University of South Carolina
Scholar Commons
Faculty Publications
History, Department of
2-1-1992
Columbian Consequences, Vol 2: Archaeological and
Historical Perspectives on the Spanish Borderlands
East, by David Hurst Thomas
Michael C. Scardaville
University of South Carolina - Columbia, [email protected]
Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarcommons.sc.edu/hist_facpub
Part of the History Commons
Publication Info
Published in Hispanic American Historical Review, Volume 72, Issue 1, 1992, pages 118-119.
http://www.hahr.pitt.edu/
© 1992 by Duke University Press
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ii8
I HAHR I FEBRUARY
ColumbianConsequences.Vol. 2. Archaeologicaland HistoricalPerspectiveson
the Spanish BorderlandsEast. Edited by DAVID HURST THOMAS. Washington:
Tables. Notes. xv, 586
SmithsonianInstitutionPress, 1990. Maps. Illustrations.
pp. Cloth. $6o.oo.
This handsomelyproducedanthologyis the second of a projectedthree-volume
series on the ColumbianConsequences,sponsoredby the SocietyforAmerican
Focusingon the cultural
Archaeologyin recognitionof the 1992 Quincentenary.
and biologicaleffectsof the encounterbetweenSpaniardand NativeAmerican,
the book is divided into three sectionsthatexaminethe exploration,colonization,and evangelizationof the easternSpanishBorderlands,a regionconsisting
authors,mostofwhom
of the present-daysoutheasternUnitedStates.Forty-five
contactin the
discussa varietyoftopicssuchas Spanish-Indian
are archaeologists,
sixteenthand seventeenthcenturies,the routesof Spanishexplorers,the nature
of nativesocieties,the creationofa New Worldculture,dietarypatterns,native
and
and religiousmovements,missionarchitecture,
responseto Spanishmilitary
the impactofOld Worlddiseaseson the New Worldpeoples ofcolonialFlorida.
is the argumentmade by severalcontribuOf particularinterestto historians
tors regardingthe value of historicalarchaeologyto the studyof the Spanish
Borderlands.Essaysby C. MargaretScarryand ElizabethJ. Reitz("Herbs,Fish,
SpanishFlorida")
Scum,and Vermin:SubsistenceStrategiesin Sixteenth-Century
and Clark Spencer et al. ("BeyondDemographicCollapse: BiologicalAdaptation
thatarchaeological
and Change in NativePopulationsofLa Florida")demonstrate
and culturalchange
can yieldinsightintokeyissuesofdemography
investigations
whendocumentary
materialsare lacking.Otheressays,mostnotablythosefocusthecreativeuse ofhistoricaland archaeologiingon therouteofde Soto,illustrate
thetwodisciplinesin her
integrates
cal data. KathleenA. Deagan also successfully
The
and Impactof Spanish
Process
and Resistance:
analysisof "Accommodation
in
the
Southeast."
Colonization
however,by a pervaof the two fieldsis compromised,
This rapprochement
sive sense of archaeologicalchauvinism.Archaeologyoftenis presentedas the
superiortool withwhichto examinethe Borderlands.Even Deagan succumbsto
this convictionby notingthatthe studyof an Americancolonialsocietytied to
order"requiresa globaland multicultural
perspective.Only hisan international
toricalarchaeologycan bringthisspecial perspectiveto bear on such problems"
ofarchaeological
is the superiority
(p. 226). A prevailingthemeofthisanthology
of(or perhaps
methodand evidence,an attitudefosteredby a misunderstanding
with)historicalmethodand evidence.For some,the functionofexunfamiliarity
is suspect.One
thehistoricalrecord,which,by definition,
cavationsis to confirm
aroundTampa
M. Mitchem'sarchaeologicalinvestigations
conclusionof Jeffrey
Bay is "thatviolentclashesbetween Spaniardsand NativeAmericansdid occur
in this region,as mentionedin the narratives"(p. 57). Yet questioningthe hisdoes notrestraina numberofthe authorsfromspeculating
toricaldocumentation
BOOK REVIEWS
I COLONIAL
PERIOD
119
freelyaboutthesignificance
and meaningofartifacts.
Thereseemsto be no equity
betweenhistoricaland archaeologicalcriticism.
Froma historian's
viewpoint,perhapstheanthology's
mostglaringlimitation
is
theabsence ofhistoricalcontext.Few contributors
place theexploration,
colonization,and evangelizationoftheeasternBorderlands
withinthehistoricalliterature.
One groupof authors,forinstance,statesthatPanfilode Narvaez' expeditionis
"poorlyknownin the historicalrecord"(p. 71). It becomesclear thatmuchofthe
archaeologicalworkbeing done on the easternBorderlandssuffers
froma lack of
understanding
ofthe historicalliterature
on colonialSpanishAmerica.The result
is a site-specific,
archaeologicalapproachto theBorderlandsthatmarginalizesthis
it intothe broaderframework
regionby not integrating
ofthe SpanishAmerican
Empire.
thisvolumehas muchto offer,particularly
These objectionsnotwithstanding,
its acknowledgment
of the importanceofthe easternBorderlands,long the poor
cousin of its westerncounterpart.Several essays are particularlywell crafted.
Eugene Lyon,in "The EnterpriseofFlorida,"writesof"The New BlackLegend,"
a movementin some scholarlyand public circles (and evidentin some of the
otheressaysin thisanthology)
whichaimsto renounceSpanishcolonizationin the
WesternHemisphere.In "Blood of Martyrs,Blood of Indians,"David J. Weber
masterfully
providesa more balanced view of missionaryactivitiesby incorporatingthenativeAmericanperspective.Throughan examination
offoodremains,
Elizabeth J. Reitz,in "ZooarchaeologicalEvidence forSubsistenceat La Florida
howindigenousand Europeanculinarytechniques
Missions,"creativelyillustrates
were combinedto createa new subsistencesystem.
the anthologylacksa conclusion,whichcould have provideda
Unfortunately,
as well
necessarysynthesisofthe issues-such as culturalchangeand variability
as acculturation
and accommodation-thatpermeatethevolume.
This anthologydemonstrates
thatthe conceptofthe Borderlandshas evolved
significantly
since HerbertBoltonintroducedit in the 192os. The sponsorsshould
availbe commendedformakingthe prodigiousmaterialofrecentinvestigations
able to the nonarchaeological
It is to be hoped thatthis research,
community.
and its underlyingmethodologicalassumptionsand approaches,will provokea
thathas notbeen as activein easternBorderresponsefroma historicalcommunity
ofhistorians
can a morecompreland studies.Onlywiththebroaderinvolvement
hensiveunderstanding
ofthefrontier
be achieved.
MICHAEL
C. SCARDAVILLE,
ofSouthCarolina
University
Economiay sociedad en la intendenciadel Paraguay.ByJERRY
W. COONEY.
Cen-
tro Paraguayo de Estudios Sociologicos, Lggo. Tables. 234 pp. Paper.
The creationofthe viceroyalty
ofRio de la Plata in 1776 opened an era of rapid
economicexpansionand socialtransformation
on thesouthernrimofSpain'scolo-