Review of Rain-Forest Collectors and Traders: A Study of Resource Utilization in Modern and Ancient Malaya, by F L Dunn; Wreck Bay: An Aboriginal Fishing Community, by Brian J Egloff; Teotihuacan: First City in the Americas, by Karl E Meyer

Rambo, A.T.

Sullivan, M.E.

Young, L.M.

English

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Book ReviewsRain-Forest Collectors and Traders: A Study of Resource Utilization in Modern andAncient Malaya. F. L. Dunn. Kuala Lumpur: Monographs of the Malaysian Branch,Royal Asiatic Society, No.5, 1975. 151 pages.Reviewed by A. TERRY RAMBO, East- {Vest Environment and Policy Institute, HonoluluIn this brief monograph, Frederick L. Dunn makessignificant contributions to at least three fields ofstudy: (l) the ethnography of the Proto-Malay groupof the Malaysian aborigines or Orang Aslz~ (2) con-cepts and methods of ethnoecology, and (3) the cul-tural evolution of Malaysian tropical forest peoples.Dunn also advances his own conceptual approach toarchaeological research, an approach on which as anethnologist I feel unqualified to comment, although Itend to concur with Karl Hutterer's (1977) earliercritical assessment. In this review each of the firstthree contributions made by this monograph will bediscussed in turn.(I) Proto-Malay ethnography: Given the fact thattheir nearest still-functioning settlement is only 12km from downtown Kuala Lumpur, it is somewhatsurprising that the Proto-Malays remain the least wellethnographically described of the Malaysian aborigi-nal trinity of Semang ("Negrito"), Senoi ("Sakai"),and Proto-Malay ("}akun") ethnolinguistic group-ings. Dunn's study is particularly welcome in provid-ing considerable new information on the Temuan, oneof the largest, and ethnographically previously mostneglected, subgroupings ofProto-Malays.The author provides a wealth of information onTemuan interaction with their tropical rain forestenvironment, paying particular attention to their ex-ploitation of forest resources, both for domestic useand for commercial trade in forest products, a tradewhich Dunn sees as a central element in the evolu-tionary development of all Orang Asli for thousandsof years into the past. Unlike many specialists con-cerned with human ecology, Dunn avoids an exclu-sive concern with the flow of calories or proteinbetween the Temuan and their forest ecosystem, andinstead pays most ofhis attention to how their knowl-edge of forest ecology influences their adaptive suc-cess. Such concern with processes of information flowis often referred to as the study ofethnoecology.(2) Concepts and methods of ethnoecology: Defin-ing ethnoecology as the study of indigenous systemsof ecological knowledge, Dunn makes the importantpoint that the ethnoecologist is by definition an out-sider who observes the particular beliefs of an aliensociety about natura! history. The Temuan themselvesare not "ethnoecologists", rather they are people whohave assembled a unique body of ecological knowl-edge about the Malayan rain forest. This body of140 Asian Perspectives~ XXIV (1), 1981knowledge constitutes Temuan ecology and while itmay not in all respects conform to the currentIyaccepted ideas of scientific ecology, as Dunn demon-strates in his description of their taxonomic systemsfor fruit trees, ferns, and mammals, that does not nec-essarily make it an inferior formulation. From thisperspective, all systems of ecological knowledge, in-cluding that held by Western biologists, are ultimatelythe subject matter of "ethnoecology" reflecting asthey do the cultural predispositions of the practi-tioner, whether loincloth-wearing Temuan forest col-lector or lab-coated university scientist.Dunn persuasively argues that the extremely com-plex nature of the Malaysian tropical rain forestdemands that its human inhabitants develop andmaintain an almost equally complex corpus of ecolog-ical knowledge. Each Temuan collector must be ableto identify literally hundreds of different plant andanimal species. Such taxonomic knowledge must, tobe effective, be accompanied by detailed knowledgeof the behavioral characteristics of these organisms.Moreover, given the scattered spatial and temporaldistribution typical of many tropical forest species,the Temuan collector must also maintain a detailedmental map of his entire foraging area, a taskrequiring long years of contact with the same localeand constant monitoring of the flow of informationwithin the ecosystem. The importance of maintainingthis ecological databank is indicated by the finding ofone of my University of Malaya students (Soh MuiFoong 1980) that 41 percent of Temuan daily conver-sation is centered on what is going on in their forestecosystem.Dunn convincingly argues that it is only their pos-session of this vast body of ecological knowledge