Book Reviews

Anahulu: The Anthropology oj History in the Kingdom oj Hawaii. Patrick V. Kirch and Marshall Sahlins. Vol. 1: Historical Ethnography. Marshall Sahlins, with the assistance of Dorothy B. Barrere. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.

Reviewed by JEFFREY TOBIN, Rice University

In Anahulu, Kirch and Sahlins bring to­ mission documents, and various Native gether archaeology and archival ethnog­ Hawaiian texts. Their scholarly resource­ raphy. Here the most prominent archae­ fulness is unsurpassed in the field of Hawai­ ologist and social anthropologist working ian history. In this volume, Anahulu is in Hawai'i join forces, in an attempt to most often mentioned merely as an exam­ produce the definitive work on nineteenth­ ple of a kingdom-wide phenomenon and is century Hawaiian society. As Sahlins ex­ only occasionally the focus of the narrative. plains, "Our aim is to bring down the This makes the book all the more useful World System, through the mediation of for those whose principal interest falls out­ the Hawaiian System, into the way the side Waialua District. The book stands on rock walls are laid out, the remains of its own as one of the best histories to date houses show forth, and the irrigation of Hawai'i from 1778 through 1860. ditches are traced in the soil of the upper To be sure, in this history, as in all ambi­ Anahulu River Valley" (p. 101). In this tious histories, there is much to dispute. first volume, Sahlins makes scant reference Sahlins engages in his own fair share of po­ to the archaeological record. Rather, he lemics via the time-honored medium of . provides historical background for the footnotes. For example, Sahlins quickly volume that follows. This may be for the dismisses David Stannard's Before the Horror best, because Sahlins's grasp of archaeol­ (Honolulu: Social Science Research Insti­ ogy seems less than masterful. Consider tute, 1989); this despite the fact that Kirch his claim that a certain "transformation has found Stannard's work worthy of ma­ can be dated (by 14C) almost precisely to jor consideration. Sahlins comes to the aid 1804" (p. 52). By itself, radiocarbon dat­ of former student Jocelyn Linnekin by crit­ ing is certainly not precise enough to dis­ icizing Haunani-Kay Trask's review of tinguish between a transformation that Linnekin's first book. Here the issue is the took place in 1804 and another that took interpretation of the word kama 'aina. Trask place, say, in 1795 or 1812. Thus, the faulted Linnekin for glossing the word as claimed "synergetic effects" (p. 1) of the "long time resident of a place" and for collaboration might be more discernible applying it to people who are not Native in Kirch's volume than in Sahlins's. Hawaiians. Sahlins misinterprets Trask's More masterful is the archival research critique. He provides ample evidence of that Sahlins has accomplished with Bar­ Native Hawaiians who were kama 'aina of rere's assistance. They make excellent use a place by virtue of being long-time resi­ of an enormous depth and breadth of dents of that place, but does not address sources, including journals and letters of the issue of non-Hawaiians being con­ missionaries and other haole residents of sidered kama 'aina. In fact, elsewhere he Hawai'i, Kingdom of Hawai'i Land Com- quotes from mid-nineteenth-century peti- ASIAN PERSPECTIVES 33: I• SPRING 1994 tions in which Native Hawaiians explicitly were made (again, here is a place where opposed the possibility of non-Hawaiians he could have profited by attending to becoming citizens and landowners in Kame'eleihiwa's work). In contrast with Hawai'i. Historical Metaphors and Mythical Realities Sahlins's most controversial position may (1981) and Islands of History (1985), in this turn out to be his depiction of the Hawai­ volume Sahlins fails to integrate his anthro­ ian ali 'i (chiefs) as active agents in the des­ pological structuralism with his historical titution and death of their people. He narrative. In his previous works Sahlins argues that the Hawaiian population de­ demonstrated how fruitful a structurally in­ clined at least in part as the result of fonned diachronic approach can be. In the chiefly avarice. He writes that "the great current work, Sahlins seems to have for­ ali 'i were congenitally unwilling and finan­ gotten the lessons he taught the rest of us. cially unable" to pay their people a decent Here the phrase "structure of the conjunc­ wage (p. 135). Accordingly, he doubts that ture" appears as a mantra rather than as the the ali'i ever had much aloha for the tremendously productive analytical concept maka'ainana. "[The people] could do no it was in Islands ofHistory. more than call upon the governing chiefs The style that served Sahlins so well in to assume their ancient responsibilities, in­ the past has also begun to wear thin. His voking the reciprocal love (aloha) that was flippancy seems better suited to essays and supposed to subsist between the ali 'i and short monographs than to a grand history. the maka 'ainana. But in thus appealing to For example, his references to chiefly the chiefs to assert their authority, the peo­ bodies as "mountainous" (p. 57) and ple were asking for the restoration of an "stretched to their organic limits" (p. 80) earthly kingdom that never really existed" or to a specific chief as "literally a big (p. 131). Sahlins similarly attempts to cast power" (p. 93) suffer from repetition and doubt on aloha 'aina-Hawaiians' love of begin to belie a disrespect for his subject. the land (p. 186). It is unfortunate that Consider also Sahlins's comment on an Sahlins chose not to consider the brilliant event in which maka 'ainana put goat excre­ work of Lilikala: Kame'eleihiwa on these ment in poi that was destined for the ali 'i: issues. Sahlins must be familiar with "As excrement is negative food, the last Kame'eleihiwa's 1986 dissertation on the seems an appropriate reciprocation for development of capitalism and private what the chiefs were dumping on the com­ property in nineteenth-century Hawai'i mon people" (p. 146). Not only is this (recently published as Native LAnd and For­ joke recycled from Islands of History, but eign Desires [Honolulu: Bishop Museum there is also the question of whether or Press, 1992]). Sahlins makes extensive use not the observation that "excrement is of other secondary sources, theses, and negative food" really advances the analysis. works in press, so it is strange that he over­ This volume is also laden with gratuitous looked this one. In any case, this volume is citations of European canonical authors worse for the omission. (e.g., Rousseau, Hobbes). It is as if Hawai­ A surprising disappointment is the pau­ ian history is of interest only so far as it can city of anthropological insight. There is a be translated into European terms. Simi­ discussion of Hawaiian kinship (pp. 193­ larly, Sahlins applies European categories 211) that is brilliant despite some rather including "corvee labor" and the "ancien confused comments on infanticide. Other­ regime" to Hawaiian society. It is under­ wise, little effort is made to produce the standable that a nineteenth-century mis­ promised "historical ethnography." In­ sionary such as William Richards would stead, the book is the usual historical reci­ perceive Hawaiian culture in ways that tation of great events and of the actions of would make it familiar, but this sort of great men and women. Sahlins does little ethnocentricism is not so forgivable in an to elucidate the cultural contexts in which anthropologist. specific chiefly and missionary decisions BOOK REVIEWS 153

Anahulu: The Anthropology of History in the Kingdom of Hawaii. Patrick V. Kirch and Marshall Sahlins. Vol. 2: The Archaeology ofHistory. Patrick V. Kirch. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.

Reviewed by THEGN LAOEFOGEO, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

The Anahulu project was a multidisciplin­ Hawaiian and European participation. ary study designed to document the meta­ Furthermore, it is suggested that the incor­ morphosis of nineteenth-century Hawaiian poration of Hawai'i into the world econo­ society as it entered the world economy. my is reflected in the archaeological and The project has produced three mono­ ethnohistorical data from Anahulu. As graphs: the volume reviewed here, in such, the structural elements of the valley's which Kirch, along with contributions archaeology form the basis from which to from Sahlins, Spriggs, and Weisler, inter­ identify, examine, and analyze historic prets the ethnohistorical and archaeologi­ changes occurring throughout the archi­ cal material; a companion volume by pelago. The structural perspective is carried Sahlins (1992) that documents the ethno­ through to other topics, including the history of the area; and an edited volume search for the underlying principles of in­ by Kirch (1989) that details archaeological digenous land use and division at various data from the rockshelters of Kawailoa­ spatial scales. uka, the upper valley in Anahulu. The volume consists of five chapters. The Anahulu project combined archae­ The first details the research objectives of ology and ethnohistory to provide a de­ the project and provides an overview of tailed understanding of the chronology the O'ahu environment and prehistory. and processes that took place in Kawailoa­ Chapter 2 discusses the rockshelters in the uka. Archaeological evidence provides in­ upper valley, which were used intermit­ sight into the economic activities of the tently until the late A.D. 1400s, after valley's inhabitants and establishes a tem­ which only a few were inhabited on a per­ poral framework for environmental dy­ manent basis. Assemblages from the rock­ namics. The archaeological data addresses shelters and surrounding area suggest that ethnohistorically undocumented dimen­ the environment was transformed from na­ sions of Hawaiian culture. Conversely, the tive forest, to swidden gardens, to historic ethnohistorical data provide the specific intensive agriculture. Chapter 3 provides a detail often unobtainable in archaeology detailed history of each iIi (land unit) in that facilitates fine-grained sociopolitical the upper valley. Relying on ethnohistori­ interpretation. Combining the two sources cal sources as well as archaeological survey made it possible to propose a detailed his­ and excavation, Kirch, Sahlins, and Weisler tory of Anahulu that has implications for chronicle the social relations of Anahulu's Hawai'i in general. prehistoric inhabitants and trace their Although there has been extensive ar­ economic transformations. Chapter 4, by chaeological research on the prehistory of Spriggs and Kirch, examines the techno­ Hawai'i, the Anahulu project was the first logical and sociological structures of the to focus explicitly on historic transforma­ irrigation systems in the upper valley and is tions in indigenous Hawaiian society. The one of the most interesting in the volume. authors adopt an explicitly structural ap­ By analyzing the spatial configuration of proach, as evidenced by various themes the irrigation ditches, bifurcation points, throughout the volume. Attention is given and dams, the authors delimit sociological to the conjunction between prehistoric and political relations among the farmers. Hawaiian cultural systems and the imping­ The authors note that the irrigation system ing world system of the nineteenth cen­ was historically instituted and reveals an in­ tury, suggesting that transformations in creased intrusion by the chiefs into the Hawaiian society were the result of both lives of valley occupants. It is suggested 154 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES 33:1 . SPRING 1994

