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tion by section and state by state. He rejects or drastically modifies many famil- iar conclusions, for example: the notion that Jackson won elections because he was popular, that the Democratic party was more popular than the Whig, that voters turned out in increasing numbers year by year and thus promoted the growth of democracy. He questions whether the tran- sition from caucus to convention for nomi- nating presidential candidates implies "democratization" of parties, and he sug- gests that elections were cultural expres- sions akin to the religious festivals of Europe. According to McCormick, American par- ties were, above all, electoral machines engaged in nominating and electing candi- dates, rather than bodies of men united for promoting the national interest on some particular principle. The net effect of successive contests among various can- didates for the presidency was a two party system balanced and competitive in every region by 1840. From 1840 to 1852 the nation had for the only time in its history two parties that were national in scope. The national character, however, was "arti- ficial" in nature; that is, it existed because political leaders devised ways to have spirited contests without taking a stand on sectional issues. When such a stand was taken in the 1850's, parties became sec- tional. The author feels that the political organ- izations in the second system "were in- capable of performing the one function most commonly associated with the idea of party. They could not govern." That failure he explains on the basis of two related obstacles. The framers of both federal and state constitutions consciously sought to make it extremely difficult for any section, class, numerical majority, or party to control the government; and the American people held an ambivalent atti- tude toward parties, accepting them as necessary features of a political system but remaining suspicious of them as agencies of power. He thus concludes that "It would be fallacious to assume that the only func- tion of parties was that of providing a gov- ernment or an opposition to the govern- ment; American parties have flourished |
because they have had other functions" (p. 356). Whether McCormick's conclusions are accepted or not, they deserve the widest attention. His book is probably the most important comprehensive study of the sub- ject since de Tocqueville's, more than a century ago. HARRY R. STEVENS Ohio University YANKEE REBEL: THE CIVIL WAR JOURNAL OF EDMUND DeWITT PATTERSON. Edited with an intro- duction by John G. Barrett. Biographical essay by Edmund Brooks Patterson. (Chapel Hill: University of North Caro- lina Press, 1966. xix+207p. $6.00.) Few, if any, personal experience ac- counts by Civil War soldiers have the ingredients of this one, written by an Ohio-born teenager turned Confederate. Although an intense, uncritical partisan, he wrote articulately and vividly about the excitement and horror of battle, the morale and misery of camp and prison stockade, and the personalities of comrades and superiors, always with a mature philosophy and a refreshing sense of humor. Motherless at ten, Patterson left his Lorain county home at seventeen to escape a restrictive family situation. He went to Alabama, first to sell magazines, then to teach school and clerk in a store. He made himself accepted in this unfamiliar milieu by unreserved assent to the Southern mys- tique and so far overcame initial local suspicions of his Northern background as to be totally received by the community. His comrades named him corporal when he enlisted in May 1861 in Company D, Ninth Alabama and elected him lieutenant a year later while he was recovering from severe wounds suffered at Frayser's Farm. Captured at Gettysburg, he spent most of the rest of the war as a prisoner on John- son's Island, off Sandusky, near his child- hood home. His father, three brothers and two sisters visited him several times, always to nag him to swear allegiance and be freed, but never to bring him food parcels when in- adequate rations reduced him to eating |
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rat stew. His burning resentment of their attitude did not cool until 1890, when he was a judge and bank president in Savan- nah, Tennessee. Patterson assembled the journal after the war, and, one suspects, expanded some of the battle scenes with more information than was available at the time of writing to a company officer in a restricted area. This does not modify the journal's intrinsic human interest appeal, nor its contribution to the literature of the period. John G. Barrett's somewhat Confederate- flavored annotations clarify vague refer- ences, identify locations and individuals and supply backgrounds. Some are marred by typographical errors. On page 4, foot- note 3, C. L. Evans is given for Clement Anselm Evans; on page 74, footnote 15 has Q. M. Mitchell for Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel; and on page 146, footnote 30 shows Edmund Kirby Smith as Kirly Smith. CHARLES M. CUMMINGS Columbus, Ohio QUEST FOR EMPIRE: THE POLITI- CAL KINGDOM OF GOD AND THE COUNCIL OF FIFTY IN MORMON HISTORY. By Klaus J. Hansen. (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1967. 