, because it would simply add to practice of archaeology will have an impact. With the already copious amounts of information, differing approaches, the chapters in this section making for an extremely long book. This is a are a call to action through political and socially very minor point, and should not detract from 142 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 43(4) an otherwise well-written and thought-provoking necessary, and certainly relevant to archaeologists book. Although this is a critique, it is also a and archaeology students of all levels. testament to the level of scholarship, since the reader wants to know more about what each St e p h e n A. Br i g h t o n De p a r t m e n t o f Anthropology author is thinking. As stated above, such things Ce n t e r f o r He r i t a g e Re s o u r c e St ud i e s are minor critiques of what is a fantastic book. It Un i v e r s i t y o f Ma r y l a n d does successfully educate and inspire. It is timely, Co l l e g e Pa r k , MD 20742 REVIEWS 143
Archaeology as Political Action shortcomings. On the one hand, McGuire Randall H. McGuire presents inspiring discussions of class and University of California Press, material inequality, and these discussions are a significant contribution to a humanistic Berkeley, 2008. 312 pp., 9 b&w archaeology of capitalism. On the other hand, photos, 3 maps, index. $29.95 his critique that political ideologies mask and paper. obscure the political nature of the past (p. 235), might not give people enough credit for McGuire urges archaeologists to take action recognizing that they are oppressed. It is a and make the world a better place, whether that complex debate that will not be resolved here. is by uncovering lost truths through archaeol- Nonetheless, McGuire’s point that archaeol- ogy, collaborating with subaltern communities, ogy is inherently political is well taken. It is or making conditions more fair within the field grounded in a vivid mosaic of examples from itself. He uses dialectical Marxist theory to around the world, demonstrating how archaeol- describe how he strives to accomplish this in ogy has made a difference, for better or worse. his own work. He argues that archaeologists He also provides two lengthier case studies of should engage in praxis, which he describes as his own research in the U.S. and Mexico. These “seeking to know the world, critique the world, examples and case studies are the strength of and most important to take action in the world” the book and give readers guidance in prac- (p. 220). This Marx-inspired view of praxis is ticing the transformational archaeology that more specific than the praxis found in post- McGuire advocates. modern practice theory. McGuire focuses on One chapter details his collaborative work in transformational and emancipatory actions that Mexico, as well as the history of archaeology benefit humankind. He emphasizes collective in Mexico and its connections with perceived action, rather than individual agency, and uses U.S. imperialism and Mexican nationalism. He class as a launching point for his work. He contextualizes modern archaeology in Mexico acknowledges that the use of Marxism is not within an age of fast capitalism and neoliberal- the only means of praxis, for example, citing ism that increasingly results in commodified and similarly transformational work in feminist, privatized archaeology, not unlike trends in the indigenous, and other critical archaeologies. U.S. Stories from this chapter indicate some The cover art for this book looks like a red of the challenges of international collaboration, flag. Be aware, reading the first half of the book ranging from differences in participants’ research feels like being shaken by the shoulders and goals, resources, languages, and even expecta- berated for engaging in bourgeois self-indulgence tions regarding dining in the field. In describing and political apathy. For example, he suggests his collaborative work, he outlines the complex that unlike the working classes, “the bourgeoisie relationships between Mexican archaeologists, have no interests in transformation [of the world]” U.S. archaeologists, Norteños (Spanish descen- (p. 96). According to McGuire, many American dants in northern Mexico), and members of the archaeologists in particular dislike politics. They Tohono O’odham nation (whose traditional lands wish that everyone would just be friends so they span the U.S.-Mexico border). For example, he can “get back to sorting potsherds” (p. 17). Read- describes a failed attempt to repatriate Tohono ers might wonder if these are fair accusations. O’odham inhumations after consultation among McGuire passionately urges readers to do some the three nations was unsuccessful. soul searching as to how their archaeological Perhaps the strongest chapter in this book practices might contribute to oppression within outlines archaeological work by a field school the world and within the discipline. at the Ludlow Massacre site, which was part of As a text firmly grounded in Marxist theory, the Colorado Coalfield War, 1913–1914. The site the book bears Marxism’s merits and potential was the location of a bloody conflict between
