Review of "'Fire and Hearth' Forty Years On: essays in honour of Sylvia J. Hallam" edited by Caroline Bird and R. Esmee Webb

Abstract

This is a well-presented collection of essays to honour the pioneering work of Sylvia Hallam. In many ways the essays and commentary reflect the broad range of Hallam's interests that spanned spatio-temporal archaeology, ethnography and important questions concerning fire and its impact, manipulation of plants, population and the relevance of change. Many of the issues central to key debates in Australian archaeology, such as the 'intensification' debate, can be found addressed in Hallam's work. Here, Hallam and her work become much more accessible to us through the use of photographs, personal reflexions and encounters and sustained reference to her in most of the papers.