TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 503 vances. This leads him into the erroneous statement that “improve ments [in the West] in gun-making between the Napoleonic and Crimean Wars had been only marginal” (p. 298). Perhaps a second edition, which will surely be merited, will remove such blemishes and allow some new English language work (such as recent writing by Uchida Hoshimi, Nakaoka Tetsuro, Yuzawa Takeshi, Abo Tetsuo, and Kuwahara Tetsuya) to be included. David J. Jeremy Dr.Jeremy is a professor in the Faculty of Management and Business at the Man chester Metropolitan University. He has written on technology transfer, business and religion, entrepreneurs, and company culture and is interested in business com parisons between Lancashire and Osaka in the 20th century. The Sounds and Colors ofPower: The Sacred Metallurgical Technology of Ancient West Mexico. By Dorothy Hosier. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1994. Pp. x+310; illustrations, tables, appendix, notes, bibli ography, index. $50.00 (hardcover). Metal objects, workers, and technologies have played significant roles in the sociopolitical, ideological, and economic dynamics of societies for millennia. Dorothy Hosier’s investigation of the use and manufacture of copper-based materials in West Mexico between 600-700 a.d. and the Spanish invasion demonstrates the potential contributions of archaeology to the exploration of these relation ships. Hosier’s principal foci are the introduction of metals and metal lurgy to West Mexico via long distance trade networks, their integra tion into West Mexican economic, ideological, and political systems over time, and the dispersion of metal objects and metallurgical knowledge within Central America. She also weaves another impor tant thread into her chronological history—the relationship be tween culturally influenced choice and the constraints of function upon the design, manufacture, and use of objects. She examines, in particular, the choices made by ancient West Mexicans to utilize and augment the expressive properties of metals—sound and color— rather than their utilitarian properties such as hardness and dura bility. Hosier’s methodology is significant in several ways. First, she uses various approaches to her study material, including archival records, chemical analyses, engineering studies of form and function, metal lography, archeology, and geology. Second, she clearly demonstrates the value of analyzing large samples of artifacts to support her argu ments. Finally, she supplies many tables of chemical data that pro vide a firm foundation for future research. This study has convinced me that, over time, metals and some metal production were introduced to West Mexico by sea bound 504 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE trade networks from southern regions, including southern Ecuador and the central Andes, and several parts of Peru, and that they had a profound impact on West Mexican and nearby societies. I am not yet persuaded, however, that the production technologies imported to ancient West Mexico were adopted and expanded upon as Hosier proposes. Hosier spends considerable effort examining the ore geology of the region and speculating about the possible ore sources and smelting technologies available to and used by ancient metal work ers. She supports her conjectures about local mining and smelting activitywith chemical data from artifacts (mostly ofunspecified prov enance) and with early Spanish documents, since she has little arche ological evidence. Although the records are useful, one must be very careful to evaluate the metallurgical background and social biases of these observers. If physical evidence exists, why has so little been noted by modern mining personnel? Also, how much of the evi dence observed in documents and by recent miners was initiated by Spanish rather than indigenous needs? Are archeological surveys planned for those areas? Good evidence of smelting, casting, and smithing is also missing. Hosier summarizes the relevant archaeological evidence from 600 a.d. to 1500 a.d. as “four small ingots from the Postclassic occupation at Lamanai in Belize . . . , several pieces of smelted material. . . and an ingot... from the Huastec site ofVista Hermosa, and small pieces of slag from Amapa in Nayarit. . . and from several other sites” (p. 276, n. 1). She also mentions copper artifacts interpreted as metal working tools, a possible crucible fragment, and ceramic tubes that may have been blowpipes, but provides no supporting descriptions or photographs. Why has so little production material, such...