Historical Archaeology, 2009, 43(4):143–144. Permission to reprint required. 144 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 43(4)
Colorado National Guardsmen and armed strik- meet unionized miners who were then striking ers, resulting in the deaths of men, women, for many of the same issues (such as an eight- and children. At this site and in this chapter, hour day) that were the catalysts of the Ludlow McGuire collaborated with other archaeologists, massacre almost a hundred years ago. On a calling themselves the Ludlow Collective. They similar note, field school students were only cite their main target audience as unionized asked to work five eight-hour days each week. laborers, rather than the middle classes who This was arranged with the express purpose of are typically drawn to archaeology. Similar teaching students their rights as workers, and to the chapter on Mexico, this chapter only leading them to question longer workdays that briefly discusses the excavations on the site (for will surely be asked of them once they enter more on that work, see a fascinating book by the field professionally. another member of the Ludlow Collective, Dean As part archaeology, part ethnography, part J. Saitta, 2007, The Archaeology of Collective political history, part humanist manifesto, this Action, University Press of Florida, Tallahassee). book will be of interest to diverse audiences, Here, McGuire uses the project as a platform to such as those in historical archaeology, applied discuss a number of concrete ideas for doing anthropology, and indigenous studies. It should archaeology in a way that benefits people other raise awareness for professionals in academia than the lead archaeologists themselves. For and heritage management, and selections from example, archaeologists worked with Colorado the book could be used in the classroom for public schools to develop teaching materials fruitful discussions of archaeological theory and based on the events at Ludlow. They also coor- practice, as well as collaborative archaeology. dinated the archaeological field school to overlap Sa r a h E. Co w i e with the United Mine Workers of America’s De p a r t m e n t o f Anthropology annual memorial service at the massacre site. Un i v e r s i t y o f Ar i z o n a There, field school students had opportunities to Tu c s o n , AZ 85721-0030 REVIEWS 145
Guide to Documentary Sources and Spanish churchmen’s studies of Indian for Andean Studies, 1530–1900 cultures, languages, and “idolatrous” religion. (3 vols.) The one body of 19th-century sources that receives sustained treatment is the writings of Joanne Pillsbury (editor) foreign scientific travelers, from the Germans University of Oklahoma Press, Johann Jakob von Tschudi and Max Uhle, to Norman, 2008. 1,296 pp., index. the American Ephraim George Squier. $195.00 cloth. Within these parameters, the book is remark- ably complete. The entries in volumes 2 and 3 This is the first book of its kind: a compre- are almost uniformly clear, full, and succinct. hensive guide to published documentary sources Especially useful are the entries’ bibliographies for the early modern Andes, covering virtually of manuscripts, first editions, and later editions all genres—chronicles, treatises, administrative and translations up to today. The entries have inspections (visitas), travelers’ accounts, belles fascinating details, such as the dry crust of lettres, theological and pastoral literature, and bread thrown in a Harvard College food fight, Amerindian linguistics. In three sturdy, large-for- by which the 19th-century historian William mat volumes on heavy paper, with elegant maps Prescott lost much of his sight. Some are mar- and attached red-ribbon bookmarks, the Guide vels of encapsulation, as when Rolena Adorno is a luxury production. As authors, the editor synthesizes the fruit of her decades of work recruited some of the best Andean scholars of on the indigenous artist and chronicler Felipe South America, North America, and Europe, Guaman Poma de Ayala. The linguist Rodolfo many of them the foremost authorities on their Cerrón-Palomino contributes a compact biog- subjects. They include (among many others) raphy of the author of the first grammar of Rolena Adorno, Xavier Albó, Noble David Mochica, the now-lost language of the north Cook, Pierre Duviols, Teodoro Hampe, Catherine Peruvian coast; the historian Kenneth Mills does Julien, Sabine MacCormack, Luis Millones, the same for Diego de Ocaña, a curious and Kenneth Mills, Juan Ossio, Franklin Pease, observant cleric who toured the Andes to raise Frank Salomon, Nicolás Sánchez-Albornoz, John