New book chronicle.

New book chronicle. Invitation to the voyage One of the fleeting pleasures of being Reviews Editor at Antiquityis opening parcels. Publishers daily send exciting dispatches from thefour corners of the world, and too few books, albeit a respectableproportion, make it into the reviews section. The opportunity, anddistraction, of reading out of pure curiosity is always present. In thischronicle I propose to take fellow readers and procrastinators on anexpress transcontinental tour from the luxe luxe?n.1. The condition of being elegantly sumptuous.2. Something luxurious; a luxury.[French, luxury, from Latin luxus. , calme et volupte of a deeparmchair. ... in western and central Asia THOMAS E. LEVY. Journey to the Copper Age: archaeology in the HolyLand. 112 pages, over 100 colour illustrations. 2007. San Diego San Diego(săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. (CA):San Diego Museum of Man; 978-0-9378-0883-2 paperback. GAJUS SCHELTHEMA. Megalithic meg��a��lith?n.A very large stone used in various prehistoric architectures or monumental styles, notably in western Europe during the second millennium b.c. Jordan: an introduction and fieldguide (American Center of Oriental Research Occasional Publication 6).142 pages, 85 b&w & colour illustrations. 2008. Amman, Jordan:American Center of Oriental Research; 978-99578543-3-1 paperback $35. GEORGE MICHELL, MARIKA VICZIANY & TSUI YEN HU, photographs byJOHN GOLLINGS. Kashgar: oasis city on China's old Silk Road Silk RoadAncient trade route that linked China with Europe. Originally a caravan route and used from c. 100 BC, the 4,000-mi (6,400-km) road started in Xi'an, China, followed the Great Wall to the northwest, climbed the Pamir Mtns. . 160pages, numerous colour illustrations. 2008. London: Frances Lincoln;978-0-7112-2913-6 hardback 25 [pounds sterling] & $50. WILLIAM N. MORGAN. Earth architecture from ancient to modern, xx+186 pages, 175 b&w & colour illustrations. 2008. Gainesville(FL): University Press of Florida; 978-0-8130-3207-8 hardback $34.95. Where better to start than in the Levant Levant(ləvănt`)[Ital.,=east], collective name for the countries of the eastern shore of the Mediterranean from Egypt to, and including, Turkey. , with a real expedition.Journey to the Copper Age has all the right ingredients: treasure,stunning landscape, adventures with donkeys, ethnoarchaeology Ethnoarchaeology is the ethnographic study of peoples for archaeological reasons, usually focusing on the material remains of a society, rather than its culture. Ethnoarchaeology aids archaeologists in reconstructing ancient lifeways by studying the material and non-material and a bigresearch question--the origins of metallurgy and attendanttransformations in social structure, economic balance and ritualbehaviour. The exhibition staged at the San Diego Museum of Man inCalifornia in 2007 (it closed in February 2008) and accompanying bookare a resounding re��sound?v. re��sound��ed, re��sound��ing, re��soundsv.intr.1. To be filled with sound; reverberate: The schoolyard resounded with the laughter of children.2. success. The book combines three elements: thediscovery in 1961 by Psaach Bar Adon of over 400 beautifully craftedcopper objects in the Cave of the Treasure on the western shore of theDead Sea; Tom Levy's National Geographic Society-sponsoredexpedition of 1997 lasting 10 days with 10 donkeys travelling over adistance of 150km to understand the logistics of copper extraction inthe Faynan district of Jordan and transport through the Negev desert Noun 1. Negev Desert - a desert in southern IsraelNegevIsrael, State of Israel, Yisrael, Zion, Sion - Jewish republic in southwestern Asia at eastern end of Mediterranean; formerly part of Palestine toShiqmin in Israel (the site of a long-term excavation project led byLevy); and an evaluation of the region from Pre-Pottery Neolithic toIron Age times, but particularly the 'metal revolution' in theCopper Age (4500-3600 BC). The study established that the copper forprestige goods and tools was produced locally in the southern Dead Searegion, advanced knowledge on economic aspects such as the introductionof irrigation irrigation,in agriculture, artificial watering of the land. Although used chiefly in regions with annual rainfall of less than 20 in. (51 cm), it is also used in wetter areas to grow certain crops, e.g., rice. cultivation in the Beersheva valley by 4200 BC, andintroduced along the way new techniques for ascertaining the position ofvast underground storage areas at