The book’s Introduction
contains an explicit homage to “Adney & Chapelle” and a description of that
book’s origins. It then goes on to describe the rationale for the present study,
which basically boils down to two facts: in spite of the vast region’s long and
pervasive use of these types of watercraft, the subject has never been systematically
studied; and most studies of particular boats or types in the region are not
available in English – or, indeed, in any Western European language. The
Introduction then defines the geographic area of the study and the types of
boats under consideration.
Chapter 1 describes
the geography of northern Eurasia, including overviews of its climate zones, and
river systems, cultures and their histories, and a brief contextualization of
the region’s archaeology and the relationship between boat studies in northern
Eurasia and North America.
Chapter 2,
titled “Boat Classification, Construction, and Regional Distribution”, is
essentially a summary and synthesis of Chapters 3-9, each of which focuses on a
different geographic sub-region of northern Eurasia. The authors present a
typology of the region’s various bark canoes and skin boats, based on major construction
methods and morphology, and divided along lines of geography and culture
groups. The authors conclude that bark canoe types tend to be fairly consistent
within major river basins, even if more than one culture is resident, and that this
intra-basin consistency is greater than that found among single cultures whose
territories run across two or more river basins. The authors also draw
attention to the large varieties of open and decked skin boats, both of which
were found to be widely distributed across the region among a great many of its
cultures.
One might
question the placement of this chapter before, rather than after, the
presentation of data in chapters 3-9. For scholars who are knowledgable about Eurasian
cultures, this will make good sense, as a summary and synthesis may be primarily
what is needed, and the reader can use it as a guide to targeted reading of the
following chapters. For many readers, though, it may prove confusing or
frustrating, as much of the geography and many of the cultures discussed will
be unfamiliar to most Westerners. For readers (myself included) who don’t know
the Vepsians, the Evenks, the Yugra, the Kereks, and many other cultures mentioned,
the chapter is somewhat bewildering, in spite of brief overviews in the
Introduction. Such readers might be advised to read this chapter later.
The real
meat of the book appears in chapters 3-9, concerning Northern Europe (Ch. 3; Germany,
southern Baltics, Fennoscandia); Northeastern Europe (Ch. 4; eastern Baltics, western
Urals); Western Siberia (Ch. 5); Central Siberia (Ch. 6); Eastern Siberia (Ch. 7);
Pacific Siberia (Ch. 8; Chukotka, Kamchatka, and the Kuril Islands); and the
Far East (Ch. 9; Manchuria, Sakhalin Island, China, and northern Japan).
As the
authors note, it is ironic that northern Europe – the area probably most
familiar to most readers, and the one for which there is the best historic
literature – has the poorest archaeological record for bark canoes and skin
boats. The reader is introduced to the authors’ method, in which data are
presented in detail and analyzed at length. There are lengthy descriptions of
the ethnohistorical data and the archaeological evidence. For example,
prehistoric Scandinavian rock art depictions of boats have been addressed by
several authors, and no agreement has yet been reached within the archaeology
community as to whether these petroglyphs represent logboats, skin boats, bark
canoes, or even watercraft at all. Luukkanen and Fitzhugh review the arguments in
detail and at length and bring new data and interpretations to the debate, but
are cautious of reaching firm conclusions. This may be disappointing for those
looking for straightforward answers, but it is intellectually honest to an
extent not always seen in maritime archaeology – much less in books written for
non-specialist, “enthusiast” audiences.
Most
chapters follow a regular organization: the geographic sub-region is introduced
and the deep history of its cultures described. This is highly useful to those readers
who are unfamiliar with the numerous cultures. The general archaeology for the region’s
cultural history is presented, followed by separate sections on each of individual
cultures to be discussed. Within each section, the archaeological evidence for
boat usage – much of which is often indirect – is presented first, followed by historical
and ethnohistorical data. As archaeological evidence is generally scanty, it is
not until the latter stages that we typically get images of boats, details of
construction, and descriptions of usage. The ethnohistorical data varies a
great deal in quality, from mere mentions by early explorers or merchants of
the existence of certain boat types among the various nations, to the careful (but
unfortunately rare) descriptions of boat structure and construction by trained
observers. Likewise, the accompanying figures vary from the highly romanticized
and technically inaccurate renderings one sees in travelogues and maps from the
16th and 17th centures, to careful, precise boat surveys
that show the boats’ lines and construction details, and photographs of
full-size boats in use in the early 20th century and models in
museum collections.
The final
chapter, called an Epilogue, by Arctic boat scholar Evguenia (Jenya)
Anichtchenko, addresses the relationship between the Eurasian and North
American boat traditions. This presents the data and theories for diffusion
between the two regions, and notes the surprisingly thin evidence for much direct
influence across the narrow Bering Strait.
Overall, The
Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of Northern Eurasia provides a comprehensive,
fine-grained look at its subject as ethnology, concentrating on the evidence from
archaeology and ethnohistory. Those expecting a Eurasian equivalent to The
Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America may be disappointed. The older book’s
strengths are in its descriptions of construction methods and structural
details, and especially, in the quality of the boat plans. These were possible
because Adney and Chapelle were writing about boat traditions which, although
on their last legs, were still extant. Construction by individuals brought up
in the indigenous traditions could still be observed and documented, and the
boats themselves could still be surveyed in detail. The result was a book that
has often served as a construction manual – complete with designs – for countless
individuals to build their own replicas.
This was
not possible for the boats of Eurasia. Most of the boats discussed disappeared
generations or centuries ago – before there was a chance for much ethnographic recording.
This means that construction methods are generally described in far less detail
– if at all – and boat plans are few. Unfortunately for the enthusiast, those
that are present are generally reproduced too small to be of practical use, and
this criticism can be applied to the art program of the book in general. With
few exceptions, figures are reproduced to the width of one column on the
two-column pages, making legibility poor for drawings and photographs alike. Drawings
produced especially for the book, mostly for the purpose of typological
description or clarification, are sketchy and not of professional quality,
making it difficult to understand differences in boat types. Maps, on the other
hand, are excellent and are reproduced at full page width, for good legibility.
All illustrations are in black and white only, which is not a liablity, since
only a very few recent photos of boat models in museum collections would have
been created in color.
The amount
of detail and the length of some discussions can be heavy going, but they
provide excellent perspectives on what is known, what can be surmised, and what
is debatable. By highlighting open questions, the authors have set out
challenges, or even roadmaps, to other researchers who, I expect, will respond
with future research papers and possibly some PhD theses.
The Bark
Canoes and Skin Boats of Northern Eurasia is a major contribution to ethnological boat studies.
Particularly for those familiar mainly with the boats of North America and western
Europe, it is a broad and comprehensive introduction to the archaeology and
history of small craft of a region rarely discussed in the English-language
literature. It will take its place as an essential reference, next to The
Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America, not as a sequel, but in its
own right.
--
The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of Northern Eurasia
by Harri Luukkanen and William W. Fitzhugh
Smithsonian Books, Washington DC
$64.00; 276 pages
ISBN 978-1-58834-475-5