natural disasters and cultural change

Geoarchaeology: An International Journal, Vol. 19, No. 2, 177–183 (2004)� 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

shortstandard

GEA(Wiley) RIGHT BATCH

Book Reviews

Natural Disasters and Cultural Change. Robin Torrence and John Grattan (Ed-itors), 2002, Routledge, New York, xiii � 352 pp., US $135 (hardbound).

This edited volume reports research investigating how ancient and not so ancient peoples respondedto natural catastrophes. It covers a range of spatial and temporal scales, events and cultures, and isaimed primarily at an academic and scholarly audience, although much of it would also provide a usefulread for interested professionals.There are 18 chapters in all, with well over half of them concentrating on some aspect of volcanic

hazard. The editors, Robin Torrence and JohnGrattan, provide an excellent introductory chapterentitled“The archaeology of disasters: Past and future trends.” Given the significance of natural disasters incontemporary society, the importance of geoarchaeological disaster studies (they call them archaeo-logical) is put in the context of key research problems. The most serious is establishing whether thereis or was a direct relationship between specific natural events and cultural behavior, or whether this ispurely coincidental. Crittenden and Rodolfo discuss “Bacolor town and Pinatubo volcano, Philippines:Coping with recurrent lahar disaster,” and provide an excellent example of a resilient population in theface of a repeated environmental threat, thus raising the question of clear correlations between threatand response. This recent historical example shows that the relationship is extremely complex. Grattan,Brayshay, and Schuttenhelm, in “The end is nigh? Social and environmental responses to volcanic gaspollution,” take a Europe-wide disaster and conclude that the nature of the social and cultural responseis, to a large extent, dependent upon the pre-existing vulnerability imposed by antecedent environmentalstress.Inevitably, in any book that is going to deal so prominently with volcanic hazards, the A.D. 79 Mt.

Vesuvius eruption must make an appearance. It does so here, with Allison dealing with “Recurringtremors: the continuing impact of the AD 79 eruption of Mt Vesuvius.” To me this offers a fresh view-point, indicating that in the Roman world this eruption was minor, but in contrast it has had a hugeimpact on modern society through tourism, but also in aiding archaeologists interpreting many aspectsof Roman society. This could be seen as a slightly tangential topic, but it offers an interesting perspectiveon contemporary hazard culture. In “Volcanism and early Maori society in New Zealand,” Lowe, Newn-ham, and McCraw address a topic much closer to my home. This is a comprehensive paper showingthat there have been few large magnitude events and many smaller ones with varying degrees of socialand cultural impact, but none seem to have been severe. The most interesting outcomes appear to havebeen the possible development of a “disaster culture” in response to these events. In his chapter, “Underthe volcano: Ni-Vanuatu and their environment,” Gallipaud has found the investigation of oral traditionsto be a useful addition to archaeological research, introducing two stories that show the complex re-lationship between people and their environment. This is an area for further work.Readers are compensated for the plethora of Pacific examples by some excellent European work that

shows what problems can occur when you have an abundant archaeological record. The Santorinieruption has two contributions, the first from Diessen entitled “Towards an archaeology of crisis: De-fining the long-term impact of the Bronze Age Santorini eruption,” and the second by Manning andSewell called “Volcanoes and history: A significant relationship? The case of Santorini.” In brief, thelatter authors contend that the Santorini eruption did not cause the collapse of the Minoan civilizationof Crete, but that it may have disrupted the climate for a few years. The former author proposes thatthe eruption, in conjunction with other natural disasters, served as a catalyst for major cultural changeover a period of several generations.Volcanic hazards return to the Pacific in Torrence’s chapter “What makes a disaster? A long-term

view of volcanic eruptions and human responses in Papua New Guinea.” Papua New Guinea has a long