Shiqmin, through geophysicaldiffraction tomography. Add to this archaeological historiography--the1960s Israeli army-supported expeditions to the Dead Sea caves andexperimental archaeology Experimental archaeology employs a number of different methods, techniques, analyses, and approaches in order to generate and test hypotheses or an interpretation, based upon archaeological source material, like ancient structures or artifacts. by master craftsmen in South India to documentthe lost wax casting process and the social implications of coppertechnology, and you have a fantastic package, crammed into just ahundred pages. I would unreservedly un��re��served?adj.1. Not held back for a particular person: an unreserved seat.2. Given without reservation; unqualified: unreserved praise.3. recommend this short book as a modelof communication. Across the border in Jordan, the former Ambassador of theNetherlands, GAJUS SCHELTEMA, collected, during his four-year diplomaticstint in the kingdom between 2003 and 2007, as much information as hecould locate on megalithic remains still extant in the region, mainlynorth-western Jordan. The resulting guidebook, Megalithic Jordan,produced by the American Center of Oriental Research in Amman is notonly useful--it gives precise locations in a region where maps aredifficult to obtain and contains an extensive bibliography--but atestimony to what curiosity and doggedness can achieve. Some sites suchas the Showbak dolmens in southern Jordan were discovered as late as2002 and the threat from quarrying and other development is very real inmany locations (see end section entitled 'No stone unturned').Although discussing a variety of stone settings such as stone circles,cists, cairns, cup holes and rock-cut tombs, the book mainlyconcentrates on dolmens and standing stones. Dating is difficult, butdolmens (which look uncannily like the western European ones)concentrate in the Early Bronze Age, while standing stones occupy alarger span, from perhaps the Natufian to recent times. By visiting andphotographing all these sites, Scheltema has produced a lastingresource: the colour photographs give a good idea of the localenvironment and reproduction is good. Kashgar: oasis city on China's old Silk Road lures us furthereast, and the material changes from stone to earth. This brilliantphotographic essay by JOHN GOLLINGS is supplemented by an informativetext by GEORGE MICHELL, MARIKA VICZIANY (leader of the Kashgar ProjectTeam at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia) and TSUI YEN HU (ofthe Kinjiang Normal University in Urumqi). The book vividly illustratesthe contrast between the pale mud brick structures of the old city andburial grounds set in the stark landscape, and the colourful splashes ofthe markets, mosques, orchards, produce and textiles. Both pictures andtext express the flow of the past into the present and the melding ofcultures: Kashgar, located beyond the Pamir and Karakorum mountainranges, on the edge of the Taklimakan desert in the extreme south-westof China, is described as the pivot of Central Asia, a hybrid city wherecontemporary brutalism and tradition meet and whose inhabitants (UygurMuslim in the majority) adhere to syncretic syn��cre��tism?n.1. Reconciliation or fusion of differing systems of belief, as in philosophy or religion, especially when success is partial or the result is heterogeneous.2. religious beliefs. This isshown for example in the offering of rams' horns and pottery waterflasks at contemporary burial sites or the shaping of day dolls to askfor a cure from shamans (images on pp. 144-5). The book is almostentirely devoted to what Kashgar, who grew and waned in the last twomillennia with trade along the Silk Road, is today. Only a few pages atthe end refer to the eroded mud brick stupas and citadels of theBuddhist era (first few centuries CE) described by Sir Aurel Stein in1900 and now disappearing fast from the countryside surrounding Kashgar.This in no way belittles the book, written to persuade travellers todiscover the Kashgar region. If not, this book is the next best thing. We stay with earth, in Earth architecture, an overview of thestructures humans erected in the landscape, using this beautifullyversatile and resilient material. Written by an architect, WILLIAMMORGAN, the book surveys the entire world from the fifth millennium BCto the present day. Nine sections--mounds, shaped hills, earth retained,terraces, platforms, excavations, modified earth, water retained, andcities--provide the structure. Within each, 6 sites are chosen toillustrate diversity, with one example to represent notableachievements, past and present. For example, under 'shapedhills' there are summaries of the theatre of Epidaurus, Babeldaobon the island of Palau in Oceania, the Villa d'Este gardens inTivoli, the 1928 Duke University stadium in North Carolina North Carolina,state in the SE United States. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (E), South Carolina and Georgia (S), Tennessee (W), and Virginia (N).Facts and FiguresArea, 52,586 sq mi (136,198 sq km). Pop. , anunrealised project for a World War II memorial on Corregidor island inManila Bay, and the 1975 Concord Pavilion designed by Frank Gehry inCalifornia. Each section is introduced by a short commentary withfurther examples, such as, in this particular section, field systems inChina's Honan Honan:see Henan, China. province or Maiden Castle. Although one may quibble QUIBBLE. A slight difficulty raised without necessity or propriety; a cavil. 2. No justly eminent member of the bar will resort to a quibble in his argument. at some of the classification and terminology (e.g. walls and moatsrather than banks and ditches, and berm berm:see beach. used rather loosely), regret thebrevity of some descriptions and lack of references (there is abibliography at the end), note the conspicuous absence of Anatolian andNear-Eastern tell sites, this book is still a pleasure to leaf through,with excellent illustrations that include not only colour photographsbut architects' sketches and models. The general reader which thisbook targets will not fail to be impressed by the message: that earthstructures or structures altering the earth are beautifully suited totheir environment and meet all the requirements of sustainability. Andfor archaeologists, it is refreshing to see 'their' sitesshowcased alongside modern architectural and engineering feats. ... in south-eastern Asia WILLIAM MEACHAM. The archaeology of Hong Kong. xiv + 204 pages, 180illustrations. 2009. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press;978-962-209-924-1 hardback; 978-962-209-925-8 paperback. NANCY TINGLEY. Arts of ancient Viet Nam: from river plain to opensea. xii + 356 pages, over 100 colour illustrations. 2009. London: YaleUniversity Press; 978-0-300-14696-7 hardback 35 [pounds sterling]. The archaeology of Hong Kong, by WILLIAM MEACHAM, was firstpublished in 1980 and is now substantially revised to include theinformation that has dramatically increased with the growth of Hong Kongover the past 30 years. The book comes in two parts: first a chronicleof discoveries and archaeological practice from 1920 to 2008, and secondan overview of the occupation of the territory from c. 5000 BC to laterhistorical periods (chapters 11--26). There are many good features inthis book, such as numerous brief chapters which make it easy tonavigate and useful tables summarising the main Dynastic periods and asummary of occupation on p. 130. It is copiously illustrated: thephotographs give a real feel for the development of archaeology duringthe twentieth century but some images are of low quality (e.g. Figure1.2; some have also suffered in the colour printing (my copy containsmany images reproduced pink, e.g. Figure 8.3 on p. 44)). Though moderncontract archaeology is well established, the scale of investigations isoften quite small, and on larger sites it was rather surprising to seethe 'Wheeler box system' still applied on excavations datingto 2002 (at Sha Ha, Figure 10.9, p. 64). Meacham, who has been active inHong Kong's archaeology since 1970, is well placed to report on theterritory. He is less inclined to comment on the wider context ofsouth--eastern Asian archaeology, but there are exceptions, e.g. on pp.90--1 which has a brief discussion of connections with China in theNeolithic. Less reticence is shown where the author disagrees withpractice. On pp. 52--3, for example, we find his comments on aterritory--wide inventory of archaeological sites carried out in theearly 1980s: 'poorly designed from the outset, the survey did notfocus on priority development areas, had no topographic search strategy,made no serious attempt to assimilate the work of previous decades,failed to discover sites that would have been obvious ... had they beeninspected at all, tested enormous sites with tiny squares and reachedconclusions totally unsupported by the evidence'. This hints atturf wars between the local Archaeological Society (Meacham) and theauthorities. It is of course impossible to judge whether or where blameshould be apportioned, but the book, rough edges and all, certainlyconveys that its author is passionate about his region'sarchaeology. 