PREHISTORY OF AUSTRALIA.
D.J. Mulvaney and J. Kamminga 1999.
Allen and Unwin, Sydney. ISBN 1-86448-950-2
(pb.). Pp.480 + xx. Price AUD29.95
Bryce Barker (University of Southern Queensland,
Australia ) Bryce.Barker@usq.edu.au
It is pleasing that several new Australian
prehistories have been published over the
last couple of years, filling a gap which,
with the exception of new editions of Archaeology
of the Dreamtime by Josephine Flood,
was last visited in 1982 by J.P. White and
J.F. O’Connell in their landmark, A Prehistory
of Australia, New Guinea and Sahul.
The latest Prehistory of Australia
is another contribution to the literature
on Australian prehistory which has its ancestry
in the first synthesis of modern Australian
archaeology by one of the authors, Mulvaney,
first published in 1969. This more recent
effort includes an outline of the issues
relevant to Australian prehistory common
to most of the recent books. However, I
feel that the book is clearly designed for
a lay audience or, at best, high school
level, and is too simplistic for use as
a university text. There is great potential
for a book of this sort to be a “cross-over”
text, appealing to both lay and academic
markets in much the way that Archaeology
of the Dreamtime attempts to do. Having
said this, however, there is much to be
commended in disseminating Australian prehistory
to a lay audience and the book is certainly
easy to read and very accessible to those
with a limited knowledge of prehistoric
Australia.
Chapters 1 to 6, making up the first 79
pages, deal with a wide range of historical,
ethnographic and general observations relating
to such things as who owns the past, what
material evidence remains for archaeology,
dating techniques employed in Australian
archaeology, as well as a background to
the Australian hunter-gatherer way of life
which deals with language and society, settlement
and subsistence. These chapters are designed
to provide some background to Aboriginal
society and Australian archaeology to the
lay reader, and to set the scene for the
subsequent archaeological evidence.
Chapters 7, 8 and 9 provide a commonly
accepted outline of the initial peopling
of the continent. Throughout the various
chapters the authors present archaeological
evidence relating to various issues in Australian
archaeology, before discussing the theories
in the light of their own ideas. Given the
stated aim in the preface, that the book
is a personal appraisal, the critique of
models other their own is acceptable and
by and large the final appraisals outlined
by the authors are parsimonious and reasonable.
The lack of citations throughout is, however,
a minor distraction and I feel these discussions
would benefit greatly from being referenced
in the text. Whilst not personally agreeing
with all of the “Initial Colonisation” chapter
(Chapter 9), I found the section on “seeking
solid foundations” a timely reiteration
of the nature of the evidence for a pre-40,000
BP occupation of the continent, which at
worst is just plain wrong (e.g. Jinmium)
and at best still open to debate (e.g. Malakunanja).
This is an important issue, as the idea
of a 60,000, or even 100,000 year occupation
is already becoming firmly entrenched in
popular thought on the basis of very little
scientific evidence.
Chapter 10 looks at the biological evidence
regarding the original Australians, in which
historically-superseded theories such as
Birdsell’s Tri-hybrid theory are reviewed
before examining some of the later research
of Thorne, Brown, Webb and Pardoe in a balanced
and reasonably comprehensive way. However,
I find some of the sections in this chapter
dated and it is hard to know what can be
gained from describing apparent differences
between Aboriginal physical features such
as hair colour, skin colour and degree of
body hair.
Chapters 11 and 12 deal with the
Pleistocene occupation of the various biogeographical
areas of Sahul. Surprisingly the coasts
and islands, New Guinea, the forest and
woodland belt, “Cold Steppe and Moorlands”
and Tasmania are dealt with collectively
in just 14 pages. This is in contrast with
the 17 pages devoted to desert regions (Chapter
12), which were never important in terms
of early occupation or population densities.
A better title for this chapter might be
“Arid Regions”, as some of the sites discussed
in this section are not strictly in deserts.
By and large I think that while some people
may not agree with the authors’ interpretations
relating to various issues, they could agree
that in a very general sense many of the
main issues/theories relating to Australian
prehistory had been touched on in a reasonably
acceptable manner as they relate to the
various headings between Chapters 1 and
12. However, the major area of concern which
I believe leaves this book flawed to some
extent, are the two chapters on stone artefacts:
Chapter 13 “Pleistocene Artefacts” and Chapter
14 “Holocene Stone Tool Innovations”. The
uncritical use of outmoded typological characterisations
of Australian stone technology in these
two chapters denies a decade or more of
research which has highlighted the shortcomings,
and in some cases absurdities, of typological
categories for Australian stone technology.
