American Geographical Society

Historia de la Ciudad Argentina by Amilcar RazoriGeographical Review, Vol. 38, No. 1 (Jan., 1948), pp. 164-165Published by: American Geographical SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/210757 .

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THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

LA METALLURGIE EN AMERIQUE PRECOLOMBIENNE. By P. RIVET and H. ARSANDAUX. 254 pp.; map, ills., bibliogr., indexes. Trav. et Memoires de l'Inst. d'Ethnol., Vol. 39, Paris, 1946.

This valuable study treats of the geographical distribution of aboriginal metallurgical skills in the New World as determined by the chemical analysis of metallic artifacts. Original assays were made of the objects in the Musee de l'Homme, Paris, and in one private collec- tion, and the results were summarized with analyses already published. Metallurgical pro- cedures, as implied by the occurrence of specific alloys, are discussed in detail, and a small- scale map of North and South America is included to show their aboriginal distribution. Five metallurgical culture areas are delimited.

The authors reaffirm the prevalent opinion that metallurgy was independently invented

by the American Indian. The working of gold preceded that of copper in South America.

Goldsmithing reached its highest development in Colombia, Panama, and Costa Rica. Even

platinum was worked in northern Ecuador and western Colombia. Silversmithing appeared earliest on the Peruvian littoral, whereas bronze seems to have originated on the Andean

plateau. The metallurgical arts of coastal Peru and of Mexico were extraordinarily similar in

recent prehistory. But the Peruvian skills go far back archeologically and exhibit a steady elaboration through time, whereas the Mexican skills have shallow roots and appear prac- tically full-blown. Metallurgy was unknown to the Teotihuacan culture and probably to the Mayan Old Empire. M. Rivet believes that metalworking was introduced into Mexico about the IIth century of our era by Peruvian traders who came northward on balsa rafts.

The manuscript was completed in 194I. A bibliography of more than 340 items is

appended.-HENRY BRUMAN

HISTORIA DE LA CIUDAD ARGENTINA. By AMILCAR RAZORI. Vol. I, 625 pp.; Vol. 2, 522 pp.; Vol. 3, 562 pp.; maps, indexes. Imprenta Lopez, Buenos Aires, I945. IOX1 x

7 inches.

In this three-volume study of urban organization in the Argentine Republic the author has

actually produced a history of the discovery, exploration, conquest, and settlement of that

country, together with what has been gleaned of the precolonial life of the aboriginal inhabitants from descriptions of their towns, villages, and fortresses in colonial records and from the examination of archeological remains. Because, as he states in his introduc- tion, he was convinced that the "origins of the nuclear groups reveal the geographical, economic, or political causes, the individual or collective forces, the physical, natural, or ethnical motives that were the bases for the founding, development, and permanence of the urban form" in his country, he set himself the task of investigating "the forms of the

precolonial aboriginal nucleations and the different periods of foreign colonization and their diverse systems of internal urbanization" and of following "the native human mass, whether foreign-born or creole, in its hard battle to gain dominion over the Argentine land and the enjoyment of its resources, because in this four-century progression the urban organ- ization is always the primary instrument of effective conquest." In compiling this material for more than a thousand urban centers, he assembled a multitude of details concerning their background, founding, layout, administration, and development. The result is a purely factual history quite devoid of narration, literary description, or biography, which is by

LA METALLURGIE EN AMERIQUE PRECOLOMBIENNE. By P. RIVET and H. ARSANDAUX. 254 pp.; map, ills., bibliogr., indexes. Trav. et Memoires de l'Inst. d'Ethnol., Vol. 39, Paris, 1946.

This valuable study treats of the geographical distribution of aboriginal metallurgical skills in the New World as determined by the chemical analysis of metallic artifacts. Original assays were made of the objects in the Musee de l'Homme, Paris, and in one private collec- tion, and the results were summarized with analyses already published. Metallurgical pro- cedures, as implied by the occurrence of specific alloys, are discussed in detail, and a small- scale map of North and South America is included to show their aboriginal distribution. Five metallurgical culture areas are delimited.