funds for a Spanish shrine. Alongside the well- Frederick Schwaller, and Gary Urton. Volume 1 known Andean authors, the Guide includes many has essays on documentary genres, while vol- less familiar ones: an entry by Caesar Farah and umes 2 and 3 are an alphabetical encyclopedia Stuart Schwartz on Ilyas ibn Hanna al-Mausuli of almost 200 authors and texts. (a Syrian Christian priest and traveler, who in The Guide’s coverage is more selective 1668 produced the first Arabic-language account than its title suggests. While the first volume of the Andes), one by Teresa Gisbert and Tom has some useful information about archival Cummins on the Prince of Sansevero (an 18th- documents, the Guide is essentially devoted to century Italian freemason and Inca enthusiast), published sources. Furthermore, in spite of its and another by Gisbert on Melchor Maria broad genre coverage, it pays relatively little Mercado (a 19th-century watercolor painter of attention to the 18th and 19th centuries, to the Peruvian and Bolivian scenes). Chilean, Venezuelan, and Colombian Andes, Volume 1 is somewhat less well executed than or to Hispanic colonial society. The heart the other two. Its thematic essays are sophisti- of the project is a subject that has occupied cated but not always systematic. It lacks an inte- ethnohistorians’ attention for the last half grated account of the government institutions that century: colonial documentation of indigenous produced many of the documents. The various peoples in what had been the Inca heartland. The types of church councils are the subject of three key documents discussed are Spanish chronicles separate essays, yet their institutional context is of the Inca and colonial states, administrative never fully explained. A number of the essays, inspections of tribute-paying Indian communities, however, are excellent and systematic surveys of
Historical Archaeology, 2009, 43(4):145–146. Permission to reprint required. 146 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 43(4) their subjects. Among them are Regina Harrison’s is taken up by three pages of crude woodcuts, on church doctrinal treatises, Sabine Dedenbach- originally published with Cieza’s text, and repro- Salazar’s on indigenous-language dictionaries, duced much larger than necessary. Noble David Cook’s on administrative inspections In spite of relatively minor reservations, this and censuses, Barbara Mundy’s on relaciones book will be vital for a range of readers, par- geográficas, and Raquel Chang-Rodríguez’s on ticularly historical archaeologists. The colonial literary poetry and prose. Andes produced one of the richest documentary The volumes also have abundant full-page records available for any premodern society, but black-and-white illustrations, which are well one that is singularly opaque to a nonspecialist. printed (if somewhat low contrast). Many are The early modern Spanish had an information facsimiles from illustrated manuscripts, such as culture: their state was bureaucratic, their soci- drawings by Guaman Poma, and an extraordi- ety legalistic, their scribes and authors numer- nary cosmological line drawing by the Indian ous. Many documents were published, some author Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui Salca- in their own time, others in later centuries. maygua. Equally lovely are lithographs and These sources (like all historical sources) are engravings from 19th-century scientist’s books, complex, treacherous, but indispensable. Vital which include images of Inca ruins, botanical complements to field archaeology for both the diagrams, and maps. pre-colonial and colonial eras, these colonial In spite of the three volumes’ length (total- sources are available in any research library, but ing well over 1,000 pages), space is sometimes are all but useless without an understanding of wasted. The illustrations are not always well their historical context. Fortunately, historians served by full-page reproduction, such as 16th- and literary scholars have produced a large century book frontispieces that were smaller body of knowledge about their authors, genres, in their original versions. Some of their space modes of production, and agendas. The Guide might have been better devoted to text, since to Documentary Sources provides much of this some entries are too brief to do their subjects information in a single reference guide. justice. The entry on the important chronicler Pedro de Cieza de León by the late Franklin Je r e m y Ra v i Mum f o r d De p a r t m e n t o f Hi s t o r y Pease—perhaps the world’s most qualified author Un i v e r s i t y o f Mi s i s s i p p i on the subject—is far too short at 1,000 words Ox f o r d , MS 38677 (apart from bibliography). Much of the space REVIEWS 147
