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"TVopicalForest Cultures of the Amazon
Basin."
The book's most serious organizational
shortcoming is the fact that the whole
western hemisphere is represented by
only 46 pages. This is inadequate coverage, and verges on downright cruelty
when the entire richly complex fabric
of precivilizational and civilizational
developments in Middle America is compressed into nine pages, and those of
Andean South America into seven. On
the other hand, "Early Agriculture in
the Americas" is given as much space as
"The Beginnings of Agriculture in the
Near East and Europe."
Another problem involves the dates
used. A note at the front of the book says
that "All dates based on radiocarbon
determinations have been corrected
according to tree:ring calibration, to give
estimates that correspond to true historical dates." But the book does not
specify the kind of calibration system
used, in spite of an admonition in the
chapter on dating about the necessity for
stating which curve or set of tables has
been used to calibrate radiocarbon dates.
There are very few typographical or
other clerical errors. The only serious
mistake I noticed is on page 103, where
the caption for Figure 15.1 is wrong:
"reaping of large-seeded grasses" should
be interchanged with "cultivation of
domesticated forms of cereals."
On the whole, the book is a physically
attractive, up-to-date nutshell overview
for students and for professionals who
want quick access to cultural historical
summaries of areas outside their own
expertise. Andrew Sherratt and his
publishers are to be congratulated on
producing such a comprehensive and
beautifully illustrated volume for what
today seems a very reasonable price. The
multicolored maps alone are worth a
good percentage of the total price. The
serious scholar, of course, would have to
supplement its information with more
detailed sources, such as The Cambridge
Ancient History and the references provided at the end of the volume. Even
with its capsule format, however, The
Cambridge Encyclopedia of Archaeology
not only makes clear the enormous
growth over the past twenty years in
what we know about the human past,
but also demonstrates the widespread
emphasis on problem-oriented approaches to the archaeological record of
that past.D

of life, with a chemistry based as much
on animal and vegetable ingredients as
on metallic ones.
Alchemy 's westward spread followed
the movement of the Muslim empire into
Spain in the eleventh century after
Christ. Tfexts, old and new, were transcribed into Latin, first quite crudely:
for example, Castrensis' Liber de composition alchemise (a.D. 1182) emerged
as a confused mixture of up-to-date
alchemic allegory and many outmoded
biit original phrases in Greek. Eventually, the material became systematically arranged, as in Sir George Ripley's
renowned The Twelve Gates, published
posthumously in 1649.

Watercolours from the Ecole des BeauxArts, Paris" (through June 25, 1982),an
exhibitionof sketches,scaleddrawingsand
projected reconstructions of the ruins of
Pompeiiby 19th-centuryFrencharchitects.
Catalogue available.
The Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ: "Generations in Clay: Pueblo Pottery of the
American Southwest" (through June 6,
1982), exhibits about 125 examples of
native American Indian ceramicsillustrating the range and variety of styles of
Southwest pottery. Circulated by the AmericanFederationof Arts, NewYork."Frontier Merchants and Native Craftsmen:
"The Fred Harvey Company Collects
Indian Art" (through Summer 1982),displays over 4,500piecesincludingexamples
of Navajo weaving and jewelry, Pueblo
pottery, Hopi Kachina dolls, and basketry
from the Southwest and Californiaas well
as Plains Indian beadwork.

Patty Jo Watson is Professor of Anthropology at Washington University, St.
Louis, MO, and is a member of the editorial boards of Paleorient and Advances in
ArchaeologicalMethod and Theory. She
has excavated in Iraq, Iran, Turkey,
Arizona, New Mexico, Kentucky, and
Tennessee.

Where from here?
Ripley's work now appears to be a
watershed in alchemy's strength as a
scientific discipline. There has been no
lack of celebrated exponents, notably
Pope John XXII who issued a Bull in
1330 forbidding the teaching of chemistry, and Fulcanelli, who earlier this
century maintained that the architectural forms of the Gothic cathedrals of
Europe were secret repositories of a
hidden science. (This French adept is
alive today, although incognito, following
a personal transformation in 1928 at 72
years of age.) And there is documentation of the success of Armand Barbault
in producing an "elixir of the first degree."
In general, however, the evolution of
modern chemistry and a reactionary
growth of mysticism have taken their
toll. Mysticism expanded rapidly under
the initial guidance of the eccentric
Englishman Robert Fludd, who was
most influential in the two decades before
his death in 1637; and of the Christian
order known as the Rosicrucians who
devoted themselves to the study of occult
lore. Today,alchemy seems to be an alien
subject for most people, remote from
everyday needs, both physical and philosophical. Perhaps, like the revitalization
of religion that has accompanied the
horrors of modern warfare, alchemy
needs a crisis too: something like the
emergence of a roadblock in the path of
today's scientific steamroller, so that its
search of the unknown can become vigorous once more.D
Science Scope Reading: A.G. Debus,
"Renaissance Chemistry and the Work of
Robert Fludd," Ambix XIV,Part 1 (1967):
42-59;S.K. de Rola, Alchemy,The Secret
Art (Thames and Hudson, London 1973);
De Lacy O'Leary, How Greek Science
Passed to the Arabs (Routledgeand Kegan
Paul, London 1979); A. Pritchard, Alchemy (Routledge and Kegan Paul, London 1980); H.H. Sheppard, "Alchemy:
origin or origins," Ambix XVII. 2 (1970):
69-84; and M. Sworder, translator, Fulcanelli: Master Alchemist (Spearman,
London 1976).

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los
Angeles, CA: "Manifestations of Shiva"
(through May 30, 1982),presents approximately 200 images of Shiva, the Hindu
god of creation, in stone and bronze sculpture and paintings, representing some
2,000 years of Indian art. "500 Years of
Embroidery from the Permanent Collection: 1380-1880"(through September 8,
1982),displays about 100masterpieces of
American and European embroidery, including white-and black-workembroidery,
crewel,canvas work, metallic and silk embroidery, early machine embroidery, and
beaded decoration. Brochure available.
Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, University of NewMexico,Albuquerque,NM:
"Fiestas of San Juan Nuevo: Ceremonial
Art from Michoacan, Mexico" (through
September 19,1982),exhibits over 300ceremonial objects of the Tarascan Indians,
including costumes, masks, ceramics and
household furnishings, bread dough ornaments, flowerdecorations, candles, and
cut-paper decorations.

North Italian close helmet dating to
about 1590, at the Seattle Art Museum.
Weight,6 pounds, 10ounces.
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA: "The
Art of Chivalry: European Arms and
Armor from The Metropolitan Museumof
Art" (through June 6, 1982),displays 120
examples of arms and armor of English,
Italian, German, French,Austrian, Dutch,
Spanish, and Scottish origin, ranging
from simple 15th-century armor to elaborately decorated firearms of the Neoclassical period. Circulated by the American
Federation of Arts, New York. Catalogue
available, $14.95.
1982
May/June

Archaeology Magazine - May/June 1982

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - May/June 1982