that the hydraulic infrastructure of Hawai­ hand of Polynesian man and his biological ian irrigation systems was determined pri­ associates" (p. 169). The use of the colo­ marily by social not technological factors. nial term "Sandwich Islands" as opposed Chapter 5 summarizes the chronology of to the term Hawai'i is also potentially pro­ the upper valley and discusses four areas of blematic. Kirch's (pp. 9-17) selective re­ change during the transition from the pre­ presentation of his previous model of historic to historic. Environmental transfor­ Hawaiian prehistory is curious (compare mations in the valley are reviewed, and the pp. 9-17 with Kirch 1984: 107 and 1985: suggestion is made that agricultural intensi­ 306-307). In the past few years it has be­ fication resulted from the demands of an come apparent that his original hypothesis escalated political economy. The detailed of prehistoric demographic equilibrium or discussion of how architecture and settle­ decline is unlikely. In his current review ment patterns were transformed from the of O'ahu and Hawaiian prehistory, Kirch prehistoric to historic period is effective. neglects to acknowledge or amend his The discussion of material culture docu­ earlier work on the topic. ments a trend of increasing European Despite these minor quibbles, the vo­ goods and suggests how specific items lume is a significant contribution to our were used symbolically and socially. Given understanding of the prehistoric to historic the innovative interpretative approach of transition in Hawai'i. As such, it will be­ the volume, the chapter ends with a disap­ come a standard reference for the transi­ pointingly brief summary of the project's tional period throughout the Pacific. theoretical contributions. The volume elucidates the instrumental REFERENCES role of political economy in structural transformations during the early historic KIRCH, P. V. period. It offers several alternatives to com­ 1984 The Evolution of the Polynesian Chief­ mon conceptions in Hawaiian archaeology doms. New York: Cambridge Uni­ versity Press. about the role of population p'ressure and technological imperative in agricultural in­ 1985 Feathered Gods and Fishhooks: An In­ troduction to Hawaiian Archaeology and tensification. The volume's use of Hawai­ Prehistory. Honolulu: University of ian spatial divisions and terminology as the Hawai'i Press. units of analysis is generally clear. How­ KIRCH, P. V., ED. ever, in Chapter 4 when various sites 1989 Prehistoric Hawaiian Occupation in the within each ifi are discussed, it is occasion­ Anahulu Valley, Oahu Island: Exca­ ally unclear as to where the sites are lo­ vations in Three Inland Rockshelters. Contributions of the University of cated. A map showing both iIi and site California Archaeological Research numbers would have been helpful. Most Facility 47. Berkeley: University of of the figures are clear, although in a num­ California. ber of them the annotation is illegible. SAHLINS, M. Furthermore, graphs of the data would 1992 Historical Ethnology. Vol. 1 ofAnahulu: have clarified some of the agricultural The Anthropology ofHistory in the King­ data. Occasionally the volume uses sexist dom of Hawaii. P. V. Kirch and M. Sahlins. Chicago: University of Chi­ terminology such as references to "the cago Press. BOOK REVIEWS ISS

Archaeology oj the Lapita Cultural Complex: A Critical Review. Patrick V. Kirch and Terry L. Hunt, eds. Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum Re­ search Report 5. Seattle: Burke Museum, 1988. iv+ 181 pp.

Reviewed by MICHIKO INToH, Hokkaido Tokai University

This is a useful publication that provides a listed, of which only six are rockshelters or preliminary account of the Lapita cultural caves and the rest represent open sites. A complex. Lapita is a pottery tradition of a table of site type, site area, and excavated distinctive style of decoration: character­ area shows considerable variation in the ized by dentate-stamping. Research on the nature of research on Lapita. Only 30 of Lapita cultural complex has been a domi­ these sites have one or more 14C dates nant focus of Pacific archaeology for at available. These dates were calibrated for least the past three decades. Recognition secular and reservoir effects for direct com­ of this pottery tradition as a cultural com­ parison. The earliest reliable dates for La­ plex has contributed significantly to under­ pita fall between cal. 1705-1441 B.C., but standing the nature of human dispersals the majority of Lapita sites appear to lie in into the South Pacific. The population a range between cal. 1200-400 B.C. The that possessed the Lapita cultural complex spatial distribution of Lapita sites ranges is now known to be the major ancestral from Aitape (north coast of New Guinea) population of the Polynesians. This publi­ in the west to Samoa in the east. Kirch cation synthesizes Lapita data available in and Hunt regard these temporal and spa­ 1987 but does not include the Lapita tial distributions as inconclusive and give Homeland Project. attention to areas in the west as well as in The volume begins with a short history the east that might repay additional study. of Lapita archaeology by Pat Kirch. This Various aspects of Lapita culture drawn chapter is particularly useful for researchers from other papers are as follows: Lapita who are not directly involved in Lapita ar­ people had settled on the coast, but mar­ chaeology, because information on Lapita ine resources were not the major factor in archaeology has been hard to obtain be­ deciding the site. Lapita settlement patterns cause of preliminary and partial publica­ appear remarkably similar across Melanesia tion. Readers may be excited to read how and western Polynesia. the concept of the "Lapita cultural com­ Lapita fishing activities, based on five plex" was developed and a large multi­ samples, are similar in taxonomic represen­ institutional project called the "Lapita tation. Four reasons are suggested to ex­ Homeland Project" was launched. plain this pattern: similarities in bone The following chapters include the spa­ density among prominent families, identifi­ tial and temporal boundaries of Lapita by cation bias, marine environment similari­ Kirch and Terry Hunt; the environmental ties, and cultural factors. The exploitation context of Lapita settlement locations by of shellfish by Lapita populations seems to Dana Lepofsky; ceramic technological and have been extensive, covering a wide compositional studies by Hunt; the decora­ range of habitats. The size of exploited tive system of Lapita pottery by Nancy shells was reduced over time. Sharp; sourcing, technological, and func­ Domesticated faunal remains are sparse, tional studies of flaked stone assemblages but three domestic animals (pig, dog, and by Melinda Allen and Gwen Bell; fishing chicken) are associated with Lapita. Dogs strategies by Virginia Butler; Lapita subsis­ and pigs are reported from four sites in tence by Lisa Nagaoka; and network mod­ three islands, Mussau, Tikopia, and Fiji, els for Lapita exchange by Hunt. and chickens were recovered from five In the section on spatial and temporal as­ sites. In examining faunal data (both fish pects of Lapita, a total of 79 Lapita sites· are and animals), several methodological pro- ASIAN PERSPECTIVES 33:1 . SPRING 1994 blems are identified. These include in­ sidian and chert flaked stones in Lapita consistent and strongly biased recovery sites are provided. techniques, incomplete taxonomic and This publication shows us how little data quantitative analyses, and inadequate data we had in 1987 compared with the popular reporting/presentation. It is demonstrated descriptions of "Lapita cultural complex" that the data can be significantly manipu­ and clearly points out areas in need of lated by excavation techniques and the further investigation, in terms of geo­ screen mesh size used in excavations. graphic as well as research objectives. A significant point is made that there The last chapter summarizes the prob­ was a heavy initial reliance on the natural lems and issues in Lapita archaeology by fauna until the horticultural base was large Kirch. The topics discussed are origins, the enough to support the population. Lapita dispersal, Lapita economy, style and Analyses of Lapita pottery are focused on variability in Lapita material culture, long­ technology and decorative systems. The distance exchange, Lapita society, and what technological aspects of Lapita pottery are happened to Lapita after 500 B.C. These are not well understood. A small number of the major portions of the "Lapita Cultural technological studies are summarized, but Complex." are not synthesized. In addition to the use However, it is not yet clear to me how a of the anvil, kinds of temper are of par­ site is defined as a Lapita site. There are ticular significance not only for the anal­ some sites associated with a few dentate­ ysis of trading but for examining the rela­ stamped potsherds and some sites with no ted technology involved. Such data are potsherds but with some stone flakes. Are particularly critical when plain Lapita these Lapita sites or not? We may have to sherds are analyzed. In this regard, it is re­ understand not only the integrated figure grettable that there is no consideration of of the cultural complex but also diverse the changing aspects of classic Lapita to figures of Lapita communities. late Lapita. This is because technological Although some of the results from the characteristics should be critical factors in Lapita Homeland Project and some other relating the early eastern Caroline Island related projects are now available (Allen pottery in Micronesia to plain Lapita (cf. and Gosden 1991; Galipaud 1992; Spriggs Intoh 1992: 80). 1990), this publication is recommended As for the design analysis, element oc­ fIrSt to students and researchers who hope currences are compared in Fiji and Reef! to understand such an attractive and yet Santa Cruz motifs. It is shown that the complicated topic, the Lapita Cultural later assemblages include more design ele­ Complex. ments, more individual motifs, and more variations on basic motif structures than Fijian assemblages. It could have been REFERENCES much more interesting if these analyses on technology and design motifs had been ALLEN, J., AND C. GOSDEN, EDS. combined. 1991 Report of the Lapita Homeland Project. Lapita flaked-stone techniques are char­ Occasional Papers in Prehistory 20. acterized by the predominant use of a bi­ Canberra: The Australian National polar flaking technique, with some use of University. direct freehand percussion as well. There GAlIPAUD, J. c., ED. seems to be some correlation between the 1992 Poterie Lapita et peuplement: Aetes du coUoque Lapita. Noumea. Janvier 1992. amount of chert and obsidian: decreasing Noumea: ORSTOM. obsidian and increasing chert/increasing INTOH, M. obsidian and decreasing chert. Useful com­ 1992 Pottery traditions in Micronesia, in pilation tables of sourced obsidian from Poterie Lapita et peuplement: Actes du Lapita sites and amounts of excavated ob- (QUoque Lapita, Noumea. Janvier 1992: BOOK REVIEWS 157

67-82, ed. J. c. Galipaud. Noumea: Proceedings of the Lapita Design Work­ ORSTOM. shop, Canberra, Australia, December 1988. Occasional Papers in Prehis­ SPRIGGS, M. J. T., ED. tory 19. Canberra: The Australian 1990 Lapita Design, Form and Composition: National University.

Semelai Culture and Resin Technology. Memoirs of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences. Vol. 22. Rosemary Gianno. New Haven, Ct.: Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences. 1989. xxxiv + 238 pp., plates, tables, charts, graphs, drawings, notes, bibliography, index.

