BOOK REVIEWS

William Gowland: The Father oj Japanese Archaeology. Victor Harris and Kazuo Goto, eds. Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha and London: British Museum Press, 2003. 199 pp. ¥9000. ISBN 4-02-257835-1.

Reviewed by MARK HUDSON, University oj Tsukuba

William Gowland (1842-1922) was a Brit­ us with an excellent archaeological record ish chemist who was employed by the Im­ of the Gowland collection that is also artis­ perial Japanese Mint in Osaka for 16 years tically pleasing, the often rather stark con­ (1872 to 1888). In addition to active in­ trast recalling Gowland's own photos of terests in art and mountaineering, Gowland a century earlier. The detailed notes that was a keen amateur archaeologist who sur­ accompany these photos will be of great veyed hundreds of Kofun era tombs in value to scholars working on the material western Japan. After his return to the UK, culture of Kofun period Japan. Gowland's collection of artifacts, plans, and Gowland's approach to survey and exca­ photographs eventually made its way to the vation appears to have been meticulous. As British Museum. Although parts of this col­ early as 1878, he employed screening with lection had been seen by Kofun specialists sieves of different mesh size during excava­ Sueji Umehara, probably in 1924, and Hat­ tions at the Shibamura tomb (now known sushige Otsuka in 1967, the volume under as Shibayama) in Higashi Osaka City. In review here is the first extensive publica­ terms of interpretation, Gowland devel­ tion of the Gowland collection. oped critical views on some of the so-called The main body of this book consists of imperial mausolea and on the extent of plans and photographs of the tombs sur­ Yamato power in the earlier Kofun period. veyed by Gowland, as well as drawings and Otsuka (p. 173) writes that "Gowland's photographs of the artifacts he collected. findings did not reach the ears of Japanese The illustrations are all accompanied by academia because all three [of his] papers detailed notes. Short chapters by Victor were published after his return to England, Harris, Hironori Ueda, Hatsushige Otsuka, unfortunately with no way for them to and Kazuo Goto provide further back­ gain acceptance in contemporary Japanese ground on Gowland and his archaeological archaeological circles." Ueda (p. 160) ex­ work. The entire book has text in both pands on this by suggesting that Gowland's Japanese and English. Despite a number of failure to publish until after his return to typos, the translations from Japanese read the UK "was surely not coincidental. He smoothly, although I feel it would have judiciously foresaw the uproar his reports been more appropriate to use British rather would cause, and determined to hold off than American English on this occasion. publication until he was safely out of the The volume's photographer, Kazuo Goto, country." Further discussion of this issue describes the difficult conditions under and further background on Gowland him­ which he was required to take the photos self would have made this volume of more reproduced here (p. 185), yet the results interest to scholars outside of Kofun are impressive. Goto's photographs provide studies. A chronology of Gowland's life and

Asiall Pcrspccti1JCS, Vol. 45, No.1 C!-) 1006 by the University of Hawai'j Press. BOOK REVIEWS 97

a list of relevant publications would also Gowland made a preliminalY investigation have been welcome additions. For instance, at Shibamura on July 10, 1877, which was in an extract from an 1895 letter repro­ less than three weeks after Morse had duced here on p. 20, W. G. Aston wrote "discovered" the Omori shell middens to Gowland that he was "Glad to hear Mrs. in Tokyo on June 20 of that same year. Gowland and the young person are flour­ Morse's excavations at Omori in the au­ ishing." Since we are told that Gowland tunm of 1877 were closely followed by was unmarried while in Japan (p. 18), Gowland's dig at Shibamura on December could it be that his new wife and child ex­ 29-30, 1878. plain his delay in publishing his research as This book seems to be part of a trend much as his reluctance to be controversial toward the reevaluation of the work of while actually in Japan? Perhaps the major early Western pioneers in Japanese archae­ frustration with this book is that it never ology. Tatsuo Kobayashi (2004), for exam­ makes explicit exactly what is and is not ple, has recently emphasized the significance known about Gowland's life. of Neil Gordon Munro's 1908 volume Without doubt, however, this volume Prehistoric Japan. Munro would have been presents a timely reevaluation of Gowland's pleased by this, since-according to letters archaeological work in Japan, work that recently uncovered by my colleague Tom had been largely forgotten by the Japanese Bogdanowicz-he was quite bitter at the archaeological community. Together with treatment given to him by the Japanese Edward Morse, Heinrich von Siebold, and archaeological community. At the risk of others, Gowland was one of a number of sounding somewhat cynical, I can only Western scholars who were influential in hope that it doesn't take a hundred years the development of archaeology in Meiji for the Japanese archaeological conmmnity Japan. To call Gowland "The Father ofJap­ to evaluate the work of postwar Western anese Archaeology" is surely an exaggera­ archaeologists working in Japan. tion, but he was certainly a major founding In conclusion, then, this will be an figure. As this book makes clear through extremely useful volume for students of letters and other materials, Gowland was Kofun tombs and material culture, the in close contact with many other Western detailed descriptions of sites and finds pro­ scholars in Meiji Japan, including Ernest viding the sort of information that is diffi­ Satow, W. G. Aston, Basil Chamberlain, cult to find in English. Readers interested and Romyn Hitchcock. But his connec­ in the history of archaeology will have their tions, if any, with Edward Morse are not appetites whetted but come away wishing discussed here. It would be interesting to for more. know of the existence of such a connec­ tion, because the early excavations of these REFERENCE CITED

two men overlap almost eerily. As far as KOBAYASHI TATSUO one can determine from this volume, the 2004 Trends and perspectives in research first actual excavation conducted by Gow­ on Jomon culture. Bulletin of the In­ land was at the Shibamura tomb mentioned ternational Jomon Culture C01iference 1: 53-61. above. According to Victor Harris (p. 21),

Jade Dragon. Sarah Milledge Nelson. Littleton, CO: RKOLOG Press, 2004. 221 pp. Trade paperback. $19.95. ISBN: 0-9675798-2-1.

Reviewed by ADRIAN PRAETZELLIS, Sonoma State University

"I don't think of myself as an adventurous meeting people of other cultures. I might person, although I enjoy foreign travel and have turned down this adventure if I could

Asiall Perspccfil/CS, Vol. 45, No.1 © 2006 by the University of Hawai'i Press. ASIAN PERSPECTIVES . 45(1) . SPRING 2006 have seen the future, but maybe not. There don: St. Martins Griffin, 1997) is an early were pluses and minuses" (Nelson p. 7). example, while Janet Spector's What This Here are some words of advice for those Awl Means (Minneapolis: Minnesota His­ who believe that "archaeology" and "story" torical Society Press, 1993) is required should never appear in the same sentence: reading in many universities and a welcome Turn the page now. Jade Dragon is the sec­ break from the usual bland undergraduate ond of Sarah Nelson's archaeological sus­ fare. The late James Deetz went even fur­ pense novels and continues the exploits of ther, writing in the journal Historical Ar­ a Korean-American archaeologist whom chaeology that "Simply put, archaeologists we first met in Nelson's haunting first are storytellers" (Vol. 34: 94, 1998), for novel, Spirit Bit-d Journey. hermeneutic understanding is a dialog of The book's two parallel story lines are sorts between data and contexts, both ar­ narrated in the first person and take place chaeological and historical. Like Simpson, in contemporary China and in that coun­ Spector, and Deetz, Nelson is no dabbler. try's ancient past. The modern protagonist, A faculty member at the University of archaeologist Clara Alden, is visiting a site Denver, she has written a dozen books on dubbed the Goddess Temple and must archaeology, including The Archaeology of contend with local scholars and looters. Northeast China (ed., London: Routledge, Her spirit, meanwhile, travels deep into the 1995) and The Archaeology of Korea (Cam­ past and, in the form of a bird, observes and bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993). guides a group of tribal people. (It's tough Nelson is also an experienced traveler in to review a novel without giving away China and offers glimpses into the practice too much!) Chapters of varying length hop of archaeology, as well as the realities of between past and present, a style that life: Readers who have unanswered ques­ advances the action rapidly and maintains tions about the state of Chinese public toi­ the reader's interest. lets will want to order this book. Jade Dragon is about jade and the im­ While Jade Dragon is a good read-and portance of that mysterious stone in both parts are extraordinarily rich in both modern and ancient China. Plundering ar­ emotion and ethnographic detail-it's not chaeological remains for valuable pieces is without fault. The author is at her strongest big business in China, in spite of the possi­ when she is evoking time and place; the bility of a death sentence for the perpetra­ flip side is some unnaturally stiff dialog that tor. As the people of the ancient past come would fit more easily in a lecture hall than alive through Nelson's novel, the contem­ a real conversation. And perhaps it's the porary looters crime becomes even more field archaeologist in me that felt a great heinous. By destroying the archaeological yearning for a map with which to track the contexts in which these precious objects characters' journeys, for they're always on have come to us, these scavengers extin­ the move. The publisher, RKLOG Press guish past lives. I cannot help thinking that (spell out the letters), is guilty of occasional Nelson's occasional digs at art historians lapses in production values such as changes may have been influenced by the fact that in the font and instances of blank half lines. their profession is rooted in the same fixa­ Parts of Jade Dragon are almost ethno­ tion with material things that fueled the graphic in their detail. One can sense a life­ frenzy of pillaging that destroyed so many time of anthropological observation bub­ archaeological sites in advance of construc­ bling up as the author paints her picture of tion of the Three Gorges Dam. a matrilineal society in which women are, Sarah Nelson is not the first archaeologist nevertheless, subjugated in marriage. It's to have realized that some of our insights clear that the book was written by an ar­ simply cannot be expressed through con­ chaeologist, for this story of the deep past ventional scholarly presentations. George hinges on elements that have archaeologi­ Gaylord Simpson's posthumously published cal manifestations: Creating a ceremonial The Dechronization of Sam Magruder (Lon- structure involves breaking pots; the mem- BOOK REVIEWS 99

bers of an evolving elite enhance their so­ aware of the role these forces play in the cial status by displaying rare artifacts; trade long view, happily in Jade Dragon we are causes one village to prosper at the expense offered an antidote to such bleak and cyni­ of others. cal versions of the human story: the opti­ Modern theory-driven interpreters of mistic notion that friendly, mutual rela­ prehistory have created a uniformly austere tionships would also have been a part of past dominated by forces like adaptation cultural-historical change. And that inter­ and class conflict in which altruism is sim­ ethnic communication can at times be a ply greed's mask. While Nelson's anthro­ source of curiosity and wonder, rather than pological approach shows she is keenly xenophobia that slides inevitably to war.

The Excavation of Khok Phanom Di: A Prehistoric Site in Central Thailand. Volume VII: Summary and Conclusions. c.F.W. Higham and R. Thosarat, with contribu­ tions by B.F.J. Manly and R. A. Bentley. London: Society of Antiquaries, 2004. (Distributed by Oxbow Books.) Reviewed by ANNA KALLEN, Museum of National Antiquities, Stockholm

The long-awaited seventh and last report vated at the mound site Khok Phanom volume from the Khok Phanom Di exca­ Di in 1984-1985. A series of radiocarbon vations in 1984 and 1985 was recently pub­ dates indicate that the cultural layer, which lished by the London Society of Anti­ is up to 12 meters deep, accumulated rap­ quaries. The authors, Rachanie Thosarat idly between 2000 and 1500 B.C. The first and Charles Higham, are here summarizing human activity at the site is described as an and concluding the results from the six pre­ estuarine settlement of maritime hunter­ ceding report volumes from Khok Phanom gatherer-fishers who interacted with intru­ Di, the renowned prehistoric mound site in sive rice cultivators in its hinterland. The central Thailand. The book is produced in activities that followed over four centuries an accessible hardcover format of 182 pages, display cultural continuity as well as major including appendices, bibliography, and cultural changes. index, with 21 tables and 92 figures. It is The human activities at Khok Phanom a suitable report format, apart from the Di have been divided into eight cultural photographs, which would have benefited phases, while the recovered burials have from a more careful layout and a finer been subdivided into seven mortuary raster. phases, illustrated neatly as a diagram in The text is divided into five chapters. Figure 25. With mortuary phase 3, there The first is a short introduction to the site are considerable changes in the attitude to and the 1984-1985 excavations, followed ceramics, and the skeletal remains suggest by a summary of the results in the second a change in activity patterns. Rice is now chapter. Chapter three contains the analysis more common in burials, whereas there is of mortuary remains. The fourth chapter a decline in fishhooks and shell jewelry. deals with social organization, and the final These indications of change are backed up one presents Khok Phanom Di in wider with substantial references to biological data perspective, with comparisons to linguistic suggesting major transitions in the habitat theories and interpretations of other exca­ from marine to freshwater, back to marine vated sites in Southeast Asia. and finally, to dry land conditions, during An area of 10 by 10 meters was exca- the time that the site was used.

