Spencer, Robert F.

English

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310 REVIEWS has as a subdivision  identified  by multiple punctate rims, and then 5 )  a historic phase within which several significant temporal variations  can  be recognized. The  late Black- duck or Manitoba  phase  materials are equated with Assiniboine occupation and the Selkirk phase  ceramics with the  Cree. The interrela- tionships between these  two are complex  and in  the  Grand Rapids  area the Assiniboine pre- historic  material seems to be  later  than  that of the  Cree. The archaeological phases represented are in the  southern  part of the  Boreal  Forest zone. The initial preceramic occupation seems to have intruded from the Plains to the west and southwest. Mayer-Oakes thinks the first ceramic  phase  (Laurel)  “probably” is a result of a cultural thrust from Asia through the boreal forest. The succeeding cultural com- plexes are tied to the mixed hardwood and boreal forest hunting and fishing economic patterns. The sites are primarily small hunt- ing or fishing camps while a few because of their locations such as the Tailrace Bay site were the scene of extensive exploitation of sturgeon. There is a short report by Mrs. Sansoucy Walker on the  historic  period clay  pipes which is said on p. 249 to be “Immediately below” but  does  not  appear  until p. 282, and ends on p. 288. The conclusions on p. 289 are apparently Mayer-Oakes’ and  contain suggestions for  future analyses  of all  the his- toric  trade  material,  and  are  not  those of Mrs. Walker.  An  important 45-page chapter on the faunal  material from  the  Tailrace Bay Site is provided by Paul  W. Lukens. His  interpreta- tions emphasize the adaptation of the occu- pants of the site over a long time period to the boreal  forest  and  littoral  environment with no indications of climatic change. The appearance of the deer and elk during the last seventy years is the result of environ- mental changes from Canadian occupation. The volume is an important contribution to Canadian  archaeology  both because  of the presentation of new and distinctive data,  and also because it represents a plateau of accom- plishments under the leadership of Mayer- Oakes  and  presents a strong  impetus to  future archaeological  work in the province. James B .  Grifin ARCTIC TOWNSMEN: ETHNIC BACK- GROUNDS AND MODERNIZATION. BY JOHN J. and IRMA HONIGMANN. Ottawa: Ca- nadian Research Centre for  Anthropology, St. Paul University, 1970. 6 x 9 inches, 303 pages, 72 illustrations, 6 maps, tables. $7.00 (paper). The  Honigmanns  bring  anthropological  meth- ods to bear on their analysis  of  Inuvik, a new Canadian  town  located on the Mackenzie River in the delta. Professor  Honigmann, well known for his theoretical contributions to the field of culture and personality, has that aspect as one of his primary concerns. Another  feature of the study is the problem of community definition, especially in view of the varied ethnic backgrounds of the in- habitants of the,town.  What  the  Honigmanns have to say  about  the problems of moderniza- tion has relevance for any investigator, in whatever discipline, who  in  the course of his arctic  work  must come to grips with the human dimension. Produced  here is a richly detailed description of Inuvik, its people, its institutions, and especially of its  children, the rising  younger generation on whom  hopes for the future depend. The study compares fa- vourably with the 1965 study by the same authors, Eskimo Townsmen. Inuvik -it is refreshing to find that the town is described as  it is, with its inhabitants, its problems, and its setting without any at- tempt to preserve a kind of false  anonymity -is a new community, now the largest in the Mackenzie Delta area, dependent for its growth at the expense of such other com- munities as Aklavik, on increasing  indus- trialization  and schools. The issue in  the community, now that  he  tribal phase is passed and  the various ethnic groups of the area have  come  together, is one of the crea- tion  of solidarity.  Does an essentially  isolated arctic  ommunity find the bases for  the creaticfn  of an integratea economic,  social, and political unit? To some degree, the an- swer is affirmative. The ethnic composition of Inuvik is ren- dered c o m p l e b y  the presence of the Eski- mos, the various Indian groups, and by that of the  various so-called Metis. To this  com- plexity may  be  added  the  population of out- siders, those  partially asSimilated into a “native” community, as well as those whose residence in the area is at best temporary. The end result is the creation of a societal division with a non-native  elite and a native population  with  its accompanying  ethnic diversity. This distinction, in  fact, is discerni- ble in  the physical development of the town. To some degree, the  external  norms,  those of Anglo-America,  impinge upon  the  native ones. To put the matter in another way, it would seem that here are native groups of people who have in large measure lost the affinity with  the  native  past and who  become in effect  “hangers-on” in the Anglo-Saxon type society in which they find themselves. Yet  this is not a wholly correct view, as the REVIEWS . 