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Show 108 UTAH ARCHAEOLOGY 1993 The Desert's Past: A Natural Prehistory of himself, did not discover and report John Fremont's the Great Basin, by Donald K. Grayson. howitzer. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. 1993. xix, 356 pages, 90 figures, 45 tables. $44.95 cloth. Reviewed by: Dave N. Schmitt Antiquities Section Division of State History 300 Rio Grande Salt Lake City, UT 84101 Let's get right to the point. Donald Grayson's The Desert's Past is an elegant, well-written, and compelling book. Whether it finds its place on your coffee table or in your office library or classroom, The Desert's Past is a must. The primary focus of Grayson's research over the past two decades has been Pleistocene and Holocene mammalian biogeography, and one might expect that he produce a book on the natural prehistory of the Great Basin that was largely oriented toward Great Basin mammals. Well, the mammals are there, but so is just about everything else. Combining a storyteller's narrative with scientific data and prose, Grayson offers an engrossing portrait of 20,000 years of Great Basin hydrology, geology, vegetation, and human history. Whether it's Pleistocene extinctions, early Holocene climatic change in the southern deserts, prehistoric Numic expansion, or the fate of the Dormer Party, Grayson covers all the bases, often addressing a number of regional debates that result in captivating, thought provoking text. Aside from its well-integrated content and extensive bibliography, yet another highlight of The Desert's Past is its structure. Each chapter concludes with a "Notes" section that offers regional tidbits (e.g., "the Churchill County Museum is located at 1050 South Main Street, in Fallon. Whether or not you opt for the Hidden Cave tour, this excellent museum is well worth the visit.") and directs the reader to the specifics outlined in the text (e.g., "Van Devender [1990b] presents his arguments for strengthened monsoons in the Sonoran Desert during the middle Holocene; those who feel the Sonoran Desert middle Holocene was warm and/or dry include, among others, S. A. Hall [1985] and Spaulding [1991]"). The Desert's Past is an impressive synthesis of Great Basin natural history and archaeology; given its detailed coverage, I am surprised that Grayson, |
