Book Reviews

BOOK REVIEWS

Current Research in Chinese Pleistocene Archaeology. Chen Shen and Susan G. Keates, eds. BAR International Series i i 79. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2003.

Reviewed by ERELLA HOVERS, Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University ojJerusalem

China has been for a long time a large dIe Pleistocene site of Panxian Dadong (on landmass of which little was known by way bone taphonomy, site formation processes of its prehistoric record. The narratives of and human behavior, and on ESR dating); human evolution on which I have been and a contribution dealing with the age of brought up focused on various parts of the the Jinniushan hominin (also of middle Old World, almost invariably ending with Pleistocene age) and its skeletal remains. a caveat: "But we know very little about Other chapters in the volume take a com China. We predict that intriguing things parative and/or synthetic approach to the will come out of China that could change study of lithic technology (Chun Chen, the whole picture." Y ouping Wang), site formation processes Indeed. Chinese Pleistocene archaeology (Chun Chen, Susan Keates), and chronol has not been static or stagnant, but it ogy (Susan Keates, Qi Chen). The compi remained largely unknown to non-Chinese lation of papers results in a volume that readers. After a long spell of scientific isola speaks in unison to a profound paradigm tion China has opened to the West, and it change in Chinese Pleistocene archaeology. now reveals riches of prehistoric archaeol C. Chen characterizes this change as a shift ogy that stand up to expectations. The from "culture history" to "scientific archae volumes by Aigner (1981) and Wu and ology." Olsen (1985) provided first glimpses of the One consensual view that emerges from achievements of Chinese colleagues up to this volume is that the paradigm shift was the early 1980s. Shen and Keates' volume brought about by increasing collaborative follows down the same path, acquainting projects between Chinese and foreign col the reader with the main questions, leagues. Cormack's review of Davidson advances, and shifts in worldviews in Chi Black's career in China is illustrative in this nese Pleistocene archaeology during the last context. Seemingly out of place and dis two decades. tanced from the realities of the here and There are two types of contributions in now in 'Chinese prehistory, it provides a this volume. One group consists of site historical account of Black's joint work oriented papers, elaborating on particular with Chinese colleagues. Cormack under aspects of single sites or site complexes. lines the reasons for Black's successful sci Such are the two chapters on the early entific enterprise in China. She identifies Pleistocene site of Xiaochangliang (dealing his ability to establish true collaborations with site formation processes combined among equal partners (as opposed to scien with lithic technology and with taphon tific colonialism) as a keystone of his suc omy, respectively); two papers on the ITlid- cess. Similar sentiments resonate loud and

Asiml Pcrspccti!!cs, Vol. 45, No . .2 «) 2006 by the University of Hawai'j Press. ASIAN PERSPECTIVES . 45(2) FALL 2006

clear in C. Chen's account of the history of earliest to the end of the early (Lower) Paleolithic archaeology in China and are Pleistocene, c. .87 mya. However, in this implicit in many of the papers by Chinese specific case the researchers are acutely colleagues. There is a message here to take aware of the site's properties, which may home (or at least to heart) about the way have caused analytical bias and likely international research in China (or in other resulted in ages that are too young, and parts of the world, for that matter) should they treat it as inconclusive. Similarly, be carried out, as noted also by Shutler in they report the age of Renzindong, earlier his comments. assigned a geologic age of2.6 mya, as being The book's title conveys more than sim certainly older than 1.0 my a and possibly ply the time frame encompassed in the older than 1.7 mya. Again the authors e111. volume. As the editors emphasize, the Pa phasize the inconclusiveness of the results, leolithic cultural sequence of China is such this time due to the large dispersion of the that internal temporal divisions are not dates obtained, and they recognize the need warranted, let alone the use of terminology for further clarification. The chronology of borrowed from Paleolithic research in the Longuppo, where a hominoid mandible was West. Instead, they are of the opinion that magnetostratigraphically dated to the Old the appropriate analytical units for dealing uvai Subchron, is also open to dramatically with China's prehistory are temporal, and contrasting interpretations (Brown 2001; they emphasize their preference for the ter Q. Chen et al.: 123). In this particular case minology of early, middle, and late Pleisto the taxonomic identification of the homi cene. Still, the editors seem to have placed noid mandible itself is also debated, though a high premium on the early and middle a few crude lithic artifacts are reported from Pleistocene, as the late Pleistocene is dis the site (Schwartz and Tattersall 1996; cussed less frequently in this volume. It is Wanpo et al. 1995; Wu 2000). The strati unavoidable in such a context that the an graphic description provided in the 1995 tiquity of the early Paleolithic in China publication, however, is not unambiguous will become of major interest. How do with regard to the integrity of the strati claims for the existence of late Pliocene graphic context of these finds. and/or early Pleistocene sites in China (am This brings us to a second important ply cited throughout the book) stand the point. Polemics about the early sites in test of rigorous research methodologies? China are not concerned exclusively with This is an especially intriguing question, their chronologies. The identification of given the accumulated evidence for the anthropogenic authorship of lithic artifacts great antiquity of the first out-of-Africa within the sites looms as a real issue. With dispersal events (e.g., Anton and Swisher few exceptions (e.g., Xiaochangliang with 2004; Bar-Yosef and Goren-Inbar 1993; over 2000 artifacts; Shen and Chen: 69, Gabunia et al. 2000; Swisher et al. 1994 table 1; but see below), claims for hominin [though rebuttals abound]). presence in early putative sites are based on Based on current evidence (discussed very small lithic assemblages of often crude extensively by C. Chen in his review and specimens. Until recently, such assemblages demonstrated by Q. Chen et al. in their have been studied from a strictly typological evaluation of the validity of ESR dating perspective. A critique voiced in China with results), one cannot argue conclusively that regard to the Renzindong assemblage is the Paleolithic in China goes back all the pertinent here: "Recognition of stone arte way to 2 my a or earlier. The critical treat facts ... was entirely based on the empiricist ment of newly obtained results is as impor approach in which a conclusion is accepted tant as the dates themselves. For instance, on the basis of its authorship rather than a ESR results indicate that the site of Xiao critical evaluation of its substance" (Chen: changliang, previously estimated on the 29). Chinese lithic analysts seem to swerve basis of magnetostratigraphy to be either more and more toward technological stud c. 1.0 or 1.67 million years old, dates at the ies. The problem, of course, is that little BOOK REVIEWS can be said about operational sequences rethink the validity of the Two Tradition from collections consisting of few speci model. There are additional problems with mens, and this could doom the fate of this this model that render it naIve and unsatis particular debate. factory (c. Chen: 26). In its stead, explana Painstakingly prying apart the effects of tory scenarios now incorporate differences taphonomy and formation processes from in site structure and function (e.g., open those of human activities, researchers of air vs. cave sites). China's Pleistocene archaeology now feel In contrast to the results of the Xiao ready to make some statements about hu changliang faunal taphonomic studies, the man behavior. Peterson et al. examined an detailed taphonomic work carried out on admittedly small sample of bones from the faunal material from Panxian Dadong Xiaochangliang. To the degree that this underlines the role of human behavior as an sample reflects the true nature of the site agent of archaeological patterning. Sche (in my mind an open question), they argue partz et al. identify a stratigraphic zone in for the extreme rarity of both anthropo which isolated teeth oflarge animals (espe genic and carnivore marks. On the other cially rhinoceros) were arguably introduced hand, they document the presence of abra to the cave selectively. They suggest sion marks and go on to interpret the (p. 104) that this was an attempt to boost archaeofauna of this early site as "a jumble raw material availability, indicating that of hydraulically processed lithics and fauna" lithic raw material at the site was of low (p. 91). This conclusion is consistent with quality. Indeed, modified tools were found that of Shen and Chen with regard to at the site that had been made on large ani the lithics. While the 2000-odd lithic arti mal teeth. This intriguing scenario does not facts from the site clearly represent homi explain why the use of teeth is restricted to nin activities at the locale, they are not in a specific stratigraphic zone (and by extra primary context and arguably are not asso polation, a relatively restricted time span), ciated with the faunal remains. Lithic taph but this is nevertheless an example of the onomy indicates that it was mostly the way taphonomic studies lead to innovative smaller fraction of the assemblage that had ideas about human behavior during the been affected by low-energy inundations. middle Pleistocene. Unfortunately, there are no descriptive sta There are several now-classical models tistics with regard to the size of the bone attempting to characterize and explain the fragments. These in turn could allow for a evolution (or lack thereof, as the case is more nuanced and detailed understanding often argued) of lithic traditions and lithic of site formation processes; for example, a technology in the Chinese Paleolithic. Pos clarification as to whether the same mecha sibly the best known of these is the model nisms shaped the archaeological patterning arguing for the existence of the "Movius of both bones and lithics. line." Corvinus (2004) noted that the oc The detailed taphonomic work con currence of biface assemblages in "truly ducted on lithic as well as faunal assem Early Paleolithic" contexts is rather spo blages has had a significant impact on radic, and that no Chinese Paleolithic understanding the evolution of culture in site can be definitely connected with an China. An influential model had argued Acheulean tradition. Jian and Shannon's that in northern China there existed two (2000) results concur with those of Cor parallel cultural traditions, distinct from one vinus in that they do not identify a real tra another on the basis of the size (small and dition of biface production in East Asia. large) of the raw material packages used Contrary to Movius, they relate the differ for lithic production. As many assemblages ences in lithic assemblages to the availabil originally allotted to the "Large Tool Tra ity of potential raw materials and the adap dition" have now been recognized as sec tive needs and preferences of different early ondary, water-transported deposits (or are hominid groups, rather than to the presence simply surface collection), it is necessary to of two mutually exclusive cultural spheres. 286 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES • 45(2) . FALL 2006

