Review of: Hunting for Hides (by H. Lapham) more

204 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 40(4) Hunting for Hides: Deerskins, Status, and Cultural Change in the Protohistoric Appalachians University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, 2006. 200 pp., 38 figs., ref., index, $29.95 paper. Heather A. Lapham Hunting for Hides, a revision of Heather Lapham's 2002 dissertation at the University of Virginia, emphasizes the dynamic relationship between economic intensification and shifting status among Native Americans in protohistoric southwestern Virginia. Using two Late Woodland (A.D. 1400-1600) sites and one protohistoric (A.D. 1600-1700) site, Lapham deftly combines zooarchaeological data and mortuary patterns into an explanation of Native American participation in the deerskin trade. Native Americans chose to intensify production and create a surplus of deerskins in the protohistoric period in order to obtain nonlocal prestige goods such as marine shell, copper, and glass through trading and gift exchange. The contact-period deerskin trade opened up a previously unused path to social mobility within Native American society that incorporated elements from both traditional cultural practices and new socioeconomic relationships. Lapham takes a two-pronged approach to describing culture change from the Late Woodland to the protohistoric periods: she first analyzes faunal data for evidence of Native American exploitation of white-tailed deer and then investigates the prevalence of nonlocal prestige goods in the mortuary record. The sites chosen for this study are located in the Ridge and Valley region of southwestern Virginia. Crab Orchard (44TZ1) and Hoge (44TZ6) date to the Late Woodland, and Trigg (44MY3) dates to the protohistoric period. Lapham begins her discussion of deer hunting by suggesting that if Native Americans were choosing to exploit primarily large deer in an attempt to maximize their returns with European traders, the faunal assemblage should indicate a hunting strategy that focuses on prime-age deer killed before or after molting season. Based on MNI, NISP, and biomass measurements, the most prominent species are deer, black bear, wapiti, and wild turkey. The Trigg site shows a significant increase in the biomass of white- tailed deer and a concomitant decrease in the biomass of black bear and wapiti compared to Crab Orchard and Hoge. Further, compared to the two Late Woodland sites, the Trigg faunal assemblage shows evidence of an exploitation strategy that favored older deer and favored male over female deer. Deer were killed in all months of the year at Trigg, but the lowest numbers occur in May and August, the main deer molting months. Based on these data, Native Americans in the protohistoric period were choosing to exploit mature male deer at a time of the year when their hides would have been most attractive. To further investigate the extent of deer exploitation, Lapham notes evidence of hide removal and hide processing on the faunal remains. Marks consistent with skinning are more prevalent on the mandibles, distal metapodials, and phalanges of deer in the Trigg assemblage. Smoking pits and beamers, tools used to scrape skins, were found more often at Trigg than at Crab Orchard and Hoge, providing evidence of an increase in hide processing and tanning. Lapham concludes the faunal discussion by situating the assemblages within the greater context of archaeological sites in the Middle Atlantic. Although a map of the comparative sites mentioned would have been useful, it appears that similar hunting and processing strategies were used at other protohistoric sites in the region. The preferred mortuary practice in the Ridge and Valley region involved single, flexed inter- ments. Previous archaeological investigations have shown that marine shell and copper arti- facts are found in graves of high-status individu- als, and historical records from European colo- nists note that glass beads were often requested by Native American trading partners. If social status can be seen in the archaeological record of this period, Lapham expects that the presence and quantity of these nonlocal goods are the best ways to identify changes in sociopolitical dimensions that reflect conscious manipulation of status symbols. Lapham's explanation of the relationship between faunal analysis and mortu- ary goods is that "surplus deerskins provided the material means to obtain valued, nonlocal REVIEWS 205 materials that conveyed individual and household wealth, prestige, and power to others within the community" (p. 105). In the protohistoric period, there are more burials with nonperishable mate- rial such as large quantities of marine shell and more copper artifacts. This evidence suggests to Lapham a change in ideology that places more emphasis on social differentiation. As opposed to the pattern in the Late Woodland in which older males had more artifacts, the individuals who had these nonperishable materials in their graves at Trigg were largely young males, pos- sibly because they were "entrepreneurs in the deerskin trade" and thereby gained access to nonlocal goods (p. 136). In both time peri- ods, there are multiple inhumations. Although multiple burials occur 18 times (15 double, 2 triple, and 1 quadruple burial) at Trigg and 8 times (all double inhumations) at Crab Orchard, Lapham does not distinguish in her analysis between artifacts from single inhumations and artifacts from multiple inhumations. The increase in multiple inhumations from the Late Woodland to the protohistoric would suggest that burial customs were changing, and the grave goods from multiple inhumations could provide further evidence for social differentiation if examined separately from single inhumations. Lapham concludes the volume by posing one of the main questions raised in her discussion of hide processing, whether there was gendered differentiation of labor. Based on ethnohistoric literature, women were probably not hunting deer but were likely active in dressing and processing deerskins. The presence of nonlocal goods primarily in the graves of young males indicates that this segment of the Trigg popula- tion was able to obtain symbols of power. Just as young men's status shifted from the Late Woodland to the protohistoric period, Lapham sees a shift in women's status as well. With the growing demand for deerskins by European traders, Native American women's work likely shifted from producing skins for consumption at the household or village level to producing skins to be sold by their male kin who obtained finished goods in return. Two possible explana- tions are given for why fewer women are found with nonlocal goods in the protohistoric period: either women distanced themselves from nonlo- cal items because they were displeased with these European goods, or status display shifted in the protohistoric period to the graves of chil- dren as representative of the family. Neither of these explanations is particularly convincing, but the issue of changing gender roles and statuses in the protohistoric period is intrigu- ing and needs to be developed further. Having concluded that the protohistoric Trigg site has yielded evidence of white-tailed deer exploita- tion, hide processing, and changing social status, Lapham outlines several important issues that need to be addressed in future work, including an investigation of household production and changes in ritual practice. The overall structure of Hunting for Hides allows readers to follow Lapham's thesis seam- lessly through theory, analysis, and conclusions. The simple tables and graphs are very effective at visually communicating the faunal data to readers. Although most of the photographs did not reproduce well in the manuscript, the index is thorough and the bibliography is useful for those interested in the topic. This book is rel- evant to historical archaeologists working with contact-period Native Americans and to research- ers dealing with issues of cultural change and gender differences in the past. Hunting for Hides admirably intertwines two diverse data sets—zooarchaeological remains and grave goods—in an attempt to explain socioeconomic relations between Native Americans and Europe- ans at a crucial juncture in American history. Kristina Killgrove Department of Anthropology University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3120 Kristina@killgrove .org