Reviewed by WILLIAM A. LONGACRE, University ofArizona

This is the published version of Rosemary ing future resin finds from archaeological Gianno's dissertation, an exhaustive ethno­ sites in Southeast Asia. linguistic study of the Semelai people of The remainder of the book is a highly Tasek Bera, Malaysia. Her focus is on the detailed description of Semelai culture and technology of resin production and use society followed by a comprehensive dis­ within the general Semelai culture. It is cussion of Semelai ethnobiology. This based upon 2 years of fieldwork, 1980­ leads into the extremely detailed discus­ 1982, and this monograph incorporates sion of the collection and trade of resins new materials gathered during a subse­ and other plant fluids and the use of resins quent trip to Malaysia during 1987. by the Semelai people. This latter includes She reviews the ethnographic and ar­ coverage of the use of resins in torches, as chaeological study of resins in a thorough sealants and glues, and as incense, medi­ overview of the subject. Resins are used cine, and even as a poison. This entire sec­ in an astounding variery of ways from seal­ tion is rich in native vocabulary and phrase ing the surfaces of pottery to their use in so that probably half of the book is in the torches and as incense and even as chew­ Semelai language. ing gum! She presents a highly useful sum­ Back matter includes the infrared spectra mary of chemical techniques and especially mentioned above as well as word lists in instrumental techniques for resin analysis. Semelai terms for plant names and other She notes that infrared spectrophotometry terms and numerous oral literature texts seems among the most useful techniques that Gianno transcribed as part of her field for sourcing resin samples. record. She presents a wide-ranging review of This is a most impressive contribution to the infrared spectrophotometry spectra for Southeast Asian ethnography. I know of a number of resin samples from a variety no source that contains as much detail of species of trees in Southeast Asia. In an about collecting and using resins, and I sus­ appendix (A), the actual spectra are repro­ pect that this work will stand alone for duced, a valuable comparative contribution some time to come. Gianno presents eth­ for future study. Resin finds are relatively nographic observations that will be useful rare in archaeological sites. This is prob­ to the archaeologist working in sites that ably because they are easily confused with might produce prehistoric resins. And rocks. She notes the obvious but useful ob­ clearly, her work with infrared spectra and servation that resin pieces will be dramati­ her publishing of the actual spectra with cally lighter in weight than rocks. These identifications will be of special use to pre­ published spectra will be useful in sourc- historians working in the area. ASIAN PERSPECTIVES . 33: I• SPRING 1994

Disciplines Croisees [:] Hommage a Bernard Philippe Groslier. Under the direction of Georges Condominas with the assistance of D. Bernot, M. A. Martin, and M. Zaini-Lajoubert. Paris: Editions de l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, 1992. [In French]

Reviewed by JOHN N. MIKSIC, National University of Singapore

This volume consists of five essays on the of Cambodian Arts, devoted to preserv­ life, personality, and work of B. P. Gros­ ing traditional arts, and organized crafts­ lier and 14 articles of a diverse range of men into marketing cooperatives. During topics, loosely linked by the fact that most World War II he worked as an amateur (though not all) pertain to subjects in radio operator for the Allies, was captured, which B. P. Groslier had some interest. and died under Japanese torture in 1945. In the Introduction, G. Condominas, His son obviously loved him and wished Director, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en to emulate him. Sciences Sociales (better known by its ac­ BPG's main claim to fame was his devel­ ronym, EHESS), notes that this volume, opment of the Conservation d'Angkor into the second of a projected interdisciplinary "one of the biggest archaeological projects series on Southeast Asia, was in progress in the world" during the 1960s (Condo­ when B. P. Groslier (hereafter referred to minas, p. 21). He met General De Gaulle by his initials, BPG, as his friends often personally in a successful endeavor to get did) died on 29 May 1986. He was to resources to carry out his plans for Angkor. have contributed an article on the archae­ Although his greatest talent was adminis­ ology and agriculture of the Angkorian tration, BPG spent more time on field­ civilization. It was decided to dedicate the work. BPG envisioned not only physical volume to him, which explains why the restoration of monuments, but also "de­ chapters in the book are so varied. tailed study of the history in all its aspects The articles devoted to the man give a of the longue duree of Angkorian civiliza­ fascinating and frank portrait of one of the tion, one of the most original and grandi­ most colorful scientists who ever worked ose produced by the genius of man and in Southeast Asia. Groslier, born at society" (Condominas, p. 32). Phnom Penh in 1926, was the third gen­ M. Condominas does not gloss over eration in his family to work in Cambo­ BPG's faults. He characterizes BPG as dia. His father was the first French child "like many true creators, arrogant" and hy­ born there (on 4 February 1887), and his persensitive to criticism. Condominas had grandfather served there as a colonial ad­ at least one important personal conflict ministrator. with BPG, which is recounted in some de­ The details of BPG's life and work have tail, as Condominas says, to avoid any sus­ already been covered in a thorough obitu­ picion of "hagiography." On the other ary in Asian Perspectives (Moore 1986­ hand, although BPG sometimes appeared 1987). Interesting additional information is proud, Condominas ascribes this to a great found in one of the articles in the volume shyness that he tried to hide. BPG liked to being reviewed: a short biography of shine in front of important visitors, but George Groslier, BPG's father, by BPG showed no arrogance to lower personnel, himself. who in return were devoted to him. Mter studying painting at the Ecole des BPG believed that archaeology was "a Beaux-Arts, Paris, Groslier pere conceived branch of history" (Condominas, p. 24). a desire to popularize Khmer art to the Written sources figured prominently in his French public. He built the Phnom Penh approach. His earlier studies emphasiz"ed Museum in 1920 and acted as conservator the influence of India, especially in the re­ until 1942. He also organized the School ligious sphere, but later he focused on in- BOOK REVIEWS 159 digenous features such as the cult of water methods were archaic, it lacked theoretical and sun and the omnipresent theme of the objectives, and it was not laboratory or­ churning of the elixir of immortality. iented (J. C. Gardin, "Bernard Groslier BPG was very interested in water con­ and the Center for Archaeological Re­ trol and the notion of the "hydraulic search", this volume). A photograph of his city." Although he believed that the an­ excavations at the Angkor Thom "Palace" cient Khmer had "subordinated their shows a systematic grid of squares with science to their symbolism" (Condominas, balks. His references to stratification show p. 25), he concluded that Khmer civiliza­ that he was aware of its importance. tion collapsed not because of conversion Thus it is all the more regrettable that of the populace to Theravada Buddhism much of his knowledge died with him. (pace Coedes) but because of foreign inva­ French archaeologists familiar with his sions and consequent disruption of irriga­ notes describe them as difficult if not im­ tion. BPG gave large figures for water possible to decipher. We may never have capacity of the system, which he himself a clear idea of the precise nature of BPG's noted were hard to prove because they discoveries at the so-called "Palace" site, were based on the assumption that all the although the balks, if they were not exca­ infrastructure was in use simultaneously, vated, may still yield some vital informa but Condominas comes out in full support tion. This, and several o'ther sites at of the original figures (footnote 9, p. 27). Angkor, are vital to the solution of com­ This controversy continues. The most plex questions, many of which BPG him­ recent contributor to the literature, P. self posed. Stott (1992) concludes that "not 'one drop A subject in dire need of study is a full of their [i.e., the large baray at Angkor] history of the Conservation similar in ap­ water is likely to have fed the rice fields of proach to Bernet Kempers's book on the Angkor" (Stott, p. 55; he cites the work of restoration of Javanese monuments during Van Liere and others who have reached the colonial period (Bernet Kempers the same conclusion). 1978). Indeed, such studies are needed for BPG conducted large-scale excavations all of Asia. Much restoration work is being at many extremely important sites, includ­ carried out in many Asian countries with ing the "Palace" ofAngkor Thom; Mimot, poor or no attention to the archaeological a large moated site like those in the Mun research potential of sites. The methods of and Chi basins of northeast Thailand; Sras restoration themselves are often poorly Srang, a cemetery site; and the Baphuon documented. The recent furor over the (including a habitation site of the tenth Indian-led restoration of Angkor Wat is through twelfth centuries rich in Chinese only one such case. ceramics). Herein lies the greatest tragedy The bulk of the book consists of articles of BPG's career: as Paul Corbin writes in on a wide range of topics related to South­ his contribution to this volume, "Bernard east Asia, few related to archaeology. Arti­ Philippe Groslier: A complete archaeolo­ des are arranged according to the alpha­ gist": "It is heart-rending that as a result betical ordering of their authors' names. of circumstances none of these admirable There are several anthrolinguistic presen­ excavations, the material from which he tations. J. Cauquelin describes the phonol­ was 'storing in the barn', as he said, while ogy and grammar of Puyuma, an Aus­ awaiting a favorable opportunity, were not tronesian language of Taiwan; O. C. Dahl published before his premature demise" discusses three words used in Malagasy to (Corbin, p. 50). designate divine beings; and B. Formoso From what can be gleaned from pub­ compares Thai, Issane, and Lao kinship lished sources, BPG was a systematic ex­ terminology. C. Raymond discusses 40 cavator. He felt French archaeological Burmese archaeological terms borrowed methods needed improvement: its digging by different methods from Pali. Not sur- 160 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES 33:1 . SPRING 1994 prisingly, many of the words are related to the cultures of Southeast Asia and Ocea­ Buddhist monastic buildings and religious nia" is one result of a project at the beauti­ practices. ful National Museum of Ethnology at Articles of archaeological interest include Osaka conducted from 1982 to 1987. The a French-language translation of H. Loofs­ aims were fourfold. The first was to create Wissowa's article published in English in a data bank improving upon the Human 1976 arguing that the rayed motif in the Relations Area Files (HRAF). This project center of Heger I Dongson drums does used 343 traits, coded for 327 ethnic not represent a star or sun. J. Stargardt con­ groups. These data are intended to be tributes an article on a problem that partic­ used in classifying Southeast Asian and ularly interested BPG: water supply of Oceanic cultures, to encourage studies urban centers in early Southeast Asia. She based on correlations between traits, and notes that aerial photos of Sri Ksetra could to test techniques of statistical analysis. A be interpreted as showing that the Pyu cre­ huge number of conceptual and practical ated a symbolic dharmacakra and mandala obstacles confront such an enterprise. This with moats and embankments and that effort gives no sign of reviving faith in the water in the system literally circulated in efficacy of such an approach. Results are a circumambulatory manner, a perpetual either predictable or irreconcilable with pradaksina. She also notes the unusual pos­ historical data. It is extremely difficult to sibility that funerary monuments were narrow the explanation of correlations to associated with fertility and symbolically anyone factor. placed near canals before the water entered J. Dumarcay, BPG's architectural assis­ the city and the fields. Although her arti­ tant who worked for him at Angkor for 6 cle contains numerous thought-provoking years, gives a map and description of the hypotheses, it also makes obvious the need layout of the Conservation d'Angkor. This for much more fieldwork to be done be­ document will be useful to anyone who fore the hypotheses can be confirmed. studies the history of the Conservation. In the related realm of art history, N. An article by the distinguished Indone­ Turpin discusses a Visnu statue from Prasat sian anthropologist Koentjaraningrat gives Kravan, one of the first sites that BPG re­ an overview of "The Hindu-Buddhist and stored. BPG had the statue displayed in Islamic civilizations in Indonesia." The the lounge at the Conservation in Angkor references are not entirely up to date; for for many years. The statue is important example, there is no reference to the work because it illustrates a transition from the of the Indonesian scholar Boechari on Bakheng to the Koh Ker style, which Lampung inscriptions, and the discussion took place around A.D. 925, and is con­ of Srivijaya's capital does not mention nected with the increasing transfer of the work of Pierre-Yves Manguin of the power from the king to the nobility. Ecole Fran<;aise d'Extreme-Orient and the A number of articles deal with anthropo­ Indonesian National Research Centre for logical and historical topics. M. A. Martin Archaeology at Palembang. contributes an interesting account of the G. Smith discusses the ecological and "History and peopling of the Cardamom cultural context of the famous cattle of Range under the Khmer monarchy." This Madura Island, Indonesia. He shows why isolated part of western Cambodia has been the cattle population of the island has re­ for centuries a refuge area for displaced mained relatively stable while the human populations, never under the control of population of Madura has doubled in the any state. Much of the article presents frag­ twentieth century and the number of mentary but valuable anthropological data water buffalo has declined drastically. He on conditions in the mountains in 1970: assigns this change to the disappearance of settlement patterns, linguistic characteris­ the water buffalo's habitat as a result ofhu­ tics, health, and so forth. man pressure and changing human subsis­ T. Obayashi's "Statistical classification of tence strategy. BOOK REVIEWS 161

