Heiko Riemer, Frank Forster, Michael Herb & Nadja Pollath (ed.). Desert animals in the eastern Sahara: status, economic significance, and cultural reflection in antiquity.

Manning, Katie

HEIKO RIEMER, FRANK FORSTER, MICHAEL HERB & NADJA POLLATH (ed.). Desert animals in the eastern Sahara: status, economic significance, and cultural reflection in antiquity (Proceedings of an interdisciplinary ACACIA workshop held at the University of Cologne December 14-15 2007) (Colloquium Africanum 4). 372 pages, numerous illustrations & tables, 1 colour map. 2009. Cologne: Heinrich Barth Institut; 978-3-927688-360 paperback 25 [euro].

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The Sahara desert has long stood on the sidelines of conservation and ecological efforts in Africa. And yet, this harsh landscape has, over time, been home to a diverse array of wild as well as domestic animals. This book explores the dynamic interrelations between these animals and the human populations living alongside them, and locates these processes of interaction and adaptation within the framework of the ever-changing environment of the eastern desert. The volume covers a wide range of disciplines, looking at both the contemporary and historical, including archaeology, biology, conservation science, Egyptology and zoology. These contributions represent the proceedings of an ACACIA (Arid Climate, Adaptation and Cultural Innovation in Africa) workshop, which was held at the University of Cologne in Germany in December 2007.

The 14 contributions have been divided into four sections, dealing primarily with past aspects of animal behaviour and distribution. The introductory chapter by Mike Herb and Frank F6rster sets the scene for the remaining contributions. In particular, its authors raise a number of key questions which resonate throughout the book, namely what do we know about the changing status of desert animals over time? What is the relationship between economic significance and ideological status in the exploitation of Saharan wildlife? And how can this information be used to inform current conservation efforts.

The first section deals with the archaeozoological evidence from late Palaeolithic to Pharaonic times, with contributions from Veerle Linseele, Wim Van Neer and Nadja P611ath. Both papers offer a wealth of collated data, with the indisputably useful addition of sound geo-referencing, well-tabulated data and extensive bibliographic references.

The second section deals with the distribution and behaviour of desert species from both a past and present perspective. Nicolas Manilus offers fascinating insights into the biogeography of the Barbary sheep (Ammotragus lervia), in particular outlining the multiple lines of evidence used to reconstruct variation in the area of distribution. Hubert Berke and Jens-Ove Heckel follow suit, with papers on the historical and contemporary behaviour and status of the Saharan gazelles (Berke), and the hartebeest (Alcdaphus buselaphus) (Heckel).

Moving back in time, the third section focuses on the techniques and implications of prehistoric hunting. This is perhaps the least coherent set of papers, with themes ranging from the role of hunting in the development of elite status (Stan Hendrickx et al.) to technologies of hunting behaviour (Heiko Riemer). Furthermore, the authors use a wide range of evidence, including rock art, faunal remains, iconography and stone structures. This mixture of methods left me with the impression of a somewhat disjointed section and the feeling that the individual papers would have been better placed in one of the other three sections, according to the line of evidence employed.

The last part of the book deals with the cultural context of animal representations in the eastern desert, with several wonderfully illustrated papers on the region's rock art and written texts. Following on from the economic and ecological focus of the preceding papers, this section delves into the realms of ritual (Fitzenreiter on the conceptualisation of animal-based foods) and the social magic incorporation of animals in ancient Egypt (Quack on the role of animals in the 'Demotic myth of the Eye of the Sun'). The book concludes with a comparative chronological chart from the Late Palaeolithic to New Kingdom rimes. Such visual aids to the different chronological and typological terms employed are ah invaluable resource, and I commend the editors for their decision to include it.

This book brings together a wide range of disciplines, techniques and theoretical approaches, and it is precisely the inter-disciplinary nature of this book which sets it apart. My main criticism is that the emphasis on past dynamics is at rimes overbearing, particularly in light of the opening statement made by John Newby that it is the very interplay between past and present that 'opened up some tremendous and hitherto unknown avenues of knowledge and research'. Whilst those avenues may well have been opened during the course of the workshop, they are not so clearly represented in this collection of essays. Nonetheless, the book does succeed in providing a diachronic perspective on desert animals, and in doing so, contributes a fascinating example of how the past can inform the present and how the future is reliant upon that information.

KATIE MANNING

Institute of Archaeology, University College London, UK

(Email: kat_mng@yahoo.co.uk)