A Microcosm of the Theoretical Turmoil in Contemporary Archaeology” (P
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duction, these essays are “a microcosm of the theoretical turmoil in contemporary archaeology” (p. 13). JOHN K. chance, Arizona State University The Origins of Agriculture and Settled Life. By Richard s. macneish. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992. Maps. Graphs. Tables. Figures. Bibliography. Index, xix, 433 pp. Cloth. $75.00. This book is written by one of the leaders of cultural ecology. Richard MacNeish is considered the initiator of Latin American archaeological research on the ori gins of agriculture. His long career in pursuit of the subject has had a remarkable impact; he has provoked many polemics with his discoveries from Mexico, Belize, and Peru. This work is a synthesis of his perceptions and categorizing views of the routes of human cultural evolution that led to food production and sedentism. The first chapter is the strength of the volume. It reviews some of the models of how agriculture originated but concentrates on an evolutionary model with 17 alternatives, or adaptational choices. Of these, only 3 trajectories lead to agricul tural villagers, who evolve from food collectors to food producers. The changes from one stage to the next result from environmental variations (for example, seasonality, distribution of resources, changes in carrying capacity) and the avail ability of domesticated plants. Population pressure arguments seem relevant only in secondary developments. Environmental variation is the basis of most of the arguments over what are the necessary and sufficient conditions that trigger the change toward any of the potential routes and stages. In his complex division, MacNeish differentiates (as others have previously) between centers and noncenters of agricultural origins. A center is defined as a part of the world where several plant domesticates occur. The four centers are the Andes, Mesoamerica, the Near East, and the Far East. The rest of the world fosters secondary or even tertiary developments. The rest of the book—95 percent—presents cases organized according to cen ters and noncenters. Apparently this portion of the book was produced first, and after discerning the different trajectories of human evolution, the author created the model presented in the first chapter. This inductive process of research may be the reason why none of the case studies gives the impression of testing any model. On the contrary, one feels like building one’s own model by placing the sequence of events in order. The section of case studies has value mainly as an interpretation of sequences of world archaeology regarding the issue. It presents a clear inter pretation of the fractional sequences and explanations of the changes in each area. This section can help familiarize the nonspecialist with the archaeological locations where such changes have been proposed. For the Latin American reader, Mac- Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/hahr/article-pdf/75/3/453/716513/0750453.pdf by guest on 01 October 2021 Neish’s synthesis of material on the Andes (chapter 3), Mesoamerica (chapter 4), and the Latin American tropics (chapter 10) is one of the best available, covering research up to the end of the 1980s. The volume is highly recommended for anyone interested in archaeology’s contribution to our understanding of the origins of food production. We must wait and see how much of MacNeish’s “trilinear theory,” as his model is called, appeals to researchers for future testing, in contrast to competing deductive models that pursue explanations of why people settled down, why people domesticated plants, and why they started to cultivate them. augusto OYUELa-caycedo, University of Calgary America’s First Cuisines. By SOPHIE D. COE. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994. Illustration. Bibliography. Index, x, 276 pp. Cloth, $35.00. Paper, $14.95. This book describes the foods and foodways of the Aztecs, Maya, and Inca by pre senting a history of the plants and animals of the New World, the “ingredients” of the cuisines that would emerge, and a description of those cuisines. As the intro duction states, the book “celebrates” these early cuisines and their contribution to humanity. Sophie Coe begins with a survey of the major staples—maize, manioc, pota toes—followed by a description of other foods common in the indigenous diet. Her observations on the origins, domestication, and diffusion of some plants help to place the cuisines in a broader biological and cultural context. Although the author frequently criticizes established knowledge (for example, the often men tioned trilogy of maize, beans, and squash, which she calls a later invention of anthropologists), she does not reveal much that is new in this discussion. Coe continues with lengthy but uneven treatments of cuisine and culture among the Aztecs, Maya, and Inca, making interesting observations on meals, cooks, and cooking. Careful descriptions of foods and food practices are the strength of these sections of the book. The author appropriately places the foods in a broader cultural context in an attempt to interpret their cultural and historical significance; but what is lacking is a thorough discussion of why particular foods and practices developed in some areas and not in others. Little effort is made at systematic comparisons of the different cuisines, and at times it is difficult to understand why some foods are emphasized in the context of one culture rather than another. The most questionable sections of the book describe the postconquest diffusion and use of food. Several assertions about dietary change after the conquest are unsubstantiated or misleading. Here the problem is the failure to consult much of the recent anthropological and historical literature on food in colonial Latin America and early modern Europe. The work the author does consult is too often Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/hahr/article-pdf/75/3/453/716513/0750453.pdf by guest on 01 October 2021.