Dreams of the Americas: statesmen—like Champlain, Iberville, and La Overview of New France Salle—than about the common individuals who Archaeology traded with native peoples, farmed the land, mined natural resources, and voyaged by canoe Christian Roy and Hélène Côté via the inland rivers. Until recently, researchers (editors) had generally ignored the role of France in the Association des Archéologues European settlement of the Americas or focused du Québec, QC, 2008. 242 pp., solely on the superstars of French exploration illus., index. $25.00 paper. and colonization. Fortunately, in the past several decades historians and archaeologists have begun to explore France’s unique colonial policies, The bilingual volume Dreams of the Ameri- practices, and establishments in North America, cas: Overview of New France Archaeology is as well as the lives of French inhabitants and a superb introduction to the extremely varied traders who toiled in relative anonymity. Dreams studies being conducted on French colonial of the Americas participates in this crucial archaeological sites throughout the hemisphere, enrichment of the historical record through a and the benefits that can result from academic variety of studies that showcase the architecture, cooperation and communication across interna- industrial exploits, foodways, maritime trans- tional borders. Published to commemorate the portation, and diverse material culture of New 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec France’s colonial inhabitants. city, this ambitious volume succeeds in celebrat- Since Dreams of the Americas was published ing that French heritage by calling attention to to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of the impact of French traders, colonists, soldiers, Quebec city, it logically follows that the first merchants, and sailors throughout the former two, as well as the last of the volume’s thirteen colonial domain. The book accomplishes the articles concern archaeology in Quebec. Fran- impressive goal of presenting research conducted çoise Niellon’s excellent resume of the history throughout the French colonies, from the frozen of the city’s earliest years is a fitting introduc- reaches of northern Canada to the humid isles tion to the volume’s exceptional scholarship. of the French West Indies, by some of the most Through detailed archival research and well- recognizable names in French colonial archaeol- selected graphics, Neillon evokes a poignant ogy today. image of the hardships endured by Quebec’s Although the legacy of France’s colonial earliest European settlers. Marcel Moussette American empire is readily apparent in franco- and William Moss, two researchers intimately phone Canada and the islands of Guadeloupe familiar with archaeology in Quebec, continue and Martinique, this French heritage is not nearly the discussion by bringing the reader up to as tangible in other areas of this formerly vast speed on the colonial archaeology conducted realm. Once comprising a significant portion of throughout the city. In addition, Moussette and the North American continent and the Caribbean, Moss place Quebec in context through a com- much of the French colonial domain was gradu- parison to Montreal, and a broader look at the ally conquered by, or traded to colonial rivals. differences in colonial expansion between the Although French is one of Canada’s national French in Canada and the British in America. languages, French place names dot much of the Following this introduction to Quebec city, mid-continent, and spicy étouffées still feature Peter Pope provides an excellent discussion on creole menus, many North Americans are of the importance of the North American cod more familiar with the continent’s British, and fishery to France and the industry’s impact on even Spanish, heritage. Even those well informed a specific region of Newfoundland, through the about French colonial history are typically more framework of a maritime cultural landscape knowledgeable about famous explorers and study, an approach that successfully integrates
Historical Archaeology, 2009, 43(4):147–148. Permission to reprint required. 148 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 43(4) a consideration of both terrestrial and maritime analysis reveals insights into the owners, build- archaeological resources. ers, and tenants of various buildings, insights Kenneth Kelly next transports the reader from that would have remained hidden in an indi- the cold Canadian north to the tropical islands vidual consideration of each site. Paul-Gaston of the French Antilles, and introduces planta- L’Anglais’s chapter on faience investigates the tion archaeology in an oft-ignored corner of the temporal introduction of various plate styles Caribbean. Kelly’s examination of plantations on that may assist in dating archaeological features both Guadeloupe and Martinique presents some and sites, along with other attributes such as intriguing disparities and interesting conclusions decoration. Unfortunately, L’Anglais limits his about the effect of