thatallows the Temuan to survive in an environmentviewed as uninhabitable by other Malaysian ethnicgroups equipped with comparable or more sophisti-cated material technology. In making this point, thisstudy effectively refutes Marvin Harris's assertionthat the study of ethnoecology is essentially a trivialexercise. To the contrary, Dunn makes it clear thatone cannot understand the material adaptation of theOrang Asli without taking into account their ecologi-cal knowledge.Dunn's most important contribution to ethnoecolo-gy may be methodological: his application of the epi-demiological approach to collection of taxonomicinformation from a large sample of Temuan infor-mants, which reveals systematic differences in kindsand quality of ecological il'.formation possessed byeach individual, depending upon the informant's age,sex, and personal competence, raises significant ques-tions about the validity of ethnoecological studiesmade by relying on either a single key informant or bycombining into a single "standard" listing informa-tion collected from several informants. The veryattempt to compile such standard taxonomies maycause one to overlook what may be a key fact aboutthe nature of ecological knowledge among tropicalforest peoples-the distribution of knowledge in thehuman population may mirror the diversity of the for-est ecosystem itself so that each local community and,indeed, each individual, possesses a more or lessunique pool of ecological knowledge.(3) The cultural evolution of Malaysian tropicalforest peoples: Dunn's principal goal in underrakingthis work was to understand better the evolutionarytrajectory followed by the forest-dwelling peoples ofPeninsular Malaysia in particular and Southeast Asiain general. His approach, which given the paucity ofarchaeological data on the area is fully justified, is touse ethnographic analogy to develop models of whatmight have been in the past. These models providethe basis for suggesting sets ofhypotheses that may betested by future archaeological investigations.After first describing contemporary patterns of for-est collecting and trade by the Orang Asli, Dunn pos-tulates a sequence of earlier evolutionary phases forforest product collecting and trading. These modelsare valuable, not because they are necessarily empiri-cally valid, but instead because they suggest new waysof conceptualizing the processes of cultural evolutionin Southeast Asia. In particular, by emphasizing thesignificance of trade to the economies of the forestpeoples, they lead one to reconsider the nineteenthcentury unilinear evolutionary assumptions that stillunderlie virtually all discussions of Malaysian prehis-tory and ethnology. If, for example, the very great rolethat trade with settled agriculturists plays in the sur-vival of the contemporary Semang is recognized, thenthe conventional assumption that they are survivingremnants of Paleolithic hunters and gatherers iscalled into question. The Semang may not, in fact, beprimitive hunters and gatherers at all but instead maybe something very different-specialist forest collec-tors who have evolved to fill a niche created by theoverseas demand for Malayan forest products follow-ing the beginnings of maritime trade in SoutheastAsia some 5000 years ago.To conclude, Dunn's monograph should be recog-nized as making a number of extremely significantcontributions to our understanding of human ecologyand evolution in Southeast Asia. It can be profitablyread both by archaeologists concerned with SoutheastAsian prehistory and by anthropologists concernedwith contemporary Malaysian ethnology. Moreover,Dunn's pioneering work in ethnoecology merits theattention of all social scientists concerned with under-standing the interaction of ideas and behavior.Book Reviews 141REFERENCESHUTTERER, KARL L.1977 Review of Rain-Forest Collectors andTraders. ]. Asian Studies 36 (4): 792-793.SOH MUI FOONG1980 Information flow in a Temuan commu-nity. Unpublished graduation exercise.Kuala Lumpur: Department of Anthro-pology and Sociology, University of Ma-laya.Wreck Bay; An Aboriginal Fishing Community. Brian J. Egloff. Canberra: AustralianInstitute of Aboriginal Studies, 1981. 