Book reviews

The Agguyunlu: Clan, Confederation, Empire. A Study in 15th/9th Century Turko‐Iranian Politics. By John E. Woods. (Studies in Middle Eastern History, No. 3), xv + 348 pp. Minneapolis and Chicago: Bibliotheca Islamica, 1976.

A Persian Stronghold of Zoroastrianism. By Mary Boyce. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977. 284 pp. $19.95.

The Crowned Cannibals: Writings on Repression in Iran. By Reza Baraheni. With an introduction by E. L. Doctorow. New York: Random House/Vintage Books, 1977. 279 pp. $3.95.

Tarikh: Bulletin of the Department of History, Faculty of Letters and Humanities. Tehran: University of Tehran. Vol. 1, Nos. 1–2 (1976–77).

Middle East Economies in the 1970's: A Comparative Approach. By Hossein Askari and John Thomas Cummings. New York: Praeger Publishers (Praeger Special Studies in International Economics and Development). 1976. xxxiii + 581pp.

The Caspian Circle: A Novel. By Donné Raffat. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1978. 350 pp. $10.

The Agricultural Development of Iran. By Oddvar Aresvik. New York: Praeger, 1976. 271 pp.

Dschalaluddin Rumi, Licht und Reigen: Gedichte aus dem Divan des grössten mystischen Dichters persischer Zunge. Selected, translated and explained by Johann Cristoph Burgel. UNESCO Collection of Representative Works. Masterpieces of Persian Literature Series, No. 26. Bern, Herbert Lang, and Frankfurt/Main: Peter Lang, 1974. 191 pp.     

Evolutionary implications of design and performance characteristics of prehistoric pottery

A Darwinian evolutionary approach offers a powerful means of examining change archaeologically. The approach is based on the tenet that materials contained in the archaeological record were parts of human phenotypes, as were behaviors behind the manufacture, use, and discard of the materials. Engineering-design analysis and performance analysis of material remains — here variously tempered ceramic cooking vessels from the midwestern United States — extend the archaeologist's ability to see and map variation beyond that which is readily apparent and thus are logical points from which to begin examination of human adaptation. The approach is essentially indistinguishable from that used by biologists to study design and function of biologically based features as well as phylogenetic histories of such features.     

Review article

Ohne Zusammenfassung

---

Review article

     

Transportation corridors and political evolution in highland Mesoamerica: Settlement analyses incorporating GIS for northern Tlaxcala, Mexico

Investigations of the functional utility and social elaboration of natural transportation corridors contribute to generating more comprehensive understandings of complex macroregional phenomena such as political evolution. In this article, highland central Mexican transportation corridors are analyzed through GIS applications and a reconsideration of settlement data from an important corridor in northern Tlaxcala. The location of the study region, within the corridor connected to the northeastern Basin of Mexico, makes it particularly relevant for examining interregional exchanges and the transformation of a more rural landscape adjacent to core areas of urbanization and state political expansion. Conclusions drawn from the study are largely complementary to the interpretations made by the surveyors [Merino Carrión, B.L., 1989. La Cultura Tlaxco. Serie Arqueológica, Colección Científica 174, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City], but provide an updated assessment of prehispanic political evolution ca. 900 BC–AD 1519. Specifically, the study tracks the evolution of early ceremonial centers, Teotihuacan’s territorial expansion through the region, political balkanization following the collapse of Teotihuacan, and the establishment of small, independent polities encountered by the Spanish. New contributions include quantitative measures relevant to assessing the systemic integration of the region and the social value of the corridor during different chronological phases, elucidating the differing expansionary trajectories of Teotihuacan and the Aztec Empire.