Donald L. Hardesty

This book is rather old, originally published in 1997. It is a quick read ( got through it in a couple of hours), with quotes from diary entries, newspapers and interviews. There are also several diagrams and tables detailing excavation and assemblage descriptions. It does have a preset agenda, to shed light on the events of the failure of the Donner Party independent of existing records, and to look for evidence of cannibalism. Quite a bit of time is spent discussing the previous 1984 excavations. I'm surprised there was not a greater effort to contact members of the northern Washoe to discuss any information from their oral history considering the author's claim to find evidence independent of existing records.

From reading the publication, the excavation did not come up with a lot of evidence to answer their questions, except identifying the boundary of a shelter and questioning/disproving the location of the Alder Creek camp. There was the usual occupational material that would be expected such as ceramic and glass fragments, utensils, tools, buttons, and hearth areas etc., but I got the overall feeling the author was disappointed with the finds. The questions asked at the start of the publication could not be answered by the conclusion in my opinion.

This book is an ok starting point if you are interested in the archaeology of the Donner Party, but keep in mind there are later publications that do deal with oral history such as Julie M. Schablitsky, New Look at the Donner Party Archaeology, Vol. 65, No. 3 (May/June 2012), pp. 53-54, 56, 62, and detailed analysis of bone assemblages, "Men, Women and Children Starving": Archaeology of the Donner Family Camp, American Antiquity, Vol. 75, No. 3 (July 2010), pp. 627-656.

I would recommend this book as a start for anyone with an interest in the Donner Party or to someone who is doing a high school or 1st year paper.… (mehr)