Ancient Encounters: Kennewick Man and the First Americans Review

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(More customer reviews)I read Dr. Chatters' book in one sitting, and highly recommend it to ALL readers interested in the earliest peoples of the Americas. As the first scientist (& one of the few) to observe the Kennewick skeleton, and having been directly involved in the controversy which has swirled around the remains, this is clearly a very personal account for Chatters. It really comes across that he'd probably NOT have chosen to be embroiled in this sort of issue; but he is uncompromising in his conclusion: the bones are NOT those of an individual we call "American Indian".
The history of the find and ensuing battles between scientists, native groups, and the government is riveting (and unpromising to the future of archaeology in this country). Chatters also goes the extra mile and compares his find to all the other known ancient American skeletal remains, which gives this book a general picture of the state of "early Americans" studies which ensures that I will use this book as a text for my upcoming course on the subject.
A couple of minor things keeps this book from being "perfect", in my opinion. First, since he trusts us to follow the "Caucasoid-but-not-Caucasian" osteological discussion, it could have been enhanced by some simple diagram of the 3 major modern skull "ethnic" groups, showing major points where early Americans do and DO NOT resemble these types. Second, although there were ample references in the endnotes, a few assertions were tossed off and never referenced (The one that bothered me most: mention of a biface-and-blade stone tool technology in Japan that is a putative ancestor to Clovis technology in the Americas. As a stone tool specialist, I know of no such technology which is acclaimed as similar to Clovis, and an extensive search-in lieu of any original reference Chatters might have supplied-turned up nothing new.)
However, general readers will not be bothered by these tiny esoteric omissions. It is the definitive account of Kennewick Man, and was told in an exciting fashion that puts most fictional mysteries to shame. Bravo, Dr. Chatters.

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Judeophobia: Attitudes toward the Jews in the Ancient World Review

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(More customer reviews)The author places the roots of classical anti-Semitism in Egypt, and although the texts he quotes are mostly in Greek, he clearly points the finger at the Egyptian natives, not the colonizers, as the source of the prejudice. The first pogrom against a Jewish community in the diaspora occurred in Egypt in the 5th century, when a Jewish place of worship was burned down in a riot instigated by Egyptian priests assisted by renegade Persian overlords. Five hundred years later in Alexandria there was another pogrom, destruction of synagogues and Jewish homes and property, and herding of Jews into a ghetto, by native Egyptians with the support of renegade Greek overlords. The author recognizes that there are anti-Semitic passages in the Roman authors too, but says the situation there is more "complex," and not as serious. In my view, the author places too much weight on the niceties of specific texts, and ignores the fact that those renegades responsible for the pogrom in Alexandria were executed, while in pagan Rome within two centuries two official decrees exiled either the entire Jewish community in the city or significant parts of it. Which is more anti-Semitic, an official decree that exiles an entire community, or a riot by renegades that meets with severe official punishment? The responsibility for anti-Jewish agitation in the ancient world is wider than the author wants us to believe. Nevertheless this is a well written book by a scholar of Judaism with a bent for classical languages that is unusual in this field.

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