BOOK R E V I E W S 2 0 3

Mellars's book provides an excellent review of acomplex and actively debated topic. Whether or notyou agree with his conclusions, which are often cen-trist-to-extreme views, you should be impressed by theclarity and comprehension of his survey. The book isessential for anyone interested in the wide range ofproblems associated with the Neanderthal world. •

Celtic Chiefdom, Celtic State: The Evolution of ComplexSocial Systems in Prehistoric Europe. Bettina Arnoldand D. Blair Gibson, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge Univer-sity Press, 1995.159 pp.

BERNARD WAILES

University of Pennsylvania

This book has two aims. One, "to initiate a dia-logue between otherwise isolated national schools, aswell as between segregated disciplines" (p. 9), is di-rected at Europeanists. The other is "to bring studiesof Celtic civilization into the cross-cultural theoreticalmainstream" (p. 2), and clearly envisions a broad an-thropological audience. The latter corresponds toreaders of this journal; so I shall address myself ac-cordingly. The statement that "the copious and oftendramatic remains of the societies of later prehistoricEurope [should] offer much incentive for theory build-ing in the area of political systems" (p. 5) serves as asuitable starting point, provided that we add "earlyhistoric societies" to those of later prehistory.

Celtic studies are firmly rooted in philology, litera-ture, and history. An archaeological dimension wasadded with the recognition that the very distinctive LaTene art style, beginning in the 5th century B.C., corre-lates approximately with the distribution of Celtic lan-guages. For the Iron Age (ca. 700 B.c.-lst century A.D.)we have information about the Celts from classicalauthors, while for the earlier medieval period we havenative Celtic texts. The authors evaluate archaeologi-cal and textual evidence critically, and most attemptsput the evidence into an anthropological perspective.After the editors' introduction (ch. 1), chapters 2-14are divided into part 1, Celtic Political Systems: Re-search Paradigms, part 2, Recovering Iron Age SocialSystems, part 3, The Question of Statehood in La TeneEurope, and part 4, Evolution and Ethnohistory: TheProtohistoric Polities of Gaul and the British Isles. Per-haps of most interest to AA readers will be the topicsof native Celtic states, and the ethnohistoric perspec-tive.

During the 2nd and 1st centuries B.C. urbanismdeveloped in central and western Europe, but an ur-banism owing nothing to Mediterranean models. In-creased craft specialization during the 4th/3rd centu-ries B.C. led to 2nd/lst century B.C. manufacturing

towns (oppida). These towns mass-produced goodsfor trade but "were not necessarily centers of socialpower or political importance" (p. 94); that is, there isno satisfactory evidence that they were the loci of"palaces," major temples, or centralized administra-tions. The conventional focus of the "state" thus waslacking. Nevertheless, state-level polities are deducedfrom the scale of manufacture and trade, the intensifi-cation of agricultural production (inferred from a widerange of new implements), and the evidence that thesewere highly stratified societies. Carole Crumley (ch. 3)argues that the structure of these societies can only beunderstood by reference to heterarchy (by no meansincompatible with a stratified, hierarchical, society).

Part 4, mainly addressing the textual evidence,also reveals societies amenable to heterarchical inter-pretation, from pre-Roman Gaul and earlier medievalIreland (where both chiefdoms and states are arguedto have developed) and from Highland Scotland (wherechiefdoms lasted until 1745). Both the structure ofchiefdoms and the case for "state formation" are evalu-ated, and a creative case for a comparative ethnohisto-ric approach is well developed.

This stimulating book deserves to be read widelyoutside of "Europeanist" circles. But I must close on acautionary note: generally, it is assumed that readerswill be familiar with the terminology, so nonspecialistsmay need recourse to an introductory work (e.g., T. G. E.Powell's The Celts, Thames and Hudson, 1958). •

Prehistoric Cultural Ecology and Evolution: Insightsfrom Southern Jordan. Donald O. Henry. New York: Ple-num Press, 1995. 466 pp.

ANTHONY E. MARKS

Southern Methodist University

I recommend this work to all prehistorians deal-ing with the Paleolithic, and I urge that it be read bythose who feel that the study of lithics, whether chip-page, retouched tools, or whole assemblages, cannotprovide valuable insights into past behavior. It is fullof specific examples where the use of lithic materialshas been effective and convincing in the reconstruc-tion of settlement patterns, site functions, regionalmovements, and even the posited recognition of Epi-paleolithic ethnic groups. Since the book is based onten years of research into the whole of the extant pre-history (from a little Lower Paleolithic through theChalcolithic) in a single region, it contains a wealth ofdata. On the one hand, it is a descriptive presentationof what was done and what was recovered, with em-phasis on the lithic assemblages; on the other, the in-terpretations are structured by a conscious, culturalecological perspective. As must be expected, many

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data from the field and laboratory work are not centralor even obviously relevant to cultural ecological inter-pretations. Thus in a sense, there are two works pres-ent: one that is a fine and detailed "final report" of thework and the other, found as parts of different chap-ters, a diachronic view of shifting adaptations fromsome 70,000 years ago to 4,000 years ago. While thisdoes not make for easy reading, it is truly a pleasurewhen faced with a specific argument involving, for in-stance, seasonality, to have a rich body of data onhand, not merely that which the author feels justifieshis interpretations.

