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An Archaeology of Materials: Substantial Transformation in Early Prehistoric Europe , by Chantal Conneller, 2011. Oxford: Routledge; ISBN 0978-0-415-88130-2 hardback £80 & US$125; ix+158 pp., 21 figs., 1 table

organic remains from small seeds to large, relict tree trunks, which were all carefully mapped. These studies reveal a productive and diverse agricultural system starting with the Early Nasca period that included the cultivation of cotton, maize, guayaba, pacay, common beans and squash. Evidence of agricultural intensification in the Late Nasca and MH is indicated by the addition of crops such as chilli pepper, pallar beans and possibly the sacred plant coca as well as an increased occurrence of weedy species such as chenopods, Solanum and asterids. Crucial to his argument for the central role of huarango is the presence of its wood, leaf litter (called poña) and seeds throughout all time periods. There is, however, a significant decline in its pollen in the Late Nasca and MH periods. As Prosopis declines, pollen of maize and weedy, salt-tolerant species such as amaranths/ chenopods and grasses increase, complementing the pattern of land clearance for agriculture seen in the macrobotanical remains. Without the stability provided by the huarango, the landscape was especially vulnerable to damage by flooding. In Chapters Six to Ten, Beresford-Jones turns to botanical, ecological, historical and anthropological sources to construct his argument that the huarango tree was a crucial player in the rise and fall of Nasca society. Although Beresford-Jones convincingly argues that Propospis deforestation began in pre-Columbian times, Chapter Six details the nearly complete destruction of these habitats during the colonial and modern eras of human history in Peru. In Chapters Seven and Eight, he describes the biology and ecology of the huarango (summarized above in the introduction), and how it functions as a keystone species of the riverine environments of the arid coast. Beresford-Jones bolsters his argument for the central role of huarango in the Nasca riparian environments by describing an analogous scenario from the southwestern region of the United States. Here, rich ethnohistorical, ethnographic and archaeological data document how another species of Prosopis, known as mesquite, contributed to the highly productive, anthropogenic landscapes maintained by the Akimel O’odam, and their Hohokam ancestors, in the arid Salta and Pima River basins. This serves not only as an example of what the lower Ica Valley may have looked like during the EIP, but also illustrates how overharvesting of Prosopis trees and mismanagement of limited water supplies, in this case by European settlers, can lead to the collapse of these fragile ecosystems and the people who depend on them. This book reflects an important trend in archaeological and anthropological research that takes a more balanced approach in constructing explanations of human–environment interactions. Here, humans are not simply adapting to environmental variables, nor are they completely logical or harmonious in the use and management of their surroundings. Beresford-Jones places this study within the new paradigm of historical ecology, which in its original formulation stressed a dialectic relationship between humans and the environment. In my opinion, more recent publications by historical ecologists have tended to overemphasize the ingenuity of humans placing them as the most significant ‘keystone species’ and often overlooking the fascinating roles or responses of plant and animal communities. This book is an excellent contribution to this literature as it gives equal weight and consideration to the agency of human and non-human actors, particularly the huarango. While this book will certainly be of interest to researchers, it is also an excellent resource for teaching. It is an obvious fit for courses in Environmental Archaeology, nicely illustrating the utility and complementarity of geological, botanical and zoological data sets. Additionally, many universities in the United States and United Kingdom are developing courses of study in sustainability that incorporate examples of past human–environment interactions in order to understand or deal with current issues such as desertification, global warming, and loss of biodiversity. This book would fit nicely into such a curriculum.