Review by Choice Review
Sprigg's book is an impressive synthesis of the archaeology of a major portion of the ethnological region traditionally categorized as Melanesia. Its coverage is distinctive in that it includes only island Melanesia, i.e., those Pacific archipelagoes such as the Bismarck Archipelago, the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu. The Fiji islands on the border with western Polynesia are not included. The organization of the book is chronological, beginning with settlement 40,000 to 20,000 years ago and ending with a brief consideration of the colonial past, the present, and the question of an island Melanesian future. The classic topics of archaeology from this region--the development of Austronesian and non-Austronesian languages, migration and settlement patterns, evolution of forms of social organization, and voyaging--are fully covered and brought up to date with the latest dating and survey techniques. The frame for the discussion from 6,000 to 2,000 years ago is the "Lapita Cultural Complex," which will be of special interest to Polynesianists as well. No attempt is made to consider reconstructions from the point of view of contemporary ethnography, which has had an efflorescence in the past 20 years. Although this will make the work less useful to social and cultural anthropologists, there is now no better source on the classic questions of anthropology in this region. Upper-division undergraduates and above. G. E. Marcus; Rice University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