52 pp., 15 plates, 6 illustrations, references. $4.50Aust. (paper).Reviewed by M. E. SULLIVAN, New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife ServiceThis small, soft-covered book on an Aboriginalcommunity on the south coast of New South Wales ismost interesting because of the motivation for itsbeing written. Members of the Wreck Bay commu-nity felt the need for a social history to be written as abasis for their claims to land and sea rights in the area.The book is the result of a short study funded by theAustralian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, and waspublished by that Institute.The fact that the study was brief has resulted in ashort but very readable report on the community andits history. With publication following just 18 monthsafter the study commenced, the book is valid and rele-vant. It is, by the nature of its funding, biased towardpresenting an Aboriginal viewpoint, and it does so ina form and language which makes it very acceptableto nonspecialist readers.Brian Egloff is an anthropologist/archaeologist,and his approach to the investigation was to talk tomembers of the community, listen to their views, andsupplement this with selective archival, historical,and ethnohistorical research. He acknowledges helpfrom a number of specialists whose efforts have con-tributed to the firm basis of scholarship in this short-term study. The coverage of the prehistoric back-ground to the study is uneven. It is surprising, giventhe author's experience, that little information on cul-ture history was drawn from the available archaeolog-ical studies, as this could have been used to reinforcethe concept of a long tradition of lifestyles based onfishing and the exploitation of coastal resources.It is nevertheless a well-organized social history,covering events in this area, which is now Common-wealth Territory, since 1791. Most emphasis is placedon oral history and ethnohistorical accounts of eventssince the 1840s, and the book demonstrates clearlythe Wreck Bay community's long-standing interestand participation in the events leading to the presentsituation. A decision is still awaited on the status ofthe Aboriginal housing community land, the finalposition of the boundaries, and the outcome of ademand for fishing rights. The book presents lucidlythe feelings and needs of the community with respectto these issues.Most of my criticisms of the book are with produc-tion. The format is a B5 sheet turned sideways, andthe text is written across the page in a single, short,wide column which is difficult to read. The maps aregenerally poor. The first two of the four maps in thevolume do not contain a scale reference, so that unlessthe reader is familiar with the south coast of NewSouth Wales it is not until pages 36 and 40 of the 50-page text that there is any perspective to the areas anddistances involved in the discussion. There are othersmall irritations in the production. A missing symbol,for instance, is presumably meant to refer to the Aus-tralian pound, and the word Pipi (referring to abivalve shellfish) is italicized along with local wordsalthough it is not an Aboriginal word. These howeverare minor criticisms.The text is well illustrated with an interestingcollection of contemporary photographs, several ofwhich are of surprisingly high quality consideringtheir age. This work is certainly well worth buyingand reading. If read widely, it will achieve the aim offostering a clearer understanding of feeling among theWreck Bay community toward their land and searights claims.142 Asian Perspectives) XXIV (1), 1981Teotihuacan: First City in the Americas. Karl E. Meyer. New York and London:Newsweek Book Division, 1978. 172 pp., illus.Reviewed by L. M. YOUNG, F. R. A. I., Sussex, EnglandThis new volume in the Newsweek series "Won-ders of Man" primarily concerns Teotihuacan, thelargest pre-Columbian city in Mesoamerica, situatedin Central Mexico on the extremities of the MexicanValley, some 33 miles or 50 km northeast of MexicoCity. The author, Karl Meyer, devotes the first ofseven chapters to a description of the metropolisknown in Nahuatl as the "City of the Gods" that, atthe period when the Aztecs appeared, had been aban-doned for several centuries, a circumstance that mayhave contributed to its preservation.Nevertheless the gigantic mounds distinguishableunder their covering of vegetation, observed, as Mey-er's appendix testifies, by the Spanish officers of theCrown, gave sufficient indication that Teotihuacanhad been a site oflarge dimensions and importance. Itevoked also the interest of the early nineteenth cen-tury explorers and antiquarians including Alexandervon Humboldt, J. L. Stephens, and Desire Charnay.But it was not until the first decade of the present cen-tury that efforts were directed toward a reconstitutionof Teotihuacan, as Meyer narrates in the last chapter.Mexican government-sponsored explorations withthe aim of restoring the principal monuments werefirst commenced in 1905-1910 by the politician cumarchaeologist Leopoldo Batres, whose work in regardto the Pyramid of the Sun, though Meyer is reticent,reflects some dubiety. He was succeeded by ManuelGamio, an anthropologist of the Museo Nacional,whose investigations compared with his predecessormade a real contribution toward the elucidation ofTeotihuacan.Meyer refers also to other expeditions that havehad a share in reconstructing