B. ]. Terwiel argues that the Ahom, form of sermons, are not very attractively originally a Tai group who migrated to rendered and frequently give the reader a Assam in the thirteenth century, acquired feeling of lassitude" (Zaini-Lajoubert, p. Tara as a principal deity while residing in 372). upper Burma, where she was particularly Few people (other than reviewers) will revered. The Ahom have long been iso­ read all the articles in this book, but by lated from other Southeast Asian groups the same token most scholars interested in and may preserve some archaic traits now Southeast Asia will find something of superseded in the parent population. Other profit in it. Tai groups including the Siamese may have experienced similar Tantric influences be­ fore accepting Theravada: drinking alcohol REFERENCES and eating meat in rituals seem more akin to their pre-Buddhist practices and would BERNET KEMPERS, A. J. have helped them assimilate Buddhism. 1978 Herstel in Eigen Waarde: Monumenten­ zorg in Indonesia. Zutphen: De Wal­ On a different note, M. Zaini-Lajoubert burg Pees. analyzes the search for an Islamic theory of MOORE, E. Malaysian literature in the context of the 1986- Bernard Philippe Groslier 1926­ dakwah movement. She comes to negative 1987 1986. Asian Perspectives 27(1): 173­ conclusions: that "a real, well-defined the­ 180. ory has never been formulated" and that STOTT, P. the few works based on such a theory 1992 Angkor: Shifting the hydraulic para­ " ... have a very marked didactic character, digm, in The Gift oj Water: Water a very moralizing tone, and if they succeed Management, Cosmology and the State in South East Asia: 47-58, ed. J. in communicating Islamic matters to the Rigg. London: School of Oriental readers, the style of the majority, in the and African Studies.

The Excavation ofKhok Phanom Di, a Prehistoric Site in Central Thailand. Vol. 1: The Excavation, Chronology and Human Burials. C. F. W. Higham and R. Bannanurag. Reports of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of London 47, 1990. Dunedin, New Zealand: University of Otago. xv + 372 pp.

Reviewed by WILHELM G. SOLHEIM II, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Honolulu

The final report on the excavations of bulk of the mound is marine in origin, so it Khok Phanom Di is to appear in four is likely that the coast was close to the site volumes. This, the first volume, is purely at the time of its occupation. This occupa­ descriptive, covers the details of the exca­ tion is 14C dated from about 2000 to 1400 vation, the chronology, and the human B.C. (p. 19). It is an extremely rich site burials, and appeared in 1990. The second with many burials and accompanying pot­ volume was to appear in 1991 and the tery, and other burial-associated artifacts in third and fourth in 1993-1994 (Higham, restorable condition. No metal artifacts pers. comm.). were recovered. It is the first coastal site Khok Phanom Oi is a huge shell mound extensively excavated and reported in in Chonburi Province, southeast of Bang­ Thailand and neighboring coastal Cambo­ kok and about 20 km northeast of the dia and is an extremely important site. shore at the northeast corner of the Gulf The short first chapter (pp. 1-17) pre­ of Siam. Much of the shell making up the sents the context of the site both physi- I62 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES 33:I . SPRING I994 cally and historically as far as archaeo­ enable any structures or grave-side ritual logical research in Thailand is concerned. activity to be identified" (p. 20). Higham explains why he chose this site In layers 10-11, the burials were for excavation and gives a concise account grouped, and Higham called these clusters. of how the excavation was done. With fair These clusters had various numbers of buri­ knowledge of the site's contents from pre­ als situated close together with surround­ vious smaller excavations, Higham planned ing areas vacant. "During the build-up of for excavating a 10-m2 area that extended layers 5-9, the mortuary ritual showed to a depth of 7 m in some areas. For pro­ new developments. One of these was the tection from the rain he erected a roof preferred disposal of the dead in a row ". .. of 13 m steel trusses raised on hard­ with no close proximity between individ­ wood supports" (p. 13). This was cer­ uals. . .. Two women belonging to this tainly the most impressive prehistoric period were interred under a raised struc­ excavation in Thailand up to this time ture. At the same time, the ritual attend­ and probably for some time to come. ing the dead also evolved: while graves Chapter 2, "Cultural Aspects of the Se­ still pointed towards the east, there was quence" (pp. 19-141), presents the 14C an elaboration of structures built over dates for the site, the cultural contents of groups of graves and an increase in the dis­ each excavation layer, including plans of parity between rich and poor sets of grave each of these layers showing their features, goods" (p. 20). each mortuary phase, and tables presenting The remaining ten chapters (pp. 143­ "The distribution offish, bird, mammalian, 363) present the individual burials in sets turtle and shellfish remains in the lenses, of clusters and mortuary phases. For each pits, postholes, burial fill and areas of dis­ cluster and phase a table presents for each turbance" (pp. 118-141). burial of that set the age, sex, approximate An understanding of the distribution of number of children, orientation, depth of the burials is basic to most of this book grave cut below datum, and the associated and is presented at the beginning of chap­ grave goods. The many figures present the ter 2. I summarize and quote portions of plans of each cluster and phase, the vertical this: "At Khok Phanom Di, the survival of distribution of burials of that set, and draw­ prehistoric stratigraphic contexts was so ings of each burial with location of asso­ consistently good that it was nearly always ciated artifacts and to the side of the burial possible to recognize an interment from a drawing of reconstructed, associated pot­ the grave silhouette long before the hu­ tery and major artifacts. The pottery forms man remains themselves were encoun­ and decoration are similar to those of tered. . .. Only very rarely did any of the Laang Spean in Cambodia (c. and R. 154 in situ burials intercut and disturb ear­ Mourer, 1970, 1971) and Gua Cha and lier ones" (p. 19). other sites in West Malaysia (Peacock During excavation, a square or quadrant 1959; Sieveking 1954-1955). Included was totally cleaned and the surface was among the associated artifacts are impres­ "examined for patterned differences." sive, carved turtle carapace ornaments (pp. With this it was possible to identify a vari­ 173, 179, 180, 279, etc.), fired clay pot­ ety of features, including the outlines of tery anvils, and a fishhook cut from a pig's graves. When a grave was recognized the tusk (p. 180). grave fill was removed, exposing "the hu­ It is important in book reviews to cor­ man remains and any associated offerings, rect a few errors. I managed to locate one [and] soil samples were taken from various error, which does not mean that there are parts of the grave to permit subsequent la­ not more. On p. 330, first and second boratory analyses.... At the same time as line, a miniature clay anvil is referred to as the burial itself was under investigation, being illustrated in Fig. "201." This should the analysis of the pits, postholes, and mid­ refer to Fig. 239. This book is a first-class den spreads in its vicinity were recorded to presentation of data, in great detail. I look BOOK REVIEWS forward with anticipation to the next three 1971 Prehistoric research in Cambodia volumes. during the last ten years. Asian Per­ spectives 14: 35-42.

REFERENCES PEACOCK, B. A. V. 1959 A short description of Malayan pre­ historic pottery. Asian Perspectives MOURER, AND R. MOURER c., 3(2): 121-156. 1970 The prehistoric industry of Laang Spean, province of Battambang, SIEVEKING, G. DE G. Cambodia. Archaeology and Physical 1954- Excavations at Gua Cha, Kelantan, Anthropology in Oceatlia 5(2): 128­ 1955 1954 (Part I). Federation Museums 146. Journal 1 and 2:75-138.

The Evolution and Dispersal oj Modern Humans in Asia. T. Akazawa, K. Aoki, and T. Kimura, eds. Tokyo: Hokusen-sha Publishing Company, 1992. 660 pp., over 150 illustrations.