BOOK REVIEWS

178 VOL. 19, NO. 2

shortstandard

GEA(Wiley) LEFT BATCH

top of RHbase of RH

top of textbase of textrecord of natural disasters, and a long record of research both in archaeology and volcanology. I had

some difficulty with this chapter primarily because it discusses interactions between eruptions andcommunities based upon a limited number of radiocarbon dates, for which it appears that the full,calibrated age range is not used. Whether or not these interactions actually took place and, if so, overwhat time frame, made it difficult to take seriously. The two final volcanic hazard related chapters arefrom Japan, Machida, and Sugiyama on “The impact of the Kikai-Akahoya explosive eruptions on humansocieties” and Shimoyama on “Volcanic disasters and archaeological sites in southern Kyushu, Japan.”The former chapter is short and to the point, indicating that volcanic eruptions rarely happen in isolation,but that they are associated with other natural hazards, their cumulative effects causing widespreadcultural change. The latter chapter nicely ties up many of the themes raised by the volcanic hazardpapers. The extent to which environmental forcing causes culture change depends upon how welladapted the culture is to such hazards and the nature of the event (and associated events). A fullunderstanding of all these data requires considerable interdisciplinary work.The other chapters fall under two broad headings, other hazards and behavioral models. Davies

addresses “Tsunamis and the coastal communities of Papua New Guinea.” He notes that there are avariety of factors involved in a decision to return to an area at risk from tsunamis, and many, such asthe pleasant setting and low risk of malaria, may well go undetected in the archaeological record.Saltonstall and Carver pick up a similar theme in “Earthquakes, subsidence, prehistoric site attritionand the archaeological record: A view from the Settlement Point site, Kodiak Archipelago, Alaska.” Themain result of large subduction earthquakes appears to have been that of relocating settlements uphillfrom the subsided coast as opposed to any significant cultural change. Long-term exposure to theseevents ensured that the Alutiiq society had become geared to withstand such disasters. In Chapter 11,Johnson writes about “Natural disasters and cultural change in the Shumagin Islands.” Once again,earthquakes and their after-effects are assigned varying degrees of impact on a hunter-gatherer society.Given their natural mobility, the variability in response can be associated with site-specific variables.In “Horsemen of the Apocalypse: The relationship between severe environmental perturbations andculture change on the north coast of Peru,” Kornbacher, reports on the potential of evolutionarymodelsfor examining the relationships between cause and effect. She suggests that some cultures adapt totheir environmental conditions by adopting a bet-hedging reproduction strategy, which seems to fitavailable archaeological data. The final chapter in this group is by Menotti and is entitled “Climatechange, flooding and occupational hiatus in the lake-dwelling central European Bronze Age.” This offersa refreshing and welcome break from the Pacific, and addresses the problem of a “slow” hazard. In-creasing lake levels caused site abandonment but not lake abandonment. Some settlements re-estab-lished further inland, while others grouped together in new centers. The connection to the lakes wassuch that when lake levels receded, people moved back to their ancestral settlements.I have classified the final two chapters as behavioral models. Shimoyama identifies the “Basic char-

acteristics of disasters.” This chapter is excellent in that it attempts to provide a standard frameworkby which the somewhat disparate responses to various natural disasters can be compared and con-trasted. A key to the success of the framework lies in an interdisciplinary approach to the problem. In“Maritime archaeology and behaviour during crisis: the wreck of the VOC ship Batavia (1629),” Gibbstakes an historical example of a maritime disaster and analyzes it through the use of a behavioralframework, showing that this can improve the interpretation of a site, and guide further archaeologicalwork. These last two papers offer the geoarchaeologist examples of frameworks that can be used tomake sense out of the apparent chaos. It is perhaps unfortunate that they appear as Chapters 2 and 5.After reading this book, I imagine that some people will wonder if environmental determinismactually

exists. I believe that this collection of papers shows it to be alive and well. There is variability in boththe natural hazard “driver” and the social/cultural response on many levels including the spatial, tem-poral, and social environments. If no one realized it before, then they will learn from this book that theuse of analogy can be dangerous. When dealing with the past, perceived human responses to perceivedcatastrophes are problematic. Shimoyama’s chapter stresses the need for an interdisciplinary approachto this work, and this indeed has been the approach we have adopted in New Zealand. It is interestingto note the parallels with much of the work discussed here, and the recent “discovery” that, in New

BOOK REVIEWS

GEOARCHAEOLOGY: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL 179

shortstandard


top of RHbase of RH

top of textbase of textZealand’s past, natural hazards were probably responsible for both changes in settlement pattern and

culture (Goff and McFadgen, 2002). The model that has been developed mirrors many of the issuesraised in the book, and highlights the point that natural hazards rarely happen in isolation, and soperhaps the Santorini eruption is indeed part of a much bigger picture.This book is an excellent contribution to the field of archaeology, and the editors are to be congrat-

ulated on assembling this work. One rarely escapes without a few gripes, and this case is no exception.I had some difficulty with the apparently random ordering of the chapters, an overemphasis on volcanichazards, and some other minor faults, but these were far outweighed by the quality of the writing andsubjects discussed

REFERENCE

Goff, J.R., & McFadgen, B.G. (2002). Seismic driving of nationwide changes in geomorphology andprehistoric settlement—a 15th Century New Zealand example. Quaternary Science Reviews, 21,2313–2320.

