Review of David W. Steadman 2006. 'Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Birds': University of Chicago Press, Chicago IL. 480 pp., 108 halftones, 133 line drawings. Cloth $110.00: ISBN: 978-0-226-77141-0 Paper $45.00 ISBN: 978-0-226-77142-7

Abstract

David Steadman is the world's leading expert in extinct Pacific birds, having participated in countless excavations on over 60 islands and examined the bulk of the faunal assemblages (25,000+ bones) collected by archaeologists over the past twenty years. Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Birds represents the magnum opus of a well documented career and contains personal anecdotes about the man himself. Of particular importance to pre-historians are many updated tables of avifauna from sites across the Pacific data which was previously unavailable. While this book contains information that is of interest to archaeologists concerned with the impacts on pristine environments by colonizing groups of humans, it is written for ornithologists not for archaeologists, a fact for which Steadman does offer a few apologies.