Asia" PCI'spccti!lcs, Vol. 45, No.1 © 2006 by the University of Hawai'i Press. 100 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES . 45(1) . SPRING 2006

Human remains from 154 burials have tion," "subsistence base," and "model." The been analyzed with emphasis on health. theoretical base of the Khok Phanom Di The human remains basically reconfirm the excavation is clearly to be found in the impact of the environmental changes on positivist school of processual archaeology the community, with changes in activity developed by Lewis Binford and others in patterns and health status. Strontium iso­ the early 1970s. This is also reconfirmed by tope analysis of teeth indicates that some Higham. and Thosarat's references to social of the interred individuals were raised theory, all of which, with one exception, elsewhere and have come to the site as predates 1984. According to the objectivist adults. ideals of positivism, the role of science is to Among the artifacts were clay net sink­ deal with the chaotic reality through means ers, bone points and awls, stone adzes, of simplification and to strive for value hoes, shell knives, shell beads and bangles, neutrality. Hermeneutics is a fundamentally turtle carapace ornaments, potters' anvils different theoretical base used in most re­ and burnishing stones, clay cylinders, and search in human science and social theory extraordinary pottery and potsherds. Most today. In hermeneutics, reality is abstract, artifacts were recovered from mortuary ungraspable, and uninteresting if seen contexts and have been analyzed foremost neutrally and out of context. With a her­ in terms of raw material. A number of meneutic approach, therefore, knowledge computerized analyses have been per­ cannot be formed as a simplification but formed, such as multiple regression analysis, must be actively created through a problem­ cluster analysis, four-dimensional non­ atization of reality. Archaeologists working metric multidimensional scaling, and a with a hermeneutic research approach have multiple varimax rotated factor matrix for since the 1980s criticized processual archae­ each mortuary phase. ologists for reductionism and oversimplifi­ At the end of the volume, Higham and cation in their interpretations of human so­ Thosarat summarize as follows: ciety, for conveying undisputed sexist and imperialistic images of prehistory disguised Our preferred view is that Khok in claims of neutrality and objectivity, and Phanom Di was occupied by a com­ for a general lack of critical reflection on munity whose forbears had occupied coastal habitats in Southeast Asia for the terminology and categorization used millennia. With the intrusion of agri­ in analyses of material culture and social culturalists ultimately from the area organization. of the Yangzi valley, they entered Swimming around, as I am, in the her­ into a new web of social relationships meneutic pool of Scandinavian archaeol­ which brought females into the com­ ogy, I have asked myself many times why munity, and with them the exotic it is that the archaeology of Southeast dog, a knowledge of rice and its po­ Asia has never really picked up the more tential as a cultigen, and new oppor­ humanist and intellectually stimulating tunities for the exchange of artefacts cntIque involved in the hermeneutic fashioned from the local shellfish and clay resources. (p. 158) approach used in almost all human science in the world today and instead insists on "One of the principal objectives in com­ holding on to a theoretical foundation that pleting this analysis of Khok Phanom Di, is now by most considered to be too is to integrate these changes with patterns rigid and oversimplifYing-even for natural of human adaptation" (p. 18). "The ex­ science, let alone human sciences. In the cavation has provided the opportunity to case of Khok Phanom Di, there is nothing examine the interactions between the envi­ in the constitution of material remains at ronment, subsistence, technology and the Khok Phanom Di that makes this site par­ health of the inhabitants over time" (p. ticularly suitable for questions of adaptation 21). These and many more examples from and subsistence. On the contrary, based on the text include words such as "adapta- my reading of Higham and Thosarat's text, BOOK REVIEWS 101

I am convinced that the image of Khok (p. 24). This is despite the fact that there is Phanom Di and its prehistoric inhabitants no difference between males and females in can only benefit from a bit of critical terms of the number of grave goods with discussion. Let me take three concrete which they have been endowed. Again, it is examples. not difficult to trace these essentialist images There are quite amazing indicators of of men and women to ideals of the modern elaborate mortuary rituals emphasizing the world, which appear in value neutral dis­ individual and the particular at Khok Pha­ guise in the story of Khok Phanom Di as nom Di. Bodies were covered in red ochre projections of strong and socializing travel­ and wrapped in cloth together with pottery ing men and frail, food-collecting, fertile and other grave goods and interred in women. In the amazingly rich mortuary supine position surrounded by a wooden material at this site, there are excellent structure, in what appears to have been an opportunities for a discussion on gender elaborate ritual involving feasting. The im­ that does not end in yet another stereo­ portance of the particular is displayed in the typed projection of essential categories of great variation of outstanding grave goods. Inen and women. All analyses of these mortuary remains A recurring figure in the story about are based first on the assumption that the Khok Phanom Di is "the intrusive farmer," importance of an object lies inherent in who plays the role of the threat in the the material it was made of and second that hinterland to the idyllic hunter-gatherer's "many things" is synonymous with wealth. world: "The dog is an exotic species in Both these assumptions are easy to trace Southeast Asia, and its arrival at the site is back to a value system of the modern world most probably the result of contact be­ and are very difficult to sustain with refer­ tween long-established hunter-gatherers, ence to recent research in human science. and the first groups of intrusive farm.ers Human culture is simply far m~essier than in the hinterland" (p. 7). The immediate that, if you want to take it seriously. It is question that comes to mind is exactly how fantastic and disturbing with its contradic­ this contact was constituted, a contact be­ tions and inconsistencies. The multiple var­ tween the intrusive and the enduring, imax rotated factor matrix therefore fails involving an exchange of dogs and immi­ to move me, it fails to make me appreciate gration of women? Similar discussions the greatness of the life of the 22-year-old about the introduction of agriculture have woman in burial no. 47, who was interred been going on in Scandinavian archaeology cradling a newborn infant in her left arm, for decades. Those discussions have now or the 19-year-old male in burial no. 147, moved beyond the simplified idea of stable who was interred alone with no grave categories of intruders and endurers to goods. Can we really draw the conclusion more complex understandings that leave that his life had no value? These questions room for some of the messiness of human must be asked if we want to take the peo­ culture. Even more interesting for the case ple of Khok Phanom Di seriously. of Khok Phanom Di is to ask why the in­ The image conveyed of the physical troduction of rice cultivation at sites in people of Khok Phanom Di is, in an exam­ Southeast Asia 3700 years ago is described ple from mortuary phase 2, one of physi­ in terms of conquest and intrusion. These cally robust males of great upper-body are words from military and imperialist ter­ strength paddling canoes, and frail fertile minology. Maybe the answer is to be found females collecting shellfish. Based on skele­ in the last chapter of this volume, which tal evidence of more or less developed reopens for discussion the idea of expansive muscles and degenerated joints, "it is sug­ rice cultivators from Yunnan entering into gested that men were often engaged in riv­ Mainland Southeast Asia around 2000 B.C. erine or maritime travel which involved I am far from convinced, and I would wel­ fishing and the collection of shells for con­ come a discussion on the vocabulary used: version into ornaments of social value" It conveys an image of conquest and intru- I02 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES • 45(I) . SPRING 2006

sion that is not substantiated anywhere in the hope for future dynamic and problematiz­ material culture from this time in this area. ing discussions in the archaeology of Main­ In conclusion, there is reason to rejoice land Southeast Asia, creating vibrant stories that there is now a complete and detailed that are able to account for some of the hu­ report from the excavations of the amazing man magnificence at sites such as Khok site of Khok Phanom Di. Personally, I also Phanom Di.

And through Flows the River: Archaeology and the Pasts of Lao Pako. Anna Killen. Studies in Global Archaeology 6. Uppsala: Uppsala University, 2004.

Reviewed by JOYCE C. WHITE, University of Pennsylvania Museum

The excavations at Lao Pako represent social organization of dominant players in a pioneering chapter in Southeast Asian that research and views of Lao government archaeology-one of the first prehistoric officials on the purpose and value of the research programs in Laos since the country archaeological research. Kallen aims quite began opening up to the world of modern self-consciously to raise her treatment of archaeological research in the late 1980s. It Lao Pako out of the well-worn route of is not easy being among the first outsiders how to write an archaeological dissertation. to work in a country with little infrastruc­ Yes, this volume is actually a Ph.D. dis­ ture or history of archaeological research. sertation, even if it is presented as the sixth The project is remarkable for being a sus­ volume in the series Studies in Global Ar­ tained effort over the course of eight years chaeology. Except for a preliminary report by a gutsy Swedish graduate student, Anna in BAR (British Archaeological Reports, Kallen, who in this volume presents a syn­ Kallen and Karlstrom 1999), this is the first thesis of her efforts. book-length treatise on a prehistoric site in Some Southeast Asian archaeologists will Laos, a country at the heart of Southeast enjoy Kallen's approach to Lao Pako, per­ Asia that is a virtual archaeological terra haps especially members of the younger incognita. As such it should be widely generation. Other archaeologists may feel read, irrespective of the reader's comfort provoked, such as those over 50 years of with the theoretical orientations or discur­ age. Many readers will experience a con­ sive style of the author. I recommend read­ tinuously changing range of reactions, from ing the text from beginning to end (i.e., thoughtful stimulation to irritation to eye­ not as a reference to "look up" a fact of brow raising. The reactions will reflect as personal interest). By maintaining an open much on the reader as on the text, as the mind throughout and allowing one's mind personal realms of reader and writer are to be stimulated by the views of a member deliberately included in Kallen's interests: of the coming generation of Southeast "I do not aim for my archaeology to be safe, Asian archaeologists on an important and but instead thought-provoking, debating fascinating site, the reader will likely expe­ and challenging" (p. 184, emphasis added). rience a variety of shifts in his or her per­ The topics challenged are not limited to ceptions of Mainland Southeast Asian ar­ dominating theoretical frameworks during chaeological research. the relatively brief history of the modern Lao Pako is a late Iron Age site (first discipline of Southeast Asian archaeology. half of the first millennium A.D.) along They even touch upon aspects (albeit selec­ the Ngum tributary to the Mekong in tively and in passing) usually addressed over Vientiane Province. It is one of those rare drinks at the bar-such as the impact of the Southeast Asian prehistoric sites that is only

Asiall PcrspeclilJcs, Vol. 45, No.1 r[) 2006 by the University of Hawai'i Press. BOOK REVIEWS 103

a single phase, small (1 hectare), and "rich." ence for this volume is professional South­ The single phase means that issues of east Asian archaeologists who were born sorting out chronology and sequence that and educated in developed countries. Al­ often dominate other site reports in the though Kallen shows awareness of the region are minimal, in comparison with colonialist underpinnings of most current the multiphase, often multimillennia sites archaeology in Southeast Asia and of the more commonly excavated. The compact differing agendas of indigenous archaeolo­ size means that a dissertation-sized project gists from those born and educated in the is able to get a reasonable sense of what West, this book does little to bridge the is there. That the site is rich-in the sense communication gap. Indigenous Southeast that within the smallish site a dense depo­ Asian archaeologists may find the volume sition of a wide range of intact or re­ hard to read, understand, appreciate, or use constructible material remains from delib­ as a model for their archaeological research. erate interments, as well as deposits left This is an observation, not a criticism, as from specific activities, particularly metal Kallen's primary objective is to stir up the production-means that vivid visual evi­ complacency of the established discourse­ dence was recovered that helps to engage not only a valid goal but arguably an im­ the archaeological imagination regarding portant one in the context of a Ph.D. dis­ the significance and place of the site in sertation. understanding Southeast Asia's past. What is probably of broadest interest to Many aspects of this report, from ex­ the potential readership is what Lao Pako cavation methodology to data presenta­ contributes to the data and understanding tion to theoretical framework, could evoke of the late Iron Age of Mainland Southeast extended discussions. The use of phosphate Asia. Fieldwork during four seasons be­ analyses to define site extent could be more tween 1995 and 2003 uncovered evidence commonly applied in Southeast Asia. Dur­ for two main types of activities at this site: ing a visit to the site in 2001, I observed deliberate interments usually of sets of that for this particular site (relatively shal­ whole vessels (at least one including an low and with nearly complete access to the infant burial) and remains of production site' s surface), the dissertation strategy of activities, especially iron production and excavating a random sample of test pits probably textile production. The ceramic was likely to have been both viable and vessels reveal yet another distinctive ceramic worthwhile-possibly a first for Southeast tradition, although small finds like spindle Asian prehistoric sites. The manner of whorls and clay rollers are closely paralleled presenting the data is attractive, engaging, at other sites on the Khorat Plateau in unconventional, and creative, but at times Thailand. Kallen interprets the production thin on presenting aspects of the evidence and interment activities as ritually related. normally expected in site reports, such as Lao Pako adds to the growing body of scales for all illustrations or synthesizing evidence that Iron Age Southeast Asia was data tables to support assertions in the text. a diverse and complex place, not comfort­ The theory involved in justifying the inter­ ably fitting into a uniformitarian scenario pretation of Lao Pako as a "ritual site" of hierarchical chiefdoms on their way to would entail a lengthy discussion indeed. becoming states. Just picture SOlTte other Obviously there is not enough space in this cultures of roughly the same time period in review to do anyone topic justice. There­ the Mekong basin-the Plain of Jars, Ban fore I will confine myself to a few obser­ Chiang Late Period, the jar burial sites of vations on topics that I find of personal in­ the lower Mun and Chi, Phnum Snay, and terest: audience and the nature of the Iron Noen-U-Loke to name a few-and a pic­ Age of Southeast Asia. ture of a riot of regional self-expression The book's focus on applying a post­ in everything from ceramics to burial rites colonial critique with postprocessual and to social organization comes to ITlind. So structuralist overtones means that the audi- much is happening in the Iron Age, yet lit- 104 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES . 45(1) SPRING 2006 tle scholarship has tried to meaningfully arly perspectives and stimulation evokes bring out the salient evidence in all its rich similar broadening among up-and-coming diversity. The field cannot ignore this vari­ Southeast Asian archaeologists. On the ability much longer. other hand, while awareness and articula­ One important area of contribution by tion of "where one is coming from" is im­ Kallen to the discussion of mortuary depos­ portant, I hope the style emphasizing the its is the beginning of the end of their author's personal sentiments as a center­ treatment as an isolated behavior set, dis­ piece of scholarship is just a passing fad connected from daily life. Sites in South­ and does not become the dominant model east Asia with mortuary remains have long for dissertations and other archaeological been analyzed explicitly or implicitly as if scholarship for the younger or any genera­ they were "cemeteries," but it is increas­ tion. Perhaps my stance is old-fashioned, ingly evident that mortuary remains in this but I have been around long enough to region are usually found amongst evidence witness the inevitable transience of theo­ for daily life-metal production in the case retical orientations. One returns again and of Lao Pako and other sites mentioned in again to a site report-take Ban Kao (S0r­ the text, and/or dwellings, food remains, ensen 1967) as an example-that has a and so on. The cemetery assumption has thorough, well-organized description of facilitated analyses focusing on wealth and the evidence of the site according to basic status differentials fundamental to validat­ archaeological principles: stratigraphy, ty­ ing the neo-evolutionary paradigm. If the pology, relative and absolute chronology, dead were not buried in cemeteries, the depositional contexts, and so forth. In a foundations for many aspects of the analysis good report, I find it is quite easy to factor of the development of social complexity in out out-dated interpretations that may have prehistoric Southeast Asia will need to be been current at the time of publishing, rethought and reanalyzed. The principles even if I also appreciate learning "where underlying interment decisions and behav­ the excavator was coming from." I can eas­ iors will need to be sought from new ily forgive methodologies that fall short by approaches and paradigms-perhaps with more recent standards if I can extract still inspiration from postprocessual concepts. useful and reliable empirical data. Such a It took admirable courage to write this site report retains its value indefinitely, "outside the box" treatment of Lao Pako, irrespective of its formative paradigm. To especially determinedly putting its excava­ create archaeology that is both stimulating tion and interpretation into the historical at the time of writing al1d of enduring con­ and social scholarly context as experienced tribution to the field is the ideal aspiration. by the author. She risks dismissal by still­ Many data are presented in this volume, powerful, senior, mostly male members of and only time will tell if 40 years from the field who have invested their careers in now, this volume on Lao Pako sits dog­ entrenched paradigms. But even some of eared and underlined in the bookshelves of us over 50 are weary of the pervasive and most members of the profession. unending reproduction of simplistic linear evolutionary fran'leworks focusing on ori­ REFERENCES CITED gins and progressive dominance scenarios, irrespective of whether or not the data lend KALLEN, A., AND A. KARL STROM themselves to such an approach or empha­ 1999 Lao Pako: A Late Prehistoric Site 011 the sis. Efforts like Kallen's will serve to help Ndl1l NgU111 River ill Laos. British Ar­ break out (not just peer out) of the evolu­ chaeological Reports 777. Oxford: British Archeological Reports. tionary box, broaden the archaeological discourse in the region beyond stale pro­ SORENSEN, P. 1967 Bal1-Kao: Neolithic Settlements with gressive paradigms, and bring more of our Cemeteries in the Kal1chal1abllri Province. data into global archaeological discussions. Vol. 2 of Archaeological Excavations in I hope Kallen's broad reach for schol- Thailand. Copenhagen: Munksgaard. BOOK REVIEWS IOS