I found it a bit surprising that-despite re determinations of many of the pertinent cent pertinent discoveries (e.g., in Bose; stratigraphic levels, are currently in a state Hou et al. 2000)-this debate and new of flux. The very late ages suggested for approaches to the problem are not more Indonesian H. ereetus (Swisher et al. 1996) extensively reflected in the volume. certainly bring home the question of tem In contrast, several papers deal at variable poral relationship among hominin species length with the evolution of flake indus in China as well. However, there are sub tries. While a sort of general agreement stantial discontinuities in the distribution seems to have emerged that Pleistocene H. ereetus, "archaic" H. sapiens (a problem lithic technology did not change qualita atic term in its own right), and modern H. tively during the Pleistocene in China, the sapiens occurrences in China, and fossil patterning of variability does not seem to bearing sites are not known from the time be agreed upon. Wang's summary of the of marine isotopic stage (MIS) 5 to at least Yangzi River's prolific archaeological rec MIS 2 (Chen and Zhang 1991; Hedges et ord (almost the only contribution that deals al. 1992 [both cited by Brown 2001]). extensively with the late Pleistocene) reveals So what's new on the eastern front? A a development in southern China from lot-and nothing much. From his per cobble tool manufacture (choppers and spective of many years of research in east picks) during the early and middle Pleisto ern Asia, Shutler declares Chinese Pleis cene to the production of flake tools tocene archaeology as "coming out of (points and scrapers) in the late Pleistocene. age." The papers in this volume certainly Importantly, in his opinion the occurrence reflect this profound change, not only in of regional characteristics does not mask a methodologies and the use of more so real overall similarity that exists between phisticated analytical tools but-probably the Paleolithic cultures of southern and most significantly-the depth of concep northern China, especially in the earlier tual changes in Chinese Pleistocene archae stages of the Pleistocene. Wang's recon ology. struction of the conditions under which That said, the jury seems to still be out hominins existed prior to the late Pleisto on many of the major questions that we cene leads him to identify important simila ask of the Chinese record. This is not a bad rities with Eurasian and East African sites of thing in itself. The volume in front of us is comparable periods. Not the least among a reasonably produced (though some of the these are the diachronic changes in raw graphics are not sufficiently clear) interim material acquisition, where a tendency can report, a stepping-stone to future works be seen to procure and transport raw mate that will probably answer some of the cur rial over longer distances. rent questions and will raise many others. The identification by Zun'er Lu of the My professors were right all those many Jinniushan hominin as an archaic Homo years ago, and they still are: Great discov sapiens in a "transitional stage" (132) is in eries will come out of China. line with a model of regional continuity. However, the facial skeleton and cranium REFERENCES CITED are heavily distorted. Argued to be around 260 kyr old, a more likely age estimate for AIGNER, J. S. this hominin is c. 200 kyr ago (Brown 1981 Archaeological Remains in Pleistocene 2001: 142). Dates for unquestionable H. China. Miinchen: C. H. Beck. ereetus fossils in China, such as Zhoukou ANTON, S. C., AND C. C. SWISHER dian Locality 1 and Hexian (5), are indeed 2004 Early dispersals of Homo from Africa. older than either one of the two dates cited Annual re1Jiew of Anthropology 33: 271- 296. for Jinniushan. And yet, the Chinese mid dle Pleistocene record is not ideal for BAR-YOSEF, 0., AND N. GOREN-INBAR 1993 The Lithic Assemblages of 'Ubeidiya, a pursuing the origins of modern humans Lower Palaeolithic Site in the Lower Jor through fossils. Identification of some dan Val/ey. Vol. 34 of Qedem. Jerusa hominin skeletal remains, as well as age lem: Institute of Archaeology. BOOK REVIEWS

BROWN, P. JIAN, L., AND C. L. SHANNON 2001 Chinese middle Pleistocene hominids 2000 Rethinking early Palaeolithic typolo and modern human origins in East gies in China and India. Journal of East Asia, in Human Roots: Africa and Asia Asian Archaeology 2: 9-35. in the Middle Pleistocene: 135-147, ed. SCHWARTZ,]' H., AND 1. TATTERSALL L. Barham and K. R. Brown. Bristol, 1996 Whose teeth? Nature 381 : 201-202. UK: Western Academic and Specialist Press. SWISHER, C. c., G. H. CURTIS, T. JACOB, A. G. GETTY, A. SUPRI]O, AND WIDIASMORO CORVINUS, G. 1994 Age of the earliest known hominids 2004 Homo erectus in East and Southeast in J ava, Indonesia. Science 263 : 1118- Asia, and the questions of the age of 112l. the species and its association with stone artifacts, with special attention SWISHER, C. C., W.]. RINK, S. C. ANTON, H. P. to handaxe-like tools. Quaternary In SCHWARCZ, G. H. CURTIS, A. SUPRI]O, AND ternational 117: 141-151. WIDIASMORO 1996 Latest Homo erectus of Java: Potential GABUNIA, L., A. VEKUA, D. LORDKIPANIDZE, contemporaneity with Homo sapiens C. C. SWISHER III, R. FERRING, A. JUSTUS, M. in southwest Asia. Science 274: 1870- NIORADZE, M. TVALCHRELIDZE, S. C. ANTON, 1874. G. BOSINSKI, O. JORIS, M.-A.d. LUMLEY, G. MA]SURADZE, AND A. MOUSKHELISHVILI WANPO, H., R. CIOCHON, G. YUMIN, R. LAR 2000 Earliest Pleistocene hominid cranial ICK, F. QIREN, H. SCHWARCZ, C. YONGE,]. DE remains from Dmanisi, Republic of VOS, AND W. RINK Georgia: Taxonomy, geological set 1995 Early Homo and associated artefacts ting, and age. Science 288: 1019- from Asia. Nature 378: 275-278. 1025. Wu, R., AND]. W. OLSEN Hou, Y., R. POTTS, B. YUAN, G. ZHENGTANG, 1985 Palaeoanthropology and Palaeolithic Ar A. L. DEINO, W. WEI, ]. CLARK, G. XlE, AND chaeology in the People's Republic of W. HUANG China. Orlando: Academic Press. 2000 Mid-Pleistocene Aechulean-like stone WU,X. technology of the Bose Basin, South 2000 Hominoid mandible belongs to ape. China. Science 287: 1622-1626. Acta Anthropologica Sinica 19: 1-10 (in Chinese with English abstract).

China bifore China: Johan Gunnar Andersson, Ding Wenjiang, and the Discovery of China's Prehistory. Magnus Fiskesjo and Chen Xingcan. Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities Monograph Series No. 15. Stockholm, Sweden. 2004. 159 pp., bibli ography. ISBN 91-970616-3-8.

