Book Reviews

Abstract

W. Balée (1998) Pp. xvi+429. Columbia University Press, New York. ISBN 0–231–10632–7. Price $65 (hardback). The precursor of this book was a miniconference on historical ecology in June 1994 at Tulane University, where 13 of the 17 chapters were presented. A further four chapters were added at the compilation stage. The collection is one of a series on historical ecology, the objective of which is to examine the connections between people and the landscape. In Britain there is not much of a tradition of historical ecology as defined in the American tradition, i.e. with the emphasis on landscape transformation, and interaction, and the creation of landscape from wildscape. This distinguishes it from environmental history, which emphasizes the environment and its changes, and is perhaps somewhat more deterministic than historical ecology, with emphasizes the significance of historical events, i.e. culture rather than nature, in defining people–environmental relationships. The concepts and jargon are explored in the preface, introduction and the first two chapters. The emphasis is on social science but ecologists should persist, despite the jargon, because recognition of the history/ecology relationship is often neglected in attempting to explain or analyse environmental change past and present. There are two questions: ‘How does the environment change?’ and ‘Why do people change their environment?’ They are different but related questions that need to be addressed by ecologists, historians, historical geographers and palaeoecologists. Perhaps these groups could assist and educate each other by constraining the use of jargon and defining it clearly and simply where it is essential. There is much to be gained through co-operation and understanding whilst estrangement breeds suspicion and impoverishes all concerned. The remaining four chapters of Part I address other theoretical aspects of historical ecology. The importance of the ‘domestication’ of fire by the ancestors of modern humans is examined. Palaeoecologists and ecologists will recognize this as highly significant in terms of both natural and cultural environmental history and in terms of modern ecosystem dynamics. Indigenous knowledge and its importance in landscapes in Amazonia, with wider implications, is also examined; it has been and continues to be an important factor in environmental management and conservation in many societies. Epidemic disease is the subject of another chapter; the emphasis is on parasites, their human hosts and their environments but some discussion of human influence on plant and animal diseases would have been welcome here. Both have caused humans to alter their relationship with the environment, usually via agriculture, in a variety of ways. The influence of humans on soils, an often forgotten component of historical ecology (and environmental history), is an additional topic in part I. The emphasis is on soil formation and transformation in the humid tropics, notably in Central America in relation to pre-Columbian activity. Part 2 of Advances in Historical Ecology comprises 11 chapters, each of which considers landscape change in a specific region. Two studies focus on historical ecology in North America. The first examines the escape of 150 nutria (South American rodents) in the coastal zone of Louisiana in 1941; the subsequent population explosion to 20×106 by 1959 caused considerable ecological damage, including the decline of indigenous muskrat populations. (Once again, animals bear the brunt of human myopia in relation to the introduction of alien species.) The second considers archaeology–ethnology relationships and the cultural ecology of the Great Basin. There are seven chapters examining various aspects of historical ecology in Latin America. Case studies encompass various spatial and temporal situations in Brazil, Paraguay, Andean interfluvial regions and Mexico. Two further chapters address, respectively, the dynamics and reasons for cattle population fluctuations in Rajasthan, India, between 1951 and 1991, and the historical ecology of Thailand. The inclusion of the former appears anomalous but it raises questions that are cardinal to cultural ecology, i.e. human causes of landscape alteration. I found this book quite fascinating; it will appeal to advanced undergraduates and the research communities of geography, ecology, anthropology and history. It also reflects the strength and excitement of research areas at the margins of mainstream subject areas. However, a great disservice has been perpetrated by the choice of cover: a grey treetrunk on bottle green paper. It is not my usual practice to refer to such trivialities as book covers in book reviews, but in this case it is ‘dull as ditchwater’; thankfully the contents do not follow suit! A.M. Mannion