Review by Choice Review
A thorough revision of Exploring Iowa's Past (1980), this thick volume offers a masterly and well-written synthesis of archaeology in Iowa, from earliest known artifacts (c.11,000 BCE) to the 1920s. Alex provides background in chapters titled "The Science of Archaeology," "Iowa Landscapes," "History of Iowa Archaeology," and "Stewardship." Prehistory is covered chronologically in "Paleoindian Discoveries" (examining one excavated site, the rest surface finds), "Archaic Developments," "Woodland Innovations," and four chapters on late prehistoric facies (Great Oasis, Mill Creek, Glenwood, Oneota); "Protohistoric and Early Historic Sites" links these to Iowa's American Indian, Euro-American, and African American populations and industries. Illustrations are numerous, but the paper used makes many photographs too dark, and scales render some maps and diagrams hard to read. Alex's achievement is to reference a massive bibliography of Iowa archaeology while communicating a strong sense of human history in her descriptions of sites and artifacts and interpretations of cultural affiliations. To do this, she incorporates frequent citations to ethnographies, particularly Alfred Bowers's rich volumes on Mandan and Hidatsa--not Iowa residents but clearly derived from related ancestral populations. Well organized with many informative subheads, this readable, comprehensive volume is recommended for all archaeology collections and for archaeology buffs. ; University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
