Learning from Things: Method and Theory of Material Culture Studies ed. by W. David Kingery

Abstract

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 317 Most noteworthy in the New World series is Anna Roosevelt’s “Early Pottery in the Amazon.” The pottery represents the earliest so far discovered in the Americas, dating to about 7,500 b.c.—“more than 1,500years earlier than elsewhere in the hemisphere” (p. 115). Roosevelt notes that the early radiocarbon dates for these Amazo­ nian sites were not taken seriously by earlier investigators and, while available in the archives of the Smithsonian Institution (p. 116), re­ mained hidden and unpublished until now. She does not, however, claim Amazonia as the “hearth of pottery in the New World” (p. 129), recognizing from her experience with these hidden data that archaeologists in the past have too often let their theoretical models determine and override empirical research strategies and results. The final three chapters are not as conclusive as one would expect. I take particular exception to Hayden’s preoccupation with status and prestige as forces for technological innovation. While elites are often the first to acquire exotic, expensive, and new kinds of objects in order to display their wealth and status, they often do not invent these new objects but simply adopt them. The invention of those objects and technologies originates, instead, with individuals experi­ menting on the basis of knowledge and experience of other and earlier craft technologies, and very often within a ritualistic con­ text—which apparently was the case for ceramics at Dolni Vestonice in the Upper Palaeolithic. Joan M. Vastokas Dr. Vastokas is professor of anthropology at Trent University, Ontario, Canada. Her research and writing focus on material culture, art, architecture, and technology in various societies. Learning from Things: Method and Theory of Material Culture Studies. Edited by W. David Kingery. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Insti­ tution Press, 1996. Pp. x+262; illustrations, maps, figures, notes. $39.00 (cloth). This collection of fifteen essays is based on a Smithsonian confer­ ence on material culture. W. David Kingery’s editor’s preface cites the conference theme: “the conviction that the things humankind makes and uses at any particular time and place are probably the truest representation we have ofvalues and meaning within a society. The study of things, material culture, is thus capable of piercing in­ terdisciplinary boundaries and bringing forward meaningful discus­ sions and interactions among scholars in many disparate fields” (p. ix). This anthology is to be “an introduction to the methods and theories common to material cultural studies in a variety of specialist fields’ ’ (p. ix). Kingery claims that Historyfrom Things: Essays on Mate­ rial Culture, which he coedited with Steven Lubar (Washington, D.C.: 318 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Smithsonian Institution, Press, 1993), is a predecessor volume, but he gives neither date nor title for the conference. Nor do we learn how this volume reflects the total conference agenda. Kingery asserts that “No one denies the importance of things, but learning from them requires rather more attention than reading texts. The grammar of things is related to, but more complex and difficult to decipher than, the grammar of words” (p. 1). These es­ says help practitioners of “a relatively new and distinct discipline,” the study of material culture, learn to work together and appreciate the contributions ofmany disciplines to material culture (p. 1). After one introductory chapter, the book is divided into four parts: “Para­ digms for Material Culture Studies,” “Material Culture in the His­ tory of Technology,” “Formation Processes,” and “Materials Sci­ ence in Material Culture Studies.” The strengths of this volume are the varied backgrounds of the contributors, the strong international perspective these experts bring to their work, and the section on materials science. The ten U.S. and three European authors include anthropologists (some­ times also materials science experts), archaeologists, historians, and an ethnologist. Jules D. Prown distinguished between “hard” and “soft” material culturists, between those who focus on “the reality of the object it­ self” and “the artifact as part of a language through which culture speaks its mind” (pp. 21-22). The essays can be similarly divided. Representing the “soft” approach, JosephJ. Corn and Ruth Oldenziel provide useful historiographical essays focused on articles in Technology and Culture and on the influence...