Review of Fitzpatrick, Scott M. (ed.) (2004) 'Voyages of Discovery: The Archaeology of Islands', Westport CT, Praeger. ISBN: 0-2759-7947-4

Abstract

Of course, I admire the editor's candour when he says, in the first few lines of Chapter 1, that he has "a deep fascination with islands ... that have become for me a beacon of attraction, allure, and wonder" (p 3), but I also felt regret that, after umpteen decades of island archaeology, the field is evidently still dominated by non-islanders. That is not a personal criticism of Fitzpatrick, or any of the contributors to the fine volume of papers he has put together. Much the same as Fitzpatrick, I am a non-islander ('sensu stricto') who has the same deep fascination ... but I have been associated with island archaeology long enough to understand that most islanders do not share this fascination, nor do they view their island homes with wonder. This is nothing new. Scientists writing about islands – from Wallace and Darwin in the 19th century to dozens more recently – have flagged their "unusual" and "wonderful" nature. But this depends on your world view. Most islanders that I know do not consider their homes unusual or especially wonderful. These are sentiments commonly expressed by the continent-bound, often when confronted by an island that contrasts starkly to anything that their continental experience has prepared them for. So for Colin Renfrew in this volume (Chapter 14), a defining characteristic of islands is that they tend to 'feel' remote: almost as remote as Cambridge might feel to a transplanted Mauritian. In contrast, I found the position of Moss (Chapter 8) refreshing; she does not consider herself an 'island archaeologist' (and was thus bemused at the invitation to contribute to this volume) because the Alaskan islands on which she works are not 'insular'. Interaction is a major theme of most of the chapters in this book, and is perhaps that which could be regarded as the thematic highlight, given that contrasting views are given by two of the foremost thinkers on the subject as applied to island archaeology: Atholl Anderson and John Terrell.