Method and Theory in Historical Archeology by Stanley South; Research Strategies in Historical Archeology by Stanley South Review by:

Charles E. Cleland The American Historical Review, Vol. 84, No. 3 (Jun., 1979), pp. 711-712 Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1855409 . Accessed: 19/07/2013 17:35
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Oxford University Press and American Historical Association are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The American Historical Review.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 143.107.252.62 on Fri, 19 Jul 2013 17:35:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

General
resistfoolish economies, whichhas not been done here, that omit bibliographies and biographical information about thequalifications ofeditors and authorswithinthe end pages. Publishersshould notbe permitted, without to assumereadprotest, ers havethekindsofinformation thatonlyinsiders possess.

711

that projects examplesis takenfrom his numerous of scientific theory:only trace the development oral sources capture the dead ends, misunderand the setting accidentaldiscoveries, standings, in laborhistory, it is Similarly, of"acute rivalries." that get beyondthe heroicsto the oral interviews confused and differreality "the morehumdrum, F. P. KING within the rankand file." ent standpoints oral Institution For many, the newness of tape-recorded Smithsonian intotramakesit awkwardto incorporate history but oral history per se is as ditionalmethodology, The Voiceof thePast: Oral History. old as history Thompsontakesthereaderon PAUL THOMPSON. itself. of oral the history New York: OxfordUniversity Press. 1978. Pp. xi, a quotation-filled tripthrough century 257. Cloth $10.95, paper$5.50. evidence, callingon Herodotusin thefifth thence through Lucian, Bede, Voltaire, B.C., Out of Englandcomesthefirst book to combinea Marx, Engels,HenryMayhew,Macaulay, H. H. and on intothetwentieth JulesMichelet, theory of oral history, the technicalprocessesin- Bancroft, Beatrice Webb. to Thompson's favorite, fits century volved,and a road map ofwhereoral evidence histointo the landscape of Western historiography. (BeatriceWebb also starswithpresent-day on interAlivewithconcrete examples,thissmallvolumeis riansin adviceand counselin thechapter techniques.)Perhapsthereis a social meswho viewing ideal forhistorians (and foundation officers) value oforal history sage in thefactthatone who admitsto a "socialist are grappling withtherelative this forall histoas a primary source, forteachersin search of a perspective"(p. x) has written the conservative, and provoke the orthodox, basic textthatwill bothinform lively rians,particularly in the elitist-Thompson's adjectivesforAmerican classroom discussion, and for practitioners on oral is thatthisexposition the irony otherdisciplines thatuse oral sources, particularly historians; anthropologists and sociologists.Ten pages of history, the mostcompleteto date, may well hasin a sublimely modelquestionsin theappendixwillbe invaluable ten the day when historiography, as concrete fornoviceinterviewers and reactionary suggestions swing,will go back to the old method the past. as a check list forveterans;the fullness and the of relying on oral sourcesto reconstruct annotationsin the fifteen pages of bibliography WILLA BAUM alone are worththeprice of the book. AMELIA FRY Paul Thompson,a sociologist at Essex UniverRegional Oral HistoryOffice sity,is an articulatespokesmanforthe view that The Bancroft Library "a history is requiredwhichleads to action:notto of California, University confirm, but to change the world." With thatas Berkeley his premise,he places oral historyin a central ofmostexisting records is to position:"The nature can now also be called from the underclasses, the unprivileged, and the defeated.... In so doing, oral history forthe social has radical implications as a whole." messageof history should Whetherthe readersagree that history be aimed at social action or not, they will find case fororal hisThompsonmakinga convincing demotic toryin elitistas well as the predictable, as well as lives of opsubjects: political history pressedminorities; businessand industry as well as labor; military and diplomatic as well as urban and family. For theorthodox historian, Thompson details example afterexample in whichoral hishas shownthatexisting records tory documentary are bothinsufficient and misleading. Reminding us thatreality is complexand manysided, he also illustrates thata seriesofinterviews witha wide selection ofparticipants is particularly suitedto capturethisuntidiness ofthepast. One of
reflect the standpoint of authority.... Witnesses

New York: Acacheology. (Studiesin Archeology.) demic Press. I977. Pp. xxiii, 345. $I6.50.

STANLEY

SOUTH.

in HistoricalArMethodand Theory

in HistoriResearch Strategies STANLEY SOUTH, editor. New York: cal Archeology. (Studiesin Archeology.) Academic Press. 1977. Pp. xxvii, 345. $19.50.

The last severaldecades have seen the emergence on a newfield thatfocuses ofhistorical archeology, ofsitesthatpostdatetheexpansion the archeology centhe fourteenth of European populationsafter tury.Since thesesiteswereoccupiedby peoples of from pretheyare distinguished literate tradition, sites. Because of the time literateor prehistoric archeology uses inperiod it deals with,historical been and data that have traditionally formation or anthrohistory assignedto the realmsofeither courtStanleySouth does notdwellon thestormy

in Historical Archeology, pology. In Methodand Theory

This content downloaded from 143.107.252.62 on Fri, 19 Jul 2013 17:35:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

7I2

Reviews ofBooks

He " and so on ship and marriageoftheseparentdisciplines. beled "chicken chart," "pig chart, on how mighthave been more aptly included underthe does, however,presentsome definitions the offspring shouldbe reared. commonlabel "corn chart." difficulties of historiThese criticisms aside, Methodand Theory One of the developmental in Hiscal archeology is that its mixedheritagerequires torical Archeology is a landmark book. The inthat practitioners be skilledin the use of history, troductory chaptershould be requiredreadingfor in thetheory rootedfirmly as it is in the humanities, as well as thoseinterested ofhistorical archeola social science.South's bookpres- ogy and its relationship anthropology, to history and anthropolents a strongand persuasiveargumentthat the ogy. The well-illustrated chaptersthatfollow sysdefineand testthe proposedCarolina methodology ofhistorical archeology mustreston tematically thescientific and analysisofarcheological and Frontier ofrefuse recovery Patterns disposal.The chapmaterialin order to elucidate the preserved pat- terexploring analyticaltechniquesexaminesboth patternsand material inventory terningof human behavior responsiblefor and kitchenartifact retrievable from the archeological record.As illus- patternsand includesan insightful summarizing tration,South definesseveral patternsof refuse essay,"The Flax Hackle Example." The following disposaltypicalofthecolonialperiodon the East- chaptersdiscuss the importance of quantification as well as methodological ern seaboard. Testing reveals that,forexample, in patternrecognition in thisarea during considerations theBritish colonialswho settled in collecting empiricaldata in the exhibiteda highlysimilar field.A finalchapteron the archeologist's the eighteenth century responor sibilitiesin culturalresourcemanagement of locality,site function, is well patternirrespective class ofoccupants.This pattern, called the"Caro- done but belongsin anotherbook. lina Pattern,"may be contrasted withotherdisResearchStrategiesin Historical Archeology, edited to French-and-Indian- by StanleySouth,is dedicatedto "those who reliattributable posal patterns War sitesbelongingto the "FrontierPattern"of giously believe that the archeologicalrecord reveals farmorethan merely what happened,when disposal. " Indeed,thetwelve It is conceivablethat historians studying these and to whom. studiescollected periods may findthese newlydefined patterns of in this book illustrate that thispossibility has aldubious significance in ordering and interpreting ready become a reality. As perhaps the mostexthe tierof historic fact.South's conclusions, how- citingexample,we can turnto the finestudyby ever,go well beyondthe importance ofthesepat- Kenneth E. Lewis "Sampling the Archeological ternsperse. This book, as well as a companion Frontier: RegionalModels and Component Analofhistoric anthology sitestudies, Research Strategies ysis." By placing his examination of the archeolin HistoricalArcheology, edited by South, reveal that ogy of the site of Camden on the eighteenth-cenmanyaspects ofhuman behaviorin the past may turyCarolina frontier in a theoretical he context, neverappear in the literate record.Such behavior examinesthe conceptoffrontiers, thusrevealing a was theresult ofunarticulated and/orevenuncon- specific processofsociocultural adaptationby colscious adherenceto culturally determined values onizingsocietiesto frontier situations.This perIfthis spectivemovesus a long way fromthe repetitive and beliefs intothings and events. translated propositionis correct,and these books present idiosyncratical of particularfronunderstanding convincingevidence that it is, then historians tiersto understanding the frontier process. should note that it calls into questiontwo widely These two books are significant. They not only held assumptions.These are: (i) the literate rec- illustrate thebestofinterdisciplinary but research, ordreposited in booksand documents contains the also showthatit producessubstantive results. Perbest evidenceforunderstanding the past; and (2) haps more importantly, they illustratethat the the surviving artifactualrecord of the past is, whole ofhistory is morethanthe sum ofits docuof dubious use for historiansin their mentsand artifacts. therefore, ofhistorical pursuit understanding. Indeed,South CHARLES E. CLELAND and his colleagues demonstrate that artifactual MichlganStateUniversity evidencecan reveal significant information conand the historic cerningboth the factsof history processand thatthisinformation is often notavail- C. R. BOXER. TheChurch Militant andIberian Expanable in the literate record. sion, I440-1770. (Johns HopkinsSymposiain ComHistoriansshould be warned that these books parative History,number io.) Baltimore:Johns are weightedwiththe details of archeology. An- HopkinsUniversity Press. 1978. Pp. Xi, 148. $9.50. will be disappointedat the severe thropologists offour lectures delivered regional bias of this book. And readers of any This slimbookconsists at will probablyagree that the JohnsHopkins University academic preference and publishedwithaddevices" and la- ditional notes. The subject is huge, requiringa diagramsmeantto be "heuristic

This content downloaded from 143.107.252.62 on Fri, 19 Jul 2013 17:35:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions