keeping, as one can see in Sanders and Price, Flannery, Willey, and Adams, a particular eye
on how the evolution of ideas played out in Americanist views of the evolution of
Mesoamerican civilizations.

In the fourth chapter, he covers what he sees as the beginnings of the evolution of an explicitly
Americanist Marxist archaeology, which began developing in the late 1970s and bloomed in
the 1980s. This chapter covers the works of most of Patterson's good friends and colleagues
with Marxist leanings, such as Crumley, Gailey, Gilman, and Kohl, on one hand, and contrasts
their views of the origins of state and class with the group of what Patterson assumes are now
discredited processualists such as Earle, Marcus, Renfrew, and Wright.

And in the last chapter he focuses on the 1990s, where he ruminates on how he views post-
processualism strengthening Marxist structural materialism. He speculates on the reasons for
the development of Marxist analyses beginning to influence historical archaeology, and
various Marxist re-interpretations of larger interregional historical interactions, such as
core/periphery, hierarchy/hetarchy, and ideas such as Wallerstein's 'world systems'.

Certainly anyone interested in the evolution of the archaeological ideas on the origin and
functions of states and class structures, and the political economy, will find Patterson's book
of utility. And his idea on how Americanist Marxist archaeological thought evolved will be a
great utility. But the most useful component of the book is the personal autobiographical
chapter which helps clarify the context of Patterson's various writings.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/bha.14210

Marc-Antoine Kaeser 2004 *Les Lacustres. Archéologie et mythe national*. Lausanne: Presses polytechniques et universitaires romandes. 142pp. ISBN 2-88074-587-X (paper).

Reviewed by Tim Murray

This little book is an excellent attempt to address popular (mis)understandings of a key
archaeological phenomenon – the Swiss Lake Villages. Drawing on the research he undertook
for his recently published doctoral dissertation, Kaeser addresses the history of the
phenomenon, its public reception (and incorporation into national mythologies), and then
provides the basis for a different, more complete, interpretation.

Kaeser deploys his deep understanding of both the history of research into the Lake Villages
and the more recent archaeological and geomorphological work undertaken on them in a way
that enriches understanding without 'talking down' to his audience. It is an impressive
achievement and I applaud the publisher for taking the issue seriously enough to promote
widespread discussion. Allied with Museum displays and other public fora, Les Lacustres has
the clear potential to enhance the value of archaeology at the same time as proving the general
public with the resources to achieve a new understanding of what has become a significant
part of their cultural landscape.