The Beaufort Inlet shipwreck project

Beaufort Inlet site 0003BUI was discovered off the coast of North Carolina in the autumn of 1996. Preliminary analysis of the site and its artefact assemblage has led researchers to tentatively identify the shipwreck as the pirate Blackbeard's flagship, Queen Anne's Revenge , known to have been lost near the inlet in 1718. A wide variety of artefacts have been recovered during the three field seasons conducted annually since 1997; this paper presents the most recent findings.     

The Dor D Shipwreck and Holy Land Wine Trade

The Dor D shipwreck off Israel is a 6th-century AD scattered site on which Cypriot ballast stones seal hull planking and fragmentary cargo amphorae manufactured in southern Palestine. Petrological studies of the domestic assemblage and roof tiles indicate a Cypriot provenance for the ship, which was apparently returning empty amphorae to Palestine for recycling at a time when consumer demands for Holy Land wines stretched from Yemen to southern Britain. The ship post-dates the Justinianic plague of AD 541 and, therefore, provides important evidence for trade continuity in a period traditionally defined as one of economic decline.     

Preliminary Report on the Excavation of the 17th-Century Anglo-Dutch East-Indiaman Avondster in Bay of Galle, Sri Lanka

The Avondster was a 17th century British ship captured by the Dutch and used by the United Dutch East India Company (VOC) trading with Asia until it was wrecked in Galle Harbour, Sri Lanka in 1659. The shipwreck was found in 1997 to be in very good condition but under threat from development in the harbour. From 2001–2004 an archaeological project was implemented by the Dutch/Sri Lankan Mutual Heritage Centre. The aims were to record and recover important cultural material as well as to build up the capacity of a Sri Lankan Maritime Archaeology Unit for implementing future work.
© 2005 The Nautical Archaeology Society     

Caught between extremes: the culture and economics of traditional mask art in contemporary Sri Lanka

In contemporary Sri Lanka, the commodification of local mask production resulting from cultural tourism has caught the traditional mask artisan in a tight spot between “tradition” and “modernity”. The impacts of tourism are diversely received and interpreted within the local mask artisan community, with tourism simultaneously resulting in what can be called a “cultural discovery” and “cultural decline”. Within this cultural debate, this paper is an attempt to understand how the traditional mask artisan arrives at a balance between “tradition” and “modernity”, and culture and commerce. Qualitative research conducted in southern Sri Lanka shows that tradition and modernity are shifting conceptions. Negotiating a balance between tradition and modernity is, therefore, largely a matter of meaning and interpretation. When cultural commodification occurs, tradition and modernity are continuously redefined and reinvented by both the traditional mask artisan and cultural consumer to fit their own needs and agendas. Cultural commodification contributes to the survival and revival of Sri Lanka's mask tradition, a strategy that is simultaneously welcomed and contested within the local mask artisan community.     

Material Culture from the Al Hallaniyah Island Early 16th‐Century Portuguese Indiaman Wreck‐site

Excavation of an underwater site on Al Hallaniyah Island, Oman, conducted from 2013 to 2015, confirmed the presence of at least one early 16th‐century shipwreck. The location is believed to be where Vincente and Brás de Sodré’s Esmeralda and the São Pedro, both part of Vasco de Gama's second voyage to India, were wrecked in 1503. This article describes the ceramic and other domestic material assemblage. It is a study of the objects used by sailors on board in their daily lives. The non‐European ceramics also give indications of supplies, cargoes, and plunder acquired during the voyage. These aspects of the assemblage provide two different perspectives on the new era of maritime global trade.     

