Interpretations of Native North American Life: Material Contributions to Ethnohistory. Michael S. Nassaney and Eric S. Johnson, editors. 2000. University Press of Florida, Gainesville. 464 pp. $55.00 (cloth), ISBN 0-8130-1783-1.

Abstract

Bringing together the perspectives of archaeologists, ethnohistorians, and art historians, these tightly integrated case studies highlight the significance of material objects to the study and interpretation of Native North American culture, history, and identity. authors contend that archaeological remains and ethnographic specimens can, and indeed should, be analyzed in tandem with other souces of historical data (e.g., written texts, oral accounts) to expand our understanding of Native culture change and continuity from the pre-Columbian era through the present.The essays in this collection begin with concrete, tangible expressions of Native American culture which, in most cases, were made and used to meet basic human needs or to participate in social and religious life. Material objects invite interdis-ciplinary study because they are a rich source of information about how human societies and social identities were created, reproduced, and transformed. While this volume serves to complement and enhance our historical and cultural understanding of native peoples throughout North America, the theoretical approaches and research methodologies showcased here have implications for studies anywhere people left material traces of their activities, identities, and lives.ContentsPart I. Ethnogenesis: Creation, Maintenance, and Transformation of Ethnic Identity1. Ritual and Material Culture as Keys to Cultural Continuity: Native American Interaction with Europeans in Eastern Arkansas, 1541-1682, by Kathleen H. Cande2. Identity of Stadacona and Hochelaga: Comprehension and Conflict, by James F. Pendergast3. Echoing the Past: Reconciling Ethnohistorical and Archaeological Views of Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) Ethnogenesis, by John P. Staeck4. Politics of Pottery: Material Culture and Political Process among Algonquians of 17th-Century Southern New England, by Eric S. Johnson5. Emblems of Ethnicity: Ribbonwork Garments from the Great Lakes Region, by Susan M. Neill Part II. Change and Continuity in Daily Life6. FranCois' House, a Significant Pedlars' Post on the Saskatchewan, by Alice Beck Kehoe7. Improving Our Understanding of Native American Acculturation through the Archaeological Record: An Example from the Mono Basin of Eastern California, by Brooke S. Arkush8. Cache Pits: Ethnohistory, Archaeology, and the Continuity of Tradition, by Sean B. Dunham9. Maple Sugaring in Prehistory: Tapping the Sources, by Carol I. Mason and Margaret B. Holman10. Archaeology of a Contact-Period Plateau Salishan Village at Thompson's River Post, Kamloops, British Columbia, by Catherine C. Carlson 11. Obtaining Information via Defective Documents: A Search for the Mandan in George Catlin's Paintings, by Mark S. Parker MillerPart III. Ritual, Iconography, and Ideology12. Images of Women in Native American Iconography, by Larissa A. Thomas 13. Tlingit Human Masks as Documents of Culture Change and Continuity, by Barbara Brotherton 14. One Island, Two Places: Archaeology, Memory, and Meaning in a Rhode Island Town, by Paul A. Robinson 15. Archaeology and Oral Tradition in Tandem: Interpreting Native American Ritual, Ideology, and Gender Relations in Contact-Period Southeastern New England, by Michael S. Nassaney This title is published in conjunction with the Society for Historical ArchaeologyMichael S. Nassaney, associate professor of anthropology at Western Michigan University, is the editor or coeditor of four books, including The Archaeological Northeast.Eric S. Johnson, a preservation planner at the Massachusetts Historical Commission, has written numerous articles and monographs on New England archaeology and ethnohistory.