Reviewed by YUN KUEN LEE, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University

China bifore China is a companion volume these collections and their status as world for the new exhibit under the same title cultural heritage. at the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquity Andersson and his Chinese colleagues (MFEA) in Stockholm. It comprises three gathered the prehistoric collections in major components. First, it chronicles the question in the 1920s from sites distributed little-known stories of the discoveries of in the middle and upper reaches of the the founding collections of MFEA. Second, Yellow River. Although they were not the it discusses how archaeology and politics first known Neolithic collections in what is intertwine in China through the praises now China (Torii Ryuzo discovered the and criticisms directed to Johan Gunnar Hongshan deposits in Japanese-controlled Andersson. Third, it reflects the future of Manchuria in 1908), they were widely

known in the world because of the works excavation at Anau, maintained that those of Andersson. few elements of geometric designs selected Andersson was widely regarded as the by Andersson for comparison were very one foreign specialist in the history of simple and that similarities, if any, were far Chinese archaeology who made the most from convincing. On the contrary, R. H. substantial contributions toward the devel Hobson, then the Chinese ceramic special opment of the science in the Chinese con ist at the British Museum, argued that these text. Prehistory and Neolithic were then geometric designs were first invented in notions exotic to China, a country of a long Mesopotamia and diffused to the other written tradition. By the early twentieth parts of the world, including Yangshao century, Chinese historians became increas China, in later dates (see Andersson 1973). ingly skeptical about the authenticity of the The western expedition had a clear re documentation of the sage kings and leg search question. endary heroes handed down in the classical Chapter 3 is an interesting shift of focus writing. Right at this time, Andersson dis from discussing the works of Andersson to covered an early culture totally unknown discussing how the Chinese evaluate his before. Its relation to traditional Chinese works. The communist government has a culture naturally aroused a great deal of in reputation of high-handedly limiting the terest. Archaeology gradually became the interpretive frameworks that humanities major apparatus in the reconstruction of a and social science scholars could use, and national history of the preliterate past in it does not hesitate to bend history to the following decades. serve the present political goals. Therefore, Based on Andersson's journals, field the attitude toward Andersson's legacy and notes, and correspondence housed and cat Andersson as a person is a reflection of the alogued in MFEA, Fiskesjo and Chen give entire history of modern Chinese archaeol a colorful account of his archaeological ogy in particular and the relationship be journey. The survey expedition from Xi'an tween contemporary politics and academic to Lanzhou was particularly adventurous pursuits in general. This chapter should not because this area was not controlled by the only intrigue archaeologists but should also republic's government but by the warlords. students who study modern Chinese po The expedition had to be protected from litical and intellectual history. bandits by armed guards and soldiers. The In this regard, the evaluation of Anders collections of artifacts were packed and son's works during the precommunist era floated down the Yellow River on yakskin was surprisingly fair and justifiable. He was rafts. These sound more like episodes from praised as a pioneer in Chinese archaeology Indiana Jones than regular archaeological and criticisms were directed to his scholarly campaigns. views and field procedures, which sounded The reason why Andersson took such a more like salvage operations than system dangerous journey demonstrates his scien atic excavation. Academic freedom shrank tific rigor. His motive was to test the hy during the communist era, when criticism pothesis that the prehistoric tradition dis of Andersson concentrated on his argument covered in situ at Yangshao village in 1921 of the Western origin of Yangshao, despite originated in the west. In his first published Andersson later changing his position in the paper about Yangshao, Andersson noted a face of new evidence that the Yangshao striking similarity in design between the people were the ancestors of the modern Yangshao polychrome sherds and those of Han Chinese population. Extreme nation Anau in southern Turkmenia and Tripolje alists also accused Andersson of being a in the Ukraine. To supplement the authors, supporter of imperialism and colonialism. Andersson had consulted leading scholars of Finally, recent economic reforms have the time, sending them pictures of the brought China back into the international Yangshao designs. Hubert Schmitt, a Ger community. Andersson is once again praised man archaeologist who participated in the as a pioneer in Chinese archaeology. BOOK REVIEWS

Looking back after nine decades, the joint responsibility for our world cultural collaboration between Andersson and the heritage, balanced with respect for the local Chinese can serve as a model between caretakers. Western museums and antiquity authorities A nice bonus of this volume is the selec of the Third Wodd. The vast collections of tion of the ethnographic and folklike Asian objects in European and American photographs of China taken by Andersson museums represent either the forced re during the first quarter of the twentieth nlOval of cultural heritage under unequal century. They are preserved in surprisingly terms, the purchase through auctions and good condition. In spite of being consider antique dealers, or the private donations of ably enlarged, they are reasonably sharp. In such purchased objects. They are fragments addition to pictures of archaeological sites, of cultural heritage without documented there are also images of Andersson's Chi provenance. The Andersson collections, in nese colleagues, many of whom were then contrast, were gathered on the basis of mu leading intellectuals, and pictures of the in tual agreement with the country of origin, digenous life in North China. There is rea governing the partition of the collections son to suspect that what is printed in this between East and West. In accordance volume is a small selection of the photo with the Chinese-Swedish agreement, graphic assemblage housed and catalogued approximately half of the material was in MFEA. This is an invaluable source of returned to China, after which it disap visual anthropology of North China. peared and was subsequently forgotten Andersson's spirit of internationalism is there, seemingly without a trace, in the fog also reflected in the coauthorship of the of war. In fact, almost nothing was done to reviewed volume, which is a joint effort of protect the incomparable cultural heritage two of the leading archaeologists in Swe sites of China during the early twentieth den and China. The viewpoints from both century. Andersson's effort was the first of sides are equally expressed. Appropriately, its kind. the volume reviewed is a bilingual edition Because of past history, current legisla in English and Chinese. tion in China prohibits the exportation of Underscored in the subtitle, one of the objects of cultural heritage. This act threat goals of this volume is to highlight how ens the survival of Western museums since Andersson and Ding Wenjiang intertwined as public institutions they see their primary in their pursuit of science. This effort is role as showcasing world culture to their unsuccessful simply because Ding's contri audiences. As a result, they have never bution to China's prehistory is minimal. stopped purchasing antiques from the mar Ding was the founding director of China's ket, which fuels looting activities in China. National Geological Survey. He was an I see the Andersson model as providing a acclaimed administrator and politician who solution by balancing the needs of protect was one of the Chinese delegates at the ing the local cultural resources and display Treaty of Versailles and later became the ing them to a world audience. Today's new mayor of Shanghai, the largest city in global interconnectedness offers an unprec China. It is apparent that the authors' in edented potential for transcending that pat tention is to make the discovery of China's tern. Fiskesjo states in this volume that the prehistory look like a joint endeavor be MFEA now emphasizes cooperation with tween a Swedish and a Chinese scholar. I Chinese and other Asian museums in the appreciate their sensitivity, but the effort is global mission of caring for world cultural exceSSIve. heritage based on equal respect for nations' Before the emergence of pinyin, a sys rights and duties in the management of the tem of transliterating Chinese into the ro heritage in its care and of explaining its man alphabet, there was no official standard importance to both local and global audi of transliteration. In dealing with old docu ences. My hope is that museums world ments, one needs to decide whether to wide might adopt this model and assume a follow the pinyin system throughout and ASIAN PERSPECTIVES 45 (2) . FALL 2006 change the old transliterations into pinyin REFERENCE CITED or follow the old system used in the docu ments. However, this volume fails to do so; ANDERSSON, J. G. 1973 An early Chinese culture, in Memoirs for example, "Henan" is sometimes spelled of the Geological Survey of China. Series "Honan." Readers who are unfamiliar with A, no. 5. Reprint of 1925 ed. Taibei: the history of transliteration would easily Wenhai Press. be confused by the inconsistency.

Bulletin of the International Jomon Culture Conference, Vol. 1 2004. Richard Pearson, ed. Tokyo: International Jomon Culture Congress (nonprofit organization). 163 pp.

Reviewed by OKI NAKAMURA, Kokugakuin University, Tokyo

What is the Jomon? It is a group of cultures The Bulletin of the International Jomon that occupied the Japanese archipelago dur Culture Conference aims to provide up-to ing the Jomon period, which is dated from date information about Jomon archaeology about 16,000 to 3000 years ago, a long for audiences both within Japan and over time span that Japanese archaeologists di seas. In this volume, ten contributors deal vide into six subperiods: Incipient, Initial, with various topics concerning Jomon cul Early, Middle, Late, and Final. "Affluent" tures. All articles are written in both En Jomon foragers in Japan utilized a wide glish and Japanese. Three reviews provide range of foodstuffs, including nuts, moun detailed and high-quality outlines ofJomon tain vegetables, fish, shellfish, and mammals. archaeology. Richard Pearson discusses re Key features of the Jomon include a highly cent discoveries and studies including set developed storage economy, large-scale tlement pattern, social organization, the settlements with planned spatial organiza building of stone monuments, and lacquer tion, permanent buildings displaying a di production. Pearson concludes that the versity of architectural types, sophisticated Jomon shares a number of features in com craft works including fine pottery and mon with other cultures of the North Pa lacquer products, and extensive exchange cific region and also with the East Asian networks of prestige objects such as jadeite continent, but that it also has a number of ornaments. During the past decades, Japa special qualities, including the domestica nese archaeologists have investigated and tion of some plants, gathering techniques documented the very rich archaeological that approach the level of domestication, record of the Jomon period. There are a highly developed storage economy, and probably more archaeological investigations wide exchange networks for the circulation undertaken in Japan than in any other of prestige objects. Jomon was a complex country in the world. In the mid-1990s, forager society that achieved sedentism permits were issued for over ten thousand with large-scale settlements and permanent investigations a year. It is quite difficult, buildings and maintained a high level however, for non-japanese-speaking audi of craft production. Tatsuo Kobayashi de ences to read through the mountains of ex scribes the history of Jomon archaeology cavation reports, articles, and books. This with a focus on Sugao Yamanouchi (1902- makes it difficult for the development of 1970), the great pioneer of Jomon studies. international Jomon studies in a worldwide Kobayashi stresses the importance of context. Yamanouchi's achievement-the establish-

ment of a detailed chronology for Jomon imply that people in inland sites had less pottery-which provides the foundation access to marine resources. There are weak for all new approaches after Yamanouchi, indications of some sort of gender-related such as the reconstruction of subsistence differences in diet in a few sites, but there patterns and the analysis of social structure. is as yet no clear explanation of the cause. He also explores the nature of the "Jomon Noriyuki Yamamoto considers the possi revolution" in terms of new technologies, bility of uxorilocal postmarital residence in villages, landscape, and cosmology and its the early Middle Jomon through an analysis influence on later Japanese culture. Simon of distribution patterns of two pottery types Kaner considers some notable excavations and technological analysis of hybrid-type and innovative approaches to the study of vessels in sites of the Kamo region. He also Jomon settlements and suggests that the re argues that seasonal residence patterns construction of the occupational histories and subsistence patterns could be detected of settlements is important for addressing through the analysis of stone tool assem the development of social complexity in blages. the Japanese archipelago. Ilona Bausch deals with distributional Various case studies encourage a better characteristics of jadeite ornaments and and deeper understanding of Jomon life polished serpentinite adzes. The Hime and society. C. Melvin Aikens investigated River area in the Hokuriku region was the the Godo site located on the coast of sole source of Jomon jade ornaments, such Paleo-Tokyo Bay in the Early Jomon. The as pendants and beads. During the Late and bay was created by raised sea levels during Final Jomon, exchange networks of jade the Jomon Transgression caused by global products noticeably widened, extending warming in the Early Jomon, and it cov throughout the Japanese archipelago from ered a great deal of what is now metropoli Hokkaido to Kyushu. Bausch points out tan Tokyo. A wide diversity of food re that this extension of circulation may be mains, including fish, shells, and mammals, regarded as a response to declining popula was excavated from well-preserved depos tion and a decrease in site numbers caused its. Circular clusters of fire-broken rocks by environmental change associated with probably used for cooking and processing the end of the post-Early Jomon climate activities were found, although there is no optimum. evidence for any actual dwellings. Aikens Minako Togawa focuses on the phe suggests that people might have come to nomenon of the sudden and brief appear Godo to obtain and prepare food and ance of baked clay figurines in Kyushu returned to their homes elsewhere in the at the transition from the Late to Final vicinity of Godo at night. They commuted Jomon. Lithic assemblages and plant re varying distances on a daily basis for col mains indicate that small-scale cultivation lecting, hunting, fishing, and processing. was being practiced in the region. In most He suggests that the concept of a "com horticultural societies, women perform the muter economy" from studies of Native majority of garden labor and have responsi American people might be useful for inter bility for plant resources. For these reasons, preting the lifestyle of the Godo visitors. Togawa suggests that clay figurines repre Brian Chisholm has been carrying out sented females who played important roles stable isotope analysis for the reconstruc in the production of plant resources. tion of diet in the Jomon since about 1987. Critical comments in some of the The result of his analysis reveals that people papers will hopefully encourage some self from all sites in his sample had a substantial reflexive review on the part of Japanese intake of marine protein in their diets, while archaeologists. Since 1999 Japanese archae in Hokkaido (in northern Japan) average ology has been surprised by calibrated AMS dietary values are more positive (marine) radiocarbon dates for the beginning, mid than those for central Japan, and consider dle, and end of the Jomon period, because ably more positive (marine) than western these dates were all older than previously Japan. The coastal versus inland differences thought. Charles T. Keally regards "shock 292 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES . 45(2) . FALL 2006

and confusion" among Japanese archaeolo sand dunes than on the terraces, it seems gists as resulting from the lack of under quite probable that we have been under standing of radiocarbon dating. Japanese estimating th~ whole population and den archaeologists should understand at least sity in the Late and Final Jomon. the fundamental aspects of major dating Publications of immediately translated methods. up-to-date studies and improvements in Mark J. Hudson reexamines the concept accessibility are essential for allowing the of "style" (yoshiki in Japanese) defined by Jomon to make a significant contribution Tatsuo Kobayashi, a very influential con to world archaeology. Hudson, Pearson, cept in Jomon studies. He concludes that and Kaner emphasize that Jomon archaeol the regression analysis he conducted be ogy is well placed to contribute to interna tween the diameters of style zones and tional studies of affluent hunter-gatherers Jomon population densities do not support in terms of social complexity and marriage a link between ceramic style zone and re networks. Publications such as this pro productive networks. vide new opportunities for non-Japanese In order to develop these innovative case speaking scholars to study Jomon cultures. studies, it may be helpful to discuss two In addition, different scholarly approaches important matters of concern to recent from outside Japan will bring new direc Jomon archaeology. First, as Pearson and tions to Jomon studies. Japanese archaeolo Yamamoto emphasize, the Jomon is not a gists should be aware of the great potential homogeneous entity but a group of cul of the rich archaeological record from tures expressing regional diversity in envi Jomon Japan. Through this interrelation ronmental and social conditions. The ship, Japanese archaeologists will receive a results of Chisholm's stable isotope analysis variety of responses to Jomon archaeology support this concept. Comparative and re from outside Japan. It will promote not gional approaches to the Jomon period are only mutual understanding but also active becoming more important and may allow debates and open a new window on Jomon us to understand both the general and par archaeology. ticular nature of life and society in the The different interpretations of the dis Jomon period. Archaeological data from tribution patterns of pottery styles and the Jomon is of sufficient quantity and types by Hudson and Yamamoto may rep quality for new approaches such as this to resent the beginning of a new phase in flourish. Second, it is necessary to reex Jomon archaeology. Hudson concludes that amine the decrease in population in the the correlation between the diameters of Late and Final Jomon. This might have an pottery style zones and population networks effect on Bausch's inference that there may is very low, while Yamamoto. considers that be causality between the expansion of the the technological characteristics of pottery jadeite exchange network and population decoration could be used in order to iden decrease and on the result of Hudson's ana tify types of descent system. This difference lysis using Shuzo Koyama's data of Jomon also shows the large gap between recent population densities. Decreases in the num theoretical perspectives in Japanese and ber of pit buildings and sites on terraces Western archaeology. Continuous debate have long been considered evidence of a may lead to conflict within different aca general population decline in the archipel demic traditions and may be somewhat ago caused by climate cooling after the stressful for Japanese archaeologists. How Early Jomon global warming. However, ever, the variety of comments from differ increasing discoveries of lowland settle ent perspectives in this book will provide ments in the Final Jomon show that many opportunities to rethink the established settlements shifted their locations from interpretations and theoretical settings of river terraces to lowlands, especially in Japanese archaeology and help clarify the coastal areas. Considering that there are still differences and similarities between Japa many fewer excavations in lowlands and nese and Western archaeology. In sum, the BOOK REVIEWS 293

papers in the Bulletin represent a critical that aims to transmit information about the collaborative body of work. Furthermore, Jomon to the world and enhance Jomon this reciprocal relationship will make possi studies, both in Japan and abroad. The ble a new generation of international re I]CC publishes an annual bulletin and search projects, because we will be able to newsletters. This bulletin is not only an ex set up better-informed research questions cellent guide to Jomon archaeology, but it through the debate they engender. also shows the great potential of Jomon ar The International Jomon Culture Con chaeology for making a significant contri gress (IJCC) is a nonprofit organization bution to world archaeology.

The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. Gregory L. Possehl. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2002. 2S0 pp., paperback. $32.95. ISBN 075-910- 172-S.

Reviewed by MONICA L. SMITH, Department of Anthropology, UCLA

It is a marker of the increasing visibility of such as cities but also real commodities like South Asian archaeology that there are now bricks, food, pots, and textiles. The book textbooks on the subject for undergraduate begins by showing how the people of audiences, the most recent of which is the Indus area consisted of interdependent Gregory Possehl's The Indus Civilization: A agriculturalists, traders, and herders, a theme Contemporary Perspective. Drawing on a life repeated throughout the volume. Chapter time of research on the Harappan (Indus) 1 also has biographical sketches of the main culture of the regions now encompassed in individuals who have contributed to Indus Pakistan and western India, Possehl's book studies, highlighting the many important is a welcome and affordable addition to the contributions of local and foreign scholars comprehensive literature. Although it was over the past century. The tone of the purposefully written to be a textbook, the chapter is rather measured; especially in a volume contains many features that make book written as a course text, one might it a suitable reference volume for anyone wish for a somewhat more dramatic intro working in Asia and especially for those duction of this rich Bronze Age cultural interested in the Bronze Age. Its organiza tradition with its walled cities, elaborate tion and the repetition of themes, along craft traditions, undeciphered script, and with cross-referencing within the volume, curiously absent elites (to date, while there make it particularly useful for nonspecialists have been labor-intensive portable goods who may want to read selectively about throughout Indus sites, there are no fancy aspects such as ritual, writing, and exchange. burials or elaborate temples). Throughout the book, Possehl seeks out Chapter 2 examines the beginning of the humanity of the Indus people rather the Indus age by placing the region in a than treating the era as a mysterious collec broader Old World context, emphasizing tion of artifacts. The physical environment how food production became and remained is presented as challenging and diverse, in the critical factor in increased social com which entrepreneurship and problem solv plexity. Many archaeobotanists and faunal ing were valued traits. The evocative lan analysts have worked in the Indus area, and guage enables us to picture the skills and Possehl draws on the work of individuals labor needed not only to create abstractions such as Richard Meadow, Lorenzo Costan-

tim, and Steven Weber to propose that in the past 20 years, thanks to J. Mark subsistence strategies were not based on a Kenoyer and his colleagues, including simple adoption of the N ear Eastern Heather Miller, Kuldeep Bhan, William domesticates of wheat, barley, cattle, sheep, Belcher, and Massimo Vidale; one would and goats. Instead, faunal evidence and local wish for a longer chapter on technology environmental conditions suggest that the or perhaps a separate book-to more fully domestication of some species, particularly examine the technological capacity of the cattle and wheat, was likely to have been Indus people. A chapter on writing is tan accomplished locally. talizing but brief, giving the reader a The full flavor of the Indus culture is dis glimpse of the many challenges of decoding cussed starting in chapter 3, focusing espe the Indus script. The script may represent cially on what Possehl calls the "four aspects multiple languages, and at about 400 signs, of Indus ideology." First, he notes that the number of different glyphs is too many conscious nihilism and renewal were prac to constitute an alphabet but too few to be ticed on a large scale, using as one example a pictographic system (as Chinese and Japa the urban site of Mohenjo-Daro, which nese are, for example). Indus texts are also appears to have been established on the short, meaning that even when decipher plains as a new habitation with planned ment occurs there are unlikely to be components including a street grid, monu lengthy passages of historical or ritual infor mental platforms, and elaborate drainage. mation. Second, the Indus culture had a consider A chapter on religion recaps many of the able fascination with water, for which Pos themes discussed in earlier sections, utiliz sehl borrows from Michael Jansen the term ing portable objects and architecture to "wasserluxus" to describe the Indus peo parse out Indus ritual traditions and prac ples' careful attention to the construction tices. This is followed by a chapter on of drains, wells, and bathing platforms, as burial practices that outlines what we well as the frequent appearance of the know about mortuary traditions from ex water buffalo in iconography. Third, the tensive cemeteries at the sites of Kalibangan Indus was a time of technological sophisti and Harappa, as well as the scattered hu cation and innovation, including the devel man remains found in the upper levels of opment of a writing system, metallurgy, Mohenjo-Daro. Ritual practices are also maritime technology, and lapidary arts evident in the following chapter on gender, including beads and intricate stone seals. in which Possehl discusses the work on Finally, Possehl highlights the way in which figurines by Catherine Jarrige. Principally cities were a focal point for both ideology working with the finds from the village and skilled craft production. The Indus cul sized site of Mehrgarh, Jarrige found that ture had at least five cities, including the figurines of uncertain gender from the ear relatively newly discovered sites of Dhola liest phases were replaced by those with in vira, Rakhigarhi, and Ganweriwala, in ad creasingly female physical characteristics by dition to the well-known Harappa and around 4000 B.C., culminating in figurines Mohenjo-Daro, which remain the most with elaborate hairstyles and ornaments by extensively excavated urban zones. A dis c. 2900-2600 B.C. (the same time that cussion of these and other sites including cities were being established throughout Possehl's own work at Rojdi round out the Indus culture area). Male figurines were this chapter, which could function on its also present, proportionately increasing over own as a primer on current research. time until they comprised 85 percent of the The next section of the volume contains Mehrgarh assemblage. By the end of the a chapter each on technology, architecture, Mehrgarh sequence, in an unusual reversal and art. Each chapter is a stand-alone of the usual perception of figurines serving encapsulation, making the subject accessi as fertility icons, some of the male Mehr ble to scholars from other regions seeking garh figures hold infants while females lose comparative material and ideas. Indus tech their formerly bountiful proportions. As he nological studies are particularly abundant does elsewhere in the book, Possehl frames BOOK REVIEWS 295 this discussion in human terms, inviting the offer the professional, it is ironic that it is reader to consider the universals of how somewhat less successful as an actual text people express themselves and attempt to book. Possehl's writing style is highly in come to terms with larger social and natural clusive to scholars but is a bit arcane for processes. undergraduates, with its numerous asides Possehl ends his substantive discussion of on archaeological and social theory. Simi the Indus culture with a detailed and com larly, the complex discussions of Indus geo prehensive chapter on the "Middle Asian graphic phases and stages, many of which Interaction Sphere," his term for the eco are based on relatively subtle distinctions in nomic and social relations among the the material record, are likely to confuse Bronze Age cultures of Mesopotamia, the students who will be more focused on gen Persian Gulf, and the Turanian Basin of eral similarities throughout the Indus cul Central Asia. This excellent chapter brings tural region and the explanation of human together a wealth of scholarship on regions behaviors that accompanied the develop that are often examined separately but are ment and decline of Indus characteristics shown to have sustained significant amounts such as urbanism. When I used this volume of contact through long-distance exchange. in an upper-division university course on The chapter shows the nature and impor South Asian archaeology, I found that the tance of "foreign" trade for Indus peoples, students lacked the anthropological and but it also puts those other regions in per historical background to appreciate how spective. Treated from the Indus point of the Indus fit into a larger picture of world view, Mesopotamia is just one among many cultures. One solution to this might be to flourishing zones of Bronze Age commerce have an introductory chapter or supple and innovation. Indeed, we are likely to mental reading on today's South Asia to learn a great deal about the Indus from give students a sense of how archaeology places elsewhere in the Near East (one po there is viewed as an important touchstone tential scenario is that the now heavily of political and social life in a manner that looted sites of Iraq may yield a bilingual is very different from the way in which ar Indus-cuneiform inscription that could en chaeology is practiced and reported in the able us to decipher the Indus script; archae United States. ologists would do well to prepare them Overall, this volume is well worth own selves in advance for the ethical dilemmas ing, and it will stand as a useful and com that would follow such a discovery). prehensive account of the Indus culture for While this book obviously has much to many years to come.

Integrating Archaeology and Ethnohistory: The Development of Exchange between Yap and Ulithi, Western Caroline Islands. Christophe Descantes. BAR International Series 1344. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2005. vi + 124 pp.; illustrations, maps, bibliography, appendices. £29.00. ISBN 1-84171-690-1.

Reviewed by ROSALIND L. HUNTER-ANDERSON, Micronesian Archaeological Research SeY1Jices, Guam

Integrating Archaeology and Bthnohistory are: Introduction; Theoretical and Meth (hereinafter lAB) contains eight chapters odological Approaches in Exchange Stud well illustrated with maps, diagrams, pro ies; Environmental Setting of Yap and files, and plans. In sequential order, they Ulithi; Historical Ethnography of Western

Carolinian Interaction; Archaeology of the Yapese and Ulithians rather than an expla Western Carolines and Micronesian Ce nation invoking general principles. In ramic Provenance Studies; Archaeological Chapter 7, this exchange history takes the Investigations: Spatial and Ceramic Anal form of a narrative comprising several "fac yses; Discussion; and Conclusion. Two tors" that may have had an effect upon the appendices-AMS Radiocarbon Determi phenomenon under study. Among others nations and Instrumental Neutron Activa they include intrinsic population growth in tion Analysis Data-and the bibliography Yap and Ulithi, competitive political ma conclude the work. lAB is a revision of neuvers on Yap that included Ulithians, Descantes' 1998 University of Oregon doc European contact and its technological toral dissertation. As with other monographs introductions, and the practice of exchange in the far-too-expensive BAR International (more on this below). Meanwhile, the Series, this one has not been edited profes physical environments of Yap and Ulithi sionally, and minor irritations remain: typos, (climate and sea level, for instance) are subject-verb disagreements, dangling and assumed to have been static (although con misplaced modifiers, alphabetical errors in trasting in basic geology) over the thousand the bibliography, and numerous awkward years of presumed exchange history. phrases and usages (a particularly annoying As in other works aimed at explication of one is "materialist" for "material"). These a topic, lAB begins with a dictionary defi flaws aside, lAB is valuable for its new nition; exchange "refers to the establish data-and provocative as well. ment and maintenance of relationships lAB explicates a phenomenon that has between persons. In order for social rela been documented ethnographically, in this tionships to exist we must exchange case exchange practice between Yapese and something-whether it is the communica Ulithians, and tries to add something new tive exchange of language, the economic to the picture. New and valuable for re and/or ceremonial exchange of goods or gional archaeology are 28 radiocarbon dates the exchange of spouses." that provide tighter temporal control on Once we know what the topic is, the technological changes in Yapese ceramics, Yap /Ulithi case is presented. This involves on the adoption of stonework architecture a review of the literature describing the on Yap and Ulithi, and on the onset of sawei system, pertinent historic information land reclamation along the Gachpar Village from travelers' accounts and oral history, (Yap) shoreline. The new dates comple and justification for pursuing exchange ment the research contributions of Michiko archaeologically. Intoh, who has established a still-longer oc Practicality dictated a focus on one vil cupation sequence for Fais than is evident lage in Yap (Gachpar) and one islet in in Ulithi from Descantes' results (e.g., see Ulithi (Mogmog), both important locales Intoh 1996). lAB's technical analyses pro in the sawei literature. Because the research vide information on the chemical composi topic was exchange, a culturally mediated tion and provenance of clays used in Yapese behavior, yet archaeological fieldwork gen pots and on vessel size differences (pots erates static observations, there was an im used in Ulithi were larger than contempo mediate methodological problem: how to raneous pots in Gachpar). recognize the behavioral phenomenon of lAB is provocative in combining science interest archaeologically. Descantes' solu based analytical techniques and statistics tion was to simply declare that pottery with an epistemology that denies the possi sherds in prehistoric deposits at Mogmog bility of universality in cultural adaptive are a proxy for exchange behavior (the responses. Stating that his work "is part of sherds could not have been made in Ulithi, a trend to historicize anthropological in which lacks clay, and sawei ethnohistory quiry (citing Biersack, Kirch, Sahlins, and indicates that pots were given by Gachpar Thomas)," Descantes offers a "history of Yapese to Ulithians at Mogmog). From the development of exchange" between this follows another declaration, that pot- BOOK REVIEWS 297 tery sherd density in the excavated deposits pIes serves as a mechanism to explain the is a proxy for "exchange intensity," a vari reproduction and transformation of soci able that as used in IAE means quantity eties through time . ... The study of ex and frequency of items exchanged. Thus change is central in archaeology because it pot sherd "behavior" in the deposits was is an important factor in explaining cul ture change (my emphasis). used as a proxy for cultural behavior. This is a very old problem that emerged in the polemics of the "new archaeology": Are In other words, Descantes is saying that anthropological archaeologists supposed to exchange is a phenomenon that pervades study cultural variables (like "exchange" Pacific island societies, that it probably did defined archaeologically), or are we to so in the past at Yap and Ulithi, and that it study the archaeological record directly is an important factor that keeps societies and then explain it using whatever frame going, changes them over time, and thus of reference is appropriate? This matter is kept Yapese and Ulithian societies going far from resolved, as IAE shows. and then caused them to change over time. Incidentally, Descantes' use of potsherds Descantes hereby indicates that he already contrasts with the common use of proxies knows why exchange is important (it is for past processes in the historical sciences. both ubiquitous and causative). His "dia Usually proxies are accepted for use within chronic model of exchange" presented in a research community only after studies Chapter 7 narrates how people from two have proved that regular relationships exist different cultures (and he assumes they between the proxies and phenomena they were always from two different cultures) are said to represent. That is not so here. exchanged things, first informally and then Descantes provides no actualistic or experi formally, the increasingly intense practice of ex mental warrants for using potsherds as a change being the cause of the trajectory to proxy for any aspect of the complex behav ward formalization that culminated in the ior pattern, exchange, or sherd density for ethnographically known sawei system. Now exchange "intensity." I found this misuse where I come from, you cannot have it of a scientific convention unsurprising, both ways; your object of explanation is given the following from the Introduction: not your means of explanation. It is a little like the idea of pulling oneself up by the Permeating all aspects of island life, bootstraps; something is just not right here. exchange is integral to human island Society does not cause itself to change or adaptations. The primary purpose of stay the same-or does it? this book is to construct a diachronic Among Descantes' dissertation revisions model of exchange between the is the insertion of new information on past residents of Gachpar Village (Yap) environments derived from palaeosediment and Mogmog Island (Ulithi Atoll) through the integration of archaeo cores in Palau and Yap. The new informa logical and ethnohistoric data .... tion, however, is not interpreted as envi This model contributes to our under ronmental evidence but as behavioral evi standing of past Pacific Island inter dence. Apparently Descantes accepts claims societal networks and their role in that fossil Araceae and Cyrtosperma sp. the development in two culturally pollen with estimated dates of

the palaeontological observations that they taken at 330-340 cm and may have con are. Marine geological studies have found tained charcoal particles) is consistent with that mid-Holocene sea level at Babeldaob the accumulating evidence for late mid was about 1.5 m higher than today, imply Holocene onset of fires elsewhere in the ing a condition highly favorable for man tropical western Pacific. groves (Dickinson 2001). The Ngerchau lAB presents other fascinating new facts Core 14 (Athens and Ward 2001) shows to ponder. The earliest radiocarbon date that mangroves flourished at this time and on charcoal associated with pottery in ar that the mangrove community contained chaeological deposits at Gachpar is 20-380 Araceae (only some of the Araceae pollen cal C.E., close to initial settlement estimates is identifIed as Cyrtosperma sp.). As sea level from other Yapese sites. Does this mean we declined, so did the mangroves, and Ara are finally getting a handle on when the ceae pollen disappears from the core after Yap Islands were first inhabitable, as op c. 2500 B.P. (see Athens and Ward 2001). posed to when people "chose" to inhabit The Cyrtosperma genus contains 12 species, them? Why do the dates from Mogmog 11 of which are wild, so it is likely that the begin c. 600 years later than those from Araceae pollen recognized in the core is Fais? Does this mean that prior to c. 600 from wild forms. How these plants got to C.E., Ulithi Atoll islets were not large Babeldaob is a biogeographical problem, enough to support human activIties, not an archaeological one (the earliest ar whereas Fais, a raised coral island, was al chaeological sites in the interior of Babel ready available? The dates from Gachpar daob date no earlier than 3000 B.P. [Welch suggest that coastal land reclamation that 2001]). created more swamp taro growing area It is also important to realize that since started between c. cal 1310 and 1470 C.E. the mid-Holocene, fires have been natural Does this indicate "population pressure" to in this region and relate to the onset of sea produce more food, assuming intrinsic sonal climate with El Nino droughts. The population growth as favored by Descantes idea that evidence of fire in palaeo sediment (and myself until recently) or a climate cores (charcoal particles) is evidence of and/or sea level-related response? Excava people assumes that fires cannot start natu tions beneath house platform complexes in rally on tropical islands. Nunn et al. (2001) Gachpar suggest that architectural stone have shown this to be wrong, with evi work was adopted there between cal dence of massive fires at Fiji c. 4500 B.P., 1470-1650 and 1510-1800 C.E. Laminated and similarly early evidence of fires has pottery began to be made in Gachpar been found on Guam in palaeosediment around 1350-1450 cal C.E. The latter date cores (summarized in Athens and Ward is similar to that obtained by Michiko 2004: Table 3). Regarding Yap, if Des Intoh for the adoption of Laminated ware cantes had read Dodson and Intoh (1999) elsewhere in Yap and in the Fais sequence. more carefully, he would have noticed that Why are these signs of cultural change so charcoal particles were abundant at 280 cm, late in the Yapese prehistoric sequence, near the base of the Fool Swamp Core, not and why do they happen to coincide with just (upward) in the core where he notes the Little Ice Age (LIA, c. 1350-1900 C.E.)? they are estimated to date to 3300 B.P. In Perhaps the temporal coincidence of the fact, the 280 cm location on the core lies onset of Yap coastal land reclamation for between two (uncalibrated) radiocarbon taro patches (and the progradation of sandy dates: 3340 ± 80 at 225-235 cm and shorelines in some of these areas), stone 5230 ± 70 at 330-340 cm. This means that work architecture, and the adoption of fires occurred in the Fool Swamp catch Laminated pottery with the LIA is not ment far earlier than 3300 B.P. The timing so strange. Frequent and severe El Nino of onset of fires in the Fool Swamp catch droughts and slightly lower sea levels asso ment as 5200 B.P. (pollen and charcoal ciated with the LIA may have been the were not counted below 280 cm, although impetus to increase the growing area for the basal radiocarbon dating sample was giant swamp taro as a way to increase food BOOK REVIEWS 299

storage capacity as rainy seasons shortened for Ngerchau core, in Pacific 2000: Pro a population that was not increasing but ceedings of the Fifth International COll struggling in the face of deteriorating agri ference on Easter Island and the Pacific: 165-177, ed. C. M. Stevenson, G. cultural conditions for breadfruit and yams. Lee, and F. ]. Morin. Los Osos, CA: My unpublished data from a palaeosedi Bearsville Press. ment core taken in the central taro patch at 2004 Holocene vegetation, savanna origins, Mogmog in 1990 indicate this agricultural and human settlement of Guam. Records of the Australian Museum feature was created from a natural depres Supp. 29: 15-30. sion c. 700 years ago. Is this just a coinci dence, or do we have a hint that Ulithians DICKINSON, W. R. 2001 Paleoshorelinc record of relative were also feeling the pinch and that lower Holocene sea levels on Pacific islands. relative sea level helped to enlarge the islet Earth-Science Reviews 55: 191-234.

sufficient to form a Ghyben-Herzberg lens? DODSON,]. R., AND M. INTOH To conclude, one sympathizes with Des 1999 Prehistory and palaeoecology of Yap, cantes' wish to "integrate" ethnographic Federated States of Micronesia. Qua and historical documentation with archae ternary International 59: 17-26. ological data; clearly we ignore relevant INTOH, M. facts at our peril. Yet it is scientific 1996 Multi-regional contacts of prehistoric theories, rather than histories, that decide Fais islanders of Micronesia. Indo Pacific Prehistory Association Bulletin which these are. Descantes' catholic 15: 111-117. approach (accepting all manner of causes NUNN, P. D., R. R. THAMAN, L. DUFFY, S. including the phenomenon of interest it FINIKASO, N. RAM, AND M. SWAMY self) is not the model that I would recom 2001 Age of a charcoal band in fluvial sedi mend students follow. Weak on the ex ments, Keiyas, Sigatoka Valley, Fiji: planatory side and its trendy rhetoric Possible indicator of a severe drought throughout the southwest Pacific notwithstanding, lAB contains solid infor 4500-5000 years ago. South Pacific mation that will be useful in theory build Journal of Natural Science 19: 5-10. ing. Check it out at your university library. WELCH, D.]. 2001 Early upland expansion of Palauan settlement, in Pacific 2000: Proceedings REFERENCES CITED of the Fifth International Conference on Easter Island and the Pacific: 178-184, ATHENS,]. S., AND]. V. WARD ed. C. M. Stevenson, G. Lee, and 2001 Paleoenvironmental evidence for F.]. Morin. Los Osos, CA: Bearsville early human settlement in Palau: The Press.

Archaeological Investigations in the Mangareva Islands (Gambier Archipelago), French Polynesia. Eric Conte and Patrick Vinton Kirch, eds., with contributions by Eric Conte, Patrick V. Kirch, Marshall 1. Weisler, Atholl Anderson, Nicole Howard, Trevor H. Worthy, Alan J. D. Tennyson, and James Coil. Archaeological Re search Facility Contributions No. 62. University of California, Berkeley, 2004. xxix + 172 pp., 86 figures, 25 tables, bibliography, 2 appendices, paperback. $24 USD + shipping. ISBN 1-882744-16-0.

Reviewed by MELINDA S. ALLEN, Department oj Anthropology, University oj Auckland

In November of 2000, Patrick Kirch and Archaeology: Retrospect and Prospect Eric Conte hosted the Eastern Polynesian conference, which saw an international

Asiml PcrspcclilJcs, VoL 45, No.2 © 2006 by the University of Hawai'i Press. 300 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES . 45(2) . FALL 2006 group of participants sharing ongoing stud of Mangareva as a small stratified society, ies and debating future research directions but one with parallels to "open societies" (see Asian Perspectives fall 2002). It was in in which sociopolitical statuses are fluid this context that a major expedition to and often nonhereditary. These discussions Mangareva, at the southeast margin of East lead directly to the four main objectives of Polynesia, was conceptualized and financial the 2001-2003 field research and provide support secured from the French Polyne the context for the remainder of the vol sian government. Dedicated to Roger unle. Green, this volume reports on the first two Chapter 2 (Kirch) backgrounds the natu field seasons and builds on Green's pio ral and cultural environments of Man gareva. neering Mangareva research (e.g., Green Three environmental features stand out: and Weisler 2000; Weisler and Green the isolation of the group, the small land 2001). area (only 24.4 km2), represented by ten The volume begins with an overview of main volcanic islands, and the extensive recent themes in East Polynesian research, lagoon and encircling barrier reef. Kirch's many also reflected in the conference overview of traditional Mangarevan society papers. Kirch and Conte consider questions draws extensively on the research of Te of settlement chronology, regional varia Rangi Hiroa (Peter Buck). The tremen tion, landscape evolution, long-distance dous changes experienced by both the land exchange and interaction, and the develop and people are highlighted, particularly the ment of diverse economic and social orien loss of native flora and fauna in prehistory tations. With respect to the timing of East and cultural change at the hands of Roman Polynesian settlement, they suggest that Catholic missionaries after 1834. Mangareva occupied a central position at Approximately one-third of the volume the southeastern confluence of the Tua is devoted to detailing the archaeological motu and Austral Island chains and may field studies undertaken by Conte, Kirch, have been a source area for populations Weisler, and Anderson (chapter 3). The that settled Pitcairn, Henderson, and Rapa field strategy was explicitly extensive rather Nui. The recent work thus had the poten than intensive, in an effort to sample a di tial to inform on settlement not only on versity of localities and as many islands as Mangareva but also in this southeast prov possible. Surface surveys, coring, and test ince generally. Not surprisingly, the theme excavations were carried out at six main of landscape evolution is also prominent, localities on seven islands. The work is being a research area to which many of well reported and accompanied by useful the contributors previously have made sub illustrations (photos, maps, and profiles), stantial contributions. Mangareva offers a but unfortunately the photos are poorly particularly interesting case, as historic reproduced (no fault of the authors). Where accounts describe a highly degraded land appropriate, the new findings are integrated scape and, while human populations have with the earlier survey of Kenneth Emory, been implicated in this process, their role the 1959 excavations of Green (Green and in this transformation and the dynamics of Weisler 2000), and a recent surface survey cultural-environmental relationships have by Weisler (1996). thus far been largely undemonstrated. The An important contribution here is the place of Mangareva in long-distance inter enlarged corpus of radiocarbon determina action networks is also highlighted, the tions, from 8 to 32, with five islands repre islands previously having been identified as sented by new samples (Kirch, Coil, Weis a central player in the southeast interaction ler, Conte, and Anderson, chapter 4; see sphere (Weisler and Green 2001). A final also Anderson et al. 2003). Settlement is theme is the temporal development of suggested "in the first few decades of the Mangarevan society and its differentiation 11 th century" (p. 85) or more optimisti from those elsewhere in East Polynesia. In cally "no later than the end of the 10th teresting in this regard are characterizations century A.D." (p. 104), based on new evi- BOOK REVIEWS 301 dence from Onemea, Taravai Island. While Rockshelter, the lack of directional size the authors caution that the two early ra changes in the vulnerable eellana over six diocarbon samples do not derive from an levels (representing a 200-year period be in situ occupation, human activity seems tween the late thirteenth to mid-fifteenth incontrovertible, given their association centuries) is more convincing, although with an abundance of seabird bones again sample sizes are variable. While the (including extinct and extirpated species), authors may be correct in arguing that hu human-dispersed land snails (Allopeas gra man impact on local marine resources was cile), volcanic manuports, and rat bone negligible, evidence from other atolls has (Rattus ex/,dans) , At Atituiti, a sample from demonstrated the reverse, and application a large platform (pp. 55-57)-possibly the of a wider range of measures (e.g., changes solar observatory recorded by nineteenth in proportion of large-bodied prey, age century missionary Pere Honore Laval structure, etc.) on larger samples in the fu leads the authors to suggest (p. 104) that ture might prove interesting. monumental architecture was being con The small artifact assemblage is reviewed structed by the fifteenth century A.D. A by Weisler, Conte, and Kirch in chapter 7, third important finding is evidence for with the stone adzes receiving the most marked environmental deterioration rela detailed attention. Among the excavated tively late in the sequence, in the seven assemblage of 234 objects, derived largely teenth to eighteenth centuries A.D. from the Onemea Site and Nenega-Iti Howard and Kirch (chapter 5) and Wor Rockshelter, are fishhooks of varied size, thy and Tennyson (chapter 6) report on Acropora coral files, pounders, bone needles/ the faunal materials, considering vertebrate awls, and a large number of flakes. Thirty assemblages from two sites and molluscan eight adzes and axes, most from a private remains from three. Dog and pig, while collection, represent six types on the basis present early in the sequence, are never of Green's typology (Weisler and Green abundant and disappear before European 2001), and some show affinities with other contact. Rats are present, but there is little East Polynesian islands. Outside of the evidence for rat consumption (p. 117), adzes, none of the recovered artifacts is par which is notable given the losses of other ticularly diagnostic with respect to time pe terrestrial protein resources. The land snail riod or regional styles. analysis revealed two human-aided disper-. Insights into Mangareva's linkages with sals and four extinct endemics. Two new other East Polynesian archipelagos (see also extinct bird species were recovered-a Weisler and Green 2001) come from an large petrel (Pseudobulweria) and a pigeon artifact-based geochemical analysis. A pre (Ducula)-bringing the number of archaeo ponderance of local materials is indicated, logically recovered native bird species to 19 but one adze derived from Eiao in the (see also Steadman and Justice 1998). Marquesas Islands, c. 1750 km distant, and Overall, the vertebrate evidence indicates a three flakes were sourced to the more decided emphasis on marine resources and proximate Tautama source on Pitcairn, c. significant human impact on native terres 400 km away. In a somewhat Mangarevan trial species. centric view, the group is identified as The authors also consider but are not the "center of a long-distance interaction able to demonstrate the possibility that ma network that linked the Pitcairn group, rine fauna were negatively affected by hu the Marquesas, the Society Islands, and man predation. Two of the more abundant undoubtedly the Tuamotus until sometime shellfish species were evaluated, but no sta in the 15th century when the collapse of tistically significant temporal trends were long-distance voyaging may have been observed. However, in the case of Gafarium triggered regionally by late prehistoric social from the Atiaoa Site, the basal sample is unrest on several island groups" (p. 142). quite SlTlall and it is unclear how much The documentation of geochemical vari time is represented. At the Nenega-Iti ability within Mangarevan lithics and dem- 302 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES 45(2) • FALL 2006 onstration of linkages between local com more than a cultural historical one; there munities and with more distant island are implications for the rates of anthropo groups are significant contributions. genic impact, cultural adaptation, and cul In the final chapter, Kirch and Conte tural differentiation, as well as for defini return to the major themes outlined in tion of the patterning and causes of human chapter 1 and review the results achieved dispersals. In 2000, Mangareva represented to date. They end with some quite personal "a significant lacuna in our knowledge of observations on their Mangarevan experi East Polynesian archaeology" (p. xii), one ences, sentiments that will undoubtedly that is now ably being filled. But the work resonate with many Polynesian archaeolo there highlights another: the early settle gists. ment histories of the larger islands of the Te Rangi Hiroa and Kenneth Emory central East Polynesian core. believed that much of Mangareva's cultural The ongoing Mangarevan field study is a heritage had been lost; Hiroa was "shat significant one, and the authors are to be tered" by the "barren" cultural landscape commended for the detailed and timely (p. 25), Emory discouraged by the plun reporting of their work. Contributions dered structures (p. 11). But perceptions of like this, in addition to sharing significant loss relate in part to the questions being results, insure that contextual information, asked; the current research program illus from radiocarbon dates to stratigraphic trates how the questions have changed, of details, is available for integration with fering potential insights from' novel tech future research and possible re-evaluation. nologies and the likelihood of continued Further, communication with the Franco discoveries below the ground. The new phone community has been facilitated by Mangarevan results are also important from the extended abstract in French (16 pages). a regional perspective, with only one of The volume will be an important addition many relevant issues raised here. Specifi to the libraries of Pacific scholars. cally, they add to a growing body of evi dence that human populations were widely REFERENCES CITED distributed throughout East Polynesia, extending into this southeastern corner and ANDERSON, A., E. CONTE, P. V. KIRCH, AND M. even higher latitude regions by A.D. 900- WEISLER 1200. The contemporaneous establishment 2003 Cultural chronology in Mangareva of new settlements in such widely sepa (Gambier Islands), French Polynesia: Evidence from recent radiocarbon rated parts of the region is remarkable. If dating. Journal of the Polynesian Society these tenth-to-thirteenth-century occupa 112:119-140. tions represent the region's founding popu GREEN, R. c., AND M. 1. WEISLER lations, then a very rapid colonization pro 2000 Mangarevan Archaeology: Interpretations cess is intimated, one involving a large Using New Data and 40 Year Old number of colonists who dispersed in sev Excavations to Establish a Sequence from 1200 to 1900 A.D. University of eral directions and, given the numbers Otago Studies in Prehistoric Archae required, possibly from multiple island ology No. 19. Dunedin. sources. The alternative is the long STEADMAN, D. W., AND L. J. JUSTICE standing idea that earlier settlements were 1998 Prehistoric exploitation of birds on first established in the central East Polyne Mangareva, Gambier Islands, French sian core, occupations that remain un Polynesia. Man and Culture in Oceania detected. In this regard, it is ironic that the 14:81-98. early settlement histories of several of the WEISLER, M. 1. most centrally located islands with the 1996 An archaeological survey of Man gareva: Implications for regional largest land masses are among the most settlement models and interaction poorly investigated. Importantly, the ques studies. Man and Culture in Oceania tion of when East Polynesia was settled is 12: 61-85. BOOK REVIEWS 303

WEISLER, M. 1., AND R. C. GREEN lasian Archaeometry Conferetlce: 413- 2001 Holistic approaches to interaction 47, ed. M. Jones and P. Sheppard. studies: A Polynesian example. In Research in Anthropology and Lin Australasian Connections and New guistics No.5. Auckland: University Directions: Proceedings of the 7'" Austra- of Auckland.