Talking with Clay: The Art of Pueblo Pottery by Stephen TrimbleReview by: Kenneth F. CampbellAmerican Indian Quarterly, Vol. 13, No. 1 (Winter, 1989), pp. 100-101Published by: University of Nebraska PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1184106 .

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100 AMERICAN INDIAN QUARTERLY, WINTER 1989

a shift through time from the former strategies to the latter: highland groups spilled into the lowlands until rising population density eliminated migration as an option; subsequently intensification of storage and horticulture began, first in the highlands, and finally in the lowlands. Accompanying population pressure, was a change in social organization: unilineal corporate groups were established to channel and restrict access to resources.

To evaluate this model, the author presents a series of factor analyses of sites, houses, and artifact types. Both R mode (grouping covarying artifact types) and Q mode (grouping sites or houses) analyses are described. The details of the factor analyses are not presented in the book, but the reader is referred to a more complete presentation in Hunter-Anderson's dissertation. The author summarizes each analysis and presents her interpretation of each factor. The major focus of this discussion is on using the factors to identify site functions and inter-site variability within the postulated settlement system.

In the final chapters, the author evaluates the fit of the ecological model with patterns isolated in her analyses. She concludes that there is evidence of decreasing mobility and for intensification of storage and cultivation, be- ginning first in the highlands and then spreading to the lowlands. Thus, she suggests that initial examination of the archeological data is compatible with her model.

However, Hunter-Anderson's results are questionable. The pattern of initial highland adoption of horticulture with subsequent spread into lowlands, which is central to Hunter-Anderson's model, has been undermined by recent data that demonstrate that 1) the early highland corn radiocarbon dates that Hunter-Anderson cites are incorrect and several millennia too early, and 2) corn radiocarbon dates in the southern Arizona lowlands are about contem- porary with highland dates.

All in all, the volume offers a less carefully reasoned or convincing argument than the approaches that it attacks. This is not because Hunter-Anderson's basic model of population pressure is new or unbelievable, but it is due rather to the restricted and specialized nature of the analyses and the lack of bridging arguments between the archeological data and interpretations of cultural behavior (this is despite the author's criticism of others for just this weakness). Altogether, the volume consists of little more than a series of polemics and some rather specialized technical analyses which make a limited contribution to the prehistory of the Southwest.

University of Delaware Thomas R. Rocek Newark, Delaware

Trimble, Stephen. Talking With Clay: The Art of Pueblo Pottery. Santa Fe: School of American Research, 1987. 116 pp. Maps, photos, bibliography, index. $27.50 cloth; $14.95 paper.

Talking With Clay is not just another book on American Indian art. It is a worthy contribution to the study and preservation of a craft that has been alive and well in the southwest United States for centuries. It should be accepted as a serious examination of a craft that is found in a living society. Pottery among the Pueblos of the southwest United States is as essential to

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BOOK REVIEWS 101

their way of life as it is a modern commercial necessity. Stephen Trimble has displayed unusual taste and understanding in his attempt to identify the distances that often separate cultural values vis a vis economic gain.

Trimble's sensitivity to his subject via the effective interview method and easy narrative which he incorporates in his text is empathic. The crisp, chopped, natural rhythm of speech commonly found among the Pueblos is as fresh and honest as though one were actually present during an interview between the author and his informant. The book, in a way, is a visual record of long traditions. The quaint and direct manner of speech has been unaltered, allowing the potter's original thoughts the fullness of their meaning as they flow from the page while reading the various first-hand interviews.

The writing is simple, yet it is technically accurate. Accounts of traditional Pueblo methodology such as the ubiquitous search for the sources of usable clay, the manner of preliminary preparation and other technical data are valuable insights as to the true feelings of love and labor which must accompany every potter and which is reflected in every pot. The intensity of forming and firing the pot is constantly renewed through individual statements, accounts which should excite both the art-school potter, as well as the most experienced professional. These techniques are understandably clear in their simple, yet precise narrative.

There is an honest sense of respect and humility coming directly from the soul of the artists. This feeling of sincerity is surpassed only by the aesthetics of the wares that are so beautifully illustrated in Trimble's book.

Although its warm and attractive cover may look like it, this is not just another "coffee table book". Indeed, it contains valuable items of technical data and ethnological information that fall from the pages of the book like a child eating crackers. Subtly, one becomes aware of bits and pieces of another culture gathered together into surprisingly informative reading.

Especially interesting in this day of egalitarianism is that part of Chapter Five which allows a peek into the emotions of some of the female Pueblo potters, when they reflect upon their feelings about their male counterparts. Another inner-sensory glimpse is found when, through the words of the in- dividuals, themselves, Trimble allows the reader to learn how each potter responds to her unique designs, her indigenous methods and techniques, and her personal relationship to her cultural heritage which she never denies. The compelling traditions of a truly traditional society come face to face with the Twentieth Century. The reader must decide which of the two dicho- tomies prevail.

University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Kenneth F Campbell Eau Claire, Wisconsin

Merbs, Charles E and Robert J. Miller, eds. Health and Disease in the Prehistoric Southwest. (Anthropological Research Papers No. 34). Tempe: Arizona State University, 1985. XIX + 402 pp. Illustrations, Appendix, Bibliography. $17.50 paper.

This book is the published proceedings of a conference of the same name which was held at Arizona State University in October, 1982. Representation

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