311 Honigmanns show. What  happens to these  native  peoples? The Honigmanns are  careful  not  to  think of the societal development of the community as one of disorganization. It is rather one of transition. Given the varied background of the inhabitants of Inuvik on the so-called native  level, one might ask wherein  the  points of differences in interaction most pointedly lie. Through the pages of the Honigmanns’ book, for example,  runs  the theme of  alcohol. This, it is true,  creates  a  problem  and gives rise to ills, at  least so viewed  by the  members of the main-line society, attendant upon it, but it is also shown that alcohol has a sig- nificant social function and serves to some extent as a factor of group integration. In answer to the question as to whether the modernizing  culture from  the outside will replicate itself here  or in other  similar  towns in the Arctic,  the  Honigmanns  are  careful to argue that this prediction does not seem in- dicated.  Instead,  it  looks as though  the  com- munity will continue  to change  but  to  retain at the same time its suggestions of unique- ness. The Honigmanns have performed an im- portant service both to the changing human dimension in the  Arctic and to  the community of Inuvik itself in recognizing the processes at work. Too  often,  the researcher in the  area tends to dismiss with  some  contempt  patterns which on the surface appear reflective of a disorganization, a failure on the  part of the natives to “measure  up” to dominant modes. But Inuvik does not represent a decline. On the contrary, the inhabitants and their chil- dren have made their own adjustment  to  a continuing world of the frontier. In respect to the problem of the development of per- sonality in this  frontier  situation,  the  authors point  out  that  there are different primary definitions of such institutions as child-rear- ing, its attendant expectations, the views of family and family integrity, of the concepts of self-reliance  and  responsibility from those which characterize  the  dominant  culture.  The end  result is a  point of view which is  distinc- tive for the native population of the town. Considering these factors, the Honigmanns develop various predictive hypotheses, sub- ject to testing on  the  basis of empirical  data, as to the  kinds of adaptations  which  children of the town may make. These  relate to  such factors  as success in the school situation, in employment, and may also reflect some dif- ference in regard to ethnic background. A work such as this is definitely “must” reading for anyone working in or out of a community such as this one, an arctic phe- nomenon,  true,  but  equally  applicable to other frontier areas elsewhere. As the con- cept  frontier  culture is seen,  the  Honigmanns conceptualize not so much the actual gec- graphic situation of the frontier, but rather the internal symbols which characterize the residents of the community. It is a phenom- enon  resident  in the minds of the actors. Their  behaviour,  their  reactions,  seen in this light, become  eminently  predictable. The up- shot of this study, considering its wealth of detail and its evaluation of the residents of the  community, is not  then  that of a  patho- logical  societal  situation,  but  rather  an  adap- tation  that  requires  awareness of the  rise of a special  and  a new social  type. In  this respect, the  Honigmanns have produced  an  important evaluation of what is happening in the  Arctic today. Robert F .  Spencer THE  ARNAPIK  AND  TYARA SITES. AN SET  CULTURE  ORIGINS. BY WILLIAM E.TAYLOR, JR. Memoirs of the Society for American Archaeology, no. 22, 1968. 7% x 10 inches, 129 pages, illustrations and maps. $4.50. One of the most persistent problems with which arctic archaeologists have been con- cerned  since  the mid-1920’s  is the  nature  and origins of the prehistoric  Dorset  culture which  flourished  in  the  eastern Canadian  arc- tic  and  Greenland between approximately 800 B.C. and A.D. 1300. No one has made more  important  contributions  to  the  solution of  this  problem  than  Winiam E. Taylor, Jr., and” in this  well-reasoned and persuasive monograph he shows us that there was no problem after all. What he has documented is a  logical and sustained  cultural  continuity through 2,000 years of arctic  prehistory. Taylor’s  report begins with  a  thorough  his- tory of Dorset studies from the recognition by Diamond  Jenness in 1925  that  certain archaeological assemblages from B a n  Is- land were quite distinct from  the newly dis- covered Thule culture, to the author’s own research in the late 1950’s. The largest part of this  monograph, however, is devoted to  a description and analysis of materials from two key archaeological sites, Arnapik and Tyara,  tested  under  Taylor’s  direction  during the field seasons of 1957 through 1959. The  Arnapik site on  the east  coast of Manse1 Island in northeastern Hudson Bay produced nearly 2,000 Pre-Dorset artifacts. These materials are compared with assem- blages from other PreDorset sites and the conclusion  drawn  that Arnapik was probably ARCHAEOLOGICAL  STUDY OF DOR- 

Arctic Townsmen: Ethnic Backgrounds and Modernization, by John J. and Irma Honigmann

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Arctic Townsmen: Ethnic Backgrounds and Modernization, by John J. and Irma Honigmann

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