James R. Goff

GeoEnvironmental Consultants

11 The Terrace, Governors Bay

Lyttelton RD1, New Zealand

Published online in Wiley Interscience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI:10.1002/gea.10110

The Sheguiandah Site: Archaeological, Geological and Paleobotanical Stud-

ies at a Paleoindian Site on Manitoulin Island, Ontario. P.J. Julig (Editor),2002, Mercury Series Archaeological Survey of Canada Paper 161, xvi � 314 pp.,$39.99 (paperbound).

Every now and then a book like Sheguiandah comes along that just might keep you riveted to yourseat, that is, when you are not off to the library to follow up on the many useful reference leads providedin this multileveled yet highly readable book. The story of the Sheguiandah Site is truly a fascinatingchapter in the history of North American archaeology, with much to instruct us about where the rela-tionships between archaeology and the natural sciences have been and where they might be going.The Sheguiandah Site is a large, multicomponent quarry/workshop site situated at and around an

outcrop of Precambrian quartzite (Bar River Formation) on the northeast side of Manitoulin Island nearthe village of Sheguiandah, Ontario, Canada. The Manitoulin Island chain, along with the Bruce Penin-sula, separates Georgian Bay from Lake Huron. Originally discovered in 1951 by Thomas E. Lee, thesite quickly gained fame, then infamy with claims of great antiquity for some of the lithic artifactsrecovered from lower levels of the site. After study and consultation with several geologists—mostnotably John Sanford and Ernst Antevs—Lee reported a geological age estimate of ca. 30,000 yearsbefore present for the lower portions of the site. The claim was controversial from the start, and untilrecently has mostly distracted study of other aspects of the site. At the heart of the age dispute was thegeological conclusion that the artifacts were encased within glacial till. Much of this book is aimed atplacing the Sheguiandah artifacts into a more modern geological context, making the argument that thecontroversial artifact-bearing units are not glacial till deposits, but most likely beach deposits associatedwith the Korah phase of the descending glacial Lake Algonquin or the Mattawa Flood Event, subse-quently mixed by tree plowing and other pedogenic processes. Re-examination of diagnostic artifacts

BOOK REVIEWS

180 VOL. 19, NO. 2

shortstandard


top of RHbase of RH

top of textbase of textfound at the site indicate a principal occupation of Late Paleoindian (Plano)/Early Archaic (ca. 9500 14C

yr B.P.).There have been a number of previously published journal-length articles about Sheguiandah, but

here for the first time in book format is a balanced review of the history of investigations at the site,combined with new data and syntheses arising from the decades of research since Lee’s fieldwork inthe 1950s. The book will certainly have wide appeal to anyone interested in the natural or culturalhistory of the vast Great Lakes region. When read and analyzed alongside previously publishedmaterial,the site also emerges as an important case study illustrating many of the controversies that tend to swirlaround early sites in the New World, and as such, this book is also an important contribution to thehistory of archaeological science.Editor Patrick Julig has assembled a group of 11 chapters authored by 12 of Canada’s leading re-

