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Title: Secrets in the Sand: The Archaeology of Cape Cod by Fred Dunford, Greg O'Brien, John Hay ISBN: 0-940160-63-3 Publisher: Parnassus Imprints Pub. Date: October, 1997 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $30.00

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Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)

Rating: 5
Summary: Accessible, Fascinating, and Well Written
Comment: This excellent introduction to the archaeology of Cape Cod can open up a whole fascinating world, for anyone who takes the time to read it. The technical, academic jargon of archaeology is kept to an absolute minimum, and what jargon exists is always painstakingly explained.

I'd like to make a few general comments. First of all, you should be aware that the printer made a small error in the table of contents. The foreword, introduction, and acknowledgments are numbered in the text with Roman numerals, but in the table of contents they were assigned "normal," Arabic numerals. For example, "17" is written in the table of contents as the page number for one prefatory section, as opposed to "XVII." This throws off the table of contents for the first couple of chapters. Please don't give up on the book as a whole because of this minor error -- you'd be making a big mistake. Just be careful, and spend 2 minutes with a pencil to correct the table of contents in your copy. For a second general comment, I'd just like to alert you to the fact that this book is almost exclusively devoted to pre-colonial, native American archaeology. There are a few pages about remains left by the early settlers, in the chapter on Wing Island in Brewster, but most of the book focuses on the pre-historic period.

The introduction and foreword are nice to read through. They contail some personal statements by two people who worked on the book, about the importance of maintaining a childlike sense of wonder, and childlike curiosity. This excitement and wonder is part and parcel of the book -- we encounter it again, periodically throughout the text, as we read about local students and Cape residents who participate in various excavations.

The whole book is peppered with a terrific selection of maps, illustrations, and photographs. All of them are in black and white. These visual aids really add a lot to the book, and help to make it more approachable. I'd like to particularly draw your attention to the two graphic chronologies, or timelines, on pages forty-one and forty-six. You might want to bookmark those pages, because you'll find yourself referring back to them quite a bit, to get your brain oriented in anthropological or geological time. One other useful section, that you might want to pay extra close attention to, is the historical overview of Cape Cod archaeology given on pages sixteen and seventeen -- and that's in Arabic numerals, not Roman.

Part One is designed as an overview of the topic as a whole. The chapters here explore the history of the field of study of archaeology on the Cape; an anthropological overview of early native peoples in the region; and a survey of local geological (pre-)history. The geologic chapter is a good one. It includes all kinds of maps, illustrating such phenomena as glaciers, dunes, forests, etc. Make sure you spend some time on these chapters. They will help you get much more out of the second part of the book, which focuses upon specific sites.

Part Two deals with sites at Upper Mill Pond, in Brewster; Sandy Neck, to the north of Barnstable; Pochet, "the dividing place," in East Orleans; and Wing Island, in Brewster. A final chapter tries to tie together what you've learned, in an effort to create a composite overview of daily life among the Nauset peoples of Cape Cod.

The book finishes up with a glossary of archaeological terminology (which is always very user-friendly, as I mentioned earlier); a bibliography for further reading, and an index.

If you enjoy this book, I would like to alert you to the existence of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society. It's simple to find on the internet. They maintain a little museum, in Middleborough, which is a terrific resource for the archaeology of the entire state. If you'd like to specifically learn more about the archaeology of Cape Cod, try using your internet skills to find a website for the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History. They're the folks behind this fine book.

Basically, I really liked this book, and I think you will too. Two thumbs up.