Fishbones and Glittering Emblems: Southeast Asian Archaeology 2002. Anna Karlstrom and Anna Kallen, eds. Stockholm: Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities (Ostasia­ tiska Museet), 2003. 540 pp. 396 Swedish kronor.

Reviewed by JOHN N. MIKSIC, National University of Singapore

The European Association of Southeast will isolate a few themes that bridge the Asian Archaeologists (EurASEAA) held different sessions and choose-on the basis their ninth biennial conference in Sigtuna, of my own subjective evaluation-those a historic city in Sweden, in May 2002. papers that best exemplify these themes for This volume contains a large proportion of special mention. the papers presented at that conference, One interesting topic concerns the role published in what constitutes record time of the European archaeologist in Asia. This for such large and diverse archaeological theme is introduced in the conference's meetings as the EurASEAA meetings have keynote address by Ian Glover. As he notes become. The meetings of this association (p. 24), "What follows is in no way a his­ must be considered one of the two most tory of European involvement in the de­ important gatherings of scholars working in velopment of archaeology in Southeast this field, along with the congresses of the Asia for that would take a substantial vol­ Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association (IPPA). ume." The recent publication of a history The desire to publish as many contribu­ of the Ecole Fran~aise d'Extreme-Orient tions as possible leads to a wide variation indicates what such a history might con­ in the quality of papers in the association's tain. It is to be hoped that such a volume, conference volumes. One of the compen­ largely written by Southeast Asians, will sating advantages of this philosophy is that appear someday. In the 1960s, some South­ we learn the names and work of some east Asians began to study at archaeology scholars, particularly Asians, who would not graduate schools in other parts of the world. otherwise have their voices heard. Eighteen Others, however, such as R. P. Soejono contributors of the 73 (approximately 25 and Pisit Charoenwongsa, remained in percent) in this volume are Asian. The their own countries and served as directors organizers put in hard labor to raise funds of the major archaeological research insti­ to enable the Asian scholars to attend the tutions; foreign-trained archaeologists be­ conference; for this as well as their timely came significant only in the late twentieth issue of this publication, they are to be century. commended. As Glover notes (p. 27), too many for­ Because the papers are published soon eign archaeologists continue to ignore the after they are presented, they tend to be lit­ work of local scholars and "sometimes at­ tle changed from the conference versions. tempt to circumvent, rather than to collab­ They are brief, and many of them concern orate with the local researchers, do not research projects at various intermediate communicate their results, forget to send stages of implementation, for which no copies of the publications, and do not send conclusions are yet available. Some are back material allowed out on loan." A large "opinion pieces"; others concentrate on proportion publish outside the region, in presenting data in various states of digestion English, French, or German, "and are re­ or analysis. A total of 50 papers (and two luctant to become involved with the aca­ "poster sessions," which are equivalent to demic life of the host country" (p. 29). It is papers in length) are included in this book. genuinely a wonder that Southeast Asians As a means of grappling with the prob­ continue to be as hospitable to foreign lem of discussing such a varied book, I archaeologists as they are. One hopes that

Asia/J Perspcrfil'cs, Vol. 45, No.1 © 2006 by the University of Hawai'j Press. 106 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES • 45(1) . SPRING 2006

the younger generation of scholars will re­ Most of the objects have no firm prove­ flect upon the sins of their elders and strive nance or dating. Much of Glover's paper, to better their record. an inventory of what does exist, is a useful Attitudes that might be termed national­ catalogue of collections. istic have surfaced in Southeast Asian ar­ Another interesting contribution to this chaeology, although such a stance is more topic is Kanji Tawara's history of Vietnam­ overt in some countries than in others. ese archaeology (pp. 445-458). He deals Glover himself, who previously perceived with fluctuating attitudes toward the his­ nationalism as divisive and malign in its tory of the Hung kings at various periods, effects, admits the validity of the argument from the fifteenth century until the post- of the Philippine archaeologist Victor Paz 1954 period. The contents and conclusions that despite excesses, nationalism can be will be familiar to those who have studied positive: It legitimizes the subject, encour­ Vietnamese historical archaeology, but it is ages the flow of resources, and generates useful to have the story summarized in data that can be used for multiple purposes. condensed form. Magnus Fiskesjo discusses the history The volume contains several substantive of European museums, such as the well­ contributions to Southeast Asian prehis­ known Swedish Museum of Far Eastern tory. The paper by M. Spriggs, S. O'Con­ Antiquity, that specialize in Asian artifacts nor, and P. Veth on shell middens of East (pp. 459-469). His interest is particularly Timor (pp. 49-58) is one of the best orga­ drawn to the "splendid isolation of the nized of the volume. Six of these sites are European museums from their collections' "Mesolithic" in date (5500-3600 B.P.) and Asian origins ... [and the] strange circum­ "seem to represent a hunting and gathering stances of the originally European museum lifestyle rendered unsustainable when Neo­ institution as transposed to the nations of lithic agricultural lifestyles developed on Asia" (p. 459). Timor with attendant massive environmen­ The latter subject is not developed fur­ tal impacts upon the flora, fauna and geo­ ther. Instead, Fiskesjo notes that the past morphology of the island" (p. 49). Most of 15 years have seen an immense growth in these middens have no pottery and seem to the flow of European tourists to Southeast have disappeared shortly after 4000 B.P. Asia. As a result, rather than being the ma­ "Their demise is related to colonization by jor medium of exposure to Southeast Asian Neolithic farmers, and/or the rapid adop­ culture, artifacts in European museums are tion of agriculture by indigenous groups now more like tourist souvenirs brought once it became available at around that time" back by one's grandparents. New museum (p. 54) [emphasis added]. display techniques will be needed to make It is possible to debate several aspects of these souvenirs interesting to modern visi­ this paper. The use of such terminology as tors, but simple reliance on new technol­ "Mesolithic" and "Neolithic" already con­ ogy or new approaches such as "infotain­ veys certain implications about the rela­ ment" are not likely to succeed in realizing tionship between the technology and the the potential of the objects to educate culture of the area that remain to be deter­ visitors. mined. Indonesian and other archaeologists Ian Glover contributes a paper on have argued that such terminology should "Southeast Asian Archaeological Collec­ be replaced for Southeast Asia because it tions in United Kingdom's Museums" (pp. carries assumptions about such connections 417-433). The conclusion, which came as imported from outside the region. a surprise to him, is that Britain actually Other queries must await further evi­ possesses few archaeological collections dence: Can we accept the assumption of from Southeast Asia. Most of this material "massive impact" on the region from im­ arrived haphazardly, by donations, pur­ migrants with new subsistence strategies? If chase, exchanges, or bequests from collec­ shellfish gathering became unsustainable as tors, and mostly from Burma and Malaysia. a result of immigrants, why should this be BOOK REVIEWS I07