Put simply, most of the ‘types’ outlined
in these chapters are no longer relevant
today and are certainly not used by the
majority of archaeologists in this country.
This is obviously a serious flaw in what
is the most recent synthesis of Australian
prehistory. At the very least, Chapter 13
should have had a comment on the debate
between typological characterisation versus
technological analysis in Australian stone
artefact studies. As it is, the reader is
left with the erroneous impression that
typology is still relevant to cutting-edge
stone artefact studies in this country when
this is plainly not the case.
Although ostensibly a 1999 publication
written between 1995 and 1997, in many respects
the problems in regard to Chapters 13 and
14 sum up the ‘feel’ of much of the book,
which harks back to an earlier era. In the
preface, the authors state that “we decided
to maintain the orientation and much of
the structure of the earlier books written
by Mulvaney solely.” I think this may have
been a mistake, as after 20 years many of
the themes and certainly the evidence has
changed to such an extent that the authors
may have been better starting from scratch
with an entirely different approach. Consequently
there are a number of errors and weaknesses
relating to the use of out-of-date research.
Whilst I realise that this is one of the
difficulties in publishing archaeological
syntheses when new evidence is continuously
coming to hand, I feel that omissions relating
to published material available at the time
of writing is a serious issue. The lack
of any discussion relating to technological
analysis as a theoretical and methodological
approach is but one example. Another is
on page 244, where, when dealing with so
called ‘Juan Knives’, the authors state
that only a single archaeological specimen,
a few from museum collections and a couple
from excavations are known. A series of
not-so-recent publications (Knight 1990,
Barker and Schon 1994 and Lamb 1996) clearly
quantify the presence of large numbers of
‘Juan Knives’ elsewhere in Australia.
Chapter 15 “Theories and Models: Explaining
Change” looks at change in the Late Holocene,
including the introduction of new stone
technologies, cultural diffusion, risk minimisation
and the ‘intensification debate’. In relation
to these topics, the authors highlight the
complexity of issues relating to change,
but by and large view change as part of
an internal, historical, adaptive process,
which is a common thread throughout the
book. The section on Intensification provides
a much simplified but accessible summary
of Lourandos’s model and quite rightly acknowledges
the importance of this work in “challenging
perceptions of causation and change in Australian
Prehistory and broaden[ing] research directions”
(page 272).
Chapters 16, 17 and 18 all deal with regional
variation throughout the Holocene, with
Chapter 16 looking at the “People of the
Coast”, Chapter 17 “Regional Challenges
and Responses” looking at the Snowy Mountains,
Murray River Societies, and the Arid Zone
and Chapter 18 looking at “Island Settlement”.
I find it curious that coastal settlement
and island settlement are treated separately
here, as in general, especially in the south
of the continent, island use is largely
an extension of mainland coastal settlement.
Chapter 19 looks at Island Tasmania post-12,000
years ago which, in common with much the
book, makes heavy use of the historical
record. The end of this section deals with
the “rupture in relations between dedicated
archaeologists and the Tasmanian Aboriginal
Land Council” (page 356), which sheds little
light on the actual circumstances of the
suspension of archaeological fieldwork in
Tasmania. It may have been appropriate to
have included some references at the back
of this section relating to both sides
of the argument for the general reader,
as it is a crucial issue in Australian archaeology
and there are valid points to be made from
both points of view.
Chapters 20, 21 and 22 all deal with rock
art in Australia. While it may be considered
that 49 pages on rock art is an undue emphasis
in a volume of 400 pages, I feel that given
its likely audience, this is justified.
Rock art for the general public is among
the most tangible of prehistoric remains
in Australia and generates enormous interest.
These chapters reiterate the indigenous
origins of art styles throughout the continent,
while also dealing with some of the more
fanciful interpretations of the origins
of rock art in certain regions of Australia.
The book finishes with a large section
on contact history which, although important,
sits uneasily in a volume titled “Prehistory
of Australia”.
Overall I am sure this book will be very
popular with the general public and in a
broad sense provides a general outline of
some of the major issues in Australian prehistory.
