ARCHAEOLOGY
The Middle Cumberland Culture. ROBERT
B. FERGUSON, JOHN B. BROSTER,
JAMES W. WARD, JR., and JAMES E.
CAMBRON. Robert B. Ferguson, ed.
Vanderbilt University, Publications in An-
thropology, 3. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt
University, 1972. viii + 109 pp., figures,
maps, tables, chapter references. $3.25
(paper).
Reviewed by BERLE CLAY
Tulane University
In four separate papers, this publication
provides details on two Mississippian stone-
grave cemeteries near Nashville (the Arnold
and Ganier sites), their physical population,
and the lithic material collected from them.
There is a dearth of usable archaeological
data on the Mississippian occupation of
Central Tennessee. This publication does
little more than indicate once more that it
was a significant occupation. The details it
provides are only slightly more useful than
those provided by earlier monographs.
I realize that something is better than
nothing, and that these are salvage ex-
cavations. But what is needed in archaeology
is not piecemeal presentations of results such
as this one, but complete and careful in-
ventories of remains in their excavated con-
texts. Take the Arnold site report for
example. Just how many burials were
salvaged? The highest burial number (in the
study of the physical population) appears to
be eighty, or is it 1001? One intriguing
burial is designated Spores, male, age 20+.
It comprises a mandible and a tibia! Is it
burial eighty-one or 1002? Obviously what is
needed is a tabulation of grave and burial
characteristics (the same criticism may be
made of the Ganier site report). In short, as
it has been presented, I think the burial data
are next to useless. Funkhousers and Webbs
early report on the Duncan site (1931) is
much more successful, and useful.
For the Arnold site, we are given plans of
only two typical burial clusters, that is the
precise location of only thirty-two graves.
On what grounds are they typical? On what
grounds are they clustered? Were other grave
locations ever recorded, or do we have here a
doctored few for publication purposes?
The information on Ganier site burials is
somewhat more complete. We know that
102 burials were excavated. We are provided
177
with the locations of eighty-nine graves (but
how many burials?). While there are fairly
complete discussions of twenty-six of these
(what was the basis for their selection?), it is
impossible to piece together the others,
although there are tabulations of age, sex,
etc., divorced from the context of the grave
itself.
All discussions of artifacts (including
Cambrons paper on lithics) suffer either
from incomplete coverage of the excavated
materials (the site reports) or complete
divorce from context (the lithics report).
Thus, they have their failings for several
reasons.
In summary, I am disappointed with this
volume although, being interested in the
area, I eagerly anticipated using it. I find it
largely useless. In reporting stone-grave
cemeteries, archaeologists should follow the
format and standards begun by Funkhouser
and Webb at the Duncan site, continued by
Schwartz at Tinsley Hill (1961) and, most
recently, by Dowd at the West site. Present
context and content in a manner so that
they can be related; let that be a maxim even
for the salvage archaeologist! Once this is
done, analysis can proceed apace. The field
archaeologist may pursue it himself, or
others, with quite different problems and at
a much later date, may do their own with
the data the field man has supplied.
References Cited
Funkhouser, W. D., and W. S. Webb
1931 The Duncan Site on the Kentucky-
Tennessee Line. University of Ken-
tucky Reports in Anthropology and
Archaeology l(6).Lexington.
Schwartz, D. W.
1961 The Tinsley Hill Site. University of
Kentucky Studies in Anthropology
No. 1. Lexington.
The Mochica: A Culture of Peru. ELIZA-
BETH P. BENSON. Art and Civilization
of Indian America Series. Washington:
Praeger, 1972. 164 pp., figures, maps,
photographs, plates, bibliography, index.
$12.50 (cloth).