A Hellenistic/Early Roman Shipwreck Assemblage off Ashkelon, Israel

Underwater surveys at Ashkelon during 1998 exposed a Hellenistic/Roman shipwreck. The ship, c .15–25 m long, sank in the 1st or 2nd century BC, and its remains include iron anchors, lead sheathing, copper nails, assorted metal artefacts, and shipwright's unused nails. Bronze vessels found—oil-lamp, shovel and ladles—could have functioned in cult rites. Weights and balance-scale parts demonstrate commercial activity. Fishing-net sinkers indicate involvement in fishing. This paper raises important points regarding the risk to shipwrecks on the Israeli coast from environmental and human interference, and suggests that Ashkelon never had a built-up port.
© 2009 The Authors     

The Port‐Vendres 4 Shipwreck Cargo: evidence of the Roman wine trade in the western Mediterranean

The Port‐Vendres 4 shipwreck is evidence of coastal export trade between Hispania Citerior and Narbonne in 40/30 BC. The cargo is made up of a particular assemblage of Roman wine amphoras (Pascual 1, Dressel 1B and Lamboglia 2) destined for Gallic markets. Archaeological and archaeometric analyses conducted on a selection of the amphoras allowed the provenance of the cargo to be identified as Hispania Citerior and the central‐southern Tyrrhenian coast of Italy. Iluro and/or Baetulo are proposed as the ports of departure, enabling the reconstruction of the trade route and the historical and economic significance of this shipwreck.     

Factors affecting female age at marriage in South Asia

In contrast to East and South-east Asia, changes in marriage patterns have played a small role in reducing fertility in South Asia. While age at marriage for women has risen, it remains early, with the exception of Sri Lanka, and change has been slow. Except in Sri Lanka, the region has shown few signs that there will be a sizable population that will never marry. South Asia's marriage patterns reflect its cultural context and lesser socio-economic change but their precise effect is not simple or always predictable. The paper examines these issues in Bangladesh, where age at marriage is very early, and Sri Lanka, where it is much later. The study areas, Dhaka city and south-western Sri Lanka, are ones of great economic and social change. A particular examination is made of the way in which changes in the arrangement of marriage affect age at marriage.     

Obsidian provenance analyses at Göytepe,Azerbaijan: Implications for understanding Neolithic socioeconomies in the southern Caucasus

This study presents a provenance analysis of the Neolithic obsidian assemblages from the early to mid‐sixth millennium bc settlement at Göytepe, Azerbaijan. The study is unique in that (1) it involves a complete, non‐selected obsidian assemblage (901 artefacts) from one particular area of the site; (2) the material is derived from a well‐stratified sequence of 10 securely radiocarbon‐dated architectural levels; and (3) the use of an extraordinarily wide range of sources (more than 20) was identified by provenance analysis using energy‐dispersive X‐ray fluorescence. The results reveal a previously unknown diachronic change in obsidian use in the region, suggesting the occurrence of significant socioeconomic changes during the Late Neolithic of the southern Caucasus.     

Aid, conflict and migration: the Canada‐Sri Lanka connection

This paper aims to disentangle patterns of aid, trade, conflict and migration between Canada and Sri Lanka, illustrating the surprisingly significant traffic between the two countries and exploring the significance and quality of these connections. International aid to Sri Lanka is closely related to the opening of markets to multinational investment beginning in 1977. This economic liberalisation overlaps with periods of conflict in Sri Lanka and of macroeconomic growth. The prosperity it has generated, however, has not benefited all social classes and ethnic groups. Accordingly, conflict in Sri Lanka has been characterised by uprisings led by unemployed youth, peaceful and violent protests of discrimination against Sri Lankan Tamils and militarised government reprisals to both. A long period of macroeconomic growth ended in the final quarter of 2001, after the bombing of commercial airliners at Sri Lanka's international airport. Geopolitical and geoeconomic conditions in Sri Lanka changed dramatically. In this context, Canada's International Development Agency (CIDA) and other aid agencies aspire to 'correct for conflict' and promote a democratic and peaceful Sri Lanka through peace‐building and other aid measures. Militarised conflict over at least the past 20 years has generated massive human displacement both within and beyond the country's borders, spawning international migrants in search of asylum. In 1999, Sri Lanka was the leading source country of refugee claimants to Canada. Canada hosts the single largest Sri Lankan diaspora of any country. By examining the nexus of economic liberalisation and aid, I analyse its relation to conflict in Sri Lanka and migration to Canada .     