However, in light of its clear debt to an
earlier era of Australian archaeology, it
is hoped that the interest generated from
reading this very accessible prehistory
will encourage the reader into pursing supplementary
reading from a more contemporary perspective.
References
Barker, B. and R. Schon 1994 A Preliminary
Assessment of the Spatial Distribution of
Stone Artefacts from the South Molle Island
Aboriginal Quarry, Whitsunday Islands, Central
Queensland Coast. Memoirs of the Queensland
Museum 37 (1):5-12.
Flood, J. 1995 Archaeology of the Dreamtime.
Sydney: Collins Publishers.
Knight J. 1990 A broken Juan knife
from Yandan Creek: some implications. Archaeology
in Oceania 25:68-74
Lamb, L. 1996 A Methodology for the Analysis
of Backed Artefact Production on the South
Molle Island Quarry, Whitsunday Island.
In. Ulm, S. Lilley, I., and A. Ross (eds)
Australian Archaeology ‘95, Proceedings
of the 1995 Australian Archaeological Association
Annual Conference. Tempus 6. Brisbane: University
of Queensland.
White, J.P. and O’Connell, J. 1982 A
Prehistory of Australia, New Guinea and
Sahul. Sydney: Academic Press.
ARCHAEOLOGY OF ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIA:
A READER. Tim Murray (ed.) 1998. St
Leonards NSW: Allen and Unwin. ISBN 1-86448-066-1
(pb.). Pp. xi +364. Price AUD39.95.
Amy Roberts (Flinders University, Australia).
amy.roberts@flinders.edu.au
Archaeology of Aboriginal Australia:
A Reader is structured thematically
in order to communicate to the student of
archaeology the sense of continuing debates
amongst professional archaeologists about
the “past 40,000 years of human action”
(p. 4) in Australia. Indeed, Tim Murray
states (p. 4) that “the main objective of
this book is to convey a sense of the excitement
and of the significance of the research
which has been undertaken since archaeological
research became professionalised during
the 1960s”. This compilation of papers will
indeed be a useful tool in introducing students
to general theories, critical problems and
areas of specific research within Australian
Indigenous archaeology.
This edited book consists of two parts.
Part I consists of general surveys of Pleistocene
and Holocene Australia. This section covers
the antiquity and nature of the human settlement
of Australia, dating determinations and
intensification. Part II consists of special
studies that present perspectives on stone
artefact analysis, rock art and the reconstruction
of palaeoecology. Overall there are 26 separate
articles to this multi-authored book with
24 contributors from at least 9 different
affiliations. Of these 26 separate articles,
16 are reproductions of previously published
material. The remaining previously unpublished
material was specifically commissioned for
the book or written by Murray himself to
introduce and contextualize each general
survey or section within the special studies.
Murray’s introduction to this reader begins
with a discussion concerning the changes
in and understanding of Australian Indigenous
archaeology since the 1960s. He highlights
changes in archaeology as a profession,
access to the physical remains of the past
and the social and cultural contexts of
the archaeology of Indigenous Australia.
This introduction will be useful to the
new student of archaeology, as it contextualizes
the research and research methodologies
of today by teaching the changes in consciousness
and politics of the past. Problematically,
however, Murray in this introduction reinforces
or sets up a dichotomy between the ‘archaeologist’
and the ‘Indigenous person’ without acknowledging
the contribution of Indigenous archaeologists
today and the contribution that will be
made by Indigenous archaeologists in the
future.
The first general survey focuses on the
problems in addressing the ‘antiquity’ of
human actions (Jim Allen), with obvious
attention paid to the debates concerning
dating determinations within Indigenous
Australian archaeology (Jim Allen, Richard
Roberts, Rhys Jones, Mike Smith and Simon
Holdaway).
The second general survey discusses the
timing and pattern of the original colonisation
of Australia and New Guinea as well as the
changes in occupation over time. This section
includes papers which address the general
theories of settlement patterns (Mike Smith
and Jim Allen) as well as papers that specifically
discuss the nature and extent of late Pleistocene
settlement in Tasmania (Kevin Kiernan, Rhys
Jones and Don Ranson), New Ireland (Jim
Allen, Chris Gosden, Rhys Jones and J. Peter
White) as well as arid central Australia
(Mike Smith).