different colonial regimes examination of faience plates to those found and historical trajectories on the institution of in Quebec, whereas a more expansive look at slavery in the Caribbean. Returning to Canada, faience from archaeological excavations through- Marc Lavoie’s summary and interpretation of out the French colonies might have strengthened the archaeological work conducted on Acadian his conclusions. Terrance Martin’s assessment homesteads in Belle-Isle, Novia Scotia, in con- of faunal remains from various sites in the nection with his careful reading of the relevant Illinois Country, and Yves Monette’s study of historical documents, provides a comprehensive lead deposits and lead exploitation in New view of Acadian life in this corner of the France demonstrate the utility of specialized colony, especially in regard to the familial con- analysis for intersite comparison that reveals nections that bound residents together and struc- trends among sites and differences between tured their interactions. Though Lavoie provides them. Finally, Daniel LaRoche’s chapter ends several tables and figures, the chapter would the volume where the reader began—Quebec have benefited from a graphic illustration of the city—and rounds out the volume by presenting complex genealogical associations described, as an analysis of three French colonial maritime the relationships between several generations of vessels found in the city during construction on Acadians are less than clear to a reader unfa- the riverfront. miliar with the area’s former inhabitants. Though a comprehensive work that intro- Venturing into the central regions of France’s duces the reader to French colonial archaeology North American colonies, the following three throughout the former empire, as with any good chapters explore French occupation in Ameri- compilation, Dreams of the Americas merely ca’s heartland at Fort St. Joseph in Michigan whets the reader’s appetite for more informa- (Michael Nassaney), Fort Toulouse in Alabama tion on different regions, especially the Antilles (Craig Sheldon, Ned Jenkins, and Gregory and the colony of Louisiane, and specializations Waselkov), and Pointe Coupée in Louisiana within the discipline, such as isotope analysis (Rob Mann). Recent excavations at these sites, and maritime archaeology. Nevertheless, this as described in the chapters, highlight the poten- book is an ideal text for introductory courses tial each holds for illuminating the history of on French colonial archaeology, and due to the French in the mid-continent. In addition, the an equal distribution of French- and English- widely separated locations of these occupation language articles, appeals to native speakers of sites confront the reader with the reality of the both languages. The volume’s broad coverage by vast expanse once claimed by France. renowned experts in the field of French colonial Following these site- and region-specific stud- archaeology makes it a superlative addition ies, the final five chapters examine particular to any library on general colonial history and types or categories of material culture across archaeology, and essential to any collection of broader segments of the French colonial empire. works on the French colonies. Hélène Côté’s superb article compares vernacu- lar architecture in New France to its counter- Ke n d r a Ke n n e d y part in France to determine the possible social, De p a r t m e n t o f Anthropology economic, and ecological reasons for the choice Un i v e r s i t y o f We s t Fl o r i d a of particular styles in the colonies. Her broader Pe n s a c o l a , FL 32514 REVIEWS 149
The History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Roman, and then Christian lenses. The blurring Heretics, and Pagans of sorcery with demonology, and association Jeffrey B. Russell and with things un-Christian led to the medieval and Renaissance concept of the evil witch. It Brooks Alexander is unfortunate that the authors drop the discus- Thames & Hudson, New York, NY, sion of everyday sorcery/magic, as for much of 2008. 216 pp., 105 illus., index. medieval and modern history one is far more $21.95 paper. likely to encounter evidences of these phenom- ena than of witchcraft as they define it. Witchcraft is perhaps not at the top of the In the chapter on the origins of European list of subjects historical archaeologists need witchcraft (leaving the rest of the world behind to brush up on, but as with all other religious at this point) the authors examine the interaction phenomena, material culture associated with of various belief systems to codify witchcraft as the practice of witchcraft or sorcery may be an activity of evil. There are many strands of encountered and require interpretation. The thought, ranging from the growth of dualism in second edition of this overview of historical Western monotheism (i.e., Satan in opposition themes in witchcraft