Review of B. Grønnow and J. Pind, The Paleo-Eskimo Cultures of Greenland. The Danish Polar Center

ANTIQUITY

Volume 71

Number 273

September 1997

78(i

REVIEW

of Australian rock-art, whether it be temporal or geo

graphic, is far more convoluted and complex. Rock art of the Dreamtime is well researched but the referencing system is irritating because of the over-use of'op. cit' when referring to an article men tioned chapters earlier. Furthermore, some key refer

References

Fl.ANNERY.T. 1994. Thefuture eaters. Chatswood (NSW): Reed Books.

LAYTON, R. 1992. Australian rock art: a new synthesis. Cam bridge: Cambridge University Press.

ences cannot be found in the Notes section. Another

annoyance, with what is generally a very informative book, is the occasional mis-quoting. For instance, on

p. 132 statements by Christopher Chippindale, Paul Tagon and Joan Vastokas have been all muddled up.

Finally. I totally disagree with Flood's specula

B|ARNE Gronnow & John Pind (ed.). The PaleoEskimo cultures of Greenland: new perspectives in Greenlandic archaeology, x+334 pages, 197 illustra tions, 19 tables. 1996. Copenhagen: Danish Polar Center; 87-90369-02-5 paperback Dkrl90 (+p&p).

tion about Australian art origins. She argues the art

developed as a result of a 'resource crash' that fol

Greenland is situated at the end of the Palaeo-Eskimo

lowed the claimed human-driven extinction of

world. It was here, after traversing the entire North American arctic, hunters began several thousand years of diversification, re-organization, and specializa tion that became the archaeology of the Arctic Small

megafauna, basing this on speculations by natural ists such as Tim Flannerv. She also suggests that cupules and other designs mav have resulted from increase ceremonies. I would argue that the art has less to do with increase rituals, sympathetic magic or the pursuit of megafaunal ghosts but reflects in stead a need to mark, map and socialize landscapes — to transform and humanize them in recognizable,

long-lasting wavs as well as to communicate to oth ers essential features about places and spaces. In more recent times, this has led to rock-art sites, and

the landscapes thev are an integral part of, becom ing pictorial records of a history of changing social and environmental circumstance. Right across north ern Australia knowledgeable Indigenous elders re fer to rock-art sites in this way and it is clear that, at least in recent times, rock-art imagery was used to teach the young and uninitiated about both the past and present. Of course, there were also many other factors that led to the production of the hundreds of varied rock-art motifs and subjects scattered across the continent and we should also not forget that it is very common for visual imagery to have several levels of meaning in Aboriginal societies. These issues aside, I regard Rock art of the Dream time as a very important book — if anyone is at all interested in Australia's past I highly recommend it. Ideally it should be read in conjunction with Robert Layton's Australian rockartta new synthesis (1992) and Tim Flannery's The future eaters (1994), in or der more fully to experience the richness of Austral ia's unique past and its lessons for the present. It should also be kept in mind that any book on Australian rockart soon becomes out-of-date because of the prolific nature of current research and publishing. New finds, ideas and interpretations appear monthly. No doubt new books by Flood and others will follow as we at tempt to make sense of the hundreds of new threads of evidence available for the piecing together of the rich tapestry that is Australian rock-art. Paul S.C. Ta£ON

Division of Anthropology. Australian Museum. Svdnev

Tool tradition, Independence, Saqqaq, PreDorset, Dorset and a number of other temporal and spatial

phases of Greenlandic prehistory. It was in Green land and adjacent regions that the earliest and, in deed, some of the most important Palaeo-Eskimo research was first conducted. After many years of sporadic investigations, it is a pleasure to see the resurgence of Greenlandic studies that has occurred in the last decade.

This edited volume represents contributions to Greenlandic archaeologv that were presented at a 1992 conference convened at the University of Co penhagen. The volume is divided into seven sec tions. The first is the Introduction and presents two background chapters, one on the current state of research in Greenland and the second on the his

tory of Palaeo-Eskimo research in West Greenland. Both chapters introduce some of the theoretical prob lems and methodological developments that have concerned Greenlandic archaeology and provide necessary background information for the reader unfamiliar with the area.

The second and third sections are geographical, covering first West Greenland and then East and Northeast Greenland. These 13 chapters comprise the bulk of the volume. Most of the chapters in these sections are summaries of excavations or surveys conducted in a variety of settings from inland ter restrial landscapes to the shorelines of the outer coast.

In all cases the data are well-organized and the dis cussions well-reasoned. While some of the data pre sented here have been published elsewhere, the reader will not be disappointed in the depth and detail of the chapters, with sufficient data presented in charts, tables and maps for independent evaluation of the conclusions. This is especially apparent in the pa per by Gronnow & Schilling, but all of the papers are interesting and worth reading. The last four sections are small and more spe cific. The first is on the Tunit, the peoples who the

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Archaeometry Archaeometry is an international research journal covering the involvement of the sciences with archaeology and art history. Topics covered therefore include dating methods, artefact studies,

mathematical methods, remote sensing techniques, conservation science and those aspects of the study of man andhisenvironment involving analytical techniques. Articles are written with the non-specialist in mind but also for the scientist; in addition to accounts of research, introductory review articles are published from time to time, as well as articles by archaeologists and art historians discussing the significance of the results reported. Some recent articles are:

White lumps in 5th-17th century AD mortars from Northern Italy

Provenance of

Roman amphora cargo from the Plemmirio B shipwreck

Lead isotope

characteristics of Cyprus copper ore deposits archaeological sediments bones

Optical dating results for British

Direct gamma-ray spectrometric dating of fossil

British archaeomagnetic calibration curve

Uranium-series dating of bone

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Inuit argue lived on this landscape before they ar rived. While much has been published on the Tunit and the theory of possible identity as the Dorset, the two chapters in this section provide a welcome overview of the topic. The fifth section on the Greenlandic palaeoenvironment includes four chap

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brief commentaries on the conference and the state of Danish Palaeo-Eskimo research.

I must agree with Sutherland's comment that this

set of papers, with their emphasis on data, compari son, methodology and interpretation, is a rather re freshing alternative to the typical North American

ters ranging from the 14C reservoir effect to discus

broad and general summaries. To a specialist in the

sions of sea levels and Holocene climatic changes. Some of the earlier chapters might have benefited from this section preceding the archaeological dis cussions rather than following them. Three Canadians were brought to the conferences

Alaskan and Siberian arctic regions, Greenland is an important and relevant area of interest, and I can confirm that I learned much from this book. It makes

as guest lectures and discussants. In the sixth sec

no presumptions about presenting all of Greenlandic archaeology; it simply and clearly presents many of the new finds and ideas being generated bv both

tion P. Sutherland and J. Helmer discuss their re

students and senior scholars in Greenland. I recom

spective research projects in the Canadian arctic and the relationship of recent Canadian research to the

mend it to anyone interested in the arctic.

Greenlandic studies. In the final section, M.A.P.

Renouf joins Sutherland and Helmer in presenting

Herbert Maschner

Department of Anthropology University of Wisconsin. Madison (WI)