so? The fact that three shell middens near as well as lacquered wooden handles for Dili date from the last 600 years and an­ axes with bronze blades set at angles like other at Baucau is dated 2050 B.P. seems to Indonesian cangkul digging tools, bronze contradict the hypothesis that the previous halberds, and spears. Some bronze phalluses lifestyle was unsustainable. It is argued that were also recovered. In a related paper (pp. the extinction of bush rats, which formerly 80-96), M. von Dewall provides a detailed supplied a major source of nutrition, coin­ description of the burial of a small child cided with the inception of agriculture placed inside an extensively decorated (p. 55) and made a mobile lifestyle unsus­ bronze situla found in Hop Minh, Yen-bai tainable. No evidence is provided to dem­ Province, northern Vietnam, as an example onstrate that the shell middens represent of bronze's dominant role in Southeast seasonal rather than permanent occupation. Asian cultural traditions of ritualized mor­ The authors note that no "Neolithic" tuary practice, which can be traced back to village sites have yet been found, although the Dongson and Dian cultural spheres. Glover found pottery and other Neolithic She notes (p. 90) the interesting contrast evidence that begins to appear around 4000 in the situation between Dongson culture, B.P. They honorably admit that the differ­ which is comparatively well documented ence between ancient and recent site distri­ by stratified deposits including settlements, bution "probably results partly from our and Dian, where no settlements have yet survey strategy to date, as we have concen­ been found and which is dated almost trated our survey efforts away from con­ exclusively by Han Chinese imports found temporary village sites" (p. 58), so we don't in burial contexts. The Dian bronze burial know when modern sites were established. goods are, however, of much higher qual­ Have they been occupied for the last 4000 ity workmanship, diversity, and artistic years? Or were Neolithic sites not detected inspiration. for some reason having to do with survey The volume contains some very interest­ technique? These queries aside, the article ing studies of trade. One of these, by Olaf presents a valuable preliminary look at a Winter (pp. 1219-1234), concerns the project with potential to provide much im­ origins of the famous kula ring. A Swedish portant new data on the prehistory of the expedition to Kiriwina in 1998-1999 con­ eastern archipelago. stitutes one of the few archaeological re­ Another paper on prehistory, by Nguyen search projects to have been devoted to Kim Dung, is entitled "Prehistoric Tech­ the Trobriand Islands, made so famous by niques in the Ha Long Culture on Cat Ba the ethnography of Bronislaw Malinowski. Island: ]. G. Anderrson's Discoveries and The Amphlett Islands in the D'Entrecas­ Recent Research" (pp. 59-69). This paper teaux archipelago are now the main distri­ contributes important new information on butors of ceramics in the Trobriands, which Vietnamese research in this area over the are mostly used in ceremonial cooking for past 40 years, including the author's own funerals. In prehistoric times, however (i.e., excavations on Cat Ba Island from 1998 to approximately 500-1500 years B.P.), it 2001, during which nine Pleistocene sites seems that W oodlark Island, Wanigela, and dating back 25,000 years were identified. Collingwood Bay were the main distribu­ The paper also contains gracious recogni­ tion centers for ceramics to the Trobriand tion of the work of the Swedish geologist/ Islands, which have no clay suitable for archaeologist,]. G. Anderrson, in the 1930s. pottery making. Pottery trade between the Yunnan is the focus of a paper by Jiang mainland and Trobriands appears to have Zhilong on excavations at the site of Yang­ taken place during the period A.D. 500- putou (pp. 75-80). In 1998-1999, 495 1500. Then in the sixteenth century, the burials were discovered, with over 4000 Amphlett Islands achieved a monopoly of artifacts, including bronze, iron, gold, jade, pottery distribution. Winter provides inter­ agate, ceramics, and much lacquer in the esting explanations for this shift and adds previously unknown form of male genitals, the important observation that the distri- 108 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES . 45(1) . SPRING 2006 bution of prehistoric pottery shows that the chy. What is the evidence for such a situa­ exchange system was then more wide­ tion? In their terms, proof comes in the fol­ spread than the modern kula system. lowing form: "Availability of means and Karen M. Mudar and Vincent C. Piggott materials for specialized production to all discuss the possible rationale for early cop­ households in a community can be signaled per production in Lopburi Province, cen­ by community-wide organization of spe­ tral Thailand (pp. 149-160). They postu­ cialized production and lack of evidence late, "The correlation of changes in both for workshops-exactly how we charac­ subsistence and production should con­ terize production at Non Pa Wai and Nil tribute to an understanding of subsistence Kham Haeng" (p. 152). But how can one strategies that ... fostered long-term, non­ determine whether all households in an hierarchical, egalitarian, social and eco­ archaeological site had equal access to nomic relations in the region" (p. 149). knowledge and techniques? And even if "Agricultural insufficiency can be linked to they did, skill levels would still produce specialized production in explaining the inequalities. Negative evidence such as in­ maintenance of heterarchical economic and ability to identify workshops is not accept­ social relations within a Southeast Asian able as definitive. Village-level specializa­ context" (p. 150). One may perhaps pose a tion is quite typical of Southeast Asian question here: How can one identify or de­ production systems for such items as pot­ fine "insufficiency"? Such a concept must tery and weaving as well as metal, but it is be based on the assumption that there is not always correlated with egalitarian or such a thing as "sufficiency." How can this heterarchical social systems. What would be proven? Can we measure population constitute definitive evidence would be and agricultural production with sufficient data on household living standards or stan­ precision to determine whether the condi­ dardized burials. tion of "sufficiency" has been met? This is This paper tests the hypothesis that the likely to be a constantly changing equation; supply of food in the valley was "relatively population may well grow as resources be­ unpredictable and, therefore, was supple­ come more abundant, thereby leading to a mented by trading for food." Sources of constant game of "catch-up." One can hy­ data include rainfall and soil types, evi­ pothesize that population will continue to dence that subsistence instability prompted grow up to a factor of several times if food coping strategies, and confirmation of sub­ supplies are assured and the nutritional and sistence shortfalls. Part of the argument rests other needs of mothers and children can be on climatic data taken from present condi­ met with sufficient reliability. tions rather than those existing 3000 years The situation is likely to have been dy­ ago (p. 153). Can we assume that these namic rather than a rapid shift from one conditions have not changed? homeostatic situation to another. This is The authors present a hypothesis: "If not to say that intensification of craft pro­ agricultural regimes stabilized, and harvests duction is not a strategy for obtaining food. were predictably abundant, we would ex­ What is in doubt is whether this set of pect to see a decrease in diversity and in factors can lead to heterarchical social and number of wild species through time" (p. economic organization. One cannot argue 154). This is not necessarily true. Numer­ that copper production arose here because ous other explanations are possible. There of a poor environment. Obviously it arose is still a long way to go before the hypoth­ because rich copper ore was available. Thus, esis advanced here can be seriously tested. although the environment was relatively The danger is that the analysis of data will unproductive from an agrarian point of be driven by a particular agenda-that of view, it was highly productive from a met­ proving a particular interpretation-rather allurgical perspective. than objectively examining a number of A similar question can be asked regarding possible lines of interpretation. the authors' argument in favor of heterar- "It is hoped that our synthesis will en- BOOK REVIEWS 109 able us to assess root causes for the delayed to suspect that it was possibly in­ emergence of social complexity in the local troduced from Tonkin, where it is region and perhaps across greater Southeast well represented in Han tombs or Asia" (p. 159). This is a worthy goal, al­ imported from China directly. (p. 197) though one should be prepared to £'lce the fact that the answer will turn out to be rel­ Prior applied petrographic analysis to the atively simple: low population density. Why Peabody collection and determined that a population density should have remained type of flat-bottomed jar at Tra Kieu was low is a separate problem. not from Tam Tho. Tra Kieu ceramics re­ Kazuo Miyamoto contributes a useful semble those of the northern kilns but were study of ceramics found in Eastern Han­ primarily handmade, thus not by Sinicized style tombs in Thanh-hoa District, north potters. This contradicts one ofJanse's con­ Vietnam, by the Swedish archaeologist clusions. However, Prior thinks Janse may Olov Janse (pp. 181-190). Grave goods have been correct to the extent that the such as glazed pottery and bronze vessels Chinese did introduce a new level of ce­ found in these tombs are also found in ramic technology to the region (wheels, Yunnan, Guangdong, and Hunan Pro­ kilns). High-fired cream wares with glaze vinces at this period but not in areas popu­ sometimes are inscribed with Chinese char­ lated by ethnic Han people. Some vessels acters. Perhaps these are potters' marks, thus found in Guangdong are inscribed Xi Yu, probably made by Chinese potters. She a prefecture in northern Vietnam. These identifies other wares as evidence that Viet­ objects were therefore probably made in namese potters were "eager to impersonate Vietnam and exported northward. Histori­ Chinese forms and motifs but as yet with­ cally, this phase-especially the second half out dernonstrating the skills in their pro­ of the second century-can be connected duction as shown in the white wares" (p. with the successful bid for autonomy by Si 202). Nhiep (Shi Xie), whose base was in south­ More important scientific analysis is pro­ ern China (including Nan Hai Prefecture). vided in a paper by Cynthia Lampert, Ian In a similar vein, Ruth Prior uses ce­ Glover, Carl Heron, Ben Stern, Rasmi ramics excavated by Janse and now stored Shoocongdej, and Gill Thompson entitled in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, "Resinous Residues on Prehistoric Pottery Stockholm, and in the Peabody Museum, from Southeast Asia: Characterization and Boston (pp. 191-202). She establishes a Radiocarbon Dating" (pp. 203-206). This database for the material and uses it to paper notes that of 426 potsherds recovered discuss the production and distribution of by Chester Gorman in Spirit Cave, only 22 ceramics in Han-style brick tombs. Her can now be located. Gorman dated them. question is: Did the kiln site at Tam Tho, around 7500 B.P. Four had resin coatings Thanh Hoa Province, which supplied many on interior and exterior. AMS dating is of the ceramics in the Thanh Hoa brick reported to contradict claims for early ori­ tombs, also provide ceramics for sites fur­ gin for the ceramics, but frustratingly, the ther south, in central Vietnam. (Hoi Ani dates are not given here! One has to con­ Tra Kieu area), where people of a different sult the Proceedings of the 4th 14C and ethnolinguistic group may have been living Archaeology Symposium and Archaeological (the Cham)? During his excavations, Chemistry VI. Sten Tesch, in the "Introduction" to the Janse encountered a ceramic fabric papers from session 7, "The Power of that he recognized as not produced the City: The Role of Urban Centra in at Tam Tho. It was a white ware, high fired and originally covered with the Growth of Early Historical Southeast a pale glaze, either green or cream in Asian Kingdoms" (pp. 213-218), shows color. ... The absence of this fabric, that comparison with Sigtuna, where the which appears to be made from a conference was held, can yield unexpected kaolin clay, at Tah Thom, led Janse insights into Southeast Asian data. In that rro ASIAN PERSPECTIVES . 45(r) . SPRING 2006 session, Jacques Gaucher's article on "New could have been built anytime within about Archaeological Data on the Urban Space of 2000 years. the Capital City of Angkor Thom" (pp. Although it is not strictly archaeological, 233-242) describes some results of his sur­ Alexandra Green's article on nineteenth­ vey, begun in 2000, of the entire 3 X 3 km century Burmese wall paintings (pp. 323- area of Angkor Thom. Much of the south­ 334) is also noteworthy for the quality of ern half of the site is now nothing but for­ its information and the analysis applied to est. Thus the survey involved cutting alleys the topic. She shows how the subject mat­ 4 m wide, 1500 m long, and 200 m apart, ter of the murals changed after the Pagan through each of the four quadrants of the period and shows how these changes can site. The survey identified a total of 62 be understood in terms of the evolution of "hollow structures" divided into "open" the relationship between Buddhism and and "punctual" types that form an overall kingship. Lydia Kieven's chapter on "Lov­ grid pattern. Gaucher infers that these cor­ ing Couples Depicted in Temple Reliefs in respond to a system of streets, canals, dams, East Java of the Majapahit Time" (pp. 335- and drains. Excavations to search for habi­ 348) also succeeds in extracting useful new tation remains in this area may yield impor­ cultural history from art historical data. tant results. It is not possible to do justice to the Eric Bourdonneau contributes new data scope of the material presented in this vol­ on the canal system of the Mekong Delta, ume, even in a review as long as this one augmenting the work of Malleret, whose has become. The role of EurASEAA in 1959 map is found to be inaccurate-more disseminating so much information about of a sketch than a map. One important dis­ rapidly expanding knowledge of Southeast covery is that the density of canals is proba­ Asia's past is very welcome. One hopes that bly much higher than Malleret suggested. the retirement of Ian Glover as one of the Since according to Bourdonneau the Viet­ main coordinators of this association (which namese began to populate this part of the he announced at the organization's most delta only in the eighteenth century, most recent conference in London in September canals must predate their arrival, but they 2004) will not affect this situation.

Southeast Asian Archaeology: Wilhelm G. Solheim II Festschrift. Victor Paz, ed. Manila: University of the Philippines Press, 2004.

Reviewed by PETER LAPE, Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle

This Festschrift volume edited by Victor chaeology in Southeast Asia since the late Paz is a fascinating read and would be a 1940s. valuable addition to the library of anyone The book is divided into three sections. interested in the intellectual history and Part 1 ("Bill and Archaeology") includes present state of Southeast Asian archaeol­ seven chapters that trace Solheim's contri­ ogy. Comprised of 31 chapters from a wide butions to the field, his life history, and the variety of contributors including Bill Sol­ development of archaeological research in heim's colleagues, students, and others who Southeast Asia. I found this part to be the have been influenced by his work, it pro­ most interesting and valuable section of the vides a glimpse into the intersection of Sol­ volume. Many of the oral traditions of heim's biography and the trajectory of ar- the early days of research in the region, the

Asiall Perspectives, Vol. 45, No.1 (g 2006 by the University of Hawai'i Press. BOOK REVIEWS III ongms of professional organizations (such methodologically and theoretically oriented as the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association), papers from these respective regions. As ed­ academic journals (such as Asian Perspec­ itor, Paz clearly cast a wide net in his quest tives), and departments (particularly those for contributions, and the result is volumi­ at the University of Hawai'i and the Uni­ nous if somewhat mixed in quality. Indeed, versity of the Philippines) are here commit­ a heavier editorial hand might have made ted to print. For those of us who are rela­ for a lighter read; the binding on my copy tive newcomers to the region and the field, soon gave out under the strain of support­ this section provides fascinating insights ing over 600 pages. A number of chapters into the particular history of the discipline are descriptive site reports, which at first and the region. Chapters by Shutler, Gol­ seemed to be a poor fit for this volume. son and Kennedy, Ronquillo, and Meacham However, as detailed reports on Southeast in particular give a personal glimpse into Asian sites are rarely published, I also wel­ Solheim's life as an archaeologist and the come any opportunity to get this material early days of current institutions like IPPA into print. Standouts include chapters by and Asian Perspectives. Other chapters fur­ Szabo, Kelly, and Peiialosa on Ille Cave, ther contextualize this personal history in Palawan, and V oeun and von den Driesch terms of continuing theoretical debates on Angkor Borei fish. Three of these chap­ about ceramics (Stark) and population ters include descriptions of older excava­ movements (Oppenheimer). Glover closes tions that had not been previously pub­ this section with a discussion of Western lished, or reports on recently reexcavated scholarly involvement in Southeast Asian sites. These valuable contributions include archaeology in relation to larger political Lertrit's chapter on new excavations at shifts from colonialism to postcolonial Sab Champa, Welch and McNeil on par­ nationalism. tially completed analysis of ceramics exca­ I t is interesting to note that the conflicts vated from Ban Suai in 1966, and Allen's of interest between foreign and local report on the 1963-1964 excavations at archaeologists in the current nationalist Ban Makha, which presumably have not environment described by Glover seem to been published before. Several excellent have been largely circumvented by Sol­ chapters focus on the Hoabinian and are heim himself. Many of the contributions in more analytical in presentation, includ­ the second and third parts of this volume ing White and Gorman on lithic reduc­ are written by Solheim's students from tion sequences and Viet on subsistence Thailand and the Philippines, and their strategies. contributions are examples of the legacy of Overall, the many chapters in these latter Solheim's deep and ongoing commitment two parts of this book will give the reader a to training Southeast Asian students in ar­ glimpse into the fractured world that is chaeology. The strength of the archaeology Southeast Asian archaeology. While the program at the University of the Philip­ strong showing of archaeologists from pines, for example, is in part a result of Southeast Asian countries in this volume is Solheim's participation as resident scholar, an encouraging sign, the apparent lack of teacher, and mentor of students. Solheim central questions or standard practices to appears to be a model for moving beyond guide archaeology in the region seems foreign-local conflicts, through engaging problelTlatic to me. As the practitioners of and mentoring colleagues and students, Southeast Asian archaeology become more teaching in Southeast Asian institutions, numerous and diverse, will our approaches and promoting wider interest in Southeast also become increasingly disconnected to Asian archaeology both within and beyond the point where we have little to say to academia. each other? I opened the pages of this book Parts 2 and 3 ("Island Southeast Asia" thinking that I might find a set of papers and "Mainland Southeast Asia") are com­ based on the intriguing theories proposed prised of a mix of descriptive reports and by Solheim himself. Instead, the contribu- 112 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES . 45(1) • SPRING 2006 tors to this volume rarely discuss Solheim's pate their own presentation of potentially ideas directly. Perhaps this is inevitable in valuable alternative hypotheses. a Festschrift, which aims for a respectful Paz writes in his postscript that Solheim distance rather than critical engagement is finalizing a new book on his Nusantao with its human subject. Most contributors hypothesis. Hopefully that will stimulate tiptoe around Solheim's most well-known new interest and testing of these ideas in theories, such as his Nusantao hypothesis ways that better unify those working on the on the origins of Austronesian-speaking archaeology of Southeast Asia and neigh­ peoples in the Pacific. Only Meacham, boring regions. These disappointments (or Oppenheimer, and Bulbeck write directly more accurately, unrealistic expectations) about these ideas, while those who have aside, this volume remains a valuable con­ written critically about them (such as Bell­ tribution to the field and would be useful wood) keep a polite distance. Two contrib­ for those interested in its disciplinary his­ utors, Tanudirjo and Jiao, take care to tory and as a glimpse into its current prac­ avoid direct criticism, which serves to dissi- tice, as well as an introduction to the life of Bill Solheim and his ideas.