The third general survey addresses the
archaeology of Sahul and how it relates
to and comments upon Australian Indigenous
archaeology (Tim Murray, Jim Allen and Rhys
Jones). In addition, this section includes
an examination of the theories concerning
the settlement of the sand-ridge deserts
(Mike Smith). All of these papers are again
pre-occupied with the timing and pattern
of the original colonisation of Australia
and New Guinea, and one wonders why there
was a need to separate these articles from
the previous section.
The majority of the papers in the fourth
general survey address the late Holocene
intensification debate through a variety
of approaches (Christine Williamson, Anne
Ross, Norman Yoffee and Colin Pardoe). The
exception to these discussions is Murray’s
paper on contact archaeology and Aboriginality
in Tasmania.
The first section of the special studies
in Part II of this book are focussed on
the ways in which palaeoecology can be applied
to archaeology. Simon Holdaway provides
an introductory article to this section.
In addition, Richard Cosgrove, Jim Allen
and Brendan Marshall through their previously
published paper provide an ecological model
which is certainly useful as a case study
for the new student of Australian Indigenous
archaeology. The second section of the special
studies addresses the much debated and highly
contentious field of stone artefact analysis.
Peter Hiscock provides a clear and concise
overview of and introduction to stone tool
analysis. This is followed by Brian Hayden’s
ethnographic study of stone tool functions
in the Western Desert. The third section
of the special studies provides an overview
of the archaeology of rock art in Australia
by Christopher Chippindale. In addition,
Bruno David, Ian McNiven, Val Attenbrow,
Josephine Flood and Jackie Collins supply
their study on the rock art of the Wardaman
country.
Following the special studies, Murray concludes
with a discussion on the literature of archaeology
of Australia and role of Australian archaeology
in society. In addition, he includes lists
of general ‘prehistories’, major compilations
and significant journals to assist the new
student.
The technical aspects of this compilation
are generally good, but there is room for
improvement in a couple of areas. Firstly,
one feels that there needs to be a clearer
indication of the origin of the re-published
material, as many of the readers of this
book will be unfamiliar with past debates
and the context in which they arose. It
would definitely be most useful to have
this information printed at the beginning
of such articles rather than a half reference
to the material in the acknowledgments and
sometimes a full reference in the bibliography.
In addition, the list of contributors at
the beginning of the book is incomplete,
as only names of authors of single-author
articles and the first author of multi-author
articles are listed. The commissioned articles
are certainly a useful addition to each
thematic section as they supply background
information to the following debates and
special studies, but there is room for improvements
in the contextualizing of the issues in
some of these papers. Although it is acknowledged
in this review that many of these articles
are straight re-prints, it must be stated
that the gender-specific language used in
some of the articles as well as words used
to refer to Indigenous Australians and their
past may be insulting to some readers. This
edited book, however, certainly makes a
good contribution to the archaeology of
Indigenous Australia in that unlike other
works, e.g. Archaeology of the Dreamtime
by Josephine Flood, more than one viewpoint
is expressed through the debates that have
occurred over the past 30 years amongst
archaeological practitioners. This multi-authored
reader will be most valuable to students
with a basic understanding of archaeological
principles. It will also be a useful volume
for the more experienced archaeologist as
it collates a number of important articles.
References
Flood, J. 1995 Archaeology of the Dreamtime,
3rd edition. Sydney: William Collins.
EGYPT’S MAKING: THE ORIGINS OF ANCIENT
EGYPT 5000 – 2000 BC. Michael Rice 1991.
London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-06454-6 (pb.).
Pp. xxii + 322. Price USD27.99.
Michael Brass (University of Cape Town,
South Africa) mikeyb@iafrica.com
and Francesca Jourdan (Independent Scholar,
Boston, USA) francesca@ptahhotep.com
The author states his motivation for writing
in the first sentence of the preface: “I
began writing this book as a sort of celebration
of most ancient Egypt, of the origins of
a culture which seems to me to be without
precedent or equal.” It is a statement which
can go one of two extreme ways: it can emphasise
the greatness of the evolution of the Ancient
Egyptian state in comparison with those
of the neighbouring Near East, or it can
seek the reasons for its rise in the inspiration
of neighbouring city-states such as Ur,
Ubaid and Enki. It is to the detriment of
the book that Rice opted for the latter
instead of forging a middle path. Rice is
not a professional Egyptologist nor a prehistoric
archaeologist involved in studying Predynastic
and early Dynastic Egypt. He is archaeologically
concerned with the Arabian Peninsula and
this influences many of his ideas throughout
the book.