adds to the original 1980 to God), cultural traditions of the festivals of volume a second author, a revised introduction, Dionysos and Bacchus leading to the witches’ and two new chapters on contemporary witch- sabbat (early anti-Jewish attitudes emerging), craft. Essentially an intellectual history, it does and the long process of replacement of north- not examine material culture in detail, but does ern European paganism with Christianity. Here provide a framework and background that may also, the authors discuss various schools of his- have utility for researchers. torical thought, including ecclesiastical invention, The introduction gives the reader a useful folkloric/pagan survival, and Christian heresy. overview of topics covered (and not covered) Clearly, they see the stereotype of the witch— as well as an important lesson in terminology. attending the orgiastic sabbat, riding a broom, The authors provide etymological background on killing and eating children, desecrating the cross, the many terms thrown around in these circles— making a pact with Satan—as a composite of witch, sorcerer, magician, pagan, wicca—and concepts from these historical strains of thought place them in the perspectives of the disciplines that did not crystallize until the 14th century. that use them. Anthropologists, historians, and One particularly enlightening thread of discus- practitioners prefer different definitions and look sion is the continuing conflation of sorcery with at witchcraft from unique angles, and a review demonology (only evil spirits could be com- of these distinctions is important to understand- manded), and thus its inevitable link with heresy, ing the remainder of the book. a religious rather than civil crime. Attacks on Russell and Alexander begin by discussing heretical sects such as the Cathars and Waldenses sorcery, initially as a worldwide phenomenon, its on the continent set the stage for a series of context in ancient history, then as an element of church inquisitions resulting in the torture, later European witchcraft which absorbs the next confession, and burning of many thousands of several chapters. By sorcery, the authors mean the accused from 1450 to 1700. Curiously, in the attempt to manipulate the hidden connections Britain (and the colonies) witchcraft was not so among natural phenomena, and include various connected to heresy, and thus was treated as a kinds of magic within that sphere. Official reli- civil crime with capital punishment in the form gion or private act, mechanical or spirit-based of hanging. Separate chapters on the witch craze in conception, high (alchemy, astrology) or low on the continent and in Britain examine these (midwifery, spells), the complexity of sorcery trends, both intellectual and legal, in detail. The and paganism was simplified, distilled, and year 1450 is a key date in the spread of witch categorized over time through Hebrew, Greek, prosecutions, when the number of trials dramati-
Historical Archaeology, 2009, 43(4):149–150. Permission to reprint required. 150 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 43(4) cally increased just as legal/religious treatises on historic drawings of witches cavorting with witchcraft such as Malleus Malificarum (1486) the Devil, to presumably more-accurate render- were rolling off the earliest printing presses. The ings of gallows, burning grounds, and torture spread of knowledge coincided with the spread chambers. The witch house in Bamberg, Ger- of fear in significant ways. many in the early 1600s (no longer standing) After working through the conceptual and is displayed in elevation and plan view (p. 87), legal basis for witchcraft prosecutions, Russell both fascinating in its detail and horrific in and Alexander discuss the nature of witchcraft its implications. Contemporary photos display and society during this period. Suggesting that modern paraphernalia of neopagan ritual, along searching for the social mechanisms involved in with a couple of temporary ritual sites in use. accusations limits a broader understanding of the The illustration of a Bellarmine jug containing phenomenon, they elaborate on issues related to human hair, nail clippings, and a pin-stuck gender, the Reformation and its effects, and the cloth heart from excavations at Westminster (p. psychological and cultural climate that fueled 19), begs further discussion, but as with many the witch craze. The decline of witch hunts is of the other objects displayed in this volume, placed squarely in the realm of changing cul- they are illustrative rather than subjects of tural and religious attitudes brought about by the analysis. The authors do better with paintings skeptical philosophy, where maleficium lost its and drawings in terms of incorporating them credibility, and witchcraft and possession were into their discussions. begun to be seen as individual aberrant behavior In summary, this