237p.; essay on sources, ap- pendix, and index. $6.50.) Books about Mormons and Mormon- ism are frequently marred by their vitriolic subjectivity. Critical books generally are characterized by unfriendly and unreliable distortions. Apologia and works written by members of the church are frequently sus- pect. Issues of secrecy and persecution hang like a cloud over the pages of Mor- mon history. The problem of polygamy complicates the story further. Klaus Hansen, by examining the role of the Council of Fifty in Mormon history, has sought to provide a restrained, tem- perate, objective account of some of the political implications in Mormonism. The Council of Fifty was a secret organization created by Joseph Smith in 1844 to serve as a political authority. It exercised con- siderable control over Mormon destiny. The Council ordained Smith and Brigham Young as kings, participated in the deci- |
sion to move the group to the Great Salt Lake Valley, performed as a civil govern- ment in the Utah territory, controlled the elections and the courts in Salt Lake City, and sought to reduce or circumvent the control of the United States government over the Mormons. Throughout the nine- teenth century it was one of the most influential elements in Mormon affairs. The author relates the basic views of nineteenth century Mormonism to the millennial tradition. He analyzes the inter- action of Mormonism with what he calls "the American dream." It is his belief that Joseph Smith "produced America's reli- gious declaration of independence" (p. 26) and that the Mormon version of the American dream could come only "through the destruction of the United States in its present form" (p. 44). Mormons sought to reconcile the building of a political- religious kingdom with the American polit- ical tradition and failed. Hansen keeps his focus on the elusive and secretive activities of the Council of Fifty as he traces the vicissitudes of the Mormons from their temporary haven in Kirtland, Ohio, to Nauvoo, to the Great Salt Lake Valley. He provides correctives to several other interpretations of Mor- mon history. He is especially critical of the apologist historians who, he believes, have ignored the separatist tendencies among the Mormon leaders. He adequately documents his thesis that the central thrust of Mormonism was the establishment of a political kingdom of God and that political control did not cease with the 1890 Mani- festo. Hansen is intrigued by the ironies and paradoxes of history. He suggests that through Joseph Smith's tragic death he may have become the savior of his people. He asserts that the persecution of Mor- mons, for whatever reason, helped strengthen the sect. He concludes that without the activity of the Council of Fifty, doomed though it was to failure, Mormonism might not have secured the prestige and status it now enjoys. Specialists on Mormonism will welcome this addition to the literature. The general reader will need a prior acquaintance with Mormon events. Much of the basic bio- |
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graphical details on the major figures in the story are omitted. Unfortunately, the narrative jumps back and forth chrono- logically and the style is pedestrian. How- ever, there is an adequate essay on sources and a list of the members of the Council of Fifty at different times from 1844 to 1880. CHARLES C. COLE, JR. Lafayette College NORTH INTO FREEDOM: THE AU- TOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN MALVIN, FREE NEGRO, 1795-1880. Edited by Allan Peskin. (Cleveland: The Press of Western Reserve University, 1966. vii+87p.; editor's introduction. $4.00.) Although many former slaves fur- nished personal memoirs to a reading public eager to learn about slavery and those who had escaped from it, very few free Negroes wrote autobiographies. Be- cause of the scarcity of such writings, the reprinting of John Malvin's autobiography is an especially welcome addition to a growing number of available source mater- ials on the Negro's contribution to Ameri- can history. John Malvin was born in Virginia, his father a slave and his mother free. At the age of seven he was bound as an ap- prentice to his father's owner. In 1827 Malvin left Virginia for Ohio, settling first in Cincinnati where he soon learned that Black Laws and widespread preju- dice closed all doors against the colored people "excepting the jails and peniten- tiaries...." Within a few years Malvin married, moved first to Louisville and then to Cleveland, where he made his permanent home. There was less racial discrimination in Cleveland than in Cin- cinnati, but even in its relatively freer environment Malvin found it impossible to practice his trade as a carpenter. In the autobiography Malvin included comments on the Negro communities of Cincinnati and Cleveland, details of sev- eral incidents involving fugitive slaves, and a record of his own efforts to oppose various forms of discrimination. Unfor- tunately, the book is very thin (only fifty-eight pages of text) and one finds in it little of the deep anguish which intelli- gent and sensitive persons like John Mal- |
