The Broken Stones. By Herbert L. Minshall. San Diego: Copley Books,
1976. Foreword. Illustrations. Maps. Bibliography. Index. 166 pages. $16.50.
Reviewed by Paul H. Ezell Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology, San
Diego State University.
It is a pity that many archaeologists may not read this book
and that far more non-archaeologists will begin it than are likely ever to get
beyond the first few pages. The impression which those readers will probably
gain is that humans have been in the Americas for at least 250,000 years.
Minshall has a right to disagree with the conclusions of professional
archaeologists who believe that the tenure of humans in the Americas is much
shorter, but the burden is upon him to prove them wrong. This he does not do.
It would be pointless to list all the flaws which
archaeologists can find in The Broken Stones. Since readers not familiar
with the history of anthropology in general, and of archaeology and "early man"
studies in America in particular, may wonder at this criticism, two examples may
be helpful. Minshall assumes an antiquity for stone tools which are commonly
described as "crude," based on typological evidence. Most,
if not all archaeologists, however, are aware of
numerous cases in which such implements are made and used in the present.
Second, Minshall accepts the Harris Site as the "type site" for the San
Dieguito Complex and hence accepts the specimens found there as representative
of the stone technology of the San Dieguito. Julian D. Hayden (a name not in the
Minshall bibliography), who worked with Malcolm J. Rogers in 1938 at the Harris
Site, pointed out recently that the site can only be regarded as representing
the third and terminal phase of the sequence. To compare Buchanan Canyon and
Texas Street implements only with those of San Dieguito III, and thereby argue
for still another and earlier complex (and people), is to ignore the earlier San
Dieguito I and II and Malapais phases of the sequence. And, since Minshall (p.
108) has correctly but incompletely reported my reaction to the specimens from
Buchanan Canyon and Texas Street, let me say that those specimens which I can
recognize as artifacts from those sites (but I cannot accept all the specimens
as artifacts) are consonant with the Malapais and even, in some cases, the San
Dieguito I phases.
And yet, to reject The Broken Stones entirely would, I
feel, be like throwing the baby out with the bath water. The twelve superb color
and eight, excellent black-and-white photographs of specimens are alone worth
the book's price. Minshall explains most of the limited number of technical
terms which he uses and avoids the tediousness of many professional papers. He
devotes chapters to descriptions not only of the Texas Street, Buchanan Canyon,
and Del Mar sites in San Diego County, but also selected sites in North America
and Asia for which he claims great antiquity. The result of these claims,
however, is a kind of round-robin argument in which each questionable site (or
specimen) somehow supports the others, the whole adding up to an attempt to
shore up the thesis of great antiquity of man in the New World.
Despite the many objections which can be found to the
work, I believe that this book may, in the long run, benefit
us all. Minshall's style, unlike that of most archaeologists,
evokes some of the color and romance and drama of the life and times of early
prehistoric man. Those who read his book may well retain a vivid impression of
life in Pleistocene North America which they might not otherwise receive. Public
interest in, and sympathy for, the search for knowledge about the past at that
distant time may well be more stimulated by The Broken Stones than by the
majority of archaeological reports. Finally, we all owe a debt of gratitude to
the Copley Press for the publication of this book. It is doubtful that any of
the professional associations or university presses could have, or perhaps would
have, issued it. Copley Books, by doing so, not only has added an
attention-worthy item to its already impressive series on Southern California,
it has made available a work which we might otherwise not have seen. Whether we
agree with Minshall's book or not, we can be the richer for it.