'Eastern splendour, order and beauty' is apparent inabundance in Arts of ancient Viet Nam, a major exhibition organised bythe Asia Society which will be shown at the Museum of Fine Arts Museum of Fine Arts,Boston, chartered and incorporated (1870) after a decision by the Boston Athenaeum, Harvard, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to pool their collections of art objects and house them in adequate public galleries. inHouston (Texas) between September 2009 and January 2010 and then at theAsia Society Museum in New York New York, state, United StatesNew York,Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of between February and May 2010. Theexhibition, with hundreds of objects on loan from nine Vietnamesemuseums, is the result of 20 years' diplomacy and effort to'deepen the American people's understanding of the culture ofViet Nam' and to 'provide a bridge to mutual understandingamong the peoples of the world' (Dang dang?interj.Used to express dissatisfaction or annoyance.adv. & adj.Damn.tr.v. danged, dang��ing, dangsTo damn.n. Van Bai, General Director,Department of Cultural Heritage, Socialist Republic of Vietnam; p. x).The book which accompanies the exhibition is more than a beautifullypresented catalogue of objects (this fills c. 180 pages with full--pagecolour photographs facing each entry). The other 180 pages are devotedto a most informative introduction and illustrated overviews of each ofthe four topics chosen: in chronological order they are the earlycultures of the first millennium BC to the second century AD (north,centre and south), the Oc Eo (Fu Nan) culture of the Mekong delta(first--sixth centuries AD), the central coastal kingdom of Champa (c.fifth--eighteenth centuries AD), and trade and exchange channelledthrough the port of Hoi An on the central--southern coast of the SouthChina Sea (sixteenth--eighteenth centuries). As the catalogue itself isobject--based--it also has a final section on ceramics recovered fromfifteenth--eighteenth--century shipwrecks off the coast of VietNam--with scant information on context, the overviews are invaluable.Here archaeology, of settlements but mostly of burials, and historicdocuments are judiciously exploited (sadly there are no site plans,particularly missed in the Oc Eo chapter) to illustrate the changesexperienced by an area straddling eastern, southern and south--easternAsia, at various times in contact with Chinese, Indian, Buddhist, Khmer,Austronesian, Japanese, Dutch and many more cultural currents.Congratulations to NANCY TINGLEY and her contributors Andreas Reinecke,Pierre--Yves Manguin, Kerry Nguyen--Long and Nguyen Dinh--Chien forproducing such a work of reference and for bringing a fascinating regionto the attention of the wider public. ... in Africa BAOUBA OULD MOHAMED NAFFE, RAYMOND LANFRANCHI & NATHANSCHLANGER (ed.). L'archeologie preventive en Afrique: enjeux etperspectives (Acres du colloque de Nouakchott 1er--3 fevrier 2007). 254pages, 26 illustrations, 40 colour plates, 1 table. 2008.Saint--Maur--des--Fosses: Sepia; 978--2--84280145--5 paperback. FRED WENDORF. Desert days: my life as a field archaeologist, xxx +378 pages, 64 illustrations. 2008. Dallas (TX): Southern MethodistUniversity Press; 978--0--87074--524--9 hardback $29.95. When thinking of Africa and development, perhaps rescue archaeologyis not what springs to mind as a priority. Yet the diverse nations ofAfrica face very real challenges and are determined not to let theirarchaeology slip from view. This was the subject of a colloquium col��lo��qui��um?n. pl. col��lo��qui��ums or col��lo��qui��a1. An informal meeting for the exchange of views.2. An academic seminar on a broad field of study, usually led by a different lecturer at each meeting. atNouakchott in Mauritania convened by the Institut Mauritanien deRecherche re��cher��ch��?adj.1. Uncommon; rare.2. Exquisite; choice.3. Overrefined; forced.4. Pretentious; overblown. Scientifique together with the French Inrap (Institut nationalde recherches archeologiques preventives) in February 2007. Theproceedings, L'archeologie preventive en Afrique, containingcontributions by 28 authors from western and southern Africa, as well asfrom France and Belgium, tackle the problem head--on. Though there is aplethora of legislation dealing with archaeological heritage,archeologie preventive (Cultural Resource Management archaeology--but Ilook forward to the day when we can drop the confusing and cumbersomeCRM (Customer Relationship Management) An integrated information system that is used to plan, schedule and control the presales and postsales activities in an organization. label and talk about prescient pre��scient?adj.1. Of or relating to prescience.2. Possessing prescience.