History in the Making

Reviews / Votes

Anthropologist Holly, a leading scholar on the history of ethnographic and archaeological research in the eastern subarctic, presents the changing interpretations of cultural development and adaptation in the subarctic within the context of a changing environment. Early investigators viewed the region as a marginal boreal forest environment with a sparse hunting and gathering population. As research progressed, knowledge that population fluctuations were due to variable weather patterns that impacted resource distributions replaced this interpretation. This is an up-to-date synthesis of 10,000 years of the archaeological record of Amerindian and Paleoeskimo coastal and interior adaptations and population interactions in Newfoundland, Labrador, and eastern Quebec. Far-flung social and trading networks arose throughout the eastern subarctic and beyond by 4000 BCE, continuing intermittently to 1500 CE. Holly explores European contact with the Vikings, later Basque whalers, and fishing fleets, and establishment of permanent settlements, which had a profound impact on Beothuk, Innu, Inuit, and Mi'kmaq societies. Well illustrated with maps, graphics, and photos, this superb history of 100-plus years of research demonstrates that, far from early perceptions of a backward region of marginal hunters and gatherers, this was a region of complex, dynamic interactions between different ethnic groups and the changing landscape they inhabited. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, faculty. * Choice Reviews * The book is clearly written, using nontechnical language. Holly has an easy writing style, weaving together complex information from a variety of sources. The reference section is robust, making it a wonderful starting point for further reading. . . .Anyone with an interest in the Arctic and Subarctic should have History in the Making in their library. Holly has produced a comprehensive, current, and compelling synthesis of the archaeology of the eastern Subarctic, providing both a critical history of research and interpretation and a description of our current understanding of that research. * Alaska Journal of Anthropolgy * Holly brings nearly two decades of experience researching and writing about the Eastern Subarctic. . . .[Holly] offers thorough diachronic accounts of changing climates and descriptions of local environments that are nuanced, balanced, and evocative . . . This approach strengthens Holly's theoretical assertion of how history is made. . . .While this book is intended for a professional audience, Holly has written an accessible volume that will be valuable to non-specialists, too. He is clear in his explanations for both his own reasoning and the underpinnings of other theories, giving this book . . . potential for use in the classroom. The writing is clear and straightforward, and the book itself is concise, despite its thoroughness. . . .[Holly] has provided an excellent and important text. * Canadian Journal of Archaeology * Holly's descriptions of the lifeways of the various groups who called the eastern subarctic home are convincing and grounded in concisely summarized archaeological data. In History in the Making, we have an archaeological and ethnological account of eastern subarctic cultures that reads as a history of these groups. What's more, the text is written in an approachable and well-crafted manner that makes it a pleasure to read for any archaeologist regardless of her or his familiarity with the region. . . .History in the Making clearly demonstrates the need for more, similar historicizing accounts in archaeological interpretation. * American Antiquity * Don Holly has stepped into this intellectual lacuna and done a masterful job in distilling and interpreting historical observations and archaeological excavations to reveal the culture and history of the Innu, Beothuk, Inuit, and their predecessors. History in the Making: The Archaeology of the Eastern Subarctic winds between the poignancy of historical records and archaeological assemblages to provide a stunning synthesis of the archaeology, history and ethnography of the Native peoples of the Far Northeast, that is Newfoundland and adjacent Labrador. This is a masterful regional synthesis and long overdue. -- Stephen Loring, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History Don Holly's History in the Making: The Archaeology of the Eastern Subarctic is a welcome and up-to-date synthesis of archaeological research about the past 10,000 years of human history in the eastern Subarctic, collectively encompassing a mosaic of Amerindian, Palaeoeskimo, Inuit and early European cultures. Holly's account is a historiography of this region, starting with foundational work and extending to the most recent research, which is based on new data and new perspectives. While setting the story of Subarctic cultures securely in ecological context, Holly also addresses how these past populations were actively making choices and creating their own history and destiny, often in the complex world of other populations. Not only is this account full and informative, it is lyrically written and a pleasure to read. -- Priscilla Renouf, Canada Research Chair in North Atlantic Archaeology, Department of Archaeology, Memorial University of Newfoundland