Egypt’s Making is divided into six
chapters, an appendix and a bibliography.
It should be noted, however, that references
are generally not cited in the text and
are only those the author thinks relevant.
The first chapter discusses the geography
of Ancient Egypt and particularly the influence
of the Nile on the developing civilisation.
A brief outline is presented of the history
of Egyptology, with the main emphasis on
Sir Flinders Petrie.
The second chapter deals with the typological
industries preceding the First Dynasty:
the Badarian, Naqada I, Naqada II and Naqada
III. The discussion of the concentration
of sites, as well as the artefacts excavated,
from these periods is concise and informative.
Problems creep in, though, in his analyses
of the artefacts. While acknowledging there
is no archaeological evidence for a Lower
Egyptian kingdom in the Nile Delta, he does
not discard this possibility because of
its persistence in the written Ancient Egyptian
record, contra Kemp (1989). Rice reiterates
the influence on craftsmanship design on
the Predynastic by the city-states of the
Near East. There are two currently-acknowledged
routes through which Mesopotamian influence
could feasibly have reached Ancient Egypt:
the Levant and the Wadi Hammamat. Rice attributes
greater significance and trade importance
to the Wadi Hammamat, bucking current archaeological
evidence favouring the Levant. Following
this train of thought, Rice claims that
Osiris originated in Western Asia and entered
Egypt where he was a late arrival in the
pantheon, only rising to significance in
the late Old Kingdom. Although he claims
that this has been proposed by “some authorities”,
Rice gives neither the age of these sources
nor does he cite them. The age of Osiris
and his Egyptian origins are well attested
through the Early Dynastic and the Old Kingdom,
and the Pyramid Texts cite him in some vocations
dating to the Predynastic. It is comforting
that amidst the many inferences of Mesopotamian
influence on Egypt that Rice does not ascribe
to the theory of a “dynastic race” (Emery
1961).
Chapter 3 describes the development of
hierarchy through the Predynastic and the
way it manifested itself through societal
expressions. Hierakonpolis is discussed
in depth and the origins of the ideology
of kingship. The development of maceheads
and palettes are traced in parallel, as
are the early tombs. A brief outline is
given of the first pharaohs. All in all
this is the most informative and factually
accurate chapter of the book, although Rice
makes the critical errors of firstly ascribing
to the outdated theory that the origins
of the Horus-Seth conflict is found in the
political characters of the protagonists
Peribsen (Seth) and Khasekhem-Khasekhemui
(Horus), and secondly accepting without
question or discussion that attribution
of the mythological name of “Menes” to the
historical personage of Narmer.
Chapters four and five deal with the Third
Dynasty until the end of the Old Kingdom.
They plot the course of Egypt’s “Golden
Age”, which contained in it the roots of
its ultimate collapse.
The final chapter deals with Rice’s psychological
mentor – Jung. Jung himself expressed great
interest in Ancient Egypt, a factor that
heightens, in Rice’s view, the validity
of using Jung’s philosophy in interpreting
the development of the Ancient Egyptians
through “analytical psychology”. Kemp suggests
that “for those who regard the processes
of state formation as a socio-economic phenomenon
this approach may be anathema”. It is difficult
to see how that can reasonably be so, for
the socio-economic approach does not take
into account the interactive cognitive abilities
of the Ancient Egyptian to any great degree:
this is a line of questioning which holds,
in our opinion, promising research opportunities,
although not necessarily following Jungian
principles which we have difficulty with.
A lot careful and hard work has gone into
producing this very lucid text. The pictures
are numerous and informative. Rice brings
to the fore again the seemingly dismissed
possibility that the Arabian Peninsula islands
played a big role in the development of
Ancient Egypt by means of being a contact
and trade route from Mesopotamia. However,
this results in chronological problems,
which Rice readily admits. This weakens
his case. While there is much useful information
for both academics and interested scholars
of Ancient Egypt to take note, Rice’s text
is littered with factual errors which makes
the book problematic. The book should be
read with critical open-mindedness.
References
Emery, W. 1961 Archaic Egypt. London: Harmondsworth
Kemp, B. 1989 Ancient Egypt: Anatomy
of a civilisation. London: Routledge.
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