[French, from Old French, from Latin praesci archaeology), is under--resourced,leaving the dedicated practitioners to deal with development, includingmining and drilling, as well as the demands of tourism, and looting on avast scale. The papers from Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso,Niger, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, the Central African Republic Central African Republic,republic (2005 est. pop. 3,800,000), 240,534 sq mi (622,983 sq km), central Africa. The landlocked nation is bordered by Chad (N), Sudan (E), Congo (Kinshasa) and Congo (Brazzaville) (S), and Cameroon (W). and southernAfrica--edited by NAFFE, LANFRANCHI and SCHLANGER, are concerned withlegislation, past experiences and future prospects more than withoverviews of the regions' archaeology, though there is plenty toglean from the individual chapters and the 40 colour plates; there arealso some searching essays, for example by Alinah Segobye on identityand ethnicity in southern Africa (pp. 164--86). France's experienceof mitigation archaeology, through Inrap, is reviewed in three endchapters and some suggestions for adaptation to the entirely differentcircumstances of African nations are made. The Nouakchott meeting andthe proceedings--speedily produced and with all the essentialinformation in French, Arabic and English--ended with a resolution,'The Call of Nouakchott for preventive archaeology in Africa'which spells out the importance of Africa's archaeology forhumanity as a whole and which embeds the principle of 'polluterpays' in the funding and support for archaeological mitigation andsubsequent research outcome. Pro memoria, the 1992 European ValettaConvention is also included. May the call result in tangible benefits. Ilook forward to receiving a companion volume celebrating the fruits ofthis declaration in a few years' time. Desert days is FRED WENDORF's autobiography. It is the surveyof a very full life which started in Texas in 1924, and almost came to apremature end in battle in the Apennines in March 1945. Having survivedthis, Wendorf was determined to become an archaeologist and indeed hebecame a most distinguished academic and practitioner: his achievementsin the field of Palaeolithic studies in the Nile valley and easternSahara, undertaken together with his 'brother' in the fieldRomuald Schild, are recognised the world over. But this is but oneaspect of a career that straddles many fields, including, in the US,Southwestern pueblo archaeology, historical archaeology, salvage andcontract archaeology as well as underwater archaeology. Combined withthe many duties of a university teacher and head of department, museumdirector, project leader, fund--raiser and public figure, it is notsurprising that the narrative fills a compendious com��pen��di��ous?adj.Containing or stating briefly and concisely all the essentials; succinct.[Middle English, from Late Latin compendi volume. Such a drivenpersonality is obviously unlikely to have had a smooth ride at alltimes; Wendorf does not try to gloss over the personal difficulties heencountered, accepting of course that an autobiography will contain adegree of self--justification The character that emerges is someone whowould never be beaten, who, when needed, would teach himself how to wireelectrical circuits, fly planes or scuba--dive. This attitude is alsoevident in the author's willingness to innovate in the field,applying new methods (e.g. in palaeoecology paleoecology, palaeoecologythe branch of ecology that studies the relationship of ancient plants and animals to their environments. — paleoecologic, palaeoecologic, paleoecological, palaeoecological, adj. ) very early on. To immerseoneself in this memoir provides a good opportunity not only toappreciate the import of Wendorf's work in Egypt (summarised in 7points on p. 336) but also to follow trends in North American North Americannamed after North America.North American blastomycosissee North American blastomycosis.North American cattle ticksee boophilusannulatus. archaeology over the last six decades. ... in the Americas HESTER A. DAVIS Davis,city (1990 pop. 46,209), Yolo co., central Calif.; settled in the 1850s, inc. 1917. It is an education center with light industry; machinery, processed foods, and computer equipment are produced. The extensive Univ. with contributions by BRIAN FAGAN & ERICPOLINGYOUMA. Remembering Awatovi: the story of an archaeologicalexpedition in northern Arizona 1935--1939. xxiv+216 pages, 165illustrations. 