searchers. Each chapter is topical and stands alone. They include: (1) “Introduction to the SheguiandahSite: Regional context and research questions,” by Julig and Storck; (2) “History of the initial investi-gations: 1951–1957,” by R. Lee; (3) “Sheguiandah in 1991: The role of heritage planning in the reinves-tigation of the site,” by Robertson, MacDonald, and Williamson; (4) “Geoarchaeological studies of theSheguiandah Site and analysis of museum collections,” by Julig and Mahaney; (5) “Projectile points fromthe Sheguiandah Site,” by Storck; (6) “Quaternary geology, stratigraphy and sedimentology of the She-guiandah Site,” by Barnett; (7) “Pollen stratigraphy and vegetation history, Sheguiandah ArchaeologicalSite,” by Anderson; (8) “Upper Great Lakes climate and water-level changes 11 to 7 ka: Effect on theSheguiandah Archaeological Site,” by Anderson and Lewis; (9) “The geological history of an importantPaleoindian manufacturing site: Sheguiandah, Manitoulin Island,” by von Bitter; (10) “Characterizationof Sheguiandah quartzite and other potential sources of quartzarenite artifacts in the Great Lakes re-gion,” by Long, Julig, and Hancock; and (11) “Archaeological conclusions from the Sheguiandah Siteresearch,” by Julig.As the aptly titled chapters imply, this book brings together an impressive range of data sources that

cannot be reviewed with justice in a small space. Suffice it to say here that all of the chapters areexcellent, the whole of the book is much greater than the sum of its parts, and, all in all, this is one ofthe finest geoarchaeology books to appear in a long time. The overarching approach to the book isgeoarchaeological, defined by Julig as studies largely concerned with chronology, site formation pro-cesses, and landscape/paleoecological reconstruction. This leaves much of the archaeology of the siteremaining for future endeavors, and Editor Julig is careful to point out that this book is not meant toresolve all the archaeological questions surrounding the site. Readers (like myself) interested in thecultural stratigraphy of the site are still likely to have many questions regarding the role each of theidentified site formation processes had in the resultant distribution of archaeological materials atthe site. One of the flash points for all sides in the Sheguiandah controversy is the fact that a final reportof T. Lee’s excavations was never completed. Although there is some muted discussion in the book of“closure,” one hopes that this geoarchaeological volume is actually the prelude to the presentation ofthe results of Lee’s investigations and to any future work that might be carried out.In Chapter 2, R. Lee uses a wide variety of source materials, much of it previously unpublished, to

bring together an engaging account of the historical contexts under which his father, T. Lee, conductedresearch at the site. Efforts spearheaded by T. Lee and his associates to preserve the site for posteritywould culminate in the 1953 passage of the Archaeological and Historic Sites Protection Act, one of theearly pieces of legislation providing for protection of sites in Ontario. Ultimately it would be under theauspices of heritage management that some of the new research would be undertaken. Chapter 3 pres-ents the results of the heritage survey; new sites were recorded, the most sensitive areas within the sitewere defined, and a traditional use survey of the area was conducted. This chapter takes the theoreticalapproach of landscape archaeology, and leaves the reader with some notion of the enticing directionsresearch might take along these lines.Much of the remaining chapters are devoted to re-examining the stratigraphy of the site, and placing

the site in the broader framework of the glacial, paleoclimatic, and lake level history of the Upper GreatLakes. Of special interest to all researchers is the reconstruction by Anderson and Lewis of the complexhistory of lake levels in the Huron and Georgian Bay basins, considered in expanded calendrical as well

BOOK REVIEWS


shortstandard


top of RHbase of RH

top of textbase of textas radiocarbon time. In its examination of site-specific stratigraphy, the book does a nice job of bringing

together study of existing museum materials (records, soil samples, diagnostic artifacts, and refits) aswell as new data and observations based on more recent but limited test excavations. Evaluation ofthese materials suggest that post-depositional disturbance of this site was probably greater than origi-nally envisioned. Refitted artifacts, in particular, clearly show that in some cases items have movedsubstantially in the soil. This raises doubts about the original sequence, but it seems prudent to waituntil the details of Lee’s large excavations are published, in addition to this collection of data aimed ataddressing new research questions.In the final chapter, Julig summarizes what is learned about the Sheguiandah site, and ends by laying

out a regional research agenda to study Paleoindian human ecology and adaptive patterns. This agendais especially important in light of the emerging pattern of littoral adaptation during the Late Paleoindianover a broad area of North America, from the Northern Plains through the Great Lakes and eastwardto the Atlantic.The Sheguiandah Site is a real gem of a book. Graphics (some in color) are adequate and reproduced

well, the writing is clear and concise, and there are few glitches to detract from the quality of the book.The paperback version has a sturdy binding that will withstand the likelihood of reuse, packed as it iswith new data and syntheses bearing on this important archaeological site, and the history of the GreatLakes in general.

