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The Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, Israel: I the wood assemblage
ARTICLE IN PRESS
Quaternary Science Reviews 22 (2003) 1557–1558
Book reviews The Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, Israel: I the wood assemblage N. Goren-Inbar, E.Werker and C.S. Feibel (Eds.); Oxbow Books, Oxford, 2002, 120pp., price d25.00 (US$45.00), ISBN 1-84217-072-4 Gesher Benot Ya’aqov is a rare Lower Pleistocene site having excellent preservation of wood, along with Acheulian artefacts. This publication, from the subtitle, appears to be the first in a series of specialized monographs on the site, although this is not explicitly promised. The limited scope of the monograph is frustrating. It does not even include all the botanical evidence, as studies on pollen and seeds are not included. The monograph does give a summary background to the geology of the site and other introductory material, and other evidence is discussed in relation to the wood remains. The heart of the publication is Chapter 4, ‘‘Wood identification and Plant communities’’. The stratigraphic positions of all the identified wood remains are given. The following chapters discuss the taphonomy of the wood, the possible human activity on wood, and the presence of charcoal and whether it can be attributed to human use of fire. The treatment of the subject is fairly exhaustive and does full justice to the importance and uniqueness of the site. Figures are well done and the information is easily accessible to the non-specialist, which is important, given the interest in the site for other disciplines. The wood is interpreted as accumulating as driftwood, with sources from different parts of the contributing basin. As such, the wood identified gives a view of the regional vegetation. The vegetation is ‘Mediterranean’, with most species still extant although not in the same abundance as today. Many of these trees are of great importance to humans and include almond, olives, figs, pears,
pistachios, oaks, grapes, jujube, etc. The environment reconstructed from the wood remains is evocative. In fact, evidence published elsewhere (Goren-Inbar et al., 2002) suggests humans were exploiting some of the species of nuts found at the site. Only two pieces among the large wood assemblage show signs of human activity. These are the ‘log’ and the ‘plank’. The rarity of human involvement with wood is discussed at some length. Charcoal from the assemblage is also hard to definitely attribute to human burning, and burnt flint artefacts provide more convincing evidence for use of fire by the Acheulians. This monograph therefore does a good job of providing the detailed documentation of the wood remains found at the site. Thus it serves the intended purpose. Reading the book immediately sends you to the reference section, to look up the other publications on the site. It is frustrating if these are not easily available. I hope the promise implied in the ‘‘I’’ in the subtitle is speedily fulfilled and further monographs appear. The advantage of the limited scope of the monograph is speedier publication and focused and exhaustive treatment of the subject, but interested readers are forced back to the library hoping the other papers, widely dispersed, are available. References Goren-Inbar, N., Gonen, S., Malamed, Y., Kislev, M., 2002. Nuts, nut cracking, and pitted stones at Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, Isreal. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 99, 2455–2460.
Sheila Mishra Post-graduate and Research Institute, Deccan College, Pune 411 006, India E-mail address: [email protected]
doi:10.1016/S0277-3791(03)00072-6
The two-mile time machine: ice cores, abrupt climate change, and our future Richard B. Alley, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2000, 229pp., price d15.95, $24.95 US, ISBN 0-69100493-5 ‘‘It’s Global Warming, Dude!’’ so began Richard Alley’s Cesare Emiliani Lecture at the Fall American
Geophysical Union meeting in December 2002. The energetic and enthusiastic style of lecturing (anyone who has heard and seen Alley perform will know what I mean) permeates this short book, which describes the history of climate change revealed in Greenland ice cores. The author manages to combine a distinctively American style of popular science writing, which is highly accessible, while maintaining a level of scientific
Quaternary Science Reviews 22 (2003) 1557–1558
Book reviews The Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, Israel: I the wood assemblage N. Goren-Inbar, E.Werker and C.S. Feibel (Eds.); Oxbow Books, Oxford, 2002, 120pp., price d25.00 (US$45.00), ISBN 1-84217-072-4 Gesher Benot Ya’aqov is a rare Lower Pleistocene site having excellent preservation of wood, along with Acheulian artefacts. This publication, from the subtitle, appears to be the first in a series of specialized monographs on the site, although this is not explicitly promised. The limited scope of the monograph is frustrating. It does not even include all the botanical evidence, as studies on pollen and seeds are not included. The monograph does give a summary background to the geology of the site and other introductory material, and other evidence is discussed in relation to the wood remains. The heart of the publication is Chapter 4, ‘‘Wood identification and Plant communities’’. The stratigraphic positions of all the identified wood remains are given. The following chapters discuss the taphonomy of the wood, the possible human activity on wood, and the presence of charcoal and whether it can be attributed to human use of fire. The treatment of the subject is fairly exhaustive and does full justice to the importance and uniqueness of the site. Figures are well done and the information is easily accessible to the non-specialist, which is important, given the interest in the site for other disciplines. The wood is interpreted as accumulating as driftwood, with sources from different parts of the contributing basin. As such, the wood identified gives a view of the regional vegetation. The vegetation is ‘Mediterranean’, with most species still extant although not in the same abundance as today. Many of these trees are of great importance to humans and include almond, olives, figs, pears,
pistachios, oaks, grapes, jujube, etc. The environment reconstructed from the wood remains is evocative. In fact, evidence published elsewhere (Goren-Inbar et al., 2002) suggests humans were exploiting some of the species of nuts found at the site. Only two pieces among the large wood assemblage show signs of human activity. These are the ‘log’ and the ‘plank’. The rarity of human involvement with wood is discussed at some length. Charcoal from the assemblage is also hard to definitely attribute to human burning, and burnt flint artefacts provide more convincing evidence for use of fire by the Acheulians. This monograph therefore does a good job of providing the detailed documentation of the wood remains found at the site. Thus it serves the intended purpose. Reading the book immediately sends you to the reference section, to look up the other publications on the site. It is frustrating if these are not easily available. I hope the promise implied in the ‘‘I’’ in the subtitle is speedily fulfilled and further monographs appear. The advantage of the limited scope of the monograph is speedier publication and focused and exhaustive treatment of the subject, but interested readers are forced back to the library hoping the other papers, widely dispersed, are available. References Goren-Inbar, N., Gonen, S., Malamed, Y., Kislev, M., 2002. Nuts, nut cracking, and pitted stones at Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, Isreal. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 99, 2455–2460.
Sheila Mishra Post-graduate and Research Institute, Deccan College, Pune 411 006, India E-mail address: [email protected]
doi:10.1016/S0277-3791(03)00072-6
The two-mile time machine: ice cores, abrupt climate change, and our future Richard B. Alley, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2000, 229pp., price d15.95, $24.95 US, ISBN 0-69100493-5 ‘‘It’s Global Warming, Dude!’’ so began Richard Alley’s Cesare Emiliani Lecture at the Fall American
Geophysical Union meeting in December 2002. The energetic and enthusiastic style of lecturing (anyone who has heard and seen Alley perform will know what I mean) permeates this short book, which describes the history of climate change revealed in Greenland ice cores. The author manages to combine a distinctively American style of popular science writing, which is highly accessible, while maintaining a level of scientific