2009. London: Harvard University Press The Harvard University Press is a publishing house, a division of Harvard University, that is highly respected in academic publishing. It was established on January 13, 1913. In 2005, it published 220 new titles. ;978--087365--912--3 hardback 25.95 [pounds sterling], 31.50 [euro] &$35. BRIAN FAGAN. 'Where we found a whale': a history of LakeClark National Park and Preserve Lake Clark National Park and Preserve,S Alaska. Located across Cook Inlet from Anchorage, the park (2,619,733 acres/1,060,621 hectares) and adjacent preserve (1,410,325 acres/570,982 hectares) feature the jagged peaks of the Chigmit Mts; lakes Clark, Fishtrap, and . 128 pages, over 100 b&w &colour illustrations. 2008. Anchorage (AK): United States Department ofthe Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is a Cabinet department of the United States government that manages and conserves most federally owned land. These responsibilities are different from other countries' Interior Departments or ministries, which tend to focus , National Park Service, Lake Clark National Park &Preserve; 978--0--9796432--4--8 paperback. A good time was had by all. That is mostly what Remembering Awatoviisabout, recounted in HESTER DAVIS's biography of excavationcampaigns carried out between 1935 and 1939 at a Southwestern pueblo andFranciscan mission site in northern Arizona. A visit in 1991 with someof the original participants (Hester's brother and sister) was thecatalyst for this trip down memory lane, resulting in a detailedchronicle of life on site, illustrated by numerous photographs andoriginal documents. The survey, excavation and field school led by J.O.Brew on the mesas in Hopi territory acquired a good reputation, helpedby excellent food, a well run camp site and lively participants. So farso good; a good team and fond memories are obviously powerful elementsin field work--prompting Brian Fagan, who introduces the book, torevisit some of his own African experiences--but what does the bookamount to? One chapter at the end ('A scientific legacy') doestry to set the campaigns in context and extract the main achievements;relations with the Hopi Indian community were constructive bur complex,playing a decisive role--under--reported here, even allowing for theclimate of the rime--in the abrupt decision not to renew the excavationpermit in 1939; and very occasionally we get a glimpse of methodologicalinnovations (e.g. early attempts at flotation and kite photography) butthis is meagre mea��geralso mea��gre ?adj.1. Deficient in quantity, fullness, or extent; scanty.2. Deficient in richness, fertility, or vigor; feeble: the meager soil of an eroded plain.3. compared to the amount of space devoted to logistics andlife on site. A scrapbook A Macintosh disk file that holds frequently used text and graphics objects, such as a company letterhead. Contrast with "clipboard," which is reserved memory that holds data only for the current session. : enjoyable but rather inconsequential, to mymind not the 'truly groundbreaking piece of archaeologicalhistory' greeted by Fagan (p. xi). There is little surviving archaeology in Lake Clark National Parkand Preserve, on the Cook Inlet in south--western Alaska, but that hasnot stopped BRIAN FAGAN from producing a highly informative account andevocation of life in this harsh environment from perhaps 15 000 BP(certainly 11 700 BC) to the period of European contact in 1778. Toflesh out his narrative he uses evidence from elsewhere in coastal andisland Alaska as well as accounts of the Aleutiq and Dena'inatribal groups documented in the region. The whole is splendidlyillustrated with photographs and reproductions of nineteenth--centuryarchival material. The archaeology in Lake Clark Park is confined to tworock shelters with red painted rock panels, depicting boats, people,birds, whales and a raven's claw. The pictograms appear small(unfortunately scales are missing from all but one image, and the textomits dimensions); Fagan links them to shamanistic practices, which inAlaska are connected with hunting whales. The title of the book,'Where we found a whale" itself refers to a local place namefor the area where one of the rock art sites is located (p. 111). Amongthe devices used to illustrate long past life are short evocativevignettes about events such as a caribou Caribou, town, United StatesCaribou(kâr`ĭb), town (1990 pop. 9,415), Aroostook co., NE Maine, on the Aroostook River; inc. 1859. hunt 9000 years ago, or thisscene: 'In a rock shelter on a dark night, the flames cast longshadows on the walls. Wood smoke swirls slightly in the soft nightbreeze, wreathing freshly painted human figures and animals on the wallin flickers and shadows. Only a few people are around the fire,listening to the shaman's chant. He beats a drum as he recitesage--old tales of humans and whales, of people and animals. Thelisteners feel the power, painted figures on the rock face seem to comealive and move with the excitement and danger of the hunt. They springto their feet, leap and dance, arms and legs outstretched, as the shamanenters a trance and invokes supernatural powers ...' (pp. 66--7). ... and in fiction MARGARET ELPHINSTONE. The Gathering Night. x + 374 pages. 2009.Edinburgh: Canongate; 9781--84767--288--9 paperback 12.99 [poundssterling]. If Brian Fagan went quite far in recreating the lives ofprehistoric hunter--gatherer--foragers of the far North, Scottishnovelist MARGARET ELPHINSTONE went the whole way with The GatheringNight, a novel set in the Highlands and Islands The Highlands and Islands of Scotland are broadly the Scottish Highlands plus Orkney, Shetland and the Hebrides.The Highlands and Islands are sometimes defined as the area to which the Crofters' Act of 1886 applied. of Scotland in theMesolithic. I confess that when I received the book, my heart sank: theblurb blurb?n.A brief publicity notice, as on a book jacket.[Coined by Gelett Burgess (1866-1951), American humorist.]blurb v. promised 'a wilderness adventure from the dawn of time',a 'genre--busting novel' and made ecologically pious noises.But I looked at the afterword, and there I discovered that the authorhad taken herself through a rigorous Mesolithic crash course, whichincluded learning survival skills, sailing, making a coracle, andexcavation on Orkney. She read widely about the Mesolithic and tookadvice from Caroline Wickham Jones, Steven Mithen, Clive Gamble andKaren Hardy. This looked promising and I got started. It took a longtime to lose my prejudices, suspend disbelief and get used to thedevices--the story unfolds as the protagonists, who have Basque names,sit around campfires on eight separate nights over a period of severalyears, each taking turns to advance the tale. The names felt odd, but ofcourse the people have to have names and you could not have called themMorag, Duncan or Fiona. I had to stop myself getting irritated by theuse of capital letters for People and Animals and Places, but understoodthe need to give particular significance to certain locations andcharacters, especially as the relationship between the natural world andthe humans who inhabit it is such a vital element of the novel.Eventually I was won over: the story holds the attention; you end upcaring for the protagonists, the characters, speaking in a ratherundifferentiated way to start with, develop individualities as the storyunfolds. Margaret Elphinstone does a lot better than James FenimoreCooper, so lambasted by Mark Twain for crimes against fiction. There isplenty to keep the pace: a tsunami, hunt scenes, rape and murder, familyfeuds, shamans, but also calmer passages which bring to life thepracticalities of securing food, warmth and shelter. As for what it waslike 8000 years ago, we are all largely guessing; however, the detailgleaned from archaeological research is skilfully woven into the fabricof the novel. And where we do not know or speculate--e.g. the familygroups here are envisaged as matrilocal mat��ri��lo��cal?adj. AnthropologyOf or relating to residence with a wife's kin group or clan.mat and mainlyendogamous--Elphinstone's view is as valid as anyone's.Altogether a well crafted novel which rewards perseverance. Ah! how vast the world is by the light of a lamp!, bur that'squite enough Baudelaire for one sitting. Curiosity let this chronicleroam widely in subject matter and genre. Along the way we encounteredexamples of scholarly writing, reportage, biographies, evocation andfiction. The excellent illustrations in many of the books made the tripall the more enjoyable. There is no special linking factor, exceptperhaps an overarching one: human experience and ingenuity in its myriadmanifestations. And that is what Antiquity is about.