Indians of the Greater Southeast: Historical Archaeology and Ethnohistory.

Edited by Bonnie G. McEwan. (Gainesville and other cities: University Press of Florida, c. 2000. Pp. xvi, 336. $55.00, ISBN 0-8130-1778-5.)

This book of essays is intended to highlight the work of historical archaeologists of the southeastern United States. Increasingly, these scholars are utilizing documentary sources to supplement their archaeological findings and produce ethnohistorical accounts of the people whose material remains they study. The goal of the volume is to "develop social histories of southeastern Indian cultures following European contact and to hypothesize about the relationship between native life and the material world during that time" (p. xiv). Editor Bonnie G. McEwan believes that "[t]aken as a whole, the essays included herein provide the opportunity to examine cross-cultural diversity within a confined (albeit extensive) geographic region, and evaluate the contact experience as a series of case studies" (p. xv).

The goal and scope of the book is admirable. Included are essays that cover native peoples from modern Florida to Texas. Three essays examining the responses by chiefdoms in Florida to early European contact open the book: Jerald T. Milanich on the Timucua, Rebecca Saunders on the Guale, and Bonnie G. McEwan on the Apalachee Indians. The focus then shifts to a slightly later period and the impact of long-term contact with Europeans. Jay K. Johnson covers the Chickasaw Indians, Ann M. Early discusses the Caddos, Karl G. Lorenz considers the Natchez, and George Sabo III examines the Quapaw. The final four essays return to larger and better-known tribes, with Gerald F. Schroedl on the Cherokees, Gregory A. Waselkov and Marvin T. Smith writing on the Upper Creeks, John E. Worth on the Lower Creeks, and Brent R. Weisman on the Seminoles.

While all the essays offer valuable insights to the interested reader, the quality and intended audience of each varies, as does the skill with which the essayists utilize and interpret historical documents. Many historians and general readers will be perplexed by the array of unfamiliar terms used throughout the book. Archaeology both demands and creates a jargon all its own. The experts here demonstrate an easy familiarity with their special language, but many fail to define for the reader what these terms mean. For example, countless ceramic types are mentioned throughout the work, yet almost none are adequately described for nonspecialists. And when they are described, the explanation itself is sometimes filled with unfamiliar terminology.

The fact that archaeologists are firmly tied to specific geographical sites perhaps explains the predominance of maps as opposed to other illustrations in the book. In total, there are twenty-eight maps. All are valuable and of very high quality, and this reviewer is gratified to see them. Nine tables are included in the book, some more meaningful than others. Four artist depictions of dwellings are included in one essay. Inexplicably, only one essay includes illustrations (two) of ceramic types or other material artifacts. If general readers, including historians, are to understand the significance of ceramic typologies and their importance to understanding cultural chronologies, then archaeologists will have to do better at explaining their unique terminology and illustrating their diverse and exotic sources, including pot shards.

Most historians will find that the citation style employed by archaeologists--parenthetical in-text references that identify the author and date of publication--fails to serve the needs of a readable essay based on historical documents. Moreover, this reviewer finds it completely unsatisfactory to see complex interpretations about important historical events documented by a single reference to a huge volume of published documents (p. 214). Archaeologists must, I believe, adopt a citation form that accurately and adequately references their sources and interpretations and abandon the parenthetical in-text reference format in their nontechnical publications.

These quibbles aside, the archaeologists/ethnohistorians represented here have much to offer, and historians will do well to welcome what they present. As one of the essayists correctly tells us, "Archaeological research holds considerable promise as a pivotal source of direct information" about people and events when adequate historical documentation is absent (p. 266). Among these important things are changes in pottery styles and house types that reflect cultural change and even the political organization of native peoples. Given that the majority of archaeological reports are either unpublished or difficult to locate, efforts such as the one offered here are a significant step toward bringing many vital archaeological discoveries and theories within historians' reach. The result of such an effort will ultimately be better history, as archaeologists and historians join forces to refine our collective knowledge about the past.

KATHRYN E. HOLLAND BRAUND
Dadeville, Alabama