Reviewed by MICHELE TOOMAY DOUGLAS, University ojHawai 'j at Manoa, Honolulu

The papers collected in this volume were departure from a Euro-African perspective, presented at a symposium held at the Uni­ and the necessity to "unite behavior and versity of Tokyo in 1990, dealing with the biology" (p. 39) . problem of evolution and dispersal of .The second section, "Archaeology and Homo sapiens from the Asian perspective. Human Adaptation in West Asia," is the The editors state that the symposium was largest of the book, containing 11 papers. the outgrowth of a continuing project The first five papers deal mainly with funded by the Japanese Ministry of Educa­ blade industries of the Palaeolithic in tion to investigate the origin and dispersal Syria, Israel, and Lebanon (S. Muhesen, of Mongoloid peoples. In an effort to N. Goren-Inbar, K. Ohnuma, Y. Nishiaki place this research into a global perspec­ and L. Copeland, L. Meignen, and O. tive, the symposium assembled many of Bar-Yosef). Following these is an interest­ the major names in biological anthropol­ ing paper by Eitan Tchernov on the bio­ ogy and archaeology. The book contains chronology and dispersal events in the all but three of the original symposium Levantine that examines the association of papers (31 in all) and is divided into four human migration with climactic change sections. Following each section of papers, and biotic dispersal out of Africa. O. the edited text of the discussion period is Bar-Yosef has a second paper examining presented. climate variability and human adaptations The first section, "Overview of Human in the Levant. A. Ronen associates blade Evolution in Asia," contains papers by G. technology with cultures and concludes Pope, A-M. Tillier, and B. Vander­ that modern behavior originated in the meersch. Pope presents the evidence for Near East (West Asia). Human evolution evolutionary continuity in East Asia, and in relation to the recent early dating for the other papers focus on the subadult and Levantine fossils is discussed by A. Marks, adult skeletal material from Tabon, Skhul, who concludes that, at present, there is no and Qafzeh. The discussion of the papers archaeological evidence to support the is noticeably deficient because much of it "out of Africa" model. A. Jelinek reviews centers around a paper that is omitted the problems in the 'chronology of the from the volume. The major points of the Middle Palaeolithic in Southeast Asia, discussion, summarized by Eric Trinkaus, which apply equally well to the chronol­ are the advantage of a global perspective, ogy in East Asia. The final paper in this ASIAN PERSPECTIVES . 33: I• SPRING 1994 section, by Eric Trinkaus, examines the Some illumination is a welcome relief as contrasts between the Qafzeh and Skhul the reader wades through the diverse top­ material and late archaic humans. Trinkaus ics of this section. finds significant morphological differences The final portion of the volume is called in the femoral shaft, dental wear, and sca­ "From Morphology to Genes." In this pula diameters and suggests that they repre­ section, the skeletal biologists (Y. Dodo et sent behavior differences. The reader is al.; N. Ossenberg; M. Pietrusewsky et al.) perplexed by the presence of this biologi­ present metric and nonmetric statistical cal paper at the end of a predominately ar­ analyses of populations from Japan, the chaeological section, but there appears to American Northwest,' and Asia and the be a rather loose attempt to move from Pacific, respectively. The nonmetric data stone to behavior and behavior/culture to from Japan are quite interesting but suffer morphology. The discussion of this section from a lack of comparison with popula­ (Vandermeersch and Marks), although not tions to the south of this archipelago. San­ providing a good summary of the papers, dra Bowdler reviews the hominid fossil does offer some insights into Neanderthal material from Australia. Genetic evidence morphology. is provided by S. Harada on alcohol sensi­ The third section of the volume, "Hu­ tivity and K. Tokunaga and T. Juji using man Evolution in East and South Asia," HLA genes to trace migration in East Asia. seems to be an area dominated by the Japa­ L. Cavalli-Sforza et al. provide a summary nese researchers, and it is here that we see of a multivariate analysis of the classic some of their results. A paper on Okina­ genetic polymorphisms in Asia. They find wan long-limb geometry (T. Kimura and a north-south and east-west gradient as H. Takahashi) provides very specific data well as a circular gradient around Japan. on a small sample. N. L. Cuong presents a This section is very noticeably missing the brief review of the hominid fossils in Viet paper by R. Ward on mt-DNA, the focus Nam that makes an excellent overview ar­ of much of the initial discussion, an omis­ ticle for the non-Vietnamese student, com­ sion that leaves the reader hanging. plete with mammalian faunal lists. A. This large volume-of papers on the evo­ Sonakia addresses evolution in South Asia. lution of modern man in Asia at once pro­ H. Baba and F. Aziz provide a detailed pa­ poses to fill in the gaps in this vast topic as per on several human tibial fragments from it skips from East to West and North to Sambungmacan, Java. Q. Zhonglang pre­ South. Although the mixture of archaeo­ sents a discussion of stone industries of logical and morphological interpretations Homo sapiens in China, which again seems is a welcome advance, I found the com­ slightly out of place in the midst of a dis­ bination to be too weighted to be truly cussion of Homo biology. W. Xinzhi deals advantageous. The editors could have with East and Southeast Asia. J. Kam­ made some adjustments to the sequence of minga reports on a reanalysis of the Upper papers in the volume, which would have Cave Zhoukoudian material, and G. greatly improved the progression through Brauer asks if the replacement model of the material. The production of the book human evolution works in Southeast Asia. is excellent, with an attractive red cover, Christy Turner continues to argue for in good-quality paper, and well-reproduced situ evolution of modern humans in South­ illustrations, and the translations into En­ east Asia on the basis of dental morphol­ glish are very good. Although the sympo­ ogy, with the addition of some small Euro­ sium may have suffered from having a pean and Mrican samples. C. L. Brace and slightly too diverse outlook, this collection D. P. Tracer compare dental reduction and of papers would be useful for any student craniofacial morphology in recent Europe of human evolution in Asia. We can look and Asia. Instead of an edited discussion at forward, with great anticipation, to the the end of this division, Pope and Turner published proceedings of the second sym­ present a brief summary of the papers. posium that was held the following year. BOOK REVIEWS 165

Archaeology of the P'eng-Hu Islands. Tsang Cheng-hwa. Special Publication 95. Taipei: Institute of History and Philology Academia Sinica, 1992. 492 pp., in­ cluding 80 figures, 91 color plates, 50 tables, bibliography, glossary of Chinese characters, and a Chinese summary.

Reviewed by WILHELM G. SOLHEIM II, University of Hawai'i at Miinoa, Honolulu

The P'eng-hu Islands (pieng-hu Chun-tao) 333-339), and D presents "Preliminary are about 45 km west of the central west Observations on the Suo-kang Burials" coast of Taiwan and are ordinarily known (by Michael Pietrusewsky) (pp. 341-352). in the West as the Pescadores. Tsang did The Coarse Cord-marked Ware Site archaeological field research on the Islands equates with the Ta-p'en-k'eng (TPK) from February 1983 to July 1985. Culture of Taiwan, the first culture with The book is divided into three parts with pottery and polished stone tools on the ten chapters and four appendices. Part 1, Taiwan mainland, and hypothesized the titled "Introduction to Research," has two first with agriculture. TPK sites on the Tai­ chapters: "The P'eng-hu Islands and Their wan mainland are rare and have not pro­ Adjacent Regions," "An Introduction to duced a large inventory of artifacts. The the Geographical and Cultural Historical data from Kuo-yeh A, on the east coast of Backgrounds of These Three Regions­ P'eng-hu Tao, increase knowledge about the P'eng-hu Islands, the Southeastern the TPK Culture considerably. The 14C Coast of the Chinese Mainland, and the dates from the site indicate that its occupa­ Island of Taiwan" (pp. 3-34), and "Prob­ tion was around 4600 to 4800 years B.P. lems and Research Strategy" (pp. 35-42). (pp. 97-99). "The subsistence related evi­ Part 2, "The Archaeology," has five chap­ dence shows that the major subsistence re­ ters, the titles of which adequately explain sources for the Kuo-yeh A inhabitants did their contents: chapter 3, "The Site Sur­ not come from the island itself, but rather vey" (pp. 45-68); chapter 4, "Excavation from the marine resources along the shore­ at a Coarse Cord-marked Ware Site: Kuo­ line. Shellfish, fish, and presumably sea­ yeh A" (pp. 69-99); chapter 5, "Excava­ weed from the intertidal rocks and coral tions at Fine Cord-marked Ware Sites: reefs were probably the dietary staples" Suo-kang and Nan-kang" (pp. 101-169); (p.98). chapter 6, "Trial Excavation at a Plain The Fine Cord-marked Ware Sites Red Ware Site: Ch'ih-k'an-t'ou" (pp. equate closely with some of the Red 171-179), and chapter 7, "Excavations at Corded Ware Culture sites of the Taiwan Historical Sites: Nei-an C, Shui-an A, and mainland, but not with those mainland Shih-pan-t'ou-shan A" (pp. 181-229). sites with the burnished red pottery (pp. Part 3, "Discussion and Conclusions," has 277-278). The Red Corded Ware Cul­ three chapters: chapter 8, ."The Coloniza­ ture followed the TPK Culture. The two tion of the P'eng-hu Islands" (pp. 233­ sites reported were year-around, coastal 264); chapter 9, "Implications for the Pre­ villages, occupied around 4600 B.P. Ma­ history of the Southeastern Coast of China rine resources were of major subsistence and the Island of Taiwan" (pp. 265-287); importance, but indirect evidence suggests and chapter 10, "Implications for Histori­ that some agriculture was practiced. Trade cal Archaeology in Taiwan" (pp. 289­ with other P'eng-hu islands and the Tai­ 297). Appendix A presents "Site Descrip­ wan mainland is indicated (p. 168). tions" (pp. 299-327), B has "Carbon 14 The Plain Red Ware Site apparently Dates from the P'eng-hu Islands" (pp. equates with the Plain Red pottery of the 329-331), C is "Optic Microscope and Taiwan mainland (Chang and collabora­ Electron Microprobe Determinations of tors 1974: 50). This was a very small fish­ Artifact Samples from the P'eng-hu Islands ing village or fishing camp, used about and Taiwan" (by Ch'en Cheng-hong) (pp. 4000 years ago (p. 178). 166 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES 33: 1 . SPRING 1994

