Cultural survival: Lessons from the native North Americans

Champagne, Duane. American Indian Societies: Strategies and Conditions of Political and Cultural Survival. Cambridge: Cultural Survival, Inc., 1989. 160 pp. including references. $19.95 cloth, $10.00 paper.

Cohen, Fay G. Treaties on Trial: The Continuing Controversy over Northwest Indian Fishing Rights. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1986. vii + 256 pp. including notes and index. $20.00 cloth, $9.95 paper.

Fahey, John. The Kalispel Indians. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986. vii + 248 pp. including notes, bibliography, and index. $18.95 cloth.

Thornton, Russell. We Shall Live Again: The 1870 and 1890 Ghost Dance Movements as Demographic Revitalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986. ix + 95 pp. including appendices, bibliography, and index.     

Human occupation in South America by 20,000 BC: the Toca da Tira Peia site,Piauí, Brazil

When and how did the first human beings settle in the American continent? Numerous data, from archaeological researches as well as from palaeogenetics, anthropological and environmental studies, have led to partially contradictory interpretations in recent years, often because of the lack of a reliable chronological framework. The present study contributes to the establishment of such a framework using luminescence techniques to date a Brazilian archaeological site, the Toca da Tira Peia. It constitutes an exemplary case study: all our observations and measurements tend to prove the good integrity of the site and the anthropological nature of the artifacts and we are confident in the accuracy of the luminescence dating results. All these points underline the importance of the Toca da Tira Peia. The results bring new pieces of evidence of a human presence in the north-east of Brazil as early as 20,000 BC. The Toca da Tira Peia thus contributes to the rewriting of the history of the peopling of the American continent.     

Functional insights into the innovative Early Howiesons Poort technology at Diepkloof Rock Shelter (Western Cape,South Africa)

The Howiesons Poort (‘HP’) is characterized by a set of technological innovations that mark a rupture in the Southern African Middle Stone Age. However perspectives regarding its origin and emergence remain speculative. The recent identification of an Early HP phase at Diepkloof Rock Shelter provides the opportunity to characterize the initial stage of this technology and to discuss various mechanisms behind its innovative characteristics.     

Pottery firing temperatures: a new method for determining the firing temperature of ceramics and burnt clay

A new method for determining the maximum firing temperature of ceramics and burnt clay is presented. The technique relies on measuring the magnetic susceptibility on a step-wise re-fired sample. The validity of the method has been tested by determining firing temperatures of two sets of clay samples fired at temperatures ranging from 400 to 1000 °C. Aliquots of the same samples have been studied petrographically by optical microscopy on thin sections and analyzed by powder X-ray diffraction in order to monitor structural and mineralogical changes as a function of temperature. The method is demonstrated on samples from four geographically widely different sites and it is applied to a larger set of ceramics of Late (ca. AD 900–AD 1450) and Inca (ca. AD 1480–AD 1532) periods from the Northwestern Argentine region, dating to a limited period of time prior to the fall of the Inca Empire. The method is shown to be a powerful tool in revealing archaeological information about the change in firing technologies in the pre-Hispanic societies in the Andean area through time.     

Community Collaboration and Other Good Intentions

Collaborative and community-based archaeological research encompasses a broad spectrum of approaches; however, there are often discrepancies between how researchers ‘sell’ the collaborative endeavour in theory and how it is actually practised. Over the past several years, I have had the opportunity to participate in several projects, ranging from those that claimed to be ‘truly collaborative,’ to research that maybe should have asked, ‘what community?’ These experiences raised difficult and disturbing questions concerning the nature and practice of collaborative and community-based archaeology. In this paper, I confront these issues as I have experienced them personally. While community-based practices aim to redress a historical and ongoing power imbalance between the researcher and the researched, constant vigilance is required lest the ‘good intentions’ of anthropologists inadvertently mask an exploitation that may be inherent in the structure of research itself. In considering the corporate nature of academia, I query whether the collaborative research model represents a break with the past, or is instead simply the same old practice dressed up in fashionable new language.     

Book Notes

John C. Campbell and Naoki Ikegami, The Art of Balance in Health Policy Maintaining Japan's Low-Cost, Egalitarian System .
Terry N. Clark and Vincent Hoffman-Martinot (Eds.), The New Political Culture .
Susan E. Clarke and Gary L. Gailc, The Work of Cities .
Stephen E. Condrey (Ed.), Handhook of Human Resource Management in Government .
Timothy Conlan, From New Federalism to Devolution: Twency-Five years of Intergovernmental Reform .
William M. Epstcin, Welfare in America: How Social Science Fails the Poor .
Malcolm M. Feeley and Edward L. Rubin, Judicial Policy Making und the Modern State: How the Courts Reformed America's Prisons .
Stephen J. McGovern, Politics of Downtown Development: Dynamic Political Cultures in San Francisco and Washington, DC .
William K. Nester, A Short History cf American Industrial Policies .
Richard J. Payne, Getting Beyond Race: The Changing American Culture .
Jon Pierre (Ed.), Partnerships in Urban Governance: European und American Experience .
Mark G. Popovich (Ed.), Creating High-Performance Government Organizations .
Kalman Rupp and David C. Stapleton (Eds.), Growth in Disability Benefits: Explanations and Policy Implications .
Janie S. Steckenrider and Tonya M. Parrot (Eds.), New Directions in Old-Age Policies .