is a good, concise over- rather than a supernatural conspiracy. view of the history of witchcraft, focusing in Late chapters detail the intellectual origins turn on Europe, Britain, and most recently, of the modern witchcraft movement, begin- America. As intellectual history it provides ning with the Romantic revival of pagan ideas excellent background information and a good melded with occult interests, secret societies, bibliography for further research on the topic. and suspect scholarship. The authors characterize For the historical archaeologist it falls short, modern witchcraft as a combination of surviv- largely in using material culture as a source als and revivals, with many neopagan concepts of interesting illustrations rather than as an largely inventions of the 20th century. This integral part of its presentation. For a more thesis is laid out in some detail, ending with directly relevant study, the reader should an up-to-date chapter on contemporary trends, consult Ralph Merrifield’s The Archaeology including feminism, 1960s counterculture, and of Ritual and Magic (1988, New Amsterdam the use of the Internet to create the modern Books, New York, NY). Wiccan community. These last sections are enjoyable, but somewhat breathless in pace, and Je f f Wa n s e r less relevant to historical archaeologists. Hi r a m Co l l e g e Li b r a r y Of particular interest are the many images Hi r a m Co l l e g e presented in the book, ranging from fanciful Hi r a m , OH 44234 REVIEWS 151
Missions, Missionaries, native practices that had counterparts in both and Native Americans: European folk traditions at that time, and more Long-Term Processes importantly, in the Catholic Church. The book’s author displays a very wide and Daily Practices vocabulary and a penchant for words such as Maria F. Wade “numinous,” that this reviewer has no recollec- University Press of Florida, tion of having seen used elsewhere. But she is Gainesville, 2008. 288 pp., index. also on a few occasions careless in her usage $69.95 cloth. of words, as in her describing the rosary as a sacred object rather than the mere tool that This volume by Maria F. Wade, except for a it is. More overdone is her statement, “Town very brief chapter on the Jesuit and Franciscan leaders even held trials to condemn locusts, rats activity among South Florida’s Calusa, is a or swallows and excommunicate them.” Unless study of the activities of those two religious those leaders were high churchmen, they would orders among the native inhabitants of northeast- have had no authority to excommunicate. ern Mexico, Texas, and Baja and Alta California Some of the author’s statements would have from the earliest appearance of the Spaniards benefited from elaboration as to their reliabil- among the people there, to the early 19th cen- ity and pertinence to her topic. One such is tury. The treatment is divided into three distinct the statement on page 26, “Like the economic parts. Part 1 sets the background with chapters dimension of vows and indulgences, the Chris- on the battleground, the religious and spiritual tian relic business was extremely lucrative and climate of Europe and the Americas, and on the its development foregrounds a fascination with Franciscans and the Jesuits and their diversity death, body parts, bones, fluids, and saintly of spirit. Part 2, after a very brief chapter on odors.” Another is her statement on page 98, Jesuit and Franciscan activity in south Florida, “Interestingly the king here assigned responsi- concentrates its attention for the better part of bility for school instruction to the Tlascalans the volume on the two orders’ activity in north- rather than to the friars.” Many readers will be eastern Mexico, the Franciscan work in Texas, left wondering why. Jesuit and Franciscan work in Baja California, The work is based on a wide variety of and Franciscan proselytization in Alta California. sources, but in places a more-detailed documen- The closing chapter of part 2 examines the two tation of the sources would have been useful. orders’ distinct daily schedules and contrasting But these criticisms represent only very minor approaches to implementation of the liturgical reservations. Wade’s work is an admirable one and divine calendars. Part 3 has separate chap- in which she has presented a most readable and ters on religious and economic practices of the informative account of Jesuit and Franciscan Franciscans and Jesuits. Maria Wade’s overall labors in the regions that she covers. tone in this study is critical of the approaches Jo h n H. Ha n n of both religious orders, particularly concerning Sa n Lu i s Archaeological a n d Hi s to r i c Si t e the decline in the native peoples’ numbers that 2021 We s t Mi s s i o n Ro a d resulted, and the missionaries’ condemnation of Ta l l a h a s s e e , FL 32304
Historical Archaeology, 2009, 43(4):151 . Permission to reprint required.