After Captain Cook: The Archaeology oj the Recent Indigenous Past in Australia. R. Harrison and C. Williamson, eds. Walnut Creek: AltaMira, 2004. 231 pp. + xx. 54 b/w illustrations; 4 tables; index. $32.95 softcover. ISBN 0759106576.

Reviewed by IAN LILLEY, A TSIS Unit, University oj Queensland

This volume is the international edition of logue organized into three major groups a published session at the Australian Ar­ reflecting areas of research concentration. chaeological Association (AAA) conference The first group comprises chapters by in 2000. It was originally issued under the Ferrier on contact-period material culture, same title through the University of Syd­ Harrison investigating the archaeology of ney in 2002. It was selected as one of the the pastoral industry (ranching), Lydon first volumes in a new Wodd Archaeologi­ analyzing settler photography at an Ab­ cal Congress (WAC) Indigenous Archaeol­ original reserve, and Williamson discussing ogy series, which, in the words of the series contact-period archaeology in Tasmania. editors' foreword, "is committed to ... the The second group, on indigenous land empowerment of Indigenous peoples." rights, includes only two papers, one by Aside from this foreword and some admin­ Riches and the other by Veth and McDon­ istrivia in the front papers-and an at­ ald. The former is about how archaeology tractive new cover-the two volumes are might help remedy shortfalls of Native Ti­ identical. Before saying anything more, I tle legislation, the latter about archaeology should declare that I am WAC secretary and "exclusive possession" (i.e., defining but play no role in the publication of this group boundaries and cultural continuity senes. through space and time). The final major Following the volume editors' scene­ section deals with ways in which heritage setting introduction, "Too Many Captain managers can overcome decades of "era­ Cooks?" there are ten chapters and an epi- sure" of the historical archaeology of In-

Asiml PerspcrtirJeS, Vol. 45, No.1 © 2006 by the University of Hav..raj'j Press. BOOK REVIEWS 113 digenous Australians, featuring studies the pivotal insights into these challenges by Byrne, Brown, Avery and Goulding, made by North American scholars over Mclntyre-Tamwoy and Godwin, and a long period. His comment nonetheless L'Oste-Brown. Tim Murray acts as discus­ reinforces anecdotal evidence that Australia sant in his epilogue, critically recapping the is ahead of the game at the moment when other chapters in a historicized interna­ it comes to advancing understanding of the tional context. complexities of history in a settler nation. The title of the introduction refers to For instance, I was invited to give a paper the tendency of Aboriginal Australians to in a session on postcolonialism and de colo­ weave the English navigator Cook into lo­ nization at the 2005 Society for American cal histories, even in regions thousands of Archaeology conference. In later informal kilometers from those he visited, while at discussion with a number of the other the same time he is mythologized by Aus­ presenters in the session and a group ofNa­ tralia's Anglo-Celtic majority as a father of tive American colleagues, it was repeatedly the settler nation. For the volume editors, acknowledged that Australia was different "the sharing of Cook as a historical figure from and, in their view, generally "more for both settler and indigenous Australians" attuned" than the United States when it creates a productive space in which "a came to relations between archaeologists shared Australian history can emerge" (p. 4, and indigenous people. It has been much their emphasis). This is a worthy goal, to be the same at all the SAAs I have attended sure, and one that by the evidence of this over the last five years or so, as it was at the book generated a lot of compelling re­ World Archaeological Congress in Wash­ search that was highly topical when first ington, D.C., in 2003. delivered at AAA. It is now five years on, This impressionistic picture is reinforced though, and one has to ask how the work by more concrete evidence from the re­ is standing the test of time. Is this stuff still lated world of international cultural heri­ relevant, or is it now all a little passe? tage management. The World Bank leans Given that the volume is an international heavily on Australia ICOMOS's Burra edition, this question must be posed in re­ Charter (http://www.icomos.org/australia/ lation to global developments and not just burra.html) for guidance on "world's best those in Australia. Does the volume really practice" in its management of "physical "provide a model for the rest of the world," cultural resources" (http://www.lema.ulg. as the WAC series editors claim (p. xv)? ac.be/research/suit/W orldBankn08. pdf), as While I was thinking about this ques­ did the Chinese government in its recently tion, Silliman (2005) published a paper promulgated "China Principles" (http:// entitled "Culture Contact or Colonialism: www .icomos. org/ a ustralia/images/pdf/ Challenges in the Archaeology of Native china_prin.pdf). Much the same is hap­ North America," which canvasses a range pening in Iraq, where "world-class site of relevant issues. He makes it clear that management plans based on the Burra the volume under review, as well as other Charter" are being developed (http:// Australian work over the last decade or so, hnn.us/readcomment.php?id=35981). The is not just still relevant but rennins interna­ Burra Charter was originally designed to tionally class-leading. Citing After Captain deal with nonindigenous historical built Cook and other material by the volume heritage, but it has evolved in a way that editors, as well as contributors Byrne and has seen its wording and applications ex­ Murray and other Australians, Silliman pand to accommodate pre-European indig­ observes that archaeologists in Australia enous heritage as well as shared colonial "seem more attuned already" to the chal­ heritage. As alluded to by the WAC editors lenges he addresses (p. 57). Like Silliman, I (p. xv), this is partly because in the very (and the contributors to After Captai11 Cook) small world that is Australia (despite its vast would be amongst the first to acknowledge land area), archaeology and heritage man- 114 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES • 45(1) . SPRING 2006 agement are not only conceptually and saw the legal recognition of Native Title technically related, as they are elsewhere, after 200 years of denial, whereas in North but are often carried out by the same indi­ America various sorts of native title have viduals at different times in their careers or long been formally recognized (if not al­ as different facets of multidimensional ways honored), at least in some regions. As professional lives. Moreover, a sufficient Murray (p. 219) notes, the content and number of the more influential individuals tone of most of the papers in After Captain involved work on both indigenous apd Cook (as well as of earlier works such as nonindigenous issues for their approaches my [2000b1 collection and of forthcoming to all these matters to become entangled or works such as Harrison et aL in press) re­ hybridized in their high-profile research flect the reactions of Australian archaeolo­ and in the development and implementa­ gists to what they see as the iniquity of tion of state and national policy and practice the failed Y orta Y orta Native Title claim relating to archaeology and heritage. In in southern Australia, which foundered other words, issues of scale have engendered on the finding that the Y orta Y orta had more fruitful professional cross-fertilization changed too much to retain traditional ties than is common elsewhere in the world. 'to their land, and to the judge's dismissal of There is something else going on, archaeology as irrelevant to the case. though, aspects of which I (2000a) have As is clear in After Captain Cook, there addressed in relation to the approaches of are two general feelings about these matters professional bodies (e.g., AAA, SAA) to among Australian archaeologists. The first indigenous questions. I found that despite is that social justice would be better served obvious similarities, there were also telling if the judiciary (and, by extension, the differences between the United States on wider community) had a different view of the one hand and British Commonwealth cultural continuity and change in Indige­ settler nations on the other. I contended nous Australia-one that did not diminish that the SAA was demonstrably much more the authenticity of contemporary indige­ concerned than the associations in Com­ nous identity because that identity differs monwealth nations to accommodate all from those recorded by early European identifiable interests in indigenous archaeo­ observers. The second feeling is that ar­ logical heritage than to acknowledge the chaeology was demonstrably complicit in primacy of indigenous views in such con­ the development of the conventional view, texts. I argued that this situation results and so the discipline should play a central ultimately from different visions of "the na­ role in fostering a shift in perception (Lilley tion" that are well documented by histo­ 2005). Of particular concern has been the rians and political scientists and that are need to do away with the distinction be­ tied to the middle-class interests of most tween history and prehistory while at the archaeologists in these societies. same time showing that the Aboriginal past It is in the context of these different was dynamic rather than static, as continues approaches that U.S. archaeologists faced to be conventionally thought. Neither of Columbus' sesquicentenary, closely fol­ these concerns is peculiar to Australian ar­ lowed by NAGPRA, the two of which chaeology, and both were raised in North have combined to send U.S. archaeology America well before Australian archaeolo­ in the directions Silliman dissects. Contrary gists came to the party. However, the idea to what McGuire (2004: 387) believes, is that by combining these two notions, Australia has no legislation like NAGPRA, archaeologists will be able to demonstrate though we have developed policies about that continual cultural change was (and repatriation of cultural property and have remains) normal in Aboriginal society, had to face difficult repatriation cases that whether before or during the colonial pe­ were broadly similar to the continuing riod, and thus that "nontraditional" Ab­ Kennewick/Ancient One case. On the original people in settled Australia can re­ other hand, it was not until 1993 that we tain ties to land that qualify as Native Title. BOOK REVIEWS II5

In short, Australian archaeologists are, gen­ REFERENCES CITED erally speaking, quite explicit about pro­ moting a left-liberal social justice agenda. HARRISON, R., J. MCDONALD, AND P. VETH in press Archaeology, claimant connection to While I have no doubt that most of sites and native title. Australian Ab­ my archaeological colleagues in the United original Studies 2005/1. States are liberals with similar perspectives LILLEY, I. on social justice, my observation of them 2000a Professional attitudes to indigenous in formal settings such as the SAA suggests interests in the Native Title era, in neither they as individuals nor the organi­ Native Title and the Transformation of zations such as SAA that represent them Archaeology in the Postcolonial World: 99-119, ed. I. Lilley. Sydney: Ocea­ seek to advance such matters as assertively nia Monographs. as we do in Australia. Why is that? While I LILLEY, I., ED. think the issue ties back to my arguments 2000b Native Title and the Transformation of about visions of nation, it may also come Archaeology in the Postcolonial World. down to some more nebulous matter of Sydney: Oceania Monographs. national "character" or "temperament" that MCGUIRE, R. makes Australians approach such matters 2004 Contested pasts: Archaeology and more bluntly or pragmatically than our Native Americans, in A Companion to u.S. colleagues (but probably similarly to Social Archaeology: 374-395, ed. L. Meskell and R. Preucel. Oxford: those in Canada or New Zealand, who Blackwell. tend to be just as plain-speaking). Whether SILLIMAN, S. or not such a notion stands up to scrutiny, I 2005 Culture contact or colonialism: Chal­ agree the book remains at the cutting edge lenges in the archaeology of Native internationally. Read it and see what you North America. American Antiquity think! 70(1):55-74.

Agriculture and Pastoralism in the Late Bronze and Iron Age, North West Frontier Prov­ ince, Pakistan. Ruth Young. Oxford: BAR International Series 1124, 2003. Brad­ ford Monographs in the Archaeology of Southern Asia No. 1.

Reviewed by JONATHAN MARK KENOYER, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Madison

This volume provides a refreshing new basis of these excavations and comparative perspective on the chronology, archaeol­ historical documentation became the foun­ ogy, and changing patterns of agriculture dation for all later discussions of cultural and animal husbandry in northwestern development during the early historic pe­ South Asia. Although many of the chapters riod. Recent excavations and new radio­ contain a great deal of detail that will be of carbon dates from the site of Charsadda interest only to specialists, the general collected by the Bradford-Peshawar team scholar interested in the history of South Asia (Ali et al. 1998) have for the first time chal­ should find this volume extremely useful. lenged the older chronology and reoriented Archaeological research in northwestern the discussion on the emergence of urban­ South Asia has a long history, beginning ism during the early historic period. The with the surveys by Cunningham in the research presented in this volume represents late 1800s and subsequent excavations at the environmental archaeological compo­ Taxila and Charsadda in the early 1900s. nent of the larger study being conducted The chronological framework and general on the transition between the late Bronze interpretations proposed by scholars on the Age and the Iron Age.