Teotihuacan's past,namely those of the Swedish archaeologist SigvaldLinne (1932-1935) and of Laurette Sejourne during1955-1957, whose main find was some murals recov-ered from the ruins of a palace. Mention must bemade also of the investigations of Professor Rene Mil-lon. These researches culminated in the Mexican gov-ernment's campaign of restoration, under the archae-ologists of the Institute of Anthropology and History,of a large portion of Teotihuacan during 1960.The first chapter provides glimpses of the architec-tural sophistication of Teotihuacan, exhibited notonly in the features of its palatial and religious edi-fices, but also in those of the residential areas. Con-structed in quadrants so precisely as to suggest thatfurther growth was envisaged, the metropolis, accord-ing to some estimates, at the peak of its developmentprovided a place of residence for a population thatexceeded 75,000. Meyer stresses the large dimensionsof some of the residential complexes that have theirown drainage, which are regarded as possible quartersfor clan lineages, though quite conceivably thesecould also have been "caravanserai" perhaps for pil-grims visiting the city.Its extensive residential capacity imparts to Teoti-huacan all the pretensions of urbanization, distin-guishing it from purely a ceremonial center. Thereligious sanctity is exemplified by the two great pyra-mids of the Sun and Moon which dominate the city.The largest, that of the Sun, measures 220 m x 230 mat the base, rising by five terraces to a height of 66 m.Faced with hewn tzontli, a coarse, red volcanic rockcommon to the region, it is deemed to have beenerected at the inception of the city. As shown in themagnificent illustration in this work, the pyramid ofthe Sun, as viewed from that of the Moon at thesouthern end, is on the left (west) side of the broadthoroughfare, 40 m wide and 1.5 miles in length, thatbisects the metropolis, connecting the two buildingareas. This is lined with structures once erroneouslyconsidered to have been tombs that gave it the name"Avenue of the Dead;' which are now known to haveserved as palatial and religious edifices. At the north-ern end is E1 Ciududela (the Citadel), a 38-acre quad-rangle also with pyramidal platforms. This was exca-vated by Gamio and considered to be dedicated toQuetzalcoatl. This illustration may be compared withthe one on page 30 depicting Teotihuacan as it was in1895.Archaeologists divide the entire span of Teotihua-can into five phases, succumbing to a conflagration atapproximately 700 A.D., a little earlier than the col-lapse of the Maya Classic epoch; though the first ofthe Nahuatl vanguard (the Toltec occupied the cityfor a time), Teotihuacan's era was over.To give a comprehensive perspective to Teotihua-can's role in Mesoamerican culture, Meyer in hisremaining chapters reviews the principal features ofthe foregoing as the archaeological record has re-vealed it, from the earliest prehistory. He describesMacNeish's explorations in the Tehuacan Valley,which uncovered the first incipient beginnings of thecultivation of corn and the subsequent developmentof the simple Formative village agriculture andceramic societies, a basic feature ofboth Mesoamericaand South America.An account is given of Stirling's campaigns result-Book Reviews 143ing in the discovery of anew, higher culture area inVera Cruz, now commonly termed the Olmec, out ofwhose initiatory phase the Maya Classic civilizationof Central America may have been developed at thebeginning of the Christian era. At this time, strongOlmec influences were manifest in the Valley of Mex-ico and are deemed to be present in the Tzacualliphase, during whose latter period Teotihuacan wasemerging from its cluster of Formative villages. Mey-er relates the advent and settlement of the Nahuatltribes, the Toltec, Mixtec, and Aztec, the last epoch ofnative Mesoamerican civilization before it was extin-guished by the Spaniards. A resume of Cortes's con-quest, recounted innumerable times previously but anintegral part of the pattern, is given, as well as theaftermath, the colonial domination which continueduntil the beginning of the nineteenth century. He alsonarrates the restless, preliminary period of Mexico'sindependence permeated with internecine strife, fi-nally summarizing, part of which has been brieflymentioned, the resurgence of interest concerning theantiquities of the civilizations that were obliteratedfor 400 years.Meyer's approach is scholarly rather than eulogis-tic and though not unsympathetic toward the nativecultures, is also not wholly condemnatory of theChristian conquest and the excesses it precipitated.The illustrations are superb, and on account of thisalone, the volume deserves recommendation.

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