Julieann Van Nest

New York State Museum, Research and Collections

3141 Cultural Education Center

Albany, New York 12230


Salado Archaeology of the Upper Gila, New Mexico. Stephen H. Lekson, 2002,University of Arizona Press, Tucson, viii � 103 pp. $16.95 (paperbound).

Prodigious scholarship over the past half century has reached little consensus concerning the Saladophenomenon in the North American Southwest during the 14th and 15th centuries A.D. In the 1950s,Salado was thought to represent a bounded cultural unit composing a distinct ethnicity whose partici-pants shared such traits as masonry architecture, cremation burials, the use of certain polychromepottery styles, and possibly a common language. Since that time, however, archaeological investigationhas shown that there was a great deal of variability in material expression among groups thought to beSalado, and that not all of these groups followed the same set of organizational strategies. The UpperGila River Valley of southwestern New Mexico is no exception. As Stephen Lekson documents in SaladoArchaeology of the Upper Gila, New Mexico, populations in this region during the 1300s and 1400svariably incorporated Chihuahuan, Mogollon, and local post-Mimbres styles and technologies in theircultural repertoire. In Salado Archaeology, Lekson seeks to explain the meaning of this variability byexamining the remains of two communities: one centered at Dutch Ruin, a large ca. 150-room pueblosituated in the bottomlands of the Redrock Valley, and the other at Villareal II, one of four small farm-steads perched along the edge of uplands overlooking the Cliff Valley (roughly 50 km northeast ofRedrock).Chapter 1 of the book provides some background information on the region’s geography and culture

history, as well as an overview of the study’s aims and interests. Given its complex volcanic history andrich mineral deposits of serpentine, turquoise, and possibly copper, geoarchaeologists will be interestedin the Upper Gila region. Lekson, however, is not concerned with the local geology in this volume anddevotes very little attention to it. This oversight is somewhat curious, because Dutch Ruin is situated

BOOK REVIEWS

182 VOL. 19, NO. 2

shortstandard


top of RHbase of RH

top of textbase of textnear a major source of serpentine, which appears in raw material and artifact forms at the large and

well-known center of Paquime, located a little more than 200 km to the south of the Redrock Valley. Italso has been established in other studies that the Upper Gila holds numerous deposits of turquoise,examples of which have been found in archaeological contexts in north and west Mexico. Clearly,mineral mining and exchange were important components of Salado life in the Upper Gila region, andso the absence of its consideration in the book is notable.To Lekson’s credit, however, sites along the Upper Gila are poorly known due to a lack of archaeo-

logical excavation. Indeed, Dutch Ruin, the subject of Chapter 2, is known entirely from avocationalinvestigations and looted pottery collections. One of the important points of the book, highlighted inthe Preface, is that “old damaged data” and extant museum collections can be incredible sources ofinformation for poorly known regions. Lekson skillfully makes use of these data to determine that DutchRuin was occupied during Mimbres times in the A.D. 1000s or 1100s, and then again during Salado timesin the A.D. 1300s, with little evidence for occupation during the intervening 1200s. In Chapter 3, andwith data this time from controlled excavation and analysis, Lekson establishes that Villareal II wassimilarly first settled in the Mimbres phase, abandoned probably by the mid-1100s, and later reoccupiedin Salado times until as late as the mid-1400s. The occupation sequences of both sites are not firmlyestablished, as Lekson describes in Chapter 4, because they are based largely on limited stratigraphicinformation and the composition of pottery assemblages with few supporting numerical dates.In the remainder of the book (Chapter 5), Lekson examines four models offering explanations for the

origins of the Upper Gila Salado: migrations into the area by people from the Chihuahuan Desert to thesouth, in situ development of local populations, regional development involvingmobile agriculturalists,and migrations into the area by groups from the Mogollon Highlands to the north. Lekson dismisses thesouthern origins model, largely on the basis of chronology. Recent studies by Jeffrey Dean and JohnRavesloot show that the large Chihuahuan center of Paquime, along with settlement in its hinterland,did not precede the Upper Gila Salado as once thought. Lekson also sets aside the possibility of localevolution, finding no archaeological evidence to indicate settlement continuity in the Upper Gila regionbetween its Mimbres and Salado occupations. Still, Lekson admits that Upper Gila architecture (“cim-iento construction”), burial practices, and pottery (“striking parallels between Mimbres Black-on-whiteand Gila polychromes”) resemble Mimbres, more than Mogollon, styles (p. 72).Lekson also rejects the idea of regional development, as proposed by Ben Nelson and his colleagues,