The authors reaffirm the prevalent opinion that metallurgy was independently invented

by the American Indian. The working of gold preceded that of copper in South America.

Goldsmithing reached its highest development in Colombia, Panama, and Costa Rica. Even

platinum was worked in northern Ecuador and western Colombia. Silversmithing appeared earliest on the Peruvian littoral, whereas bronze seems to have originated on the Andean

plateau. The metallurgical arts of coastal Peru and of Mexico were extraordinarily similar in

recent prehistory. But the Peruvian skills go far back archeologically and exhibit a steady elaboration through time, whereas the Mexican skills have shallow roots and appear prac- tically full-blown. Metallurgy was unknown to the Teotihuacan culture and probably to the Mayan Old Empire. M. Rivet believes that metalworking was introduced into Mexico about the IIth century of our era by Peruvian traders who came northward on balsa rafts.

The manuscript was completed in 194I. A bibliography of more than 340 items is

appended.-HENRY BRUMAN

HISTORIA DE LA CIUDAD ARGENTINA. By AMILCAR RAZORI. Vol. I, 625 pp.; Vol. 2, 522 pp.; Vol. 3, 562 pp.; maps, indexes. Imprenta Lopez, Buenos Aires, I945. IOX1 x

7 inches.

In this three-volume study of urban organization in the Argentine Republic the author has

actually produced a history of the discovery, exploration, conquest, and settlement of that

country, together with what has been gleaned of the precolonial life of the aboriginal inhabitants from descriptions of their towns, villages, and fortresses in colonial records and from the examination of archeological remains. Because, as he states in his introduc- tion, he was convinced that the "origins of the nuclear groups reveal the geographical, economic, or political causes, the individual or collective forces, the physical, natural, or ethnical motives that were the bases for the founding, development, and permanence of the urban form" in his country, he set himself the task of investigating "the forms of the

precolonial aboriginal nucleations and the different periods of foreign colonization and their diverse systems of internal urbanization" and of following "the native human mass, whether foreign-born or creole, in its hard battle to gain dominion over the Argentine land and the enjoyment of its resources, because in this four-century progression the urban organ- ization is always the primary instrument of effective conquest." In compiling this material for more than a thousand urban centers, he assembled a multitude of details concerning their background, founding, layout, administration, and development. The result is a purely factual history quite devoid of narration, literary description, or biography, which is by

I64 I64

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GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEWS GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEWS

no means to be recommended for consecutive reading. It is, rather, a compendium to be consulted.

A map (in two sheets) shows the locations of known precolonial aboriginal urban settlements in relation to present-day cities and towns, and another shows the distribution of typical urban settlements of the various periods, but many more are needed. The name index is, naturally, a practically exhaustive list of the persons who have built the republic.

TRAITE D'OCEANOGRAPHIE PHYSIQUE. By J. RoucH. Vol. i, Sondages, 256 pp.; maps, diagrs., ills. Vol. 2, L'eau de mer, 349 Pp.; maps, diagrs., ills. (Bibliotheque Scien-

tifique.) Payot, Paris, I943 and I946. 220 fr. each. 9 x 512 inches.

These two volumes are the first and second parts of a course in physical oceanography given by the author at the Oceanographic Institute in Paris.

The first volume may be broken down into five principal subdivisions: methods of

sounding; sonic and supersonic sounding; bottom sampling methods and the general nature of the sea bottom; bathymetric charts; and bathymetric features of the world's oceans. Much of the text is concerned with methods and equipment long since discarded, and of

purely historical interest; it is characterized by a paucity of bibliography. It appears that the work is based chiefly on publications of Berget, Thoulet, Richard,

and others formerly associated with the French Oceanographic Institute. Some inclusion of modern material is indicated by references to Schott's geographies of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and to occasional reports of the North Atlantic expedition of the Meteor. Little use has been made of the numerous oceanographic cruises of American oceanographic institutions, the data from which were published in the Bulletin Hydrographique of the Conseil Permanent International pour l'Exploration de la Mer,

The second volume, it is stated, is limited to current research with which the author himself has had experience.

