Sibel Barut Kusimba. African foragers: environment, technology, interactions.

Sibel Barut Kusimba. African foragers: environment, technology, interactions. SIBEL BARUT KUSIMBA. African foragers: environment, technology,interactions, xxi+285 pages, 45 figures, 13 tables. 2003. Walnut Creek Walnut Creek,residential city (1990 pop. 60,569), Contra Costa co., W Calif., in the San Francisco Bay area; inc. 1914. It is the trade and shipping center of an extensive agricultural area where walnuts are among the major product. (CA): Altamira; 0-7591-0153-1 hardback $75 & 0-7591-0154-X paperback$32.95 & 24.95 [pounds sterling]. Despite its title, the primary focus of this book is thedevelopment of that chimera, behavioural modernity, as seen through theAfrican archaeological record The archaeological record is a term used in archaeology to denote all archaeological evidence, including the physical remains of past human activities which archaeologists seek out and record in an attempt to analyze and reconstruct the past. . It charts the rise of technologically andsocially flexible hunter-gatherers of the Middle and Later Stone Ages(MSA, LSA) and discusses the transition to food production in theHolocene as well as farmer-forager interaction. With so much happeningin a relatively short time, the wide-ranging analysis should revealunderlying developmental trends of interest to a broad audience.Unfortunately, there is a mismatch between aims and outcome. The book's odd structure and uneven presentation of dataundermine the effort. The first four of eight chapters set the thematicscene, the remainder deal with the archaeological record. Theinconsistent integration of the two halves hinders the argument, as dooccasional omissions of substance combined with editorial oversights. Chapter 1 summarises the history of hunter-gatherer research,including the contemporary Kalahari-focused revisionist re��vi��sion��ism?n.1. Advocacy of the revision of an accepted, usually long-standing view, theory, or doctrine, especially a revision of historical events and movements.2. debate. Kusimbahighlights the uneasy but necessary co-existence of historicist andevolutionary approaches to studying the past. Students new to thesubject will find this a useful overview, and the author makes alaudable plea for archaeologists to develop more nuanced interpretationsbased on the diversity of historic foragers. Chapter 2 introduces the volume's main theme: thetechnological and social adaptations of hunter-gatherers to changingAfrican habitats. The opening review emphasises the recognition ofhunter-gatherers as active agents in constructing their physical andsocial environments, but makes no reference to the influential work ofTim Ingold. A condensed, but geographically wide-ranging discussion onfactors affecting mobility precedes a description of Africa'sdiverse biogeography BiogeographyA synthetic discipline that describes the distributions of living and fossil species of plants and animals across the Earth's surface as consequences of ecological and evolutionary processes. . Here distractions start in earnest: factualerrors, under-referencing and lax editing (e.g. 'arider').Niggles aside, the reader gets some feel for the diversity of modernAfrican landscapes. Less effective is the presentation of AfricanPleistocene environments. The overview is restricted to the last 50 000years on the unjustifiable grounds of poverty of data for earlierperiods. Long marine and terrestrial sequences exist, stretching back tothe Mid-Pleistocene and considerably earlier in east Africa. Therestricted chronological coverage weakens chapter 5's analysis ofemerging adaptive flexibility in the MSA. Lithic technology In archeology, Lithic Technology refers to a broad array of techniques and styles to produce usable tools from various types of stone. The earliest stone tools were recovered from modern Ethiopia and were dated to between two-million and three-million years old. forms the core of Chapter 3. An awkwardly writtenhistory of African research is followed by an overly long description ofanalytical approaches, especially the chaine operatoire. Technology isembedded in social interaction and the analysis of stone tools can tellus much about decision-making, but these points could have been mademore succinctly and effectively. Chapter 4 builds on the theme of sociality, in particular thecentrality of sharing or 'permission-granting' relationshipsin hunter-gatherer societies, arrangements founded and maintainedthrough the use of symbols (language). A cursory overview follows of theevidence for 'the evolution of symbol' (sic, p.92). The bulkof the chapter reviews issues linked to social cohesion, includingterritoriality TerritorialityBehavior patterns in which an animal actively defends a space or some other resource. One major advantage of territoriality is that it gives the territory holder exclusive access to the defended resource, which is generally associated with , ethnicity and style, merging into a summary offorager-farmer interaction. Finally, having identified technological flexibility and structuredsharing as key features of foragers, the archaeological record isscanned for signs of modernity. The MSA, given its association withearly Homo sapiens Homo sapiens(Latin; “wise man”)Species to which all modern human beings belong. The oldest known fossil remains date to c. 120,000 years ago—or much earlier (c. , is the focus of chapter 5. The 'recent Africanorigin' debate is briefly summarised, before an unbalanced overviewof selected data. The Border Cave child burial, for example, ispresented as intrusive without reference to published rebuttals. Theextensive genetic database of mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosomeanalyses is barely mentioned, the only researcher referenced being awell-known critic of the Out of Africa model. A likely populationbottleneck during Oxygen Isotope Stage 4 is not discussed, and there islittle attempt to examine the responses of MSA populations tosignificant changes in biogeography during successive glacial cycles. Ifbehavioural flexibility is a key indicator of modernity then we shouldlook closely at shifting Mid-Late Pleistocene landscapes as stimuli forvariability selection. The failure to deal with this data in Chapter 2undermines the analysis here. There are factual problems, too. Mostnotably, the MSA did not end 50 000 years ago as claimed; there isconsiderable regional variation in the timing of the shift tomicrolithic mi��cro��lith?n. ArchaeologyA very small blade made of flaked stone and used as a tool, especially in the European Mesolithic Period.mi technology. That variability needs to be explained, as doesthe behavioural variability which exists across the full span of theMSA. Too often, the period is discussed as if it were a singleunchanging entity, especially in reference to McBrearty &Brooks' MSA trait-list. This chapter missed an opportunity tocontribute to the debate about behavioural modernity as a concept, andmore importantly to present the African data in its full richness. Chapter 6 breaks from the narrative format to present two detailedarchaeological case studies which contrast the short-lived appearance ofmicrolithic technology at 70-60 000 years ago (Howieson's Poortindustry), with its continuity among recognisably modern foragers after40 000 years ago in East Africa. What could have been an effectivecomparison is obscured by under-editing. Far too much detailed lithicanalysis precedes the conclusion that Howieson's Poort reflects'the first hunter-gatherers to do at least some of the things inthe way that modern hunter-gatherers do' (p. 187). Some poorline-drawings and photographs also eluded editorial scrutiny. The final two chapters bring a welcome return to narrative,dealing, respectively, with the development of domestication domesticationProcess of hereditary reorganization of wild animals and plants into forms more accommodating to the interests of people. In its strictest sense, it refers to the initial stage of human mastery of wild animals and plants. in Africaand forager-farmer interaction. Here, the writing comes alive, thoughthere are persistent problems with under-referencing and minor factualerrors (e.g. grinding stones occur first in the late Acheulian, not theLSA). A particular strength is the discussion of hunter-gathererstrategies in a world of farmers, with effective case studies. Foragerssucceeded because of their flexibility in responding to climate changeor shifting opportunities created by others. It was, and still is forsome, an alternative lifeway life��way?n.1. A customary manner of living; a way of life.2. A custom, practice, or art: the traditional lifeways of a tribal society.and not a relict RELICT. A widow; as A B, relict of C D. from the Stone Age. Thisfinal point is made clearly and eloquently. LAWRENCE S. BARHAM Department of Archaeology, University of Bristol, 43 Woodland Road,Bristol, England.