Asiml PerspcrtillcS, Vol. 45, No.1 © 2006 by the University of Hawai'i Press. II6 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES . 45(1) . SPRING 2006

In chapter 1, the overall setting for the Chapter 4 presents a summary of the ar­ study is discussed along with some of the chaeological sites in both study regions and major aims and objectives. Two contrasting a comparative chronology for the major areas-the northern valleys and the south­ cultural and subsistence developments in ern lowlands or plains-are compared each region. As an archaeologist who is using archaeological evidence from sites intimately familiar with the original exca­ excavated in the Swat and Dir Valleys, the vation reports, I found this chapter to be Peshawar Plain and the region around quite interesting, and I greatly admire the Taxila, which is located to the east of the author's ability to present a body of con­ Indus River. In chapter 2, the methods for fusing data in a relatively meaningful man­ studying ancient plants (archaeobotany) ner. The nonarchaeologist may want to skip and animals (archaeozoology) are outlined, the details and read the general interpre­ along with a discussion of the ways in tation and conclusions. Basically, the sites which samples were collected from the dif­ in the northern valleys reflect a relatively ferent sites under consideration. One of the similar trajectory of cultural development, main problems identified by the author is with significant new developments occur­ the lack of consistent sampling and the prob­ ring around 1700-1400 B.C. On the basis lems faced in making comparisons between of discussions by earlier scholars, the au­ the types of samples collected for the dif­ thor interprets these changes in pottery, ferent sites. Even with poor data, the au­ architecture, metallurgy, and the types thor has been able to present a solid discus­ of animals being used as the result of sion by keeping her questions relatively migration or invasion. Unfortunately, she simple and clearly correlated to the nature does not provide any evidence to support of the available data. The actual data from this conclusion, which is based on the previously excavated sites as well as the re­ long-outdated Indo-Aryan invasion model cent excavations at the Bala Hisar area of (Kenoyer 2005; Shaffer 1984). Any and all Charsadda are compiled in extremely useful of these changes can be explained by other comparative tables in the appendices. models and need not be associated with in­ Chapter 2 also outlines the ethnographic vasion or the intrusion of new populations, study that was conducted to complement especially in light of the important linkages the study of the archaeological remains. A demonstrated by the author in chapter 9. brief discussion of historical accounts of The results of recent excavations at the the agriculture and pastoral traditions is site of Bala Hisar, Charsadda, are presented also included. The author should be com­ in chapter 5, along with the revised chro­ mended on her careful attempt to avoid nology of the site and its implications for pitfalls in earlier ethnographic studies that many earlier interpretations. The origins of assume continuity without carefully testing the site can now be dated to around 1400- the evidence. In chapter 3 she has carefully 1200 B.C. instead of 600-500 B.C. as pro­ pointed out that there have been major posed by earlier scholars. The so-called changes in populations, religious traditions, defensive wall at Charsadda is now dated and ideology, as well as water management to around 1200-900 B.C. and may have strategies. These changes are taken into ac­ been built to protect the site against flood­ count in her subsequent interpretations waters rather than the attack of Alexander's based on ethnographic patterns. Major fac­ army in 326 B.C., as proposed by Alexander tors that would have been equally relevant Cunningham. The early dates for Char­ to the prehistoric inhabitants and modern sadda have created a ripple effect that will populations of both the northern valleys change the chronology of other sites (such and the alluvial plains are altitude, topogra­ as Taxila) and require a new model for ur­ phy, climate patterns, and the availability of ban developments in the northwestern sub­ water. The main changes between the past continent. The author suggests that sites and the present are seen in the nature of such as Bala Hisar at Charsadda and Hathial water management systems and the contin­ and Bhir Mound at Taxila are probably in­ uous fluctuation of ethnic groups. cipient urban centers. Furthermore, these BOOK REVIEWS 117 sites would have been linked to other ur­ tion is also compared to the pattern of buf­ ban centers in the northern valleys, such as falo use at urban Harappan sites. The gen­ Bir-kot-ghundai (modern Barikot), which eral conclusion is that the absence of barley is located along the trade route through and the presence of water buffalo at Bala Swat and dates to approximately the same Hisar confirm that this site was organized time period. with a general urban subsistence package. The environmental (archaeobotanical The fact that the urban site of Bir-kot­ and archaeolozoological) data from the ghundai in Swat does not have buffalo is northern valleys are examined in chapter 6 interpreted as a result of environmental and compared with evidence from rural conditions. Harappan sites, as well as sites in the Bannu Chapter 8 presents the discussion of the basin. As with chapter 4, the nonspecialist author's two short seasons of ethnographic will want to skim this chapter and head for research (described in chap·ter 2) on subsis­ the conclusions. Domestic animals such as tence practices in the northern valleys and cattle, sheep, and goats and domestic plants the alluvial plains, along with a comparison such as barley, lentils, and rice are found to with data collected by earlier scholars. be the most important subsistence items in While the previous two chapters had inter­ the northern valleys during the late Bronze pretive problems based on the sampling and early Iron Age. The general paucity of strategies associated with archaeological wild animal remains suggests that they were research, the varied approaches used by not as important in the diet, but the author different ethnographers produce similar does not remind the reader of the problems interpretive problems in this chapter. The with sampling and the lack of representa­ ethnographic data were collected through tive samples from each of the sites. This interviews in April-May 1998 and July­ same criticism can be addressed when August 1999, a total period of less than considering the overall subsistence patterns four months. The first interviews were described for each site and comparisons conducted with settled farmers and non­ made with sites in other regions. This is sedentary groups around Charsadda, as well always a problem when dealing with ar­ as with some pastoralists in the Dir and chaeological data, but the temptation to Swat Valleys. The second field season was ignore the sampling problem in order to conducted in Swat and the lower Dir Val­ make generalizations and comparisons usu­ ley. The author notes that this research is ally wins out, as is the case in this chapter. not sufficient to provide a full understand­ In chapter 7, the new data on subsistence ing of the regional subsistence patterns, but patterns from excavations at Bala Hisar, it can reveal general patterns in terms of the Charsadda, are presented. The author does major plants and animals being used and an note that the faunal and botanical data from example of movement patterns for mobile the excavations are not representative due communities. The overall conclusion is that to the nature of the excavations and the subsistence patterns in the highlands and mixing of strata. Nevertheless, a presenta­ northern valleys are very complex, while tion of what was discovered is relevant to those on the plains are relatively simple. In outline some general trends and also to see contrast to sedentary farmers of the plains, if the data resemble the subsistence data the northern valleys have four major subsis­ collected from urban Harappan sites. She tence strategies: winter transhumant, inter­ concludes that like urban Harappan sites, valley transhumant, summer transhumant, Bala Hisar shows a dominant use of wheat and nomadic pastoralist. While this is not along with some lentils and that these crops surprising given the different environ­ are most likely the result of winter cultiva­ mental factors, the degree of difference is tion. The absence of many other domestic thought to be quite striking. The author plant types can be attributed to the small points out that the difference in subsistence sample size and relatively small total exca­ in the northern valleys cannot be simply vation area. The discovery of water buffalo correlated to different ethnic groups as has at Bala Hisar in the later phases of occupa- been suggested by other scholars but needs lIS ASIAN PERSPECTIVES . 45(1) . SPRING 2006 to include social standing, personal choices I strongly recommend this book for by different families, and the animals them­ any scholars interested in the history of selves. the northern subcontinent. The author has The final two chapters provide a discus­ achieved the goal of exploring and con­ sion of the various interpretive models used trasting the subsistence strategies of the two by earlier scholars as well as a "new model" study areas, but I am not convinced that proposed on the basis of the ethnographic she has developed new explanatory and data discussed in chapter 8. This new model predictive models, as claimed in chapter is not clearly articulated, but it appears to be 10. The most important contribution has been the systematic analysis and compila­ a model where crops and animals tion of disparate data sets and the identifi­ are both important, though different cation of future directions for research. species and seasons may be important for different groups. However, the This book will serve as an excellent com­ overlap between these groups at all parative resource for environmental studies stages, and between both sedentary until more comprehensive excavations and groups in the Vale of Peshawar and analyses are carried out in the region. mobile groups from the Northern Valleys means that distinguishing be­ tween the settled and the mobile REFERENCES CITED groups at any given site would be de­ pendent on determining more subtle ALI, T., R. CONINGHAM, M. A. DURRANI, AND discriminants than is possible with G. R. KHAN the current data sets. (p. 80) 1998 Preliminary report of two seasons of archaeological investigations at the It is unfortunate that the author does not Bala Hisar of Charsadda, NWFP, Pa­ provide any exam.ples of how these "subtle kistan. Ancient Pakistan 12: 1-34. discriminants" can be identified archaeolo­ KENOYER,). M. gically. Another conclusion proposed by 2005 Culture change during the late the author is that prior to 1400 B.C., the Harappan period at Harappa: New northern valleys were of great significance insights on Vedic Aryan issues, in Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and for trade and had cultural and strategic im­ Inference in Indian History: 21-49, ed. portance. While there is no question that L L Patton and E. F. Bryant. Lon­ there was some degree of long-distance don: RoutledgeCurzon. contact, if these valleys were strategically SHAFFER,). G. important trade routes the excavated sites 1984 The Indo-Aryan invasions: Cultural should have more convincing evidence for myth and archaeological reality, in The People of South Asia: The Biologi­ contact with both the Indus Valley and the cal Anthropology of India, Pakistan, and highlands of Central Asia. The issue of cul­ Nepal: 77-90, ed.). R. Lukacs. New tural importance is more difficult to quantify York: Plenum Press. either archaeologically or ethnographically.

Kohika: The Archaeology oj a Late Maori Lake Village in the Ngati Awa Rohe, Bay oj Plenty, New Zealand. Geoffrey Irwin, ed. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2004.

Reviewed by HARRY ALLEN, Department oj Anthropology, University oj Auckland

The Kohika volume explores the archaeol­ flood plain of the Rangitaiki and Tarawera ogy of a Maori lake village situated on the Rivers, not far from where they jointly

Asiml Perspectives, Vol. 45, No.1 © 2006 by the University of Hawai'j Press. BOOK REVIEWS 119 flow into the ocean in the eastern Bay of about 50 years after the Kaharoa eruption, Plenty, New Zealand. The village was at c. 600 B.P. Such anthropogenic changes abandoned in the seventeenth century A.D., to the vegetation provide indirect evidence following a flood that introduced quantities for the early presence of humans in New of pumiceous alluvium onto the site. A ris­ Zealand (McGlone and Wilmshurst 1999). ing water table and subsequent buildup of In these terms, the suggestion is that the peat preserved materials from this village. eastern Bay of Plenty was settled by A.D. The site was discovered as a result of farm 1350-1400. The chapter on site chronol­ drainage, and the Whakatane and District ogy (Irwin and Jones) makes use of a Bayes­ Historical Society excavated there between ian calibration to argue that direct evidence 1974 and 1978. Subsequent excavations for human occupation of the site occurs in were carried out by Professor Geoffrey the interval A.D. 1610-1690 and lasts for Irwin from the University of Auckland. only a short period of 70-80 years. Thus This volume of papers edited by Irwin occupation of the Kohika site occurs about documents his research, together with spe­ 250 years after the first paleoecological cialist papers covering Maori traditional indications of a human presence. knowledge, geomorphology, vegetation The excavations at Kohika consisted of change, faunal remains, coprolite analysis, four adjacent but noncontinuous areas, obsidian sourcing, and stone, fiber, and with the Whakatane and District Historical wood technology. Given the range of Society excavations making a fifth area topics covered, this is more than a site re­ (termed Area HS). Recent excavations port. Despite the delay between excava­ in New Zealand, such as Pouerua (Sutton tions and field analyses (1975-1981) and et al. 2003), have demonstrated that exca­ publication (2004), this volume represents vations require a dual strategy: first, open­ a very useful contribution to currentar­ ing areas that are sufficiently large that they chaeological problems in New Zealand. It relate to the scale of later Maori settle­ throws further light on the nature and tim­ ments; and second, working in terms of ing of Maori settlement in the Bay of detailed contexts that enable sequences of Plenty toward the end of the prehistoric smaller events to be built up. Irwin's work period. The volume is supported by color at Kohika is a forceful demonstration of plates and excellent illustrations. the usefulness of this approach, using stra­ I will discuss the specialist papers first. tigraphy and geomorphology to correlate Central to the current understanding of excavation areas that are separated by dis­ New Zealand archaeology in the northern tances of up to 40 m. This research rein­ North Island is the presence of Kaharoa forces the point that a taphonomic knowl­ tephra, which was distributed as air-fall edge of how a site has emerged over even from the Kaharoa eruption at Mount a short period of time is essential to an Tarawera and dated to c. A.D. 1350. This understanding of human behavior and event is crucial to our understanding of human-landscape interactions there. The anthropogenic changes in vegetation­ sequence of events in Area D is a case in particularly the shift from lowland rain point. In chapter 4, Irwin argues for the forest to pyrogenic bracken fern-which buildup of three artificial floors: The first is have been dated relative to this tephra layer a bright yellow floor, then a Yellow House (Newnham et al. 1998). At present, all (floor), which is replaced after a short inter­ evidence for convincing anthropogenic val by the White House (floor). All three impacts on the vegetation occurs at or just structures were built against the palisaded after the time of the Kaharoa eruption. wall of the site, and, in the case of the Yel­ At Kohika, the period before the Kaharoa low House and the White House floors, eruption is dominated by forest vegetation their back walls were a part of the embank­ on dunes and ridges and flax (Leptospermum ment that formed the site perimeter and and Coprosma) in the swamps. Evidence for assisted to keep floodwaters out. The Yel­ major vegetation change to bracken fern low House floor showed signs that it had (Pteridium esculentum) and shrubs occurs been affected by an earthquake, as some I20 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES 45(I) . SPRING 2006