vin suffered as a result of prejudice on the part of the majority. Professor Peskin's editing is expert. Besides lengthy and useful footnotes to the text, he contributed a twenty-two page introduction which briefly summarizes the significant aspects of Negro history in Ohio during Malvin's lifetime. LARRY GARA Wilmington College CIVIL WAR CHRONICLE. Edited by Lieutenant Colonel Keeler, U. S. Air Force. (Denver: Smith-Brooks Printing Company, 1967. 126p.; 404 illustrations. Cloth, $13.50. Paper, $10.50.) This volume describes in modern newspaper style and format the events of the Civil War. Each "issue" of two large pages relates the happenings of a month or two. The author assiduously visited libraries, museums, battlefields, and photographic archives in assembling a narrative of 125,000 words and 404 il- lustrations in an effort to make the reader feel as if he were there. The contents originally appeared as a weekly column in Air Force base newspapers and were entitled "100 Years Ago This Week." This book lacks footnotes, bibliography, and acknowledgements for the sources of pictures, but the style is sprightly and the story of the war personalized. Historians will find it a "fun book" to leaf through. The author believes rightly that it will ap- peal to the tourist at Little Round Top, the eighth grader making an oral report on Jeb Stuart, or to the "buff" walking through a plowed field near Shiloh Church looking for minie balls. Let us hope that Lieutenant Colonel Keeler will find time from his duties in Vietnam to write an- other book. HARLOD BELL HANCOCK Otterbein College THE AGE OF CIVIL WAR AND RE- CONSTRUCTION, 1830-1900: A BOOK OF INTERPRETATIVE ESSAYS. Ed- ited by Charles Crowe. (Homewood, Illi- nois: Dorsey Press, 1966. x+479p.; index of authors. $6.60.) Since so many academic historians have been engaged for so long a time in editing books of readings and of analysis |
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of problems along many lines, it comes as a surprise to realize that the publisher's claim for this volume is true--this is "the only book of readings for the entire Civil War and Reconstruction period." Among the thirty-eight authors whose work Pro- fessor Crowe includes are Leon Litwack, John Hope Franklin, James W. Silver, Howard Zinn, Kenneth M. Stampp, James M. McPherson, Staughton Lynd, Ralph Korngold, and LaWanda and John Cox-- each of whom is associated in one way or another with new and morally intense in- terpretations of either the South, slavery, abolitionism, or the Civil War and Re- construction. This collection then may be taken as representative of much of the best and most commanding recent scholarship in its field. The materials are of interest and value for the general reader and for both graduate and undergraduate students. "Suggested Readings" at the end of each chapter are guides to further exploration. The important and qualifying parts of the book's title are the words, "The Age of...." That is, the readings do not focus on the Civil War itself or (for the most part) on its immediate causes and effects. Instead, the selections are concerned with some of the great issues that were related to the war. In particular, the subject of race pervades the entire volume, a factor determining both the selective and organ- izing principles of the editor. Although I would be embarrassed to dispute Profes- sor Crowe's editorial wisdom, it is obvious that some readers will not be satisfied with his principle of selection and that some will regret his scanting of the war years themselves. It is no doubt true, however, that no other theme and emphasis would so well have served the needs of our time or so readily have commanded our at- tention. Professor Crowe's preface and intro- ductory essays preceding each section are wide-ranging, imaginative, and sug- gestive of the intellectual and moral com- mitments of the editor. In every instance they are oriented toward present concerns. The editor observes that a "changed climate of opinion, along with the new re- search and ideas of the past twenty years, has challenged almost every major point in the traditional" interpretation of the |
South, slavery, abolitionism, and the Civil War and Reconstruction. He has sought in this volume to make available "the best scholarship of present times in a way that will reveal the most probable conclusions as well as the plastic context from which they emerge." Thus his introductions, in- cluding his own preference in interpreta- tion, not only survey the newer interpre- tations of slavery and other subjects but explain why these have emerged to sup- plant earlier views. "The scholar who as- sumes a democracy of authorities and sources," writes Crowe, "does not provide a valid scholarly technique." It is the editor's task to make choices; to declare, for instance, that Stampp is a better guide to the study of slavery than is Ulrich B. Phillips. With this justification, all essays expressing earlier--and presumably more faulty--views on slavery and other topics are excluded. The earliest piece included is Arthur Schlesinger's oft-reprinted Par- tisan Review essay
