Archaeology Magazine - January 1967 - 71

fer to the Neolithic of East Africa,
as the site from which it comes has
produced an iron hoe and pottery
normally assigned to the Iron Age.
Although the chapter on South
Africa goes down to the nineteenth
century, no explanation is provided
for the Zulu explosion,one of the
key events of that century. The archaeological evidence would suggest that population pressures, expressed in increasedterracing and a
. multiplicityof stone enclosuresand
forts, provide an essential reason
for the explosion, with European
pressures (though not directly experienced until the 1830's in the
southeast) making expansion other
than to the north impossible.
This book will certainly stimulate further research on Southern
Africa, and its use as a textbook is
highly recommended, as it assembles evidence in a way not previously attempted. Dr. Fagan is to be
warmly complimentedon his initiative and the publishers on their
fine production. For the teacher of
African history a chronologicaltable or two would have made this
an even more indispensable handbook.
Merrick Posnansky
Makerere UniversityCollege
Kampala, Uganda
OF ANCIENT
ANALYSIS
METALS,
by
Earle R. Caley. xi, 168 pages, 64
tables. Macmillan, New York 1964
(Pergamon Press Book) (International Series of Monographs on
Analytical Chemistry, 19) $10.00
Earle R. Caley has drawn from
over thirty years of experience as
an analytical chemist to present information that should be useful to
the archaeologist, the museum curator and the archaeologicalchemist as well as the scientific community in general.
Its value lies in three distinct
achievements.For the archaeologist
it provides a clear statement of the
difficulties an analyst encounters
when dealing with ancient metal
objects. For the chemical analyst
there are detailed analytical procedures. For all there are a few
well chosen illustrations of how
analytical results can be converted
into useful archaeological conclusions. Unlike the author's Analyses
of Ancient Glasses, this work does
not contain an extensive compila-

tion of the data of earlier workers.
Because of the great number of
analysesof ancient metals that have
been done this would hardly have
been practical. In its place Caley
supplies many literary references.
The archaeologist and curator
will have to read selectivelyin this
book to keep from becoming entangled in the purely chemical aspects, but by looking mainly at the
beginning and end of the bookand at the beginning and end of
each chapter- they will manage to
feel at home with it.
The middle chapters treat individually the analyses of gold, silver, copper, various non-ferrous
metals and iron and steel, including their alloys. Professor Caley
assessesthe relative merits of different analytical techniques and recommends laboratory procedures
which appear to be practical.
The lot of the archaeological
chemist would certainly be easier if
curators and archaeologists were
to read the opening chapter, which
describes the problems of sampling
ancient objects for analysis. This
includes a treatment of the heterogeneity of ancient metals, caused by
poor mixing and corrosion, and explains the need for careful sampling and replicate analyses.On the
other hand, the lot of the archaeologist would be much easier if analysts were to put into practice the
recommendationsmade in the closing chapter, which deals with the
preparation of reports. While any
trained analyst will be familiar

with most of this material, it helps
to be reminded that in order for
analytical results to be converted
into something useful, they must
be presented in a manner that will
be clear to readers who are not conversant with the professional jargon of science.
Robert H. Brill
Corning Museum of Glass
from the Beginnings
EUROPE
ANCIENT
to ClassicalAntiquity,by
of Agriculture
Stuart Piggott. xxiv, 343 pages,
143 figures, 51 plates. Aldine, Chicago 1966 $7.50
Professor Piggott surveys the culture history of Europe from the introduction of agriculture by Neolithic peoples, through the Bronze
and Iron Ages, until the era of intense contacts between the GraecoRoman Mediterranean and Barbarian Europe. First he develops a
picture of the Late Palaeolithichunting cultures and their Mesolithic
successorsin both Europe and the
Near East, to provide the context in
which food-producing cultures developed or intruded themselves.The
work is not intended to be a complete manual of the prehistoric archaeologyof Europe; it is admittedly
an interpretative summary of what
the author regards as significant
features of this period and of the
componentswhich were later to be
incorporated into the heritage of
Western civilization.
This broad enquiryinto prehistoric
Europe is always with reference

Horse bearing
two bound pigs
* Blackterra cotta
* Circa 1000 B.C.
* Northwest Iran
* Size: 7" high
X9" long X7W' wide
Doris
Wiener
Gallery
&
Ancient
Art
Primitive
831 MadisonAve.
N. Y., N.Y. 10021
phone - 249-6750
71

Archaeology Magazine - January 1967

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - January 1967