This collection of a dozen essays covers a wide range of topics ranging across the eastern woodlands of North America, the shores of the Amazon River, the forested and grassland regions of Africa, and the Bay of Bengal in eastern India. The editors seek to honor with this volume the achievements of Carol Kramer, an archaeologist best known for her research in Rajasthan, India. Identifying their deceased colleague as a scholar who was committed to the collection of empirical data and the study of the process of cultural transmission, authors of the various chapters collectively speak to the development of an inclusive archaeological agenda. Their main goal is to honor Kramer’s interest in the ways that material goods signal and stabilize cultural ideals.
The volume opens with an overview of patterns in archaeological research authored by the volume’s editors. Their treatment of cultural transmission examines issues related to social learning as the various authors seek to analyze the practice of borrowing ideas, the development of clear social boundaries, and the practice of borrowing within and between different (but proximate) cultural groups. Subsequent chapters are basically reports of ongoing research projects such as a study of the Salish-speaking people on Vancouver Island whose behavior suggests a long experience of cultural borrowing and an exchange of textiles and house forms. Scholars more interested in the formation of Mediterranean communities will find Valentine Roux’s study of ceramic materials from the fifth millennium BC very suggestive about the development of distinctive Levantine sites all across what is today the nation of Israel.
Two studies from South America focus on the Amazon region: Brenda Bowser and John Patton probe the life histories of Ecuadorian potters while Janet Chernela decodes the designs created by the Baniwa people living near the headwaters of the Amazon River. Focusing on the designs found on grater boards, Chernela argues that these tools for food preparation also carry important tribal symbols of local dominance. The techniques employed by earthenware potters from Niger, Cameroon, Kenya, and south India near the Bay of Bengal are all discussed in considerable detail. The concluding essay by Barbara J. Mills examines the impact of cultural change in the foodways of the Zuni people of New Mexico, particularly on the wheat breads made for ritual purposes. As Mill points out, agency and history intersect in foodways creating a situation in which symbolism may be seen as more important than consumption.
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[Review length: 402 words • Review posted on September 22, 2010]