temporary but unsuccessful repairs were A chapter by Wallace, Irwin, and Neich made. After this time the Yellow House is devoted to house parts and designs. was dismantled and a new White House Houses and their place in Maori settle­ built on the same spot, with the presence ments have been an important factor in the of wood chips suggesting that part of the understanding of later Maori prehistory house was manufactured in situ. ever since Groube (1965) advanced the Wet sites are renowned for their pre­ argument that Pa sites were refuges served organic remains, and Kohika is no rather residential settlements. Moreover, he exception. The majority of recovered por­ argued that villages were absent in the pre­ table artifacts consisted of posts, spear shafts, colonial period. Similarly, Groube (1969) darts, bird spears, digging tools, fern-root argued that larger carved houses (whare wha­ beaters, canoe paddles, hull parts, fittings, kairo) and raised carved storage houses bailers, fiber-working tools, and wood­ (pataka) were also late products of new working tools. These were the everyday chiefly wealth and the availability of metal equipment of a Maori lake village. Less tools that facilitated detailed carving work. common items included bowls, hair combs, The excavations at Kohika revealed a defi­ spinning tops, a ladder, and vine coils. An nite large carved house, a probable pataka, additional chapter by McAra usefully cov­ and informal structures in area HS, as well ers woven fabrics, rope, and netting. as a sequence of smaller domestic houses Three chapters are devoted to the and pataka fragments in Area D. Although analysis of nonwooden/nonfibrous arti­ seriously weathered and burnt in some facts. These included items made from cases, the styles of carvings on boards from bone, pumice, obsidian, and greenstone the large carved house and also on a stand­ (serpentine/jade). An additional two chap­ ing figure (part of the support for the cen­ ters deal with faunal remains and coprolite tral ridgepole) suggest that these were the analysis. The latter analysis, of dog rather work of a single carver who worked in a than human coprolites, provides evidence style not currently recognized within tradi­ of human diet in the form of bracken fern tional Bay of Plenty carving styles. Three starch, pollen of Sonchus and Typha, and other carving styles were recognized in also of intestinal parasites. A concentration carved pieces from the site, suggesting that of dog coprolites outside the palisade sug­ a minimum of four carvers had worked gests that the dogs were tethered there and there in less than 100 years. Taphonomic fed on fish bones and small fish. This paral­ considerations suggest that the carved lels an insight provided by Byrne (1973) house was abandoned and had collapsed that dogs in New Zealand were treated in some time before it was burned. a manner similar to the way pigs were One of the strengths of the Kohika re­ raised in the rest of Polynesia. Dog bones search comes from the combining of the were prominent in the faunal materials archaeological evidence for house floors, from the site, their bones being used for ar­ the pattern of postholes, and the geomor­ tifact manufacture. Skinning marks on the phology of the site edges with the location bones suggest that pelts were taken to be and type of the preserved house and other used for dog-skin clothing. Unlike at other materials. This adds greatly to our knowl­ New Zealand sites, dog crania appear not edge of village layout and the construction to have been cooked and eaten. Pollen in of smaller domestic houses. Fully compara­ the coprolites indicates that most dogs ble information is not available for the area were present during the summer. Cut and excavated by the Whakatane and District saw marks on human long bones and crania Historical Society, where the large carved indicate that human bones were also used (meeting?) house was located. Irwin, Johns, for artifact manufacture, but the authors and others have secured Royal Society of leave open the question as to whether hu­ New Zealand funding to return to Kohika man flesh was consumed at Kohika (cf. in order to further explore these questions Barber 1992). in 2005. BOOK REVIEWS 121

A number of points emerge from the 1815: A critical review. Journal of the PolYl1esial1 Society 101 : 241-292. Kohika research that have implications for New Zealand archaeology in general. The BYRNE, D. first is the renewal of interest in the study 1973 Prehistoric Coprolites. Unpublished M.A. thesis. University of Auckland. of wet sites after nearly two decades during which little work was being done on them GROUBE, L. M. 1965 SettlemC11t Patterns in New Zealand Pre­ (Gumley et al. 2005; Newnham et al. 1998; history. Dunedin: Anthropology De­ Wilmshurst et al. 2004). This is almost cer­ partment, University of Otago. tainly the result of additional funding now 1969 From archaic to classic Maori. Auck­ being available through the Royal Society land Student Geographer 6: 1-12. of New Zealand Marsden Fund, as wet site GUMBLEY, W., D. JOHNS, AND G. LAW excavations are expensive in terms of time 2005 ManagemC11t of Wetland Archaeological and the conservation requirements of items Sites in New Zealand. Science for Conservation. Wellington: Depart­ recovered. In the past, wet sites were exca­ ment of Conservation. vated in order to make significant finds of JOHNS, D. A. artifacts and carved objects, often out of 2001 The conservation of wetland archae­ context (Johns 2001). ological sites in New Zealand, in The current work at Kohika demon­ Enduring Records: The EnvironmC11tal strates the importance of archaeological and Cultural Heritage of Wetlands: 246-253, ed. B. Purdy. Oxford: Ox­ contextual and environmental information bow Books. in making interpretations. Such projects now require the input of a range of special­ MCGLONE, M. S., AND J. M. WILMSHURST 1999 Dating initial Maori environmental ists, as demonstrated by the findings from impact in New Zealand. Quaternary Kohika. Secondly, the research at Kohika International 59: 17-26. and at a number of other large projects­ NEWNHAM, R. M., D. J. LOWE, M. S. for example, Pouerua and Bell Block (S. MCGLONE, J. M. WILMSHURST, AND T.F.G. Holdaway pers. comm. December 2004)­ HIGHAM reinforces the importance of excavating 1998 The Kaharoa Tephra as a critical da­ tum for earliest human impact in areas that are meaningful in terms of the northern New Zealand. Journal of Ar­ size and scale of Maori settlements. Finally, chaeological Science 25: 533-544. following Groube's (1965) and Prickett's PRICKETT, N. (1982) work, house and house forms have 1982 An archaeologists' guide to the Maori reemerged as a significant area of debate in dwelling. New Zealand Journal of Ar­ New Zealand archaeology. In this context, it chaeology 4: 111-147. is a pity that Irwin et al. make no reference SUTTON, D. S. to Sutton's (1990,1991) arguments concern­ 1990 Organisation and ontology: The ori­ ing locational and ideational aspects of Maori gins of the Northern Maori Chief­ dom, New Zealand. Man 25: 667- house forms at Pouerua and elsewhere. 692. This is an excellent and important vol­ 1991 The archaeology of belief: Structural­ ume for New Zealand archaeology, one ism in stratigraphical context, in Man that adds greatly to our knowledge of the and a Half: Essays ill Pacific Anthropol­ New Zealand past. It is recommended as ogy and Etl1ll0biology in Honour of Ralph Bulmer: 540-550, ed. A. Paw­ setting a benchmark for the study of wet ley. Auckland: The Polynesian Soci­ sites in the Pacific and elsewhere. ety.

WILMSHURST,J. M., T.F.G. HIGHAM, H. ALLEN, REFERENCES CITED D. JOHNS, AND C. PHILLIPS 2004 Early Maori settlement impacts in BARBER, 1. northern coastal Taranaki, New Zea­ 1992 Archaeology, ethnography and the land. New Zealand Joumal of Ecology record of Maori cannibalism before 28:167-179. 122 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES . 45(1) . SPRING 2006

Walpole: Ha Colo, une fIe de l'Extreme, Archeologies et Histoires. Christophe Sand, ed. Les Cahiers de l'Archeologie en Nouvelle-CaIedonie 14. Noumea: Departement Archeologie, Services des Musees et du Patrimoine, 2002. 122 pp. 101 figures; 9 tables; 4 appendices.

Reviewed by MIKE T. CARSON, International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc. (IARII)

Volume 14 of Les Cahiers de I' Archeologie lishes Walpole Island in regional archaeol­ en Nouvelle-CaIedonie is a comprehensive ogy, specifically in reference to the role of monograph concerning the archaeology such a unique environment in human pre­ and history of Walpole Island. Like its pre­ history. Aside from the introductory over­ decessors, this volume is an excellent ex­ view, the volume includes six main chap­ ample of how to present primary field and ters, a chronological synthesis, a summary laboratory data within a meaningful in­ conclusion, and four data-rich appendices terpretive context. The various contextual that each offer a different perspective or set overviews, site-specific studies, specialized of data important to understanding the pre­ analyses, and general observations are in­ history of the island. corporated with a focus on their contribu­ Chapter 1 presents the geology of Wal­ tion to understand the prehistory of the is­ pole Island, of interest to geologists and land and its place in the archaeology of the archaeologists alike. This information has wider region. The major conclusions are previously been reported only in some clearly linked to the primary field and labo­ rather obscure notes and reports, and the ratory data, and readers can easily review present overview will be valuable for a and evaluate the raw data for any variety of number of researchers working in the purposes. Moreover, the authors present a reglOn. sophisticated analysis of how their findings Chapter 2 considers the vegetation com­ relate to larger research issues of enduring munities and faunal populations, enabling value. a sense of ecological zones of the island At first, one may wonder what of ar­ that may relate to zones of potential land chaeological significance could be found use for the prehistoric inhabitants. The on a block of coral limestone less than 3.5 concise and informative overview supports km long, isolated more than 150 km south­ significant interpretative work later in the east of the New Caledonian mainland. In book. Within this chapter, though, the text fact, Walpole (or Ha Colo) has yielded evi­ emphasizes two points. First, the island has dence of human occupation since the be­ a unique set of natural resources that could ginning of human settlement in the larger have supported at least a small population. region at approximately 800 to 520 B.C., Second, the historic-era guano mining op­ including stratified rockshelter deposits, a eration provides an opportunity to examine rich assortment of portable artifacts, mortu­ the impact of a small population on the ary features, and an array of architectural island's resources within a known time remaIns. frame. By the time of European contact in Chapter 3 synthesizes information from 1794, the island was uninhabited, yet visi­ local oral traditions, historical accounts of tors reported mysterious vestiges of ancient guano miners, notes from unlicensed pil­ human inhabitants. In this sense, Walpole lagers, and the records of limited earlier ar­ could be categorized as one of the "Mys­ chaeological forays. In addition, the authors tery Islands" of the Pacific. As the authors present the major findings of recent field point out, however, their work removes surveys, in terms of major zones of the is­ much of the "mystery" of the island's past. land. The information is not simply listed The book's introductory section estab- for the sake of routine. Rather, the authors

Asiall Perspectives, Vol. 45, No.1 © 2006 by the University of Hawai'j Press. BOOK REVIEWS 123 identify some important research issues, A chronological synthesis is offered in generate testable hypotheses, and offer a narrative form, considering issues of first larger interpretive context for the results of discovery, regular settlement, and recurrent their present work. temporary occupation. The strength of this Chapter 4 documents the stratigraphy of chapter is its ability to articulate the island­ test excavations in four key rockshelters, specific data in the context of the archaeol­ along with radiocarbon dates from asso­ ogy of the larger region. In other words, ciated contexts. Radiocarbon dates from this chapter answers some questions about prior investigations are also included and how activities in a peculiar place like Wal­ scrutinized. Altogether, 11 dates are avail­ pole are related to concurrent activities able. The rockshelter excavations encoun­ elsewhere in the region. tered well-preserved cultural deposits with True to the form of any good mono­ a fair amount of internal stratigraphy. The graph, the concise conclusion recaptures the excavation profiles are nicely documented main theme of the book and evaluates what in reference to plan and section views of has been learned about this theme from the the rockshelters. The provenience of each content of the book's chapters. In this case, radiocarbon sample is well documented for two themes are specified. First is the role of further evaluation. Good-quality photo­ Walpole as a Mystery Island in the Pacific. graphs enrich the technical portrayal of the Second is the role of Walpole to under­ excavations. stand human use of an extreme environ­ Chapter 5 presents and discusses a sur­ ment in a long-term perspective. The prising range of shell, stone, and bone arti­ island-specific results are thereby made facts. Superb illustrations and photographs valuable in a general sense for Pacific make this chapter especially useful. Of prehistory and for studies of human­ greatest interest will probably be the shell environment relations. artifacts. In particular, the authors do a One of the more memorable strengths of good job of documenting the manufactur­ this book is that it exemplifies the potential ing sequence of Conus sp. shell rings. of modern archaeological research, not only Chapter 6 is a sophisticated physical in terms of how it is conducted but also in anthropological study of human skeletal terms of how the results are presented in remains. The analysis directly addresses published form. Too often, government the question of whether or not the prehis­ compliance studies and academic projects toric inhabitants of Walpole could have produce bland reports of little value to any­ been itinerant Polynesians. The represented one but the handful of people who already individuals could relate to prehistoric Ton­ know their contents. This book, however, gan populations, but they could also relate proves that significant new information can to prehistoric New Caledonian popula­ be learned from a well-designed research tions. The analysis also evaluates what is project, as well as published in a manner known for certain versus what may have that is both useful and attractive for a vari­ been the case about mortuary practices. ety of researchers.

