Archaeology Magazine - April 1966 - 72

PRECOLUMBIAN
ART
Specializing in
WEST
COAST
CULTURE
Wilson Galleries
400 Canyon Road
Santa Fe
New Mexico
Tel. 982-8911

in the Southwest blandly recreated
completecultures out of every scrap
of field data. Many of those interpretations collapsed as knowledge
subsequently expanded. With renewed interest in interpretation, especially through the use of recently
developedquantitative techniques,it
is somewhat dishearteningto find a
reiteration of the older statements
with no significantlygreater degree
of corroboration.
For example, by feeding selected
ceramic data through a computer,
Freeman and Brown suggested that
rooms containing different kinds of
features had different functions, a
conclusionrather obvious from ordinary observation. The functional
cause was invoked after sampling
error and time differenceshad been
eliminatedas the only other possible
causes. Such explanations as personal preferences,variable technical
heritage, or non-random breakage
were not considered. This same
study proposes that the south side
of the pueblo was built before the
north side, contrary to architectural
indicationssuch as wall abutments.
While one might question this
and other views expressed in some
of the papers- can a pottery type
144

passage graves belong largely to the
third millennium,and New Grange
to perhaps 2500 B.c., a date based
partly on the C-14 date of 2100
B.c. for the nearby Mound of the
Hostages at Tara. They accept the
general assumption that the builders of these tombs were descendants
of colonists from Iberia, and assign
them to a Chalcolithicstage of culture.
The whole question is a fascinating one. The temptation is almost
irresistibleto compare the geometric
stone carvings at New Grange with
ANDTHEBENDOF THE motifs of more southern regions,
NEWGRANGE
BOYNE,
by Sean P. O'Riordain and and the cruciform tomb-chamber
Glyn Daniel. 218 pages, 31 fig- and its stone-walled passage with
ures. 70 plates. Frederick A. Prae- the Aegean tholos tomb. But withger, New York 1964 (Ancient Peo- out considerably more evidence,
ples and Places,40) $7.50
comparisonsare merely speculative.
The great megalithic passage And because the whole subject remysterious, New Grange
grave at New Grange, north of mains so
Dublin, is one of the wonders of cannot be a definitive publication.
might perhaps have
European prehistoric art and archi- The authors
tecture. The authors give the site given more of a synthesisof the evithe first detailed publication since dence on related sites rather than a
that of George Coffeyin 1912.They simple account of the various disthoug'h incomplete,a
provide not only a complete survey coveries;even
of the tomb, including descriptions synthesis would have been much
of the decorated stones as well as more significantlyinformative. But
abundant plans and good photo- the book remains a useful guide
graphs, but also a useful summary and an important document for the
of tomb nomenclatureand an enter- student of archaeology.
Martha Heath Wiencke
taining review of the accounts of
Hanover, New Hampshire
early travelers and archaeologists.It
is only to be regretted that they
could not have included the results
CATTLE-KEEPERS
OF SOUTH
of the 1962-64excavationsby Pro- NEOLITHIC
INDIA:
A Studyof the Deccan
Ashmounds,
fessorM. J. O'Kelly.
F. R. Allchin. xvi, 118 pages,
More than half the book is de- by
12 plates, including 2 in
22
figures,
voted to a useful survey of related color.
Cambridge University Press,
monuments and to the cultural and
New York 1963 (University of
chronologicalplace of New Grange.
Cambridge Oriental Publications,
monuother
tombs
and
the
First,
ments in the immediate neighbor- No. 9) $10.50
Professor Allchin has for many
hood are described, then- in less
detail- the passage graves in the years been conductingstudies on the
rest of Ireland and Great Britain. Indian subcontinent.Especially sigOne is struck throughout by the rel- nificant are his researchesin the arative absenceof archaeologicalma- chaeologyof south India. This volterial aside from the tombs them- ume is an excellent example of his
selves. Investigationshave not been approach and a fine contribution to
wanting in the past, but modern ex- the archaeology of the whole subcavation has not been extensiveand continent. A number of savants
is much needed, as the authors have noted the presence of ash
point out. In the absence of strati- mounds in various parts of the Decfied settlementsor typologicalstudy can, but Allchin is the first to make
of the few tomb finds, current at- a definitivestudy of the mounds in
tempts at dating the tombs rest the Central Deccan, identifying
chiefly on a few Carbon-14 dates some thirty-odd sites consisting of
and on comparisons with sites in layers of ash separated by various
Brittany and Iberia. The authors are soils. His excavations at Utnur into be commended for their caution dicate that the ash layers generally
in putting forward general conclu- lie within enclosures. Taken as a
sions. They believe that the Irish whole, Allchin feels the ash mounds
delineated by archaeologistsever be
said to have "validity"?- the presentation of various new techniques
by which additional information
about the past can be gained provides a valuable reference. Despite
the presently unimpressive results,
such techniques, if exercised as
soundly as these men have done,
possessstrong potential in the realm
of prehistoricreconstruction.
Arthur H. Röhn
Universityof Illinois

Archaeology Magazine - April 1966

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - April 1966