of 1948 on the inevita- bility of the Civil War. Most date from the 1960's. This is a valuable compilation, and it will find many uses, as both its editor and publisher of course foresaw. But it has the additional, sobering merit of reminding us that historians--unlike poets--have no continuing city; our work at best is for a time. MERTON L. DILLON The Ohio State University JAMES K. POLK: CONTINENTALIST, 1843-1846, Volume II. By Charles Sellers. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1966. x+531p.; bibliography, illustra- tions and index. $12.50.) BENJAMIN LUNDY AND THE STRUGGLE FOR NEGRO FREE- DOM. By Merton L. Dillon. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1966. viii+285p.; bibliography and index. $6.75.) GEORGE WASHINGTON JULIAN: RADICAL REPUBLICAN, A STUDY IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY POLI- TICS AND REFORM. By Patrick W. Riddleberger. Indiana Historical Collec- tions, Volume XLV. (Indianapolis: Indi- ana Historical Bureau, 1966. xiii+344p.; bibliographical essay, illustrations, and index. $5.00.) |
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There is something curiously old-fash- ioned about these three studies, partly, perhaps, because they overlap in time and substance, yet they do not concern one another, even incidentally. Mr. Sellers offers the second volume of his study of President Polk. His book has the virtue of intensive research and it deals necessarily with broad matters of public policy. How- ever, his judgment that Polk "emerges as one of the most remarkable of the men who have occupied the White House" re- mains at the end as at the beginning a per- sonal view difficult to transmit to others. The author's cast of politicians is large, and they are sometimes capable of pictur- esque, if not inspired, speech. Despite their personal appeal, "Young Hickory" and his associates are intriguers rather than statesmen. Frank Blair noted that "[t]he organ of acquisitiveness is very strongly developed in our people [,] especially the Democracy." Memorable words, but not the kind we ordinarily perpetuate in marble. Polk was an expansionist whose central position in events brought on the Mexican War which resulted in bringing into the Union great territories; this fact continues to assure him of an historical position not possible for Benjamin Lundy, who must ever have a still, small voice but one which some of our posterity may hear with re- lief, after the hollow thunder of the politi- cos. Lundy followed an inner light to be- come the most significant of the pioneer abolitionists. Working in Ohio in the late 1810's and early 1820's, he formulated an antislavery program which took him through the upper South and ultimately to Texas, Canada, Haiti, and elsewhere in search of solutions to the slavery prob- lem. Mr. Dillon strives to overcome the meagerness of Lundy's personal papers. He spells out Lundy's services as an early organizer of antislavery societies in Ohio and beyond, as a journalist who used bold words in rejecting slavery rationales, and as a planner in the Negro's behalf. And he recounts his good and not fully appre- ciated services in fighting against the en- trance of Texas into the Union in the 1830's. Even so, the author's researches lack richness and add little to the old |
story which gave this leader an honorable place in abolitionist annals. But it may be that this fact alone can help balance more recent essays which distort reality in what they imagine to be the interests of our own current "Negro revolution." Cer- tainly, we need fresh and vigorous formu- lations, but they can never be serviceable if they discount objective fact. Lundy was relatively moderate; Garrison was a moral firebrand. Those who preen themselves on being "new abolitionists" today can profit from comparing their overall programs with those of both Lundy and Garrison. We are also engaged in a "new Recon- struction," and it, too, can gain by being compared with the old one. Another old- fashioned history offers a study of a Free Soiler who, like many Free Soilers, sounded like an abolitionist, but differed significantly from them. For one thing, this political figure, George W. Julian, was much more concerned with the details of Indiana and national politics than were the more authentic abolitionists. This should have given him breadth, but he took his experiences too personally to achieve the impact of his later father-in- law, Joshua R. Giddings, let alone a John Quincy Adams. Julian's career was fore- told in the 1844 campaign, when he de- cided to work for a Whig victory. Instead of being sympathetic to the Liberty party, he was embittered by its role, which he felt gave the election to Polk. As Mr. Rid- dleberger notes, Julian's Whiggery was not unrelated to personal ambition: the Indiana politician showed "a genuine awareness of the moral aspects of national issues together with a capacity for ration- alization that would reappear again and again throughout his political career." In some ways, Riddleberger's study is closer in kind to that of Sellers than to Dillon's. Julian helped organize the slen- der Free Soil party in 1852 and was its vice presidential candidate. Subsequently, he struggled politically in Indiana among moderates, who ultimately dominated the Republican party. All this makes for dis- cussion of political figures, controversies, and declarations somewhat reminiscent of Democratic and Whig politics in the Sel- lers volume. Julian talks as an antislavery |
