Archaeology Magazine - October 1966 - 65

artifacts. In order the methods for
examiningstone artifacts, objects of
pottery and glass, metal objects and,
finally, organic materials are described.
A large bibliographyincludes all
the important literature to 1963.
Numerous drawings by the author
help elucidate the text. Every archaeologist,professionalor amateur,
and every aspiring archaeologist
should be familiar with the material
so well set forth in this volume.
Saul S. Weinberg
Universityof Missouri

of his own field work in Cambodia,
upon the analysis of epigraphic
records and upon a reconstruction
of Khmer dynastic history. He does,
however, incorporate the results of
the art-historicalstudies of Philippe
Stern and M. de Coral-Remusat,as
well as the insights of Paul Mus
into metaphysicsand doctrine. And
the soundness of Coedès' hypothesis is affirmedon all sides. Certainly
the coalescence of statecraft and
theology in the person of a semidivine ruler became a major force
wherever Indian cultural influence
penetrated during this era. The orof these concepts may be
igins
ANGKOR:
An Introduction,
by GEORGE traced perhaps as far back as the
Coedès. Translated and edited by deified Kushan emperors of northEmily Floyd Gardiner. 116 pages, ern India;
they were codifiedin the
24 plates, 2 maps. Oxford Univer- Manavadharma
sastra (Laws of
sity Press,New York 1964 $2.50
Manu) and were reflected in the
In less than one hundred pages legends of the divine origins of
the author outlines the hypothesis Harsha of Thanesvara or the Budthat almost all monumental build- dhist kings of Khotan. They were
ings of the Khmers were made to very much in effectamong the Colas
serve a cult of deified kings and of the southeast Deccan and even
queens. Beginning presumably in played a rôle in the state cults of
the early ninth century with the em- China and Japan, centered upon the
peror Jayavarman II and his chap- deity Mahavairocana.
This translation is a slightly
lains, the doctrine was promulgated
that the ruler of the Khmers was shortened and clarified version of
the mortal incarnation of a great the French editionsof 1943(Hanoi)
deity, either Hindu or Buddhist, and 1947 (Paris), both issuedunder
and that after his death his soul the title Pour mieux comprendre
was reabsorbedinto his divine pro- Angkor. The translation is sensitive
totype. Monumental temples were and accurate. And in an era of
built in honor of god and emperor overly sumptuous, overly expensive
jointly; the actual physical remains art books, it is a pure delight to
of the dead royalty were placed in find a modest volume written with
the pedestals of images of the gods such intellectual clarity that it ilwho were thought to be divine par- luminates not only its own subject
ents- Siva, Vishnu, Lakshmi, Par- but many other facets of Asian art
vati or the Buddhist Lokesvara and and archaeologyas well.
Prajñaparamita.
John M. Rosenfield
The mountain-like contours of Harvard University
the temples reproduced the shape
of Mount Sumeru, the omphalos of
Temples
Indian cosmology, and thus the FROMCAVETO CATHEDRAL:
and
Classical,
cult of the god-king celebrated in and Shrinesof Prehistoric,
the temple helped identify the seat EarlyChristianTimes,by E. O. JAMES.
of the ruler with the very navel of 404 pages, 48 figures, 152 figureson
the world. This symbolic rôle of 36 plates. Frederick A. Praeger,
the temple was reinforced by great New York 1965 $12.50
The religious monuments treated
moats and water basins, like those
still extant at Angkor Wat, which in this volume are even more direpresented the oceans thought to verse than the title would suggest:
encircle the central mountain.
they include Palaeolithic caves and
Coedès constructs this hypothesis rock-shelters in France and Spain;
without referring to religious texts, Neolithic and Bronze Age shrines
nor does he cite comparative mate- of the Aegean area and the Near
rial in the Indian culture sphere, East; prehistoric tombs, mainly of
with thé exceptionof the Sailendra tholos type, in Mediterranean lands
dynasty of Java. His approach is and elsewhere; megalithic tombs
archaeological,based upon decades and sanctuaries in Europe; temples

(the larger part of the book) in
Egypt, Mesopotamia, Palestine, India (with a glance at China, Japan
and Tibet), Greece and Rome (the
city only); and, finally, cathedrals
and mosques. This is a bewildering
assortment, and James does not
connect his examples so as to show
a developmentor illustrate a theme.
His method is simply to summarize,
sometimes inaccurately and never
very clearly, descriptions of the
monuments occurring in excavation
reports and in more general works,
some old and superseded, others
fairly recent; the choice of authorities seems as random as the choice
of monuments.
Why do tombs figure in this survey of temples and shrines? Apparently because figurines found in
them point to "a fertility-cult connected with the Mother-goddess"
(p. 56). Of all the tholos structures
mentioned, only those at Arpachiyah in Mesopotamia are actually
said to be shrines, "perhaps connected with the worship of the
Mother-goddess"(p. 55), but subsequent excavation at other sites of
the Halaf culture has proved these
tholoi to be mainly secular. At any
rate, James believesthat tholoi originated in Western Asia and gradually spread through Europe, and
again that megalithic building was
likewise diffused from an original
home, but time and place and persons involved are never specified.
These architectural practices, we
are told repeatedly, go together
with fertility rites and the Mothergoddess, but no details are given;
the question of how fertility ritual
was related to care for the dead
never comesinto focus.
The later chapters give a disjointed account of various temples.
It is not easy to divine any principle
of selection or arrangement. In the
chapter on Rome, for example,
there is a blurred distinction between, first, supposedcasesof Etruscan and Italian influence and, second, "The Greek Gods and their
Temples," who occupy half the
chapter (and among whom are
numbered Liber Pater and Vesta,
both native Romans); but nearly
all the buildings in question are of
Imperial date. For no discoverable
reason the tabulariumt or archives
office,has crept into this chapter.
The book is well turned out, with
attractive but not always informa297

Archaeology Magazine - October 1966

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