Review
“This is an up-to-date and theoretically broad-ranging comparative treatment of desert hunter-gatherer archaeology and ethnology that introduces a new, fresh generation of scholars and issues. Bravo!”
Richard Gould, Brown University
“Desert Peoples shows how important the world’s arid habitats have always been during the course of human evolution. The geographical scope of the contributions is breathtaking, their comparative approach to dynamics and interactions compelling. I congratulate the editors for making the desert bloom for human prehistory.” Clive Gamble, Royal Holloway, University of London
“A superb synthesis…. The authors use the opportunity to set out several probing questions that will underpin future research on how societies adapt to challenging environments.” John Dodson, Brunel University and University of Western Australia
"Competent, well-written summaries of local culture history...several of the essays merit serious attention from readers of this journal." Archaeology in Oceania
"In this era of regional and topical specialisation, which often leads to perochialism, the editors of this book can take great satisfaction in having provided a venue for looking at the big picture."
Australian Archaeology
"Desert Peoples: Archaeological Perspectives is an essential source for those interested in hunting-gathering lifeways." Laurie Milne, Canadian Journal of Archaeology
Book Description
Desert Peoples provides an issues-oriented overview of hunter-gatherer societies in desert landscapes. The book combines archaeological and anthropological perspectives and includes a wide range of regional and thematic case studies. It brings together for the first time studies from deserts as diverse as the sand dunes of Australia, the Great Basin of the US, coastal and high altitude deserts of South America, and the seminal "narratives" that arose from the core deserts of Africa. Written by an international roster of experts, Desert Peoples examines the key concepts vital to understanding human adaptation to marginal landscapes and the behavioral and belief systems that underpin them, including notions of environmental variability, risk-minimization, flexibility in group composition and mobility patterns, information exchange, diet, and the role of graphic systems. Ultimately, Desert Peoples' comparative approach provides an overview of current understandings and debates about cultural and ecological processes affecting hunter-gatherer societies in deserts.
