Levanna: Interpretation and Controversy in New York Archaeology, 1923–2018 by Jack Rossen consists of six, sometimes disparate, chapters with 18 tables and 43 figures, some of which are formed from composite images and table sections. The tables and figures are organized by chapter, with two unnumbered map figures of the Haudenosaunee territory and Levanna site as front material, but there is no list of tables or figures in the table of contents. Most figures are reproductions of historic black-and-white photos of the site, its features, and the many characters involved in the story or are simple line drawings of archaeological excavations and features. The overall image quality is fair, with varying degrees of effectiveness in portraying information and helping the reader; there are also some formatting issues.
Jack Rossen uses the Levanna site to tell a gripping story about the history of archaeology in New York State with a cast of characters ranging from those engaged in intrigue and deceit involving a series of likely fraudulent animal effigies made of fire-cracked rock, to the flourishing SHARE (Strengthening Haudenosaunee American Relations through Education) farm, and an exemplary program of Indigenous archaeology resulting in the reestablishment of a Cayuga Nation homeland. This story takes us from the foundations of the archaeology of New York State to recent reinterpretations of fundamentally accepted precontact Haudenosaunee subsistence and settlement patterns; it explores the dichotomy between conceptions of Indigenous nations as warlike communities situated in defensive positions as opposed to more peaceful, less militaristic societies practicing more open land use. The author understandably falls into the trap of using the same typologies and concepts that he critiques as evidence for his reinterpretation.
The Levanna site was initially described as a single-component site dating to the late tenth century AD and served as the type site for William Ritchie's establishment of the Levanna projectile point type and the notion of the Owasco culture as antecedent to Iroquoian culture. Additional excavation and radiocarbon dating have resulted in the reinterpretation of the site as having two periods of occupation. Rossen describes the early phase as a proto-longhouse phase dating to the tenth to eleventh century AD, and a later occupation extends from the twelfth to thirteenth century AD. The realities of precontact landscape use in this location, however, are likely considerably more complicated. The site appears unplowed and therefore better preserved than sites in a plow-zone setting. It has yielded a variety of features including hearths, storage pits, fire-cracked rock piles, and post molds representing house structures of some kind but not typical longhouse structures common to village sites after the thirteenth century. The amount and diversity of pottery at the site are remarkable, and a wide array of other artifacts and eco-facts representing well-preserved food remains have been collected and analyzed in detail.
Chapter 1 and the other front material are short, focusing on changes in archaeological theory and practice in New York, the migration versus in situ debate of Iroquoian geographic origins, and the origins of the Haudenosaunee confederacy, along with the Cayuga SHARE farm project. Credit is graciously given to the many people who contributed to this project along the way. Chapter 2 details early archaeological investigations of the Levanna site, in the 1920s and 1930s, with attention to personalities and conflict, the once-famous outdoor museum, and the controversy surrounding the effigies; it extends to pre-1950s archaeology in New York. Chapter 3 introduces Indigenous voices at the Levanna site, in contemporary archaeology and in reexploring the origins of the Haudenosaunee. Chapter 4 resituates the Levanna site in archaeological and historic context based on the 2007–2009 excavations, again giving credit where credit is due to Indigenous and student participants. It comes off like a site report in terms of presentation and writing style but covers a broad array of material culture analysis and results. Chapter 5 complements the reconsideration of Levanna with the introduction of the Meyers farm site, contemplating Cayuga origins and lifeways, feasting, and peaceful coexistence. Chapter 6 successfully ties it all together in just a few pages.
In writing this book, the author is attempting to accomplish a great deal, and some of it he does very successfully. Rossen is a strong proponent of Indigenous archaeology and is among its earliest and most successful practitioners in the region. The book feels like something he wrote before moving on to another aspect of his career and his life—something so compelling for Rossen that he had to get it into professional and public view, a notion supported by his own words. The reader is guided on a journey through time by a narrative style as explained in the preface.
Because the book is a cobbling together of different content types and writing styles, it is a bit choppy at times, but it does serve Rossen's goals well, and the result is a well-told story with elements of intrigue and periods of rapid page turning. The reader is carefully guided from section to section in a way that is helpful for understanding both intent and content and that emphasizes how to follow the logic of the manner in which the book is written and structured. I learned new things about the founders of the practice of archaeology of New York and about the potential for Indigenous archaeology and community outreach to have positive impacts on the discipline. This insider perspective will be of great interest to anyone familiar with New York archaeology or working in related fields. The brush with fame experienced at Levanna and the timely social and professional commentary provided make the book appealing to a much wider audience.
