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1. South African Archaeological Society
Review
Author(s): E. M. Shaw
Review by: E. M. Shaw
Source: The South African Archaeological Bulletin, Vol. 42, No. 145 (Jun., 1987), p. 83
Published by: South African Archaeological Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3887793
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2. The South African Archaeological Bulletin 83
minimum numbers of individuals and make 'sophisticated'
estimates of the kilojoule values of so many cubic metres of
midden but can this in any way be regarded as being
meaningful if we do not have tight control over the time
dimension? They say that 'one swallow does not make a
summer' but how often does our archaeological reasoning
border on the reverse of this very proposition? And, we
might well reflect, if we are unable to gain more precise
control over the time dimension, are we actually asking the
sorts of questions that we can reasonably expect to answer
given this fundamental limitation? Perhaps, because of this,
patterns of seasonality (where they existed) are generally
beyond the reach of the archaeologist. A final overarching
point that, for this reviewer, emerges from Sealy's study is
that even though some of our models may be intellectually
attractive and stimulating, their application may produce
reconstructions that need bear no resemblance whatever to
reality if we do not pay closer attention to the limitations of
our data bases.
There is no doubt that Sealy's book represents an
important advance. She has opened up a whole range of new
challenges for our research on the Later Stone Age, not only
in the south-western Cape but also much further afield. She
is to be congratulated on a fine achievement.
References
Binford, L. R. 1983. In pursuit of the past. London: Thames
and Hudson.
Sampson, C. G. 1974. The Stone Age archaeology of
southern Africa. New York: Academic Press.
A. J. B. HUMPHREYS
Department of Anthropology
University of the Western Cape
SIMMONS, D. R. 1985. Whakairo: Maori tribal art.
Auckland: Oxford University Press. 188 pp, approx.
300 illus. (some colour).
This is a study and description of the art styles of Maori
wood-carving. It is based on examples from museum and
private collections and others in the field. While the
beautiful glossy cover gives it the appearance of a coffee-
table book it is in fact a well-illustrated work of reference,
published with the cooperation and, with regard to some
parts, at the request of the Maori Ahupiri Council of Elders.
David Simmonds was Ethnologist and Assistant Director of
the Auckland Institute and Museum. Through his knowledge
of Maori culture and language and his friendships among the
Maori people, he is particularly qualified to have written this
work.
There are introductory chapters on the Maori heritage in
New Zealand, the interpretation of the stylized and
complicated designs of Maori wood-carving and on tribal art-
styles. The chapter on interpretation gives the background of
Maori thought and philosophy. The intricate and meticulous
carvings, many of which were made with stone tools,
consist of a combination of symbols based partly on the
genealogy of the figure or group concerned and partly on
myths. Only through knowledge of this background can the
carvings be understood and appreciated. For those who do
understand, each carving imparts a great deal of information.
These chapters are followed by chapters on the main
symbols of status and prestige. In the eighteenth century the
major symbol was the war canoe, the carvings of which
generally told of the creation of the world and man's place in
it. This gave way to the store-house, often decorated with
figures of the gods. In modem times the meeting-house has
become the status symbol. All its parts have a symbolic
meaning and as a whole it represents the common ancestor
of the group "The meeting-house is a genealogical history
book of the tribe."
The final chapters illustrate and discuss, often in some
detail, the styles of carving of the various tribal groups,
according to their geographical distribution on North and
South Islands.
The work is completed with a glossary of Maori words
and phrases, a list of the sources and drawings and a
catalogue of the examples illustrated, a map, a list of
references and an index. As this book must have the standing
of a reference work, a fuller glossary and, above all, a better
map, in which the areas in which the related groups are
situated could have been more clearly defined, would have
been appreciated, especially by non-New Zealand readers.
E. M. SHAW
Clo South African Musewn
Cape Town
WILLCOX, A. R. 1984. The rock art of Africa. London:
Macmillan. 303 pp. 26 maps, 195 illus. (67 colour).
After the first discoveries of Stone Age art in France and
Spain during the late nineteenth century, it has been a source
of fascination and excitement to art historians, archaeolo-
gists and indeed to everyone concerned with man's early
aesthetic and spiritual development
A number of important regional studies have appeared,
but because of the vastness of both the area and the time-
scale involved, there has been no inclusive survey of rock art
in Africa before Alex Willcox's book.
Two previous works with similar titles, by other authors,
were disappointingly limited and superficial. The book under
review is the first comprehensive and intensive study of its
subject, and has been hailed as such in overseas reviews.
The book resolves itself into three parts. The first
provides the history of the subject worldwide, the aims and
problems of the study of African rock art, the terminology,
the physical and cultural background, and the peopling of the
art regions. The second comprises studies of the art regions
and sub-regions from the Atlas Mountains to the Cape. The
third (and perhaps the most valuable) is the summing up of
the evidence and conclusions emerging from the wide study,
under the headings The Handprints, The Overall Picture,
Problems and Possibilities, and The Raisons d'Etre. A
comprehensive bibliography and full index enhance the
book's value as a reference work.
Willcox proposes a model for the diffusion of the practice
of rock art through Africa which, as he says, might not
stand up to further dating and analysis. In seeking evidence
of motivation he notes many cases of ceremonies at rock art
South African Archaeological Bulletin 42: 83. 1987
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