Palaeoeconomy enjoyed a considerable vogue as a research topic in the 1970s and 1980s, before being partially eclipsed by a growing enthusiasm for post-processual perspectives that downplayed the importance of such fundamental considerations in understanding the human past. That has begun to change in the last decade, as new analytical techniques have opened an expanded field of enquiry into how ancient societies obtained and prepared their food. The aphorism “we are what we eat”—now two centuries old—seems more relevant than ever to archaeological enquiry. This timely book reinforces that perspective and restores its centrality in current research.
The volume consists of three parts. The first (Chapters 1 and 2) reviews the history of the development of economic prehistory as a subject of research, with the Cambridge School as its focus. There follows a brief discussion of the post-processual questioning of the value of this approach, and a rebuttal of their criticisms. The second part, from Chapters 3–6, forms the core of the book. It reviews many of the methods of scientific analysis now in vogue that elucidate human use of plants and animals, and their consumption as food. The emphasis is on societies that engaged in agriculture, from the Neolithic into historic times. The last part (Chapters 7 and 8) presents two substantial case studies that illuminate the application of the latest scientific methods to substantive problems: the nature of early farming in Central Europe, and the domestication of the horse followed by the development of pastoralism in Central Asia. The book concludes (Chapter 9) with a review and prospects for the future.
The opening chapters set the scene succinctly. There is a brief review of the development of processual archaeology and the place of palaeoeconomy research within it. The authors highlight the role of the British Academy major research project on ‘The Early History of Agriculture’ for its theoretical and methodological contributions, and also its wider impact as its associates conducted research across the world. Others of a post-processual persuasion have since criticised research in palaeoeconomy for being overly deterministic. The authors discuss several theoretical models that have received such scrutiny—site catchment analysis, optimal foraging theory, among others—concluding that much depends on how these models are used. They argue that an integrated approach combining economic analysis with social and cultural perspectives affords the most effective means of understanding past human behaviour.
The section on scientific analyses highlights many of the recent advances that have increased the power of these techniques when applied to archaeological materials. The methods discussed include stable isotopes; residue chemistry; ancient genetics of people, plants and animals; and analysis of phytoliths and starch grains, particularly in the tropics. The science behind each technique is carefully explained and its application illustrated with numerous examples. Difficulties in applying these methods are given appropriate attention, especially in the case of ancient DNA. Thanks to these new techniques it is now possible to investigate many aspects of past economy and diet that were hitherto beyond reach. This part of the book is a worthy update to the standard text Science in Archaeology (Brothwell & Higgs Reference Brothwell and Higgs1969) that served a previous generation so well.
The next two chapters provide ample evidence of the transformation in our knowledge that is taking place as these techniques are applied rigorously to address a well-thought-out set of research questions. New insights are presented on the economy and antecedents of Linear Pottery communities, and the nature of settlement and economy in the Alpine foreland. The chapter on horse domestication illustrates what can be gained when several analytical techniques are applied to address a significant research problem. The result is a remarkably comprehensive view of how these societies functioned.
Throughout, the authors take the whole world as their subject of study. This international perspective is clear in the bibliography, with references in French, German, Russian and other languages. They stress the importance of an integrated, holistic approach that combines bioarchaeology and social and cultural aspects of prehistoric communities. The authors take a positive, balanced view of the present state of research and its promise, and the numerous examples they give illustrate this well. They demonstrate how effective these new techniques of analysis can be, astonishingly so in several instances—as in the discussion of the evidence for horse domestication or the use of the landscape around Lake Constance by Neolithic farming communities. It is due to the growing strength of these techniques that the economies of prehistoric societies have once more become a major subject of research. We can recover much more information now to resolve old questions, such as how agricultural lifeways spread from their centres of origin, and to address new problems effectively. Perhaps more could have been said on the contribution that archaeology can make to current debates on climate change, migration, disease epidemics and more besides, but the book does stress the dynamism and teamwork that drives the most effective archaeological research today.
This volume will be essential reading for those who teach classes in method and theory and their students, and also for others who wish to learn more about how contemporary archaeologists go about their work. It demonstrates clearly how scientific archaeology can contribute to a richer understanding of the human past, and through that, our present condition.
