An Archaeology of Desperation: Exploring the Donner Party's Alder Creek Camp (review)

The overall aim of this edited volume is to employ a multidisciplinary or "holistic" approach to answer some of the lingering questions surrounding the sensational stories of survival, including cannibalism, associated with the Donner Party. The editors gathered a diverse group of experts— historical archaeologists; social, physical, and biological anthropologists; and historians—to provide a broad, comparative, social and material context with which to gain a new perspective on the people involved. The contributors draw their evidence from material culture discarded during the encampment, faunal remains, and written and oral histories. Much of what is known about the Donner Party rests on hearsay, rumors, and partial memories. Prior to archaeological research, much of the material remains were said to be removed from the camps by what the editors refer to as souvenir hunters and travelers. Thus, a good portion of the book confronts the well-known master narrative of what transpired within the Donner Party.

The book is divided into four sections; each section has its own theme. The contributors succeed in their intention to humanize the Donner Party, or at least to understand the experiences of, and choices made by, this group of pioneers comprised as it was of men, women, children, immigrants and natives—Catholics and Protestants, as well as members of the middle and laboring classes. The contributors view Victorian etiquette, mores, beliefs, and societal rules as deeply implicated in what happened to the Donner Party. They argue that this context, as well as the Industrial Revolution and the changing market economy, are necessary for a proper understanding of these people. To their credit, the contributors are able to demonstrate the relevance of these cultural trappings to the Party through attention to the material remains. Artifacts like tea cups and dinner plates that might have been found in countless homes across the United States reflect the Party's typical middle-class domesticity.

Overall, the book is coherent and well written, with something to offer a diverse readership. It does not so much correct the standard legend of cannibalism as provide a broader context for it. The archaeological and historical research reveals the stresses and structures of the people in the Donner Party as not far removed from those of Victorian society, helping to explicate their choices when they became stranded in the mountains. On the whole, the book is a great resource for comparative archaeological data, with much of interest about both material culture and theory.