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handle, are also intriguing, and the book as a whole highlights the processes associated with
technological innovations. Equally importantly, the requirements for such innovations to become
established, rather than lost, in hunter-gatherer societies are considered with reference to the impacts
of group sizes, rates of innovation, and geographical isolation upon material traditions. It also
acknowledges the essential difficulties of exploring the origins of hafting, due, for example, to the
limitations of living hunter-gatherer studies and experimental archaeology, and the ongoing challenges faced by archaeologists and the potential bias in current approaches, particularly with reference
to the time gap between the potential for hafting (at c. 500,000 years ago) and the first clear evidence
for it (at c. 200,000100,000 years ago).
This is a fluently written and mostly well-illustrated book, which is very readable, with numerous
modern examples which greatly enhance the accessibility of the key concepts and arguments. There is
also a welcome emphasis on the importance of lithic technology studies. In places, the discussions of
specific topics felt slightly brief, although this is partly a consequence of the broadness of coverage, and
greater focus on chronological aspects would have been welcomed. Perhaps as a consequence of these
points, the distinctions between facts, assumptions, and speculations were sometimes a little unclear.
Overall, From Hand to Handle has a very interesting central hypothesis, but is currently only a
partially tested proposition. If the book successfully encourages further analysis of key artefact
assemblages, the development of improved chronologies, and a wider expansion of brain-scanning
experiments, then it will ultimately have achieved many of its goals.
Robert Hosfield
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00665983.2014.985043
2015, Robert Hosfield
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but most of the skeletons analysed seem to show evidence of some degree of dietary stress and/or
anaemia at times in their lives, and this may be a result of their status and gender (p. 367). The majority of
the populations also appear to have been relatively static, though with mobility again greater amongst
females, perhaps suggesting evidence for patrilocality and, by inference, male-inherited land rights (p.
368). The difference in isotope ratios between males buried with adzes and those without also suggests
social inequality amongst males within LBK society, including possible differences in land tenure.
Regarding pathology, dietary stress (cribra orbitalia) generally resulting from anaemia is more prevalent
amongst females than males, whilst post-cranial trauma, resulting from strenuous activities, is more
prevalent amongst males (Chapter 9.4). Interestingly, violence-related trauma, though noted amongst
the male population, is more prevalent amongst women and juveniles, all of which data suggest strong
gendered differentiation amongst LBK groups. Differentiation is also noted between settlement and
cemetery burials with individuals 712 years of age apparently being over-represented at settlement
burials. Surviving this age would increase chances of cemetery burial. There is also a greater variation of
burial practices (orientation, grave-goods) at settlements than at cemeteries (Chapter 9), though this may
be in part due to chronology as distinct cemeteries are a later development in the LBK. Clearly, however,
there are local variations and the picture is far more complex than this generalized review can portray. One
notable observation, however, is that the western LBK appears consistently different to the eastern, again
perhaps reflecting climate, diet, economy and, of course, date.
The title of this book, to be fair, is not a true reflection of its contents. It is much more scienceorientated than the general title suggests. That said, however, it is a real attempt to study LBK society
from its constituent parts: its people, the first farmers. It is not a text-book, it is a detailed isotopic
study and the illustrations do not so much illustrate the LBK but rather are complex histograms,
graphs, and tables presenting the data from the analyses. Those analyses are wide-ranging and complex
and, as the authors clearly state, the data are not unambiguous: we are dealing with interpretations, not
truisms. By closely allying the isotopic analyses with the total archaeology, Bickle and Whittle, and
their collaborators, are to be congratulated for this wide-ranging, detailed, innovative, and monumental study. Not only will it influence LBK studies far into the future, but it will also generate similar
projects within different regions and timeframes. The book is a must for anyone interested in the
LBK, in isotopes, and the application of science in archaeology.
Alex Gibson
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00665983.2015.1040675
2015, Alex Gibson