Ants for Breakfast: Archaeological Adventures among the Kalinga

by James Skibo

Overview

A view from the remote Philippine highlands where the author’s time in the kalinga homeland was packed with the elements of a thriller novel: mystery, danger, sex, violence, death—and research too!

Ants for Breakfast is about the adventure of modern archaeology. Seeking insight into prehistoric pottery manufacture and use, archaeologist James Skibo traveled to the remote Phillippine highlands to live with the Kalinga people, once headhunters, and one of the few groups in the world who still use ceramics for cooking.

Even as he looked for clues to the past in the practices of the present, the author’s time in the Kalinga homeland was packed with excitment: mystery, danger, sex, violence, and death. It was also an opportunity to taste a world both subtly and vastly different, while adding a new perspective to his own. In the course of his narrative, Skibo seizes every opportunity to link his experiences to the development of modern archaeology, and to such topics as human evolution, the peopling of the world, animal domestication, cultural logic, food taboos, basketball, Indiana Jones, and even Imelda Marcos.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780874806205
Publisher:	University of Utah Press
Publication date:	10/28/1999
Edition description:	1st Edition
Pages:	179
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

James Skibo is professor of anthropology at Illinois State University. He is the author of numerous books on anthropology and archaeology and series editor of the Foundations of Archaeological Inquiry series.

Table of Contents

Preface

1. Living Archaeology
2. Funerals Are Fun
3. Once Were Headhunters
4. Ants for Breakfast
5. The Bamboo Classroom
6. "Are We in Danger?"
7. What Does in Must Come Out
8. Kalinga Justice
9. When a Town Gets a Road the People Go Crazy

Bibliography
Acknowledgments
About the Author

Editorial Reviews

Necessary for guests in an unfamiliar culture, especially where a strong oral tradition and community participation shape most decisions. Skibo’s writing style is clear, unemotional and instructive.”—Utah Archeology



“James Skibo has provided grist for many mills.”—American Anthropologist



“Skibo writes a pleasantly laidback prose. His anthropological stories will charm readers who care about the Kalinga or about similar groups—or about their cookware.”—Publishers Weekly


“You’ll love his adventure packed tale, with its documenting of life among former headhunters.”—The Telluride Watch

From the Publisher

The Kalinga people inhabit a remote mountainous part of the Philippines, where they grow rice and use ceramics just as their neolithic forebears did. Skibo (Pottery Function), who teaches at Illinois State University, lived with the Kalinga for four months in 1988, hoping to understand their pots and bowls. Among the Kalinga, Skibo became a de facto emergency-room doctor, funerary assistant, basketball competitor, drinking companion, gong player and dispute-resolution specialist. Kalinga life in the '80s also featured elaborate oratory, drinking contests, occasional visits from gun-happy guerrillas, oversweet coffee and dishes made from ant eggs ("rather tasty") and boiled fruit bat. Relating his experience in the Philippines, Skibo writes a pleasantly laid-back prose, easy to understand if sometimes rambling. His frequent digressions fill readers in on local history and on archeological finds in the U.S. from the glacial period to the Spanish-American War and the career of ethnoarcheologist Billy Longacre, Skibo's friend and collaborator. Skibo's four months in the Philippines gave him plenty of anecdotes, but few real adventures. The people he studied are friendly, surprisingly accommodating and, fortunately, skillful at preserving their way of life. Skibo's account ends up neither eloquent nor detailed enough to enter the top rank of fieldwork memoirs. His anthropological stories will, however, charm readers who care about the Kalinga or about similar groups--or about their cookware. (Dec.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Skibo (anthropology, Illinois State U.) describes his adventures among the Philippines' Kalinga people<-->former headhunters and one of the few groups in the world still using ceramics for cooking. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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