Very little historical archaeology has sites." Although I agree that these many been done on Taiwan, so the information small reefs are unlikely locations for settle­ resulting from the excavation of historic ments, they may well have been used for sites on the P'eng-hu Islands is of impor­ burials by maritime-oriented people. In tance for adding to the scanty historical eastern Indonesia I have found burials on records of the Islands and of the early his­ tiny coral islands, some near settlement toric Chinese contacts with Taiwan. The areas and others isolated from any possibly temporary occupation of the Islands, start­ nearby settlements. ing as early as the ninth century A.D., fol­ On p. 79, in giving details about the lows a total gap of settlement and contact pottery from Kuo-yeh A, Tsang states with any outside source since about 2000 "Since most of the sherds had gray cores B.C. (pp. 228, 262). ... and irregularly colored interior and ex­ In his chapter on "The Colonization of terior surfaces, it may be postulated that the P'eng-hu Islands," Tsang presents a the pottery was fired in open kilns at low logical interpretation of the previously re­ temperatures." I agree that the irregular corded data, clearly showing the purposes coloring of the surfaces probably reflects for colonization, the subsistence patterns open firing; however, the gray cores do indicated by the different sites, and the, at not necessarily mean firing at low tempera­ times, extensive trade within the Islands tures. These cores, resulting from lack of and between the islands and the Fukien oxidation of the carbon present therein, mainland and the southwestern coastal may result from either low firing tem­ area of Taiwan. perature or from firing in a reducing atmosphere at a fairly high temperature All of the prehistoric cultural assem­ followed by very rapid cooling of the pot­ blages on the islands of P'eng-hu show their strongest affinities with tery after firing, with oxidation of the ex­ the prehistoric cultures of southwes­ posed surfaces from the residual heat left tern Taiwan. It can be said with con­ by the firing but this heat being dissipated fidence that southwestern Taiwan is too rapidly to allow oxidation of all of the undoubtedly the direct source area clay wall away from the surfaces. for the prehistoric cultures on the is­ Portions of four bone fishhooks were re­ lands of P'eng-hu.... covered from the Suo-bng site (p. 134). The coarser cord-marked and fine This type of fishhook (p. 139, fig. 40-2, cord-marked ware assemblages on 8, and 9, and pI. 27-1 to 4) "has not yet the P'eng-hu Islands, however, also been found from the Neolithic sites in the seem to be related to some of the contemporaneous ceramic assem­ regions adjacent to P'eng-hu, such as Tai­ b.lages of the southeastern coast of wan and the southeastern coast of China the mainland. The close resem­ ... " but are similar to Pacific Island hooks blances in certain features of the (p. 140). I mention this to bring it to the Suo-bng phase of P'eng-hu and attention of Pacific archaeologists who Sham Wan of Hong Kong, as well might not read this excellent report in as Ta-mau-shan and T'an-shih-shan detail. of Fukien, indicate that contact be­ On p. 182, Tsang mentions "slender tween P'eng-hu and these regions bottles" as being found with a number of must have occurred. (pp. 248-249) porcelain sherds and other artifacts from a Before bringing up what is to me the test pit at the Nei-an C site. This type of most important part of this report, I vessel, pictured in plate 49, is very similar would like to make a few remarks about to bottles found in quantity in the old specific points mentioned. On p. 47 Tsang Chinese section of Manila. These, accord­ mentions the difficulty of surveying all of ing to H. Otley Beyer (pers. verbal comm.) the small Islands. He states "In fact, how­ were used to ship and store mercury. ever, most of these unsurveyed islands are The most interesting information in this merely reefs of very small size, and most report for me is that having to do with unlikely locations for human settlement the homeland of the Austronesian-speak- BOOK REVIEWS ing people. This hypothesized homeland fied as Oryza sativa indica, in the pot­ and the expansion of the Austronesian­ sherds recovered from the sites of speaking people has been of particular in­ Suo-kang on P'eng-hu Tao and terest to me for the last 20 years. I will Ch'ih-k'an B on Pai-sha Tao of not repeat what I have said before about P'eng-hu ... as well as from K'en­ ting on the south coast of Tai­ the Nusantao Maritime Trading Network wan.... but refer to one of my few papers that have appeared in print (1984-1985). The The sites with this early rice are those most widely accepted homeland for the with the fine cord-marked ware pottery, Austronesian-speaking people is Taiwan, which was in use around 4600 B.P. (p. as ably advanced by Peter Bellwood 168) and not as early as the fifth millen­ (1984-1985: 115). In that article he stated nium B.C. as proposed for rice by Bell­ (p. 115): "Sometime during the fifth mil­ wood. lennium B.C. members of these [agricul­ Tsang in several places emphasizes the tural] communities (probably from Fujian) maritime orientation of the early people crossed the Formosa Strait to Taiwan.... on the P'eng-hu Islands and coastal Tai­ These groups were able, first of all, to sur­ wan. I point out some of these, quoting vive and probably to establish nonhostile out of context. "The P'eng-hu Islands relations with existing hunting and gather­ were first colonized by these marine­ ing groups, and secondly to establish viable oriented people from the southwestern agricultural economies in which cereal cul­ coast of Taiwan" (p. 258). "The intensive tivation (rice, millet) played a major role." fishing and exchange activities would have The first rice culture of Taiwan, according certainly stimulated frequent open sea to Bellwood, is the Ta-p'en-k'eng Culture. voyaging, and consequently, would have Tsang has this to say about the early resulted in frequent contact and interac­ neolithic societies of the P'eng-hu Islands tions among the peoples of P'eng-hu, Tai­ and Taiwan (p. 261): wan and even the southeastern coast of the mainland" (p. 261). "The eustatic change The intensive fishing and exchange of the Taiwanian Regression ... may have activities would have certainly stimu­ served as a stimulus to the continuous de­ lated frequent open sea voyaging, velopment of more intensive marine ex­ and consequently, would have re­ ploitation and more effective seafaring. sulted in frequent contact and in­ Such intensive marine activities in the Tai­ teractions among the peoples of wan Strait would have accelerated the in­ P'eng-hu, Taiwan, and even the teraction and flow of information among southeastern coast of the mainland. As a consequence, the flow of cultur­ the peoples in the regions surrounding the al information and mutual effect Taiwan Strait" (pp. 278-279). among the regions would have inevi­ I have hypothesized (1984-1985: 81) tably taken place. The changes in that it was the Nusantao maritime traders, pottery styles of the Suo-kang phase "along the coasts of northern Luzon, in P'eng-hu and on the southwestern southern Taiwan, and South China, be­ coast of Taiwan during the period tween 4500 and 5000 B.C.," who devel­ around 4500 B.P. clearly indicate the oped Proto-Austronesian as a trade lan­ influence from the cultures on the guage. I now refer to it as a lingua franca, southeastern coast of the Chinese and from this Austronesian evolved along mainland, and exemplify this cultur­ al exchange. these coastal areas by soon after 4500 B.C. The most important cultural infor­ Tsang ended his discussion of the prehis­ mation introduced from the main­ toric period of the southeastern coast of land coast to P'eng-hu and Taiwan, China and Taiwan as follows: however, was probably wet-field rice cultivation. This is clearly indi­ Based on the current archaeological cated by the discovery of rice husks evidence mentioned above, I do not and stems, which have been identi- agree with Bellwood that "Taiwan is 168 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES 33:1 . SPRING 1994

a potentially vital area for the trans­ that I presented in Taiwan (n.d.), revised mission of cultural innovations from after reading this book by Tsang. the Asian mainland into the islands" All chapters are clearly and well written. (1979: 207), if he chooses to "em­ The maps are presented at a scale that is phasise [sic] the importance of the easily read, and the tables and text are Corded Ware-Yuan-shan cultural clear and readable. This is a physically tradition" (1979: 207). Since the homeland of this tradition was most pleasing book to read and its contents are likely on the coast of the mainland important. between Fukien and Vietnam, as I mentioned previously, I would pos­ REFERENCES tulate that the Austronesian lan­ guages and cultures were probably BELLWOOD, P. transmitted into insular southeast 1979 Man's Conquest of the Pacific. New Asia and the Pacific Islands along the York: Oxford University Press. eastern coast of the southeast Asian 1984- A hypothesis for Austronesian ori­ mainland rather than through the 1985 gins. Asian Perspectives 26(1): 107­ island of Taiwan. 117. CHANG, K. c., and COLLABORATORS I fully agree with Tsang that the impor­ 1974 Man in the Choshui and Tatu River tant route of movement of the culture car­ Valleys in Central Taiwan: Prelimin­ ary report of an interdisciplinary ried by the Nusantao Austronesian speakers project, 1972-1973 Season. Asian was south along the South China coast and Perspectives 17(1): 36-55. the co'ast of Viet Nam, with the Nusantao SOLHEIM, W. G. II Maritime Trading Network expanding 1984- The Nusantao hypothesis: The origin across the South China Sea from central 1985 and spread of Austronesian speakers. Viet Nam to southern Palawan, in the Phi­ Asian Perspectives 26(1): 77-88. lippines, and the coast of Borneo, from n.d. The Nusantao and Prehistoric Con­ where it continued to expand around the tacts among the Peoples of Southeast north and south coasts of Borneo, into Asia, South China, Korea, and Japan. Paper presented at the International eastern Indonesia and southern Mindanao Symposium on Austronesian Studies and out into the Pacific. I have presented Relating to Taiwan held in Taiwan, my reasoning for this in the revised paper 29-31 December 1992.

New Perspectives on the Art of Ceramics in China. George Kuwayama, ed. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1992. 156 p., paperback.