KIBO-Le serment grave: Essai de synthese sur les phroglyphes caledoniens. Jean Mon­ nin and Christophe Sand, eds. Les Cahiers de l'Archeologie en Nouvelle-Caledonie 16, 2004.

Reviewed by YANN-PIERRE MONTELLE

It is common sense that "digging a hole"l antees the permanence of a message written on a surface like the face of a boulder guar- in stone-a perennial memory. In a certain

Asiml Perspectives, Vol. 45, No.1 © 2006 by the University of Hawai'j Press. 124 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES . 45(1) . SPRING 2006 way, this is what the authors of this resituating the evidence in a more empiri­ remarkable book have accomplished. Their cal framework and minimizing the effects recording campaigns and sophisticated syn­ of these erroneous apriorities. thesizing have resulted in the production of In chapter 2, the reader is invited to en­ a work that is here to stay, firmly anchored ter into the crux of the synthesis with an in the pantheon of seminal works in rock archaeological inventory of the known pet­ art research. This book, I predict, will be­ roglyphs in New Caledonia. After defining come a reference book for rock art students. their terms4 and setting up the "work­ My humble recommendation would be to space" and methodologies, the authors pro­ translate this work into English. vide 67 pages of systematic mapping and Chapter 1 dissects the "hermeneutic" plotting for all identified petroglyphs. For abuses perpetuated under colonial agendas each region, a local map is provided that and/or misguided scholarship. From this helps situate the sites. Perhaps a larger chapter, we learn that writing about alterity map showing the full extent of these areas (otherness) is a complicated process in would have enhanced the reader's appreci­ which the writer needs to remain shielded ation for the overall geographical configu­ from the political and racial a priori of the ration, which is thoroughly discussed fur­ time. Recontextualizing the voice of the ther on in chapter 5 (see pages 203 to 205). author within the ideological currents of Chapter 3 is dedicated to the typology of the time is a very effective process to relati­ the known petroglyphs. The authors have vize the erroneous statements and racial opted for a typology based on the analysis declamations that might offend the poten­ of the shapes of recurring motifs. The re­ tial reader. sults are 40 divisions that are rigid enough It is interesting to realize that until to present categories but flexible enough to recently, the Kanaks were given no history provide a suitable ground for subtle varia­ and were assumed to have been a late wave tions within given categories. The danger of incoming population with no affiliation with categorizing is that it can end up whatsoever with the archaeological records. being an exercise in futility (tire par les The authors have made a good case against cheveux), due primarily to the fact that each this racial prejudice by showing that element of the categories often presents absence of evidence does not equate to variations that defy categorization. But evidence of absence. In their justified here the authors have established a taxon­ approach, the waves of colonialization in omy that survives trivialization. It operates the last few centuries have resulted in a within a system of classification that uses a traumatic collapse of internal knowledge. precise yet generic typology. Table 3.8 Archaeological evidence from Lapita (p. 174) offers an interesting synthesis of potsherds to land tenure would indicate the authors' effort. Categories 1, 3, 4, and that, contrary to common belief, the 5 are the most represented. These are the Kanaks are the direct descendants of the spirals, the cross ("enveloped" crosses), the first settlers c. 3,000 years ago,2 and they ellipses (with axial segment), and the cir­ undoubtedly started the practice of writing cles. These four motifs recur overwhel­ messages on the stones. The authors, how­ mingly in New Caledonia and in many ever, are well aware that it might take other parts of the world.5 more than a book to bring down the The combination of chapters 2 and 3 ef­ rooted erroneous beliefs that the Kanaks fectively prepares the reader for chapter 4. are the perpetuators of a cultural regression In this chapter, ethnoarchaeology finds its brought about by a lack of oral tradition, lettre de noblesse. As any trained archaeolo­ suffer from an obvious lack of aesthetic gist knows, ethnoarchaeology is often too concerns and technological knowledge, and delicate and problematic to be of any ultimately display a total lack of interest in empirical use. It is a well-known fact that regard to the petroglyphs.3 By the end of "alterity" needs to be handled carefully, the chapter, the authors have succeeded in and the archaeological methodologies and BOOK REVIEWS 125 discourses are often too coarse and "rub the data. 7 They conclude that the chronology informants the wrong way." But in this is complex and that the practice of in­ particular case, the data is for the most scribing messages on the stones probably part from reliable secondary sources. When began with the arrival of the first settlers informants provide data, it is treated re­ some 3,000 years ago. With this conclud­ spectfully and with consideration. It is not ing chapter, the authors have provided misused subjectively in order to "fit the their readers with what in my mind is a bill." The authors have succeeded in estab­ remarkable analysis. By approaching the lishing an interpretive methodology that petro glyphs from multiple directions, they is removed from ethnocentric a priori. The have brilliantly created an investigative authors' tone is always on the prudent side, platform that can produce valid hypothesis and when affirmations are made, they are while avoiding unsupported conclusions. accompanied with ample explanations. In their conclusion, the authors pledge In a nutshell, in this chapter we learn to pursue the work by (1) intensifying the that based on local knowledge, the petro­ surveying campaigns and the inventory of glyphs were/are embedded in multiple petro glyphs, (2) finding the funding for di­ mythical layers that might or might not rect dating, and (3) maintaining a high em­ relate to the iconography. But we also pirical level in their comparative analysis. learn that, as elsewhere, the petroglyphs And as a result, the petroglyphs will finally are multifunctional. They are additionally be resituated in their historical and social described as mapping devices (boundary contexts. Needless to say, I commend the marking, demarcations), counting, mne­ authors for their valuable efforts and reiter­ monics, and so on. As expected, the authors' ate my humble gratitude for this valuable conclusion is that there is not a singular ho­ contribution to rock art research. mogeneous system but rather some sophis­ ticated hermeneutic mechanisms that have yet to be understood; fair enough. NOTES Chapter 5 provides the readers with a systematic analysis of all the results that 1. Sur Ie bord d'un ravin de Karaguereu, j'ai have been gathered throughout the preced­ vu trois cupules qui venaient d' etre faites. ing chapters. Here the authors focus their Surpris, je demandais ce que cela signifiait: "C'est un serment, kibo", me repondit mon investigation on the emic "who." They ask: compagnon canaque. Il entendait par lit que Who were the people who left these mes­ les indigenes etaient convenus entre eux de sages on the stones? By briefly considering ces signes, pour confirmer une decision prise, the variety of possible functions/meanings ou marquer qu'un acte avait ete excecute, et il s'etonnaient que je n'ai pas songe a l'inte­ for these engraved motifs, the authors again pretation de ces signes, Ie mot de la langue arrive at the inconclusive conclusion that qui signifie affirmation, serment, etant kibo, too many factors of variability are involved ce qui veut dire precisement: "creuser un in order to provide a "Rosetta stone." Thus trou" (p. 181). the question, "What is the meaning of 2. That this message is not getting across is typ­ ical of colonies where conceding ancestral 6 these petroglyphs?" remains unanswered. connections to the land often equate to Hints are provided with respect to the redistributing the land to its original owners. mnemonic nature of these motifs, but the It does not take a Machiavelli to realize that authors are prudent not to adventure any this might generate a great deal of hardship in the exploiting communities in New Cale­ further into the precarious hermeneutic donia and elsewhere. void. 3. Despite these racially loaded a priori, the Chapter 5 also introduces an important authors are confident that the remedy is in aspect of rock art research: chronology. the public awareness, hence their desire to Despite the absence of direct dating 4 C) write a book primarily for a local audience. e This recommendable position echoes the due to the exorbitant cost, the authors pro­ widespread concern of rock art researchers pose an alternative approach based on the with finding ways to heighten public aware­ cross-checking of both local and regional ness about the fragility of rock art. 126 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES . 45(1) . SPRING 2006

4. Despite their efforts, the term "rock art" is and instead investigate more thoroughly the still inadequate, and their contribution adds ernie "how" (function). In the same vein, it even more weight to the urgency to provide can also be said that it is important to per­ a terminology that will satisfy all parties form an analysis based on categories that are involved in rock art research. genuine/relevant to the people under inves­ 5. Here the authors could have made a leap tigation rather than using preestablished into a wider analysis of motif recurrence on categories for organizing and interpreting the a global scale. This would have substantiated social practices of a given culture. the localized analysis of motifs in the Pacific 7. The authors acknowledge the potential for (Annex 6). other adequate methodologies to be used, 6. The fact is, 99 percent of the time, rock art is such as the study of surface erosion of the unexplainable. It is therefore important to petro glyphs or the superposition of motifs, move away from the etic "why" (meaning) and so on.

Sailing in the Wake of the Ancestors: Reviving Polynesian Voyaging. Ben Finney. Ho­ nolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 2003. ISBN 1-58178-025-7.

Reviewed by ATHOLL ANDERSON, Australian National University

Nobody has done more than Ben Finney along the way. These enliven the text, and to develop modern Polynesian voyaging. the book will appeal to the broad reader­ His vision of experimental sailing coupled ship for which it is more clearly intended with a revival of cultural pride amongst than the Polynesian specialist. Polynesians, the one the vehicle of the For the latter, Finney's recounting of the other, first attained shape with the construc­ later history of the voyaging project is valu­ tion of Nalehia in 1965 and later blossomed able, although details of vessel construction with the famous Hokule 'a. Finney has been and sailing trials are few. In the wider con­ the intellectual mentor, driving force, and text, however, some disquiet may be felt. international public face of the project for Finney has not kept up to date with the ar­ 40 years-a remarkable achievement. This chaeology and indigenous politics that he is his third book on the project, and it discusses here and there in the book. For brings the history up to date by describing example, in describing the loss of tradi­ the construction and sailing of Hawai'iloa tional Maori lands, he neglects to mention and of the various canoes from elsewhere that since 1975 the Waitangi Tribunal in Polynesia that the Hawaiian project has has done much to redress earlier wrongs. inspired. The main events described are the As a result, my own tribe, Ngai Tahu, now canoe regatta associated with the Sixth Fes­ commands assets of around half a billion tival of Pacific Arts in Rarotonga, 1992, and dollars. More pertinently-and in the light the passages of many of the same canoes of the project aims, more fundamentally­ from the Marquesas to Hawai'i in 1995. he declines to address the various criticisms The 1999 voyage to Easter Island is men­ that have been leveled at the voyaging tioned briefly in an epilogue. project throughout the years and especially Finney writes an engaging narrative that recently. These center on the incompatibil­ is concerned mainly with chronicling the ity of the original objectives, described successes and failures of the modern vessels as"an effort in cultural revival as well as an and voyages. It is to his credit that despite experiment in voyaging" (p. 10). They have the explicitly improving objectives of the never rubbed along well, and too often the project, he does not shrink from recording scientific experiment has been compromised the tantrums, bad decisions, and other lapses in the interests of cultural pride.

Asia/1 PcrspcctirJCS, Vol. 45, No.1 © 2006 by the University of Hawai'i Press. BOOK REVIEWS 1 2 7

This is apparent throughout the book. Yet in experimental terms, the voyaging For instance, Hawai (iloa was meant to an­ project has failed to dispose of Andrew swer some of the criticisms of Hokale (a by Sharp's criticisms of traditionalism. Indeed, construction entirely in traditional materi­ Finney's project is cast very much in a als, but it ended up with spruce hulls and neotraditional mold that takes assumed modern lashings, rigging, and sails, as tests achievements of the ancestors as the bench­ of sennit and pandanus disclosed that these mark against which to measure contem­ were too weak to be used in voyaging. But porary voyaging. Finney declines to ex­ surely, isn't that the point? If my Mitsubishi plore the serious implications of substantial station wagon cannot do 200 mph unless I departures from traditional marine archi­ install a Ferrari engine, then doing so could tecture and rigging that are involved in hardly validate my inflated sense of its po­ modern Polynesian voyaging and refuses to tential speed; if reconstructed vessels can engage in the recent discussions of these. I only sail as desired with modern materials have the impression that what matters most in critical areas, then they cannot validate to him, and always has, is the building of various propositions about prehistoric voy­ Polynesian pride in the generic activity of aging. Hawaikinui, similarly, abandoned its long-distance sailing. That is a worthy ob­ original traditionally cut sails and opted for jective and one not under attack by recent those of a modern yacht, while some canoes criticism of the scientific aspects of the have chosen nontraditional gunter rigs and proj ect. Were Finney to separate the two often added headsails as well. The voyages, objectives-as, for example, by dropping too, do not inspire confidence in the con­ the subtitle of this book-and allow mod­ clusions for prehistory that are drawn from ern voyaging to stand in its own right, them. In the Rarotongan gathering, the then other issues need not get in the way Atiu canoe capsized at the beginning, the of the cultural achievenlent that he has Mitiaro and Aitutaki canoes were towed done so much to foster. part of the way, and the Mangaian canoe In summary, Sailing in the Wake oj the made an accidental passage that left its cap­ Ancestors is an interesting book that is infor­ tain and escort vessel behind. The irony of mative and lively on the subject of modern these events was lost on the Cook Islands Polynesian sailing but repetitive and disen­ premier who, as Finney reports, welcomed gaged on the subject of prehistoric voy­ the eventual gathering of the crews by aging. roundly condemning Andrew Sharp.