The book has 21 chapters and, while Henry hasplayed a dominant role in conceptualizing, organizing,and producing this study, nine other authors eitherhave written separate sections or have collaboratedwith the author in writing specific chapters. After anintroduction that justifies and clearly lays out Henry'suse of a functionalist and ecological interpretation ofculture, as well as explaining the background andmethods used, the remaining chapters are organizeddiachronically, considering four main periods: the Mid-dle Paleolithic, the Upper Paleolithic, the Epipaleo-lithic, and the Chalcolithic. Additional chapters intro-duce the area geologically (F. Hassan), provide a clearand concise outline of the culture-historic taxa recog-nized (D. Henry), and report the climatic interpreta-tions derived from pollen analysis (A. Emery-Barbier),the origins of shells from a number of different sites(D. Reese), the results of phytolith analysis from dif-ferent periods (A. Miller Rosen), the fauna mainlyfrom a single Epipaleolithic site (R. Klein), and theimplications of cementum increment analysis forseasonality during the early and late Epipaleolithic(D. Lieberman). All these chapters play a significantrole in the interpretations; and unlike many other "fi-nal reports," they never seem like tangential after-thoughts.

Of the four major periods reported, the Epipaleo-lithic is the longest and most complete, reflecting thenumber of Epipaleolithic sites. Yet, aside from the de-tailed and very insightful treatment of the Natufianwhich should be of interest to a wide audience, mostof the Epipaleolithic sections are for the specialist.Another exception is the chapter on the Madamaghan(D. Henry and C. Shen), which uses a wide range ofdata, from lithics through phytoliths, to convincinglyposit its origins, settlement systems, and seasonal ad-aptations.

The Upper Paleolithic chapter (N. Coinman andD. Henry) is largely descriptive. Since it includes sixsites, however, it adds considerably to our knowledgeof Upper Paleolithic assemblage variability east of theJordan Valley. Greater typological and technological

variability seems to have existed at non-Ahmariansites to the east than to the west of the Jordan.

While fairly short, the section on the Middle Pa-leolithic is most impressive. A combination of twogood Tabun-D-type sites, detailed and creative analy-ses of their assemblages, micro wear analysis (J. Shea)and raw material sourcing has permitted the recon-struction of their adaptive system. It is particularlyhere that lithics are used to the greatest advantage andshow their true potential in understanding the past

While it is highly unusual for a Near Eastern proj-ect to deal with both the Paleolithic and the Chalco-lithic, doing so was a wise decision. The Chalcolithic sitesprovide a strong basis for developing settlement andseasonal models for the Paleolithic occupations. Thisdiachronic approach provides the most interestingand, perhaps, important view of this region's prehis-toric past. It is convincingly argued that the differen-tial distribution of resources and the steep elevationalgradient on the east side of the Rift Valley led to trans-humance as an effective adaptation to seasonal changes.It is most significant that this transhumant adaptationwas fully established during the Middle Paleolithic andwas not appreciably different from that of the Chal-colithic. Thus, the southern Jordanian evidence pointsto established "modern" behavior by 70,000 B.P., withinthe context of a Tabun-D-type Mousterian. •

Foundations of Social Inequality. T. Douglas Price andGary M. Feinman, eds. New York: Plenum Press, 1995.290 pp.

ROBERT L. CARNEIRO

American Museum of Natural History

"Over the course of our human past," write theeditors of this volume, "there is no more fundamentaltransition than the emergence of [social] inequality."The issue facing the contributors is "when and how itbecame formalized" (p. 4).

Brian Hayden argues that even at the hunter-gath-erer stage, whenever wild food occurred in particularabundance, private accumulation of it resulted, andthat this "exclusive control over food produced byoneself or one's family opened the door to the devel-opment of socioeconomic inequalities" (p. 29).

Stephen Plog, however, believes that not until thecoming of agriculture did social inequality really arisein the arid Southwest and suggests that the leadershiprequired to direct a water-control system may have ledto the first clearcut example of inequality in this region.

Robert Drennan suspected that control of primeagricultural land in the Valle de la Plata in Colombiawas what led to the development of inequality, but ameticulous and exhaustive survey of the region failed