Reviewed by CHUIMEI Ho, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago

The volume contains seven papers read by The volume showcases research on Yutaka Mino, Rose Kerr, Mary Ann Ro­ Chinese ceramics by museum professionals gers, Rosemary Scott, John Guy, Pamela and ceramic scientists in Britain and the Vandiver, and Nigel Wood at a confer­ United States. The papers are based on ence organized by George Kuwayama at data derived from: (1) recent investigations the Los Angeles County Museum of Art by Chinese archaeologists (Mino, Kerr, in September 1987. The conference was Rogers, Guy); (2) museum and literary held in connection with two ceramic exhi­ studies (Scott); and (3) technical analyses bitions, "Imperial Taste: Chinese Ceramics in the laboratory (Vandiver, Wood). In from the Percival David Foundation" and dealing with archaeological data, the "In Pursuit of the Dragon: Traditions and authors share with other non-Chinese re­ Transitions in Ming Ceramics." searchers the handicap of not having first- BOOK REVIEWS

hand access to excavated materials. They their primary sources of data. Kerr's work cope with this handicap well, however. is particularly interesting because it makes Familiarity with Chinese excavation re­ use of available Ming-Qing archaeological ports and other publications enables them data. to summarize recent progress and to offer In the first part of her paper, Kerr dis­ significant new interpretations. George cusses two contemporary but different Kuwayama, the organizer of the confer­ views on ring-handled vessels of the six­ ence, deserves much praise for selecting teenth-seventeenth centuries: one view this particular group of specialists and ask­ derives from a burial containing a bronze ing them to take a fresh look at museum model of double-ring design and the other objects in the light of the latest archaeo­ from notes of connoisseurs commenting on logical finds. that particular shape in ceramics. By doing All seven papers are amply illustrated. so, Kerr is interested in revealing facets of The photographs often appear on the religious and social history, using ceramics same page as the text, which is an editorial as one of the keys. nightmare but a convenience for readers. The second part of her paper is a collec­ However, some photographs tend to be tion of notes on recent finds from Imperial dark, and some reproductions of paintings kiln sites at Jingdezhen, dating to the first are small. The volume would have been half of the fifteenth century, and the rela­ even more useful if a list of Chinese char­ tionship of these with pieces in Western acters had been included. museums. The third part contains "a ram­ Rose Kerr's "Ming and Qing Ceramics: bling account," as Kerr puts it, of ceramic Some Recent Archaeological Perspectives" finds from datable archaeological contexts and Rosemary Scott's "Archaism and In­ from the Yuan through Qing periods. vention: Sources of Ceramic Design in the Neither of these last two parts is tightly Ming and Qing Dynasties" can be seen as structured. However, both include ideas complementary papers. Both are focused that deserve fuller treatment. One exam­ on ceramics of the same periods, and both ple is her original observation that white­ provide insights into museum collections. glazed ceramics were in vogue during the As for research resources, Kerr examines a early fifteenth century, as shown by finds number of reports on burials and kiln in that stratum at the Imperial kilns, but in sites, and Scott reviews aspects of ceramic the Qing period such ceramics were re­ design based on library research. garded as cheap blanks. This idea could be The ceramics of the Ming and Qing pe­ pursued further. Although this reviewer is riods (late fourteenth-early twentieth cen­ not entirely convinced, I would like to see turies) are often packed together as one historical records of the two periods exam­ continuous unit, but differentiated from the ined in more detail and the social status of ceramics of the Song and Yuan periods Ming and Qing white wares compared (eleventh-fourteenth centuries) in terms more carefully. of aesthetic preference and potting tech­ Unlike Kerr, who seeks to use ceramics niques. Perhaps because more examples of to fill in details of social and religious his­ Ming and Qing ceramics are still on the tory during Ming and Qing times, Scott market and in private and public collec­ concentrates on information extractable tions, interest in that group of ceramics is from the ceramics themselves. By examin­ strong and has resulted in a large number ing vessel shapes and decorative designs, of publications of the connoisseur type. she looks into four possible sources of in­ However, field research on kilns, burials, spiration: archaism, vessels in other mate­ and settlement sites of the Ming and Qing rials, literature, and the symbolism of good dynasties is relatively scarce as compared wishes. The taste for archaistic and cross­ with earlier historical periods. As a result, media designs is considered by Scott to scholars working on ceramics of the last have been promoted by Imperial patron­ 600 years traditionally have relied heavily age and that of elite scholar-officials, but on literary records and museum pieces as an interest in dramatic and good luck de- ASIAN PERSPECTIVES 33: 1 • SPRING 1994

signs was fashionable throughout Chinese Mino examines and matches kiln data society. Such views are familiar among with museum pieces. His survey includes scholars interested in Ming-Qing ceramics, examples of Yue, Longquan, Guan, Yao­ but Scott ably summarizes current thinking zhou, Ding, Jun, Cizhou, Qingbai, Jizhou, on the subject. Although her references Quanzhou, and Jian wares. He also some­ could have been expanded to include times refers to pieces unearthed from non­ more Chinese and foreign sources, this is kiln sites in Southeast Asia, China, and more than balanced by her good illustra­ Japan. Most of his article consists of cap­ tions, often of pieces from museum collec­ tioned photographs: there are 38 pages of tions that she knows well. these and only one page of text. In reading Scott's paper, one is aware of The article can serve as a minihandbook the lack of a wider picture against which for collectors and museum professionals her groupings of ceramics can be evalu­ interested in tracing parallels to pieces ated. One wishes, for instance, to know that may be in their own collections. The how large her samples were for her to examples that Mino has included were have concluded that The Water Margin, chosen for aesthetic merit and because par­ The Journey to the West, and The Romance allels exist among published pieces from of the Three Kingdoms were the most popu­ kiln excavations. Not all are typical pro­ lar works of fiction used in the decoration ducts of the kiln complexes in question, of ceramics. One would also like to see a and in a few cases Mino has emphasized chronological breakdown. The main pub­ particular wares over others without ex­ lished versions of all three novels appeared plaining why. For instance, seven Yue in the early Ming period; were themes ware vessels from museums are illustrated from them more common then than in and compared with excavated pieces, but later times? When discussing ceramics of the article gives much less space to other the fourteenth-nineteenth centuries, it is wares of comparable age and importance. essential, I think, to make distinctions An area in which I disagree with Mino among ceramics targeted to different func­ lies in his evaluation of recent ceramic ar­ tions and to consumers from different social chaeological work in China, which he says backgrounds. Could it be true that certain has not been able to change "the main­ archaistic vessel shapes were conditioned stream chronology and types of Song and by the functions they served? I think so. Yuan ceramics." He is mainly right if the Ming and Qing records regarding official study of ceramics is only about the identi­ rites make it clear that ritual objects had fication and dating of museum pieces. to be more conservative in design to play' Moreover, much credit must be given to the ceremonial role required of them. the ceramic scholars of the late nineteenth To be sure, Scott is not concerned with and early twentieth centuries who, with the question of why certain sources of the benefit of little (if any) archaeological inspiration should have prevailed over data, built up a chronological and typolog­ others, nor with the mechanisms through ical framework that is still substantially which new designs were transmitted to valid. But it would be too bad if one were potters, nor with the economic and social to conclude that the results of the last 40 factors that caused those designs to be years of vigorous field research have done adopted. Her paper is solidly within the no more than to "confirm, elaborate and museological tradition of dating, sourcing, modifY" established views. In my opinion, and explaining individual pieces and find- . one of the greatest values of recent archae­ ing comparable pieces in other museums ological work on ceramics has been to put and publications. She has done a fine job together a growing body of trustworthy in this regard. data and testable hypotheses that will Another paper concerned primarily with allow art historians as well as other schol­ the sourcing of museum collections is Yu­ ars to break away from past impressions, taka Mino's "Recent Finds of Chinese to develop new paths of research, and to Song and Yuan Ceramics." Like Kerr, contribute significantly to the mainstream BOOK REVIEWS study of history. The study of ceramics is are often broadly divided into Northern undergoing exciting changes, from an era and Southern phases according to the shift of connoisseurship to one of scientific of the political capital, from Kaifeng in scholarship. This excitement is abundantly the North to Hangzhou in the Southeast. evident in Mino's own work as well as in Rogers offers a finer division of artistic that of the other contributors to this book. expression during the time span of the Unlike the other papers, which cover a Northern Song. Her view is interesting wide range of wares over an extended and original. She examines different forms time span, Mary Ann Rogers concentrates of art-paintings, ceramics, and bronzes­ on one particular ware of the early twelfth of the eleventh and the twelfth centuries century, the enigmatic Ru ware, the iden­ and concludes that a new aesthetic philoso­ tification of which forms one of the most phy came to prevail in the early twelfth complicated but interesting issues in Chi­ century because of the interest of the nese ceramic history. In her paper, "The Court and that this transformed artistic Mechanics of Change: The Creation of A styles in several media. Ru ware is seen as Song Imperial Ceramic Style," she dis­ one response to that new philosophy. cusses the recently investigated Qingliangsi John Guy's paper, "Southeast Asian kiln in Henan Province where the famous Glazed Ceramics: A Study of Sources," of­ but enigmatic Ru ware was made. Rogers fers another perspective on ceramic studies explores three topics on which insight has in Asia. Guy attributes the shapes and de­ been shed by the Qingliangsi data: the re­ signs of glazed wares made in Southeast lationship between Ru ware and the con­ Asia to three sources. From India, he sug­ temporary Koryo celadon of Korea; the gests, come the storage jars of the purna Northern Song court as an important fac­ kalasa type as well as ritual utensils like tor in promoting the art movement of conches and kundika sprinklers; from which Qingliangsi production forms a China come covered jars, bowls, and part; and the relationship of Qingliangsi bottles; such forms as stem-dishes and with Northern Song Guan [Imperial] ware funerary jars come from the indigenous on the one hand and with Southern Song earthenware tradition. Other items such as Guan ware on the other. lime jars and wine containers (which have Rogers seconds Margaret Medley's idea a close resemblance to storage jars) might that Koryo celadon could have been a belong to the last category as well. Guy source of inspiration for the achievement also attempts to identify the functions of of Ru ware. The idea is plausible consider­ the various vessel shapes in terms of the so­ ing the cultural and political interest the cial and religious customs of the region. He two countries had in each other, but is dif­ refers extensively to bas reliefs, statues, ficult to prove in the absence of more tex­ bronze prototypes, excavated ceramics tual evidence. Without fresh evidence, from kilns and settlements in Southeast how are we to convince nationalistic schol­ Asia, and sometimes historical documents ars that Koryo influenced Ru when China as well. The paper is neatly structured, and by the early twelfth century had already its arguments are amply supported with been producing green-glazed ceramics for references. more than a thousand years and exporting Guy does not indicate whether he feels them for several hundred, while Korean that he has exhausted the full repertoire of potters had only advanced beyond earthen­ Indian- and Chinese-derived vessels; only ware a century or two before? It would six groups of derivative vessel shapes are be interesting if celadon production were identified. One suspects he might not be to prove to be another case like that of able to identify many more. Although gunpowder and cast-iron smelting-tech­ there is no denying that India and China nologies developed early in China but later have had an important impact on South­ learned so well by a fast-developing foreign east Asian cultural outlooks during the last country that they had to be reimported. 2000 years, ceramics do not seem to illus­ The arts and crafts of the Song period trate that impact very well. Indeed, kiln ASIAN PERSPECTIVES 33:1 . SPRING 1994 site reports from Thailand, Cambodia, Bur­ explain the visual appearance of each ware ma, and Viet Nam-on which adequate type and can contribute toward cultural in­ data have only begun to be assembled terpretations. within the past decade-contain many The Guan ware of the Southern Song more vessel shapes than Guy's paper cov­ period is an interesting exception, Vandi­ ers. Is this undiscussed majority, as appears ver points out. Three Guan ware samples to be the case, dominantly non-Chinese yield disparate patterns, each of which can and non-Indian in inspiration? Do some of be linked with characteristics of a separate the vessel shapes involved represent inno­ ware: Jun, Yue, and Longquan, respec­ vations or can all be derived from earlier tively. It seems in this case that the scien­ earthenware prototypes? Did potters in tific results match well with the compli­ various parts of Southeast Asia differ sig­ cated relationships among these wares as nificantly with regard to the degree of out­ seen by archaeologists and art historians. side influence they show? Or is Guy Mary Ann Rogers explains some of those justified in treating the kilns of Southeast relationships in her paper. Asia, for the sake of simplifying his argu­ Unlike Vandiver, who discusses only cer­ ment, as representing a single pan-regional tain ware types, Wood offers overall views entity? of two broad subjects: first, the history of The last two papers of the volume, technical studies on Chinese ceramics by "Technical Studies of Ancient Chinese Chinese and Western scientists and, sec­ Ceramics" by Pamela Vandiver and "Re­ ond, the technological development of cent Researches int'o the Technology of the Chinese ceramic industry from the Chinese Ceramics" by Nigel Wood, are Neolithic to Ming times. Wood has long written from the viewpoint of material been interested in approaching the subject science. Vandiver is concerned with the in terms of two main ceramic regions problem that art historians and archaeolo­ within China: the North and the South, gists have not fully appreciated the power­ each of which had distinctive technical ful tools developed by laboratory scientists. traditions shaped by local natural resources Her paper was written to educate non­ and climate. He sketches these ideas con­ technical readers about the usefulness of vincingly in this paper. technical studies. She cites results of The volume is well structured, amply microstructure analyses, many of which referenced, and skillfully presented. It con­ are her own work, on Chinese earthen­ stitutes an authoritative and easily followed ware and on Yue, Jun, Guan, Jian, Qing­ introduction to the technological back­ bai, and famille verte wares to demonstrate ground of Chinese ceramics. In my opin­ that each ware type can usually be charac­ ion it could profitably be read by anyone terized in terms of certain glazing and fir­ who hopes fully to understand the subjects ing patterns. These patterns can be used to of ceramic design and production.

