Guthrie, R. Dale, 1990

Reviewed by Alwynne B. Beaudoin, Archaeological Survey,
Provincial Museum of Alberta, Edmonton, in CAP Newsletter 14(1):16, 1991.

"Blue Babe" is the nickname Dale Guthrie gave to a 36,000 year old bison carcass exposed during placer gold mining near Fairbanks, Alaska, its bluish tinge given by a coating of viviantite crystals. Blue Babe's recovery and the analyses to extract information from the corpse and associated remains form the heart of this book. Along the way, Guthrie discusses such diverse topics as why faunal remains are preserved, why sabre-toothed cats had such big serrated teeth, how lions hunt, why plains bison don't attack when hunted, and an experiment in bison carcass decay in his back yard that must have had his neighbours worried about declining property values.

For palynologists, the most interesting section of the book is Chapter 9, "Arguments and Controversies about the Mammoth Steppe", in which Guthrie explores the palynological justifications for different reconstructions of the vegetation of the full-glacial eastern Beringian landscape. These arguments have been ventilated at length in other publications, but Guthrie's analysis is provocative reading.

I have a few minor quibbles. The text contains a surprising number of typographical errors. The book is abundantly supplied with maps, diagrams, line drawings, and photographs, but many illustrations lack scales or adequate captions. It is worth over-looking these flaws in this otherwise very rewarding book.

It is difficult to know who should read this book. I enjoyed it immensely, although Quaternary palaeontology is not my field. However, Guthrie uses terms, particularly anatomical words, without explanation or a glossary (protoloph? hypsodont? cochleariform? zygopophyses? olecranon process? helminth?), suggesting that the book is not for lay readers. Yet there is much here that a general reader will find fascinating.

Above all, this book is an exemplary Quaternary detective story. Guthrie admirably conveys the excitement and fascination of science. He also emphasizes the painstaking lengthy work inseparable from research. His account of deducing how Blue Babe died is quite splendid, and demonstrates the careful logical thought involved in palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Guthrie eloquently communicates the fun of research, the pieces of the puzzle gradually falling together to form a coherent whole, and the intellectual and aesthetic satisfaction from an elegant and rational reconstruction.