wherein semi-sedentary groups moved from valley to valley, allowing fallow valleys to rejuvenate, ul-timately resulting in a settlement landscape composed of short-term and asynchronous occupationsexhibiting “fuzzy sets” of Salado and post-Mimbres styles. Lekson gives two reasons for his rejection.First, he finds that, while some Upper Gila sites, such as Villareal II, were occupied for short episodes,other sites, such as Dutch Ruin, were occupied for longer periods. Lekson might be correct aboutoccupational continuity at Dutch Ruin, or it could be that the site was occupied over a long time butdiscontinuously, especially during the proposed “fallowist” period; recovery rates for fallow valleyslikely were not uniform throughout southwestern New Mexico. Careful approaches to the occupationalhistories of individual sites, such as Harry Shafer’s at NAN Ranch Ruin in the Mimbres Valley andMargaret Nelson’s and Michelle Hegmon’s at many sites in the easternMimbres area, are likely to resolvethese questions in the future. Second, Lekson proposes that the ceramic assemblage from the Ormandsite (near Dutch Ruin), which is composed largely of Salado polychromes, contradicts the fallow valleysmodel. Maybe so, but Ormand is a unique site with a pottery assemblage unlike any other in the UpperGila region (compare assemblages in Lekson’s Table 4.1). My impression is that pottery data from thissite alone are insufficient grounds for rejecting the fallow valleys model.In the end, Lekson believes that the pottery data fromDutch Ruin and Villareal II support theMogollon

Highlands as the origin for the Upper Gila Salado, a conclusion that appears to make sense in light ofseveral recent studies of late Southwest migrations. However, since the ceramic datasets are not usedto evaluate the other models, it is unclear why Lekson believes that these data best fit the Mogollonmodel. Perhaps this is a moot point, as clearly testable implications and falsifying arguments concerningthe proportions of Salado polychromes in Upper Gila assemblages are not identified for all of themodels.In addition to the pottery data, future studies may find geoarchaeological information useful for under-

BOOK REVIEWS


shortstandard


top of RHbase of RH

top of textbase of textstanding Upper Gila Salado origins. For example, studies of land use practices and their long-term

ecological consequences could be carried out to examine whether or not certain Upper Gila valleyswere allowed to remain fallow and, if so, for what length of time. More information onmineral deposits,especially serpentine and turquoise, could address the relationships between Upper Gila peoples andthe consumers of these minerals in the Chihuahuan Desert. Finally, geological studies of the region’sraw materials used for manufacturing pottery could be useful for determining if Salado-style potterywas locally produced or if certain specimens were imported into the region from theMogollonHighlandsor elsewhere. Arleyn Simon and James Burton have performed detailed petrological studies and geo-chemical assays of Salado pottery from the Tonto Basin in central Arizona, which could serve as nec-essary comparative data for analyzing Upper Gila polychromes. At the very least, Lekson’s assertionsregarding the movement of pottery and people are helpful for identifying significant research questionsthat need to be addressed.Despite my quibbles, I think that Salado Archaeology is an important book, partly because it provides

a mix of important new and old (but reworked and previously difficult to access) data on Upper Gilaprehistory, and partly because it demonstrates the value of existing museum collections, many of whichare underutilized in the Southwest. On a large scale, Lekson’s propositions make sense, and so weshould add them to the list of ideas that need to be tested systematically with appropriate data. AsLekson points out throughout the text, the Upper Gila holds a position of particular importance toSalado studies, largely because of its geographic position, intermediate between Paquime, Casa Grande(a large Hohokam regional center in southern Arizona), as well as the Mimbres and Mogollon regions.Contributions to Upper Gila archaeology, however focused, stand to make critical advances in lateSouthwest prehistory, and Lekson’s Salado Archaeology is most welcome in this regard.

E. Christian Wells

Department of Anthropology

University of South Florida

4202 E. Fowler Avenue

Tampa, Florida 33620


natural disasters and cultural change

Documents