Its contents fall into three general subdivisions: conservative properties of sea water

(temperature and salinity) and their general relationships to the physical structure of the oceans; biologically significant nonconservative properties (hydrogen-ion concentration, phosphates, nitrates, and dissolved gases); and color, transparency, and ice formation. As in the first volume, paucity of bibliography and reference to modern oceanographic research is striking.

It is unfortunate that publication of these two volumes could not have been delayed until it was possible to include results of the accelerated wartime oceanographic research. They stand in sharp contrast with the comprehensive texts of Sverdrup and his coauthors and of Defant and with reviews of extensive wartime oceanographic work that have appeared in Britain, Germany, Japan, and this country. Although the work of the early Monacan and French oceanographers was fundamental to the science of oceanography, and the greatness of their contributions is a matter of record, modern oceanography must be studied in the light of modern research. Physical oceanography today is a highly specialized science, which

incorporates advances of other natural sciences, and its methods and instrumentation cannot be deduced from studies of early efforts. It is significant that the basic research results available at the beginning of the war which formed the groundwork for the wartime advances in oceanography are to a great extent missing from M. Rouch's work.-H. R. SEIWELL

no means to be recommended for consecutive reading. It is, rather, a compendium to be consulted.

A map (in two sheets) shows the locations of known precolonial aboriginal urban settlements in relation to present-day cities and towns, and another shows the distribution of typical urban settlements of the various periods, but many more are needed. The name index is, naturally, a practically exhaustive list of the persons who have built the republic.

TRAITE D'OCEANOGRAPHIE PHYSIQUE. By J. RoucH. Vol. i, Sondages, 256 pp.; maps, diagrs., ills. Vol. 2, L'eau de mer, 349 Pp.; maps, diagrs., ills. (Bibliotheque Scien-

tifique.) Payot, Paris, I943 and I946. 220 fr. each. 9 x 512 inches.

These two volumes are the first and second parts of a course in physical oceanography given by the author at the Oceanographic Institute in Paris.

The first volume may be broken down into five principal subdivisions: methods of

sounding; sonic and supersonic sounding; bottom sampling methods and the general nature of the sea bottom; bathymetric charts; and bathymetric features of the world's oceans. Much of the text is concerned with methods and equipment long since discarded, and of

purely historical interest; it is characterized by a paucity of bibliography. It appears that the work is based chiefly on publications of Berget, Thoulet, Richard,

and others formerly associated with the French Oceanographic Institute. Some inclusion of modern material is indicated by references to Schott's geographies of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and to occasional reports of the North Atlantic expedition of the Meteor. Little use has been made of the numerous oceanographic cruises of American oceanographic institutions, the data from which were published in the Bulletin Hydrographique of the Conseil Permanent International pour l'Exploration de la Mer,

The second volume, it is stated, is limited to current research with which the author himself has had experience.

Its contents fall into three general subdivisions: conservative properties of sea water

(temperature and salinity) and their general relationships to the physical structure of the oceans; biologically significant nonconservative properties (hydrogen-ion concentration, phosphates, nitrates, and dissolved gases); and color, transparency, and ice formation. As in the first volume, paucity of bibliography and reference to modern oceanographic research is striking.

It is unfortunate that publication of these two volumes could not have been delayed until it was possible to include results of the accelerated wartime oceanographic research. They stand in sharp contrast with the comprehensive texts of Sverdrup and his coauthors and of Defant and with reviews of extensive wartime oceanographic work that have appeared in Britain, Germany, Japan, and this country. Although the work of the early Monacan and French oceanographers was fundamental to the science of oceanography, and the greatness of their contributions is a matter of record, modern oceanography must be studied in the light of modern research. Physical oceanography today is a highly specialized science, which

incorporates advances of other natural sciences, and its methods and instrumentation cannot be deduced from studies of early efforts. It is significant that the basic research results available at the beginning of the war which formed the groundwork for the wartime advances in oceanography are to a great extent missing from M. Rouch's work.-H. R. SEIWELL

This content downloaded from 169.229.32.137 on Thu, 8 May 2014 22:22:31 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions