Archaeology Magazine - July/August 1983 - 74

THE

BOOKSHELF

Archaeology as Human Ecology,
by Karl W. Butzer. xiii, 364 pages ,
94 text figures , 24 tables , bibliography.
Cambridge University Press , New York
1982 $29.50 cloth, $12.95paper
Karl Butzer's prolific research cuts
across the fields of geography, geology
and archaeology. This book presents his
current perspective on these and other
disciplines that contribute important
ancillary methods and data to archaeological research. Butzer sees all these
disciplines as logically and systematically interwoven into a conceptually unified, independent science that he calls
"geo-archaeology." Geo-archaeology is
heavily dependent on the empirical methods and models of the natural sciences.
Its objective, however,is to understand
human ecosystems, and this primary
focus on human systems ties geoarchaeology equally firmly to the social
sciences.
The study of human ecosystems, the
interrelationships between cultures and
their environments, is argued to be
amenable to methods, models and presumably eventually theories as rigorous
as those of the natural sciences. Butzer
believesthat these interrelationships are
systematic, and he therefore finds systems theory to be essential to their appreciation and understanding. The key
process that maintains cultures in dynamic relationships with their environments is adaptation (a strategy for
survival). Thus, adaptability (the capacity to adjust) is the vital characteristic
of cultural systems that has allowed
human groups to survive and grow.
From this, one easily might think that
Butzer's thinking falls squarely within
the scientific and anthropological tradition of the "new archaeology." To the
contrary, he sees this movement as
primarily concerned with "social archaeology." Although this may be complementary to geo-archaeology, Butzer
believes that it represents a distinctly
different perspective. For Butzer, archaeology is not anthropology.
The book consists of three parts. Part
I introduces the general perspective,
points of view and concepts that Butzer
sees as giving form and meaning to
archaeology. Part II consists of nine
chapters that outline the specific types
of data, methods and kinds of results
that can be expected or obtained from
geo-archaeological research in the field
and laboratory. These chapters swiftly
cover geology and geomorphology, archaeometry and dating, archaeobotany,
and zooarchaeology.Some of these topics
are illustrated with examples from the
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ARCHAEOLOGY

author's own fieldwork and laboratory
research. Part III is entitled "Synthesis" and represents an expanded attempt
to put the more concrete activities of the
geo-archaeologist outlined in Part II into
the context of overall research strategies and goals whose rationale was
established in Part I.
Most of the material covered is presented in summary fashion or is given a
brief overview. This is not a text for
students who wish to learn the specific
methods and techniques necessary to
carry out geo-archaeological research.
On the other hand, it is not an elementary
introduction to the subject either. There
are too many undefined terms, and much
experience and background are often
taken for granted by the author. For
interested laypeople, amateurs or students on their own, therefore, parts of
this book may be difficult reading. For
the professional, however, Archaeology
as Human Ecology is the longest and
most complete and coherent statement
of Butzer's perspective and approach.
As such, this book can be recommended
strongly to anyone who wants to see
precisely how such an approach is conceived and carried out.
Robert Whallon is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan.
His major fieldwork has been in Europe
and the Near East. His research concerns
mainly pre-agricultural to early agricultural societies and methods of quantitative analysis in archaeology.
Eskimo Art: TVadition and Inin North Alaska,
novation
by
Dorothy Jean Ray. 298 pages , 307
black-and-white photographs, 1 map,
bibliography. Published for the Henry
Art Gallery by the University of Washington Press, Seattle, WA 1977 $29.95
Aleut and Eskimo Art: TVadition
and Innovation in South Alaska,
by Dorothy Jean Ray. 251 pages,
214 black-and-whitephotographs, 4 text
figures, 1 map, bibliography. University
of Washington Press, Seattle, WA 1982
$29.95
Eskimos have produced beautiful and
well-wrought objects for their own use
or for religious and spiritual expression
for thousands of years without considering them "art." When early European
explorers, trappers, whalers, and missionaries first saw and desired these
magnificent objects, a brisk trade to
supply the demand sprang up. Eskimo
carvers and craftsmen were quick and
skillful in adapting their traditional

objects to what the buyers wanted, and
so a new "art" was born. In these two
lavishly illustrated volumes, Dorothy
Jean Ray has presented the most complete and best documented survey of
Alaskan Eskimo art covering some 200
years, from the first native contacts with
Europeans in the mid-eighteenth century to the present.
Both volumes contain a discussion
and interpretation of both traditional art
(that made for the native peoples' own
use) and market art (that made for
non-native consumers) in north and
south Alaska, as well as a very thorough
summary of the art and crafts that are
still being produced today. Ray does not
limit herself to what we would now
consider the fine arts of painting, printmaking and sculpture in her survey, but
rightly includes all the beautiful and
traditional handwork of sewing, basketmaking, dolls and toys, tools and utensils, along with masks, graphic arts and
ivory carving.
Traditional arts always change after
they are no longer made for a people's
own use, and contemporary Eskimo output is taking two different paths. On the
one hand, many native artists and craftspeople continue to make souvenir-type
items for sale, much as they have been
doing for the past 200 years. At the
same time, a group of western-trained
artists are currently working in a style
that can be considered in the mainstream of contemporary art. They are
not creating "Eskimo" art, except insofar as they themselves are Eskimo and
often use subject matter drawn from
their Eskimo environment. But they
treat this traditional subject matter in
modern ways, while often utilizing nontraditional materials. If market pressures are not allowed to force these artists to copy themselves and the past in
order to satisfy the need for an "ethnic"
or "primitive" art, contemporary native
art and crafts can develop in their own
way to remain a vital expression of a
people's changing lives.
Both books contain high-quality photographs (most taken by the author)
illustrating hundreds of objects from
museums and private collections- not
only the best or most unusual, but also
the most representative - along with
detailed explanatory captions. The text
and photographs are extremely well
documented as to historical and scholarly sources, and both volumes contain
excellent bibliographies and glossaries
of special terms. In this respect, Ray's
knowledge of the Russian language and
of Russian sources is particularly valuable because of their relative inaccessibility. The volume on south Alaska
also contains an appendix which identifies and locates villages from which the
art comes, many of which have disappeared over the years or have changed
their names.
continued on page 77

Archaeology Magazine - July/August 1983

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - July/August 1983