Land Snails from an Ancient Shipwreck: The Need to Detect Wreck-Independent Finds in Excavation Analysis

Land snails recovered from shipwreck excavations can potentially provide information regarding human-based dispersal of the involved species and also contribute to hypotheses regarding a ship's route and geographical origins of some of its cargo. Such faunal material, however, must be subjected to critical study to ascertain whether they represent specimens originally associated with the ship itself or are simply elements introduced to the site after the ship sank. The excavation of a Late Bronze Age shipwreck at Uluburun, in southern Turkey, produced 36 land snails. Of these, 32 specimens are believed to have been on board the vessel in antiquity. Three other specimens represent an endemic Metafruticicola species, which lives exclusively in a 10 km zone in the region of Uluburun. The proximity of the species' habitat to the shipwreck site suggests that these specimens are intrusive elements. The intrusive nature of a single Zonites specimen also recovered from the excavation is amply demonstrated by a detailed comparative study of Zonites specimens collected in the same locality. The last study, which involves the analysis of spatial shell variations of populations collected from 61 separate localities (totalling 367 specimens) within a 50 km area extending from Megisti (Kastelórizo) and Kas to Finike, suggests that: (1) Zonites beydaglariensis is conspecific with Z. caricus, and (2) the shipwreck specimen not only belongs to this species, but that it originates from a population on the rocky Uluburun peninsula 0·8–1·2 km north of the shipwreck site. The specimen was probably blown into the sea by a natural phenomenon and settled on the shipwreck site.     

Māori Textiles from Puketoi Station,Otago, New Zealand

Abstract

A group of Māori textile artefacts were discovered in a rock shelter in the southern South Island of New Zealand in 1895. The assemblage comprised a significant number of textile and textile-related artefacts including large and small bags, footwear and prepared leaf and fibre for textile production. The artefacts were privately owned until the 1920s when they were acquired by the Otago Museum, remaining there until new techniques made further investigation possible. This paper presents information from an interdisciplinary investigation of the Puketoi Station assemblage of textile artefacts, which examined artefact structure, form and function, and materials of construction. Interpretation of these artefacts using contemporary textile analysis methods, traditional weaving knowledge, and recent archaeological research, turns them from static objects into dynamic components of culture. The Puketoi Station artefacts embody and illustrate a unique material culture associated with the late prehistoric southern New Zealand Māori lifestyle.     

THE TRADING OF ANCIENT GLASS BEADS: NEW ANALYTICAL DATA FROM SOUTH ASIAN AND EAST AFRICAN SODA–ALUMINA GLASS BEADS*

The occurrence of similar glass beads at archaeological sites in Africa and Asia bears witness to the trade relationship between the two continents. This paper reports elemental analysis results from a recent in‐depth laser ablation – inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (LA–ICP–MS) study of a group of archaeological glass beads with a specific alumina‐rich composition from East Africa, India and Sri Lanka. Based on the concentrations of the trace elements, two different subgroups were identified. One subgroup occurs at early periods (fourth century bce to fifth century ace ) in South India and Sri Lanka. The second subgroup appears at later dates in Africa and was identified at different Kenyan sites dated from the ninth to the 19th century ace , and at the contemporaneous site of Chaul in western India.     

The role of scour in shipwreck site formation processes and the preservation of wreck-associated scour signatures in the sedimentary record – evidence from seabed and sub-surface data

Fully submerged shipwreck sites act as open systems, with the exchange of material (sediment, water, organic and inorganic objects) and energy (wave, tidal, storm) across system boundaries. Formation processes at wreck sites are driven by some combination of chemical, biological and physical processes, with physical processes dominant in initial phases of site formation. Scouring and associated depositional patterns that form in response to hydrodynamic forcing are commonly the dominant physical processes acting at shipwreck sites. Scour is initiated by the introduction of a shipwreck to the seafloor, leading to increases in flow velocity and turbulent intensity around the structