Society for American Archaeology Review Author(s): Frank W. Eddy Review by: Frank W. Eddy Source: American Antiquity, Vol. 52, No. 3 (Jul., 1987), p. 663 Published by: Society for American Archaeology Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/281628 Accessed: 22-04-2015 04:06 UTC
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REVIEWS AND BOOK NOTES
1983. xv + 377 pp., figures, tables, literature cited. (paper). Reviewed by David V. Burley, Simon Fraser University. For those working on the Northwestern Plains of North America, perhaps the most enigmatic type of site is the tipi ring. Ubiquitous in distribution, highly visible in most circumstances, and notoriously sparse in artifact frequency, tipi rings are the bane of researcher and resource manager alike. This Plains Anthropologist Memoir is a publication of 22 papers either presented in a symposium at the 1981 Annual Plains Conference or by later invitation of the editor. It also includes an Introduction by Leslie Davis, a "retrospective" commentary by Thomas Kehoe, and the transcript of a panel discussion that followed the original symposium. Contributions provide a wide spectrum of thought on methodological and theoretical issues in tipi ring archaeology, albeit a few are short descriptive reports. The introduction suggests the Memoir will "appear inelegant to reviewers"; such is the case. With exception, the issues being addressed are little different from those identified 25 years earlier and the results continue to emphasize the need for further research. However, the data base, largely due to resource management endeavors as witnessed in virtually every paper, is expanded greatly. For all of its shortcomings, Microcosm to Macrocosm is a worthwhile addition to one's library and a must for researchers in northwestern Plains archaeology. Its inelegance is balanced by its intensive focus on a site type that must be addressed realistically and continuously in today's world of heritage conservation.
The Archaeology of West and Northwest Mesoamerica. MICHAEL S. FOSTER and PHIL C. WEIGAND, editors. Westview Press, Boulder, 1985. xxii + 487 pp., figures, bibliography, index. $35.00 (paper). Reviewed by Michael D. Coe, Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University. This volume is based upon a conference held at the 1980 meetings of the Society for American Archaeology, and presents a smorgasborg of papers covering not only the western and northwestern peripheries of Mesoamerica, but also the southern part of what Kirchhoff once christened "the Greater Southwest." That this once-neglected region is now under vigorous investigation by archaeologists and ethnohistorians is made clear by these contributions, but few of these go much beyond rather narrow horizons. An exception is the introductory essay by the editors, which demonstrates that these peripheries sporadically may have contributed more to the Mesoamerican "core" than the latter did to them. The book is unfortunately produced very poorly, having muddy halftones, misplaced pages, and a generally unreadable format. It is an injustice to the authors, some of whom, alas, are no longer with us.
663
Dolores Archaeological Program: Studies in Environmental Archaeology. KENNETH LEE PETERSEN, MEREDITH H. MATTHEWS, VICKIE L. CLAY, and SARAH W. NEUSIUS, compilers, and prepared under the supervision of DAVID BRETERNITZ, Principal Investigator; Engineering and Research Center, Denver, Colorado, 1985. xxiv + 277 pp., figures, tables, appendices, bibliography, index. $11.60 (paper). Reviewed by Frank W. Eddy, University of Colorado. This technical report on environmental archaeology has three goals: 1) study of modern environments, 2) reconstruction of prehistoric environments, and 3) investigation into the process of Anasazi adaptation that primarily took place in the Dolores Valley of southwestern Colorado between A.D. 600 and 950. Part I is concerned with modern biological and geological resources, while Part II covers studies of prehistoric environments. Eleven environmental specialists contributed individually authored chapters. The modern environment is used as an analog base line for measuring change or persistence in the historic and prehistoric past. Most readers will find the reporting of the prehistoric data and its interpretation to be of greatest archaeological interest. These studies include evidence from packrat and porcupine middens, pollen records from high altitude lakes and a lower elevation marsh, and the sedimentary history of the marsh. In addition, zooarchaeological resources are evaluated in Part I. The greatest strengths of the study are the diversity of approaches employed to gain insight into the physical environment of the Anasazi. Of these, I see the most useful contributions to have been made by Kenneth L. Petersen in two chapters. In Chapter 20, his regional climatic reconstruction is based on two lake sediment pollen records obtained from the nearby La Plata Mountains to provide a continuous picture of temperature and precipitation derived from the fluctuating spurce-fir tree lines (upper and lower). Further, Petersen provides additional service through a summary in Chapter 23 of the various paleoenvironmental studies. For it is only in this short contribution that some integration is provided to the entire volume. Otherwise, the study lacks much necessary cohesion and the individually authored chapters stand too much in isolation from one another. A final Summary and Conclusion chapter is nothing more than a weak review of who did what with little or no attention to the factual findings of what often is termed the most expensive recent archaeological program to be carried out within the continental United States. Despite Petersen's best efforts at synthesis, the laudable goals of the Dolores Archaeological Project (DAP) are only partially met. The comprehensive picture of the modern (pre-dam) environment is not presented in ecosystem terms, the reconstruction of the past environment is uneven and incomplete in nature, and little or no attention is provided on the important subject of Anasazi adaptations. An Analysis of the Early Cultural Sequence in the Nepena Valley, Peru. DONALD A. PROULX. Re-
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