Pacific Northeast Asia in Prehistory: Hunter-Fishers, Farmers, and Sociopolitical Elites. C. Melvin Aikens and S. N. Rhee, eds. Pullman, Wash.: Washington State Uni­ versity Press, 1992. 223 pp.

Reviewed by RICHARD PEARSON, University of British Columbia, Vancouver

This collection of 27 papers from the Cir­ China and Korea, and the Emergence of cum-Pacific Conference held in Seattle, 1­ Sociopolitical Elites. I attempt in this re­ 6 August 1989, is organized into three view to enumerate the total contents of main sections: Hunting-Fishing-Gathering this volume, with brief evaluative com­ Cultures, Farming Cultures In North ment. BOOK REVIEWS 173

Two papers surveying the Palaeolithic taken, in addition to. greater dependence and Early Holocene of Korea by K. D. on secondary foods derived from "r" strat­ Bae and S. B. Yi outline major discoveries egy species. Ikawa-Smith's paper on ring­ and problems and alert the reader to pre­ shaped burial mounds of Late Jomon vious extravagant claims. An intriguing at­ Hokkaido continues on this theme of resi­ tempt to quantify shell midden remains dential permanency, stating that "the from the Yankovskaya culture, dating ideology of residential permanency was so from the eighth to third centuries B.C., is strong among some Jomon people that provided by D. Brodianski and V. Radov, when they were unable to realize it in this of the Far Eastern State University, Vladi­ world, they contrived to maintain it in vostok. the arrangement of graves for the dead" A group of eight papers explores Japa­ (p. 83). These "kanjodori" grave mounds nese Jomon subsistence patterns. These in­ symbolize group solidarity in a time of so­ clude a study by T. Haraguchi of dolphin cial instability and tension. T. Kobayashi, hunting and ceremonialism at the Mawaki in his paper, "Patterns and Levels of Social Site, Ishikawa Prefecture (famed for its Complexity in Jomon Japan," identifies six arrangement of huge wooden posts and different Jomon settlement types, noting wooden carving). P. Bleed's study of diver­ that changes in settlement patterns from in­ sity of stone tool types and subsistence cipient to Late Jomon suggest increasing diversity at the Yagi Site, southern social complexity and clearer definition of Hokkaido, concludes that the Early Jomon social units. He also identifies a principle occupants were virtually sedentary, able to of dual social organization, expressed in reach various resources within a short dis­ distinct intrasite spatial groupings and inci­ tance of their settlement. M. Aikens and pient social ranking. H. Watanabe, whose T. Akazawa document the carryover of papers always provide insights for archaeol­ Jomon fishing traditions into Yayoi times ogists, outlines continuities in dwelling ha­ in sites on the Boso Peninsula, Chiba Pre­ bit, food economy, social life, and warfare fecture. Two papers, by M. Minagawa and among North Pacific cultures. He postu­ T. Akazawa, and by B. Chisholm, H. lates a northern Pacific culture z'one and Koike, and N. Nakai, discuss Jomon discusses residential stability and settlement palaeodiet based on isotopic analysis of type, dividing the northern Pacific Mari­ human bones. General conclusions are that time culture zone into the Northwest populations in Hokkaido depended on Coast, Bering Sea, Okhotsk Sea, and Japan larger proportions of meat than of plant Sea zones. North Pacific maritime hunter foods in their diet, in comparison with sedentism is associated with the develop­ populations from central Honshu or Kyu­ ment of wooden houses and a home base shu. Minagawa and Akazawa further point with complex spatial structure. Some pa­ out that, although the analogy between pers postulate an unbroken evolution of Jomon and cultures of the Northwest hunting and gathering in southern Hokkai­ Coast is often drawn, in fact, Northwest do, whereas Aikens acknowledges (p. 100) Coast peoples generally have a proportion the recent discoveries by Crawford and of meat to plant foods that is closer to Takamiya of a late stage of cultivation those of the peoples of Hokkaido. Run­ adopted by the Hokkaido Ainu, after ning through these papers is the strong which they returned to hunting and conclusion that in many, if not all, parts of gathering. Japan, Jomon communities were not sea­ Part 2, entitled "Farming Cultures in sonally mobile, but secured resources from North China and Korea," comprises six immediately adjacent locales at different papers, four dealing with China and two seasons of the year, using a diverse tool with Korea. W. M. Yan's paper reviews kit. H. Koike notes changes in subsistence the evidence for cultivation of plants, patterns accompanying population growth, using a Neolithic periodization based on such as the tendency for younger in­ nonsubsistence criteria. He places Early dividuals of both deer and shellfish to be Neolithic from 6500 to 5000 B.C. and 174 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES 33:1 . SPRING 1994

Late Neolithic from 5000 to 3000 B.C. X. the first century B.C., around the time B. Shi's two papers review the evidence when it expelled the Chinese comman­ for pre-Yangshao cultures and Neolithic dery of Xundu. G. Barnes reviews the de­ culture systems of China. One of the velopment of hard-fired ceramics in the more interesting papers, by Y. Wa, pro­ Korean peninsula in light of proposed vides useful background on the Dongbei typological and chronological revisions by region, with a summary of historical Korean scholars and relates them to new sources, ethnographic observations, and out­ data on the production of stoneware from lines of archaeological cultures. Through a China. H. J. Ro's revised framework for comparative study of stone tools, Y. N. Korean prehistory ignores any sign of Chon postulates that rice cultivation dif­ cultivation in the Chulmun Period, sepa­ fused to Korea from eastern China, south rates indigenous and foreign cultural traits of the Huai River. in the Mumun Period, and proposes a The third part, entitled "The Emergence "Korean Bronze Age" that synthesizes of Sociopolitical Elites," contains six papers these two. dealing directly or indirectly with Chinese The epilogue of the volume by K. C. and Korean ancient social complexity. A. Chang contains a second version of his for­ Underhill describes archaeological data for mulation of the shamanistic foundation of the Longshan Period of China that reflect Chinese and American Indian cultures, social complexity: size and type of settle­ which has roots back to the European Pa­ ment, differentiation in housing, and use laeolithic, the first version appearing in The of bronze items and special ceramics. She Archaeology of Ancient China (1986: 414­ finds evidence for large central walled sites 421. New Haven, Ct.: Yale University with defense facilities, elite residences con­ Press.) To its credit, the shamanistic structed of adobe, limited evidence of me­ hypothesis of Shang religion has more tallurgy in rich burials, and elite ceramics explanatory power than other studies of possibly used in competitive display. S. Shang bronzes, but the setting of this tra­ Nelson, in her paper dealing with agricul­ dition in opposition to Judaeo-Christian ture and sociopolitical development in pre­ beliefs seems unnecessarily reductionist to historic Korea, attempts to apply Rindos's me. three sequential cumulative modes of do­ Because this volume consists of confer­ mestication: Incidental Domestication, Spe­ ence proceedings published less than 4 cialized Domestication, and Agricultural years after the event, the editors' apparent Domestication. Although the approach decision to adopt a rough and ready atti­ seems useful, given the paucity of data on tude to editorial problems seems justified plant domestication it seems more like a and welcome. Unclear translation, slips in frame of reference for the time being. She Romanization, and missing page numbers proposes that the Yami of Taiwan can be for references cited can be found, but they considered as an example of Incidental are not serious. Domestication, despite their intensive, irri­ The major contributions of this volume gated taro subsistence base. M. L. Choi are, in my opinion, the exploration of discusses the trade system of the Korean Jomon subsistence and society and the Wiman Period (194-108 B.C.) through dis­ approaches to cultural complexity. Spotty tribution of knife money of the Yan state. data and superficial analyses sometimes Exploration of the implications of the data make the theoretical applications little look promising for future research. S. N. more than metaphors; however, the per­ Rhee's paper, "Secondary State Forma­ spectives are still worth pursuing. Many tion, The Case of the Koguryo State," other interesting perspectives are found in combines the theory of secondary state for­ these papers, which are obviously required mation with archaeological data from the reading for regional specialists. The editors region north of the Yalu River, conclud­ and conference organizers certainly deserve ing that Koguryo emerged as a state from our thanks.