Reviewed by JOSEPH B. MOUNTJOY
university of North Carolina
This book is well written in a smooth
flowing prose, and Seems intended for a
178 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST
general but knowledgeable audience. I t deals
with the prehispanic Mochica culture of
north coastal Peru, primarily as interpreted
from the realistically modeled pottery
deposited as offerings in Mochica graves. The
book consists of six chapters, which treat, in
turn, the geographical setting, supreme
deity, man and man-monster depictions,
livelihood, architects and artisans, and death
and life. The chapters are profusely il-
lustrated, with a total of 144 pictures, 119
of which are of whole pottery vessels o r
scenes depicted o n them. The illustrations
are excellent, and integrated meaningfully
with the written text.
In my opinion, there are two outstanding
discussions in this book. The first has to d o
with the supposed supreme deity of the
Mochica. Benson shows the probable deriva-
tion of this god from the prior Chavin
culture, describes the various aspects he
could assume, and provides well-reasoned
suppositions regarding beliefs associated
with him through an analysis of the varying
context in which he is depicted on individual
pots. The second involves the same sort of
contextual analysis, showing the probable
belief system revolving around a close as-
sociation between sex and death.
Although there are some disturbing things
about the presentation, such as the lack of
specific author-date citations within the
text, I would like to discuss something else
about the nature of Bensons study which
bothers me. The apparent purpose of the
book is to make certain conjectures about
the way of life of the Mochica, using
Mochica remains for clues to their beliefs
and customs (p. 9) Benson certainly ex-
ercises sensible caution in making inferences,
and discusses problems inherent in inter-
preting the kind of reality with which she is
dealing. However, instead of relying almost
exclusively on what can be inferred from the
artifacts and their context, there could have
been more of an attempt to utilize ethno-
historical information which might have a
bearing on interpreting the archaeological
data.
Although reference is made to Gillens
(1954) modern ethnography of Moche, cita-
tions are lacking for such potentially useful
early works as Cabello de Balboa (1586),
Calancha (1638) or Cieza de Leon (Von
Hagen 1959); or even a secondary synthesis
such as Rowes (1948) article on the king-
[76,1974
dom of Chimor. There are several parts of
Bensons book which might have been
elaborated and improved by utilizing
pertinent ethno-historical data. One example
is Bensons discussion of human sacrifice, in
which she describes a death scene depicted
on Mochica pottery showing a victim tied to
a stake or bound with rope and abandoned
to vultures. Calancha (1638) recorded that a
doctor could be so tortured by relatives of
a deceased patient if they judged the death
to have resulted from careless treatment. In
other places, Benson discusses anal coitus
depicted on pottery and the possible custom
of wives being killed for burial with their
dead husband. Both of these practices were
documented in detail for the conquest
period north coast people by Cieza de Leon
(Von Hagen 1959).
References Cited
Cabello de Balboa, Miguel
1586 Miscelanea antartica. Eighteenth
century copy in the New York Public
Library.
de la Calancha, Antonio
1638 Cronica moralizada del orden de
San Augustin en el Per6, con sucesos
egenplares en esta monarquia. Bar-
celona.
Gillen, John
1954 Moche, a Peruvian Coastal Com-
munity. Smithsonian Institution In-
stitute of Social Anthropology Public-
ation 3. Washington.
Rowe, John H.
1 9 4 8 The Kingdom of Chimor. Acta
Americana 6(1):26-59.
Von Hagen, Victor W., Ed.
1959 The Incas of Pedro de Cieza de
Leon. Harriet de Onis, Trans. Norman:
University of Oklahoma Press.
Kamangoza: An introduction to the Iron
Age Cultures o f the Victoria Falls Region.
JOSEPH 0 . VOGEL. Zambia Museum
Papers, 2. New York & London: Oxford
University Press (on behalf of the Na-
tional Museums of Zambia), 1971. x +
1 4 5 pp., figures, maps, tables, bibliog-
raphy. Kwacha 3.50.
Kumadzulo: An Early Iron Age Village Site
in Southern Zambia. JOSEPH 0.
VOGEL. Zambia Museum Papers, 3. New
York & London: Oxford University Press
(on behalf of the National Museums of