This edited book is the third in the Oxbow books series ‘Studying Scientific Archaeology’. Molluscs in archaeology consists of 23 chapters that provide an introduction to the role of mollusc remains on archaeological sites, with a strong focus on Britain, along with case studies from around the world. The book is grouped into five sections: 1) palaeo-environmental reconstructions by mollusc habitats; 2) palaeo-environmental reconstructions by regions; 3) marine food and diet; 4) artefacts; and 5) scientific approaches.
These very general groups are also the great achievement of the book, as it is the first to cover all of the major types of information that can be gathered from archaeological mollusc remains. It is commendable that the editor, Michael Allen, has successfully brought together scholars from a variety of backgrounds with an understanding of how to communicate complex ideas to newcomers to the field. This book can serve as the starting point for students and recreational archaeologists alike, and its breadth and scope reflect the work of a large number of people and research associations working behind the scenes in this area of archaeology.
Even though Allen and Payne state in their Introduction that the book was “not conceived, or written, as a text book” (p. 2), large parts of it have a textbook character and provide appropriately basic instructions and introductions that are simple enough to be understood with no prior knowledge. Most notably, these are the introductory Chapters 1, 2 and 3, but also Chapters 6, 12, 13, 16, 18 and 20, as well as all chapters of section 5. Allen and Payne make use of simple yet precise terminology and connect their chapters to a wide range of additional literature that covers areas important to archaeological research, providing potential next steps for the interested reader.
The shared simplicity of these chapters could conceivably also have been used as a way to structure the book to provide a more concise introduction into mollusc research. The current arrangement of chapters is based on the different kinds of information acquired from shells and the questions related to them. This allows for the integration of case studies that present the results of methods previously introduced by other chapters. There is, however, little integration between introductory chapters and the case studies, leaving the reader wanting more clarity and creating a strong contrast between the chapters in terms of accessibility and usefulness. A more integrated approach could also have allowed overview chapters (such as Chapter 15) to be more than simply a showcase for pictures of the author's research. Overall, the contrast in accessibility and quality of individual chapters interrupts the flow of the book and eventually lessens the joy of reading it.
The book has a large amount of illustrations, which are generally of high quality and are harmoniously integrated into the text. Most of the data is presented well, providing useful examples of the successful presentation of often highly complex results. This only occasionally gets interrupted by pixelated and lacklustre or confusing graphs that could have been picked up on during the editing process.
Overall, Molluscs in archaeology formidably succeeds in its stated purpose of seeking to provide an introduction to the entirety of mollusc research from an archaeological perspective. The high quality of the more elementary chapters is clearly a result of considered writing and long experience in the field, and these represent a great success for the authors and editors involved. They contrast with less accessible parts of the book, leaving the reader confused and disappointed in some chapters. It would have been better, perhaps, to include only the overview chapters, leaving out the others in their entirety.