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partisan, but casts his lot with Know- Nothings and Free Soilers who are not vitally concerned with, or sympathetic to, Negroes and abolitionists. He loses stature as Republicanism gains. Here is Blair again, the self-same Jacksonian and a slaveholder, presiding over the Pittsburgh convention which sets the Republican party under way. Julian thought Blair "strangely misconceived the spirit and purpose of the convention." But it was Julian who deluded himself that abolition- ism--or, at least, moral abolitionism-was on the march. Riddleberger is pedestrian in tracing his subject's progress from quasi-evangeli- cal reformer to outright politician. I find a clue in his perception (p. 138) that Julian's concern with local politics during the secession crisis "was somewhat paro- chial." He was, indeed, parochial when large questions were at issue. It would take a view of him which saw him as a typical American to give him dimensions. Nor is Julian's Reconstructionism as a member of Congress viewed in a light which reveals its basic elements. Instead, the discussion serves our own estimates of modern "Reconstruction." Julian lived on till 1899 and wrote much, but he must interest the future, if at all, as a human being rather than as a social force. The meaning or understanding of abo- lition and Reconstruction is still to be developed in terms which do not merely take advantage of recent excitements. The above authors and others also can and do contribute materials which aid us in that understanding. LOUIS FILLER Antioch College STUDIES IN OHIO ARCHAEOLOGY. Edited by Olaf H. Prufer and Douglas H. McKenzie. (Cleveland: The Press of Western Reserve University, 1967. xv+ 368p.; maps, illustrations, and index. $11.00.) This book is a collection of nine sep- arate archaeological reports, seven exca- vations, and two surveys. Because each report has its own authors and subject matter, it is reviewed separately. |
"The Chesser Cave" by Olaf Prufer is a study of a Late Woodland occupation as seen in a series of three rockshelters in Athens County. The report is concerned primarily with the results of a series of test pits in the largest of these shelters, which contained four feet of midden. Pru- fer covers in considerable detail the de- scription of the pottery and lithic (stone) tools which were recovered from the ex- cavation. Although few bone or shell arti- facts were found, they are also adequately described. Sections relating to the mol- lusca, faunal, and vegetal remains recov- ered from the site provide important ad- ditions to this report. A carbon-14 date of 1070 A.D. ± 140 years (OWU-180) was obtained from the second level. Considering the pottery and stone tools recovered, this date appears to be a valid one, although possibly on the late side. Prufer concludes that Chesser Cave was occupied sporadically during the winter season by small groups, prob- ably engaged primarily in hunting ac- tivities. These people had a culture which fits into the Scioto Tradition of the Late Woodland Period. He also suggests that since this group is diverse enough from others of the same tradition, it should be set apart as a separate phase, known as the Chesser Phase. Its dating may be con- temporaneous or slightly later than the Peters Phase of the Scioto Tradition. Prufer indicates that the pottery and lithic artifacts were subjected to distri- butional studies to determine if any stra- tigraphy existed in the deposits of the cave. His conclusions were that there were none; that the deposit was a homogeneous one, although laid down over a period of time in a series of short occupations by the same group. The data, however, which he presents in the section on lithic arti- facts refutes this conclusion. The site was excavated in arbitrary six-inch levels be- cause there was no natural stratigraphy. If one eliminates the talus slope, because of the greater chance of mixing, he can show broad changes during the period of occupancy of the shelter in the styles of projectile points used. Because of the small sample size in the lower levels, the levels must be combined in the following |
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fashion: level 1 and the surface material, levels 2 and 3, levels 4 and 5, and levels 6 and 7. The lowest level is still too small for reliability. Chesser Other Points Levels Triangular Notched Points Total 1 31-72.2% 4-9.3% 8-18.6% 43 2 & 3 27-59.9% 9-20.0% 9-20.0% 45 4 & 5 4-25.0% 8-50.0% 4-25.0% 16 6 & 7 2-40.0% 3-60.0% 5 The Chesser Notched points, which are the earliest major form, diminish in im- portance, being replaced by several forms of triangular points. Other point types occur in insufficient quantities for valid analysis. Undoubtedly there was consid- erable vertical mixing of material on the site but the trends show up and should not be ignored. One hopes that if Prufer does not publish stratigraphic studies, he at least will continue