Northwest Mexico: The Prehistory of Sonora,Chihuahua, and Neighboring Areas

This article surveys research in Northwest Mexico (Sonora and Chihuahua), with an emphasis on the Early Agricultural period to the Late Prehistoric period. Middle range societies that are diverse in scale and organization characterize this region. Significant advancements in our understanding of these societies have been made in recent years, but substantial challenges remain in building interpretative frameworks that account for both regional diversity and incorporate macroscale interactions. Topics covered in this review include the adoption of agriculture, population movements, bases of social differentiation, and interactions between organizationally disparate groups. These issues demonstrate the relevance of the Northwest to research on the organization of middle range societies.     

Creating Prehistory: Druids,Ley Hunters and Archaeologists in Pre-War Britain

ALTERSKLASSEN UND MÄNNERBÜNDE, EINE DARSTELLUNG DER GRUNDFORMEN DER GESELLSCHAFT, von HEINRICH SCHURTZ. Berlin: G. Reimer. 1902. Pp. ix., 458. Price 8 M. Reviewed by N. W. Thomas.

DIE VOLKSKUNDE IN DEN JAHREN 1897–1902. BERICHTE UEBER NEUERSCHEINUNGEN. Von Dr. F. S. KRAUSS. Erlangen: F. Junge. 1903. Reviewed by Alfred Nutt.

DIE VOLKSKUNDE ALS WISSENSCHAFT. Von E. HOFFMANN-KRAYER. Zurich. 1902. Reviewed by Alfred Nutt.

THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF OLD AND NEW WORLD CIVILISATIONS. A Comparative Research based on a Study of the Ancient Mexican Religious, Sociological, and Calendrical Systems. By Mrs. ZELIA NUTTALL. Cambridge, Mass. Peabody Museum. 1901. Reviewed by M. Gaster.

GUERNSEY FOLK LORE. From MSS, by the late Sir EDGAR MACCULLOCH, Bailiff of Guernsey. Edited by EDITH F. CAREY. London: Elliot Stock. Guernsey: F. Clarke, States Arcade. Large 8vo 616 pp., numerous illustrations. 1903. Price 12s. 6d. Reviewed by Charlotte S. Burne.

ROMANTIC TALES FROM THE PANJÂB: WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY NATIVE HANDS. Collected and edited from original sources by the REV. CHARLES SWYNNERTON, F.S.A. Constable. 21s. net. Reviewed by W. H. D. Rouse.

CONTES POPULAIRES D'AFRIQUE, PAR RENÉ BASSET. Paris. E. GUILMOTO. 1903. Reviewed by A. Werner.

LES PASTORALES BASQUES. Notice, Catalogue des Manuscrits et Questionnaire. Par G. HÉRELLE. Bayonne, 1903, in 80 de p. 86. 1. VENDETTA, RACCONTO CAMPAGNNOLO SICILIANO. By G. CRIMI LO GIUDICE. Aci Reale, Tipografia Umberto I., 1903, 30 pp. 2. MAGHERIA, o AMORE PER FORZA. Scene Popolari Siciliane in 2 alti. Idem. 48 pp Reviewed by J. B. Andrews.     

Prehistory in the northwest tropical Pacific: The Caroline,Mariana, and Marshall Islands

The earliest identified settlement is in the Marianas, dated to about 3500 B.P., while the other islands in the region appear to be settled from about 2000 B.P. onward. The archaeological remains reveal diverse approaches to island living. While Nan Madol and Leluh in the eastern Carolines are major architectural achievements, a discussion of these sites does not detract, for example, from the terrace systems of Palau or the lattestone groups of the southern Marianas. Of equal interest is the settlement of atolls and their recently recognized potential for preservation of stratified deposits. As information allows, each island or group is considered on an individual basis in order to allow for each specific island context to be assessed. This is described within the broader themes of architecture, chronology, environment, material culture, settlement pattern, social organization, and subsistence. In conclusion, the current standing of prehistory in the region is outlined in relation to early settlement, environment, social organization, chronology, settlement pattern studies, portable material culture, subsistence, and atolls. Finally, suggestions for the future are made.     

Prehistory of Native Americans on the Central American Land Bridge: Colonization,Dispersal, and Divergence

The Central American land bridge has served as a passageway for animals and humans moving between North and South America. Nevertheless, after the first waves of human immigration at the end of the Pleistocene, contact between the native peoples who remained on this isthmus and other peoples living in continental areas where civilization ultimately developed, is characterized, according to the field record, by the transfer of crops, technologies, and goods, until ca.1400 BP when speakers of Mesoamerican languages occupied the northwestern edge (Gran Nicoya). The ancestors of modern-day speakers of Chibchan and Chocoan languages underwent social and cultural diversification mostly within the confines of the land bridge. Some Precolumbian residents altered vegetation immediately after first arrival at least 11,000 years ago, and began to add domesticated crops to their subsistence inventory between 9000 and 7000 BP. Maize and manioc (or cassava), domesticated outside the land bridge, were introduced in Preceramic times, early in the period between 7000 and 4500 BP, and gradually dominated regional agriculture as they became more productive, and as human populations increased and spread into virgin areas. Diversity in material culture is visible ca. 6000 BP, and becomes more apparent after the introduction of pottery ca. 4500 BP. By 2000 BP culture areas with distinctive artifact inventories are discernible. Between 2500 and 1300 BP hierarchies among regions, sites, social groups, and individuals point to the establishment of chiefdoms whose elite members came to demand large numbers of costume and sumptuary goods. A few special centers with stone sculptures and low-scale architecture served a social universe larger than the chiefdom, such as clusters of recently fissioned social groups with memories of a common heritage. Social interactions on the land bridge, endowed with productive bottomlands, highland valleys, and coastal habitats, appear always to have been strongest among neighboring groups.