to provide the data so that others can do this work. Taken as a whole, this report is a valuable study which will provide comparative material for years to come. The second report, by Douglas H. Mc- Kenzie, deals with "The Graham Village Site," an early Fort Ancient site in Hock- ing County. Although the village was poor- ly preserved on account of years of cultiva- tion, McKenzie's report greatly increases our knowledge about this period in Ohio pre-history. For example, this is the first time we have accurate measurements of the large storage/refuse pits commonly found on early Fort Ancient sites. The author concludes that the site was a small village primarily dependent on agriculture and supplemented by hunting. It, because of location and perhaps other factors, did not share fully in the range of culture found on related ones. Under the old Midwestern Taxonomic System it would belong to the Baum Focus of the Fort Ancient Aspect. Today, we are inclined to think in historical terms of the Fort An- cient Aspect as a continuation of the Scioto Tradition under the influence of the Mis- sissippian Tradition. The old Scioto Tradi- tion was changing as a result of outside in- fluences, but a new tradition had not yet fully developed before it was truncated by European intrusion. Thus, to speak of a Fort Ancient Tradition is to speak of this period of flux in the Ohio Valley. The |
Graham Village Site can be assigned near the beginning of this Fort Ancient Tra- dition, as indicated by the carbon-14 date of 1180 A.D. ?? 145 years (OWU-183). Be- cause most of the reports on the Baum Phase were written as long ago as the early 1900's, McKenzie's paper, short though it is, greatly increases our knowl- edge of this important period. Orrin Shane's study of "The Leimbach Site" in Lorain County documents an Early Woodland village which had re- mained relatively undisturbed until the time of excavation. The site was hard to reach and the Indians had further isolated it by constructing earthworks across the easiest approach. Shane's excavation was limited to test pitting and, consequently, few features were uncovered, although the investigation included a portion of a struc- ture. Shane goes to great lengths in at- tempting to tie the Leimbach Site to south- ern Adena affiliations but, fortunately, does not commit himself in this direction. The presence of thick cordmarked pottery similar to Marion Thick and Fayette Thick, coupled with a carbon-14 date of 520 B.C. ± 310 years (OWU-185), indi- cates that this site is early. Although tempting, it would be a mistake to try to relate this site to the Scioto Tradition other than to note that it is contemporan- eous with early Adena and, therefore, could share some traits. Particularly to be avoided are comparisons between the Leimbach Site of northern Ohio and the C. & O. Mounds of eastern Kentucky which probably date around 700 A.D. and should be considered late Adena. Mr. Shane also reports on "The Mixter Site" in Erie County. Before he examined the site, the bulk of the material had been recovered by the late Arthur George Smith of the Firelands Museum, Norwalk, Ohio. The occupation of the site ranged from late Palaeo-Indian (6000-5000 B.C.) through Late Woodland and may have been aban- doned as late as 1550 A.D. The author has done an admirable job of relating surface collections and the excavations of Arthur Smith to the prehistory of the Great Lakes Region. "The Morrison Village Site" by Olaf Prufer and Ellen Andors provides an in- teresting attempt at historical identifica- tion of an aboriginal site. The location con- |
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sisted of eighteen pits and several burials, some of which were removed by erosion before Prufer's excavation. The authors succeed in establishing a late date for the pits of 1744 A.D., based on an average of five carbon-14 dates derived from charred vegetal matter in the bottom of the pits. They also present convincing evidence that the Morrison Village Site is the same loca- tion as Hurricane Tom's Town, identified by Christopher Gist in 1751. This town was reported to be inhabited by Delawares. What the authors fail to do is to establish a relationship between the dated pits and the midden found in and around them. Three times they note an intrusive Hope- wellian blade fragment in one pit, yet they do not consider that some grit-tem- pered sherds, which date from the same period as the blade, or a number of other sherds which clearly belong to the Scioto Tradition, were introduced into the pits by being mixed with the dirt which was used to fill them. There is even reasonable doubt whether the few Fort Ancient sherds, which would be closer to the same age as the pits, are inclusive or intrusive. The date of establishment for Hurricane Tom's Town was probably not much in advance of Gist's reference and, although it continued to be copied on maps for at least twenty years, there is no other refer- ence made to the site, despite the fact that other travelers were penetrating into the area. This omission indicates that it was short lived and transitory. The importance of this point cannot be overstressed. There is no evidence to associate the Delaware in any way with the Fort Ancient. Between 1640 and 1725, the only historic inhabitants of the area were Shawnee. By 1750 rem- nants of Delaware, Erie, and Miami were seeking refuge among the Shawnee after the Iroquois wars. Hurricane Tom's Town belongs to this period. It was a recent in- cursion into the area and had no cultural ties with the Fort Ancient. The occurrence of early pottery in pits of a late date can be explained the same way that the Hope- well blade fragment was explained. The authors have failed as scholars by ignoring evidence which does not support their posi- tion. "The Honey Run Site" by Oriol Pi- Sunyer, John Blank, and Robert Williams is a short description of the artifacts found |
on a late Palaeo-Indian site. This is one of a number of small Palaeo-Indian sites along the Walhonding River and its tribu- taries in Coshocton County and is dated by the authors between 7000 and 5000 B.C. The site was a workshop, and the major contribution of the report is a dis- cussion of the manufacturing techniques of the lanceolate forms found there and the sources of the raw materials from which the points were made. Because of Claude Lovejoy's special in- terest, the description of the "Caldwell's Little Bluff" excavation centers on the skeletal remains recovered. This is not to be construed as a criticism because the artifacts were in short supply and the skeletal material provided the only grounds for speculation. Lovejoy concluded that the two burials, male and female, repre- sented Adena interments associated with the lower level of the two-component site. The overlying level contained Late Wood- land and early Fort Ancient material. His identification of the skeletons as Adena rests solely on Adena artifacts found in the grave fill. The skeletons are interest- ing because of the absence of Adena head deformation on the dolichocephalic skulls. The origin of the graves was at the base of the upper level or the top of the lower level, depending on your point of view. Lovejoy feels that the skeletons belong to the lower Adena component. Another possible explanation is that they belong to the upper component and date from its beginning so that the grave fill contained only midden from the earlier component through which the graves were dug. "The Scioto Valley Archaeological Sur- vey" by Olaf Prufer covers one of the rich- est archaeological areas in North America. The area of the survey extended from four miles north of Chillicothe south along the valley to Waverly. It is to Prufer's credit that he concentrated, not on the "classic" sites which have been the focal point of previous investigators, but primarily on those which are less spectacular but no less important to an understanding of the prehistory of the area. This survey makes no claims to completeness. It was an ad- junct to major excavations carried on in the area and thus can be considered only as a sample. Prufer is to be commended for organizing his findings and getting |
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them into print. The survey's value lies in the fact that the author and his field crews personally made the collections from the sites and did not rely on second-hand information of dubious value. The discus- sion at the end of the report presents some interesting facts unburdened by specula- tion. Although short, this report will prob- ably make the most lasting contribution of any in this book. "A Survey of the Hocking Valley, Ohio" by Orrin Shane and James Murphy was a deliberate attempt to locate the aboriginal remains of an area. Although sixteen sites were discovered in an area from Lancaster to the Ohio River and a full range of pre- historic occupancy was found, this occu- pancy was not as intensive as in the Scioto Valley. This report generally follows the same format as the preceding one and again contributes greatly to our knowledge of the region. Taken as a whole, the above series of reports will provide source material for future archaeologists dealing with prob- lems of prehistory in Ohio. The informa- tion in them is well presented and forms a usable body of data. The few reports |
which are marred by a lack of rigorous analysis of the data compensate for this fault by the presentation of the original data on which the theories were based, thus enabling the reader to come to his own conclusions. The illustrations are ex- cellent throughout, particularly the line drawings of the lithic material. One would like to have seen a map of Ohio as a frontispiece for those readers unfamiliar with the geography of the state showing the locations of the various sites and areas described in the separate reports. Because the format of this book is technical and was designed for the display of source ma- terial, it will be of little interest to the layman. On the other hand, professional and amateur archaeologists, and even some collectors who are interested in Ohio prehistory, will find this book a must. LEE H. HANSON, JR. National Park Service (A book especially written for the lay- man being published by The Ohio Histor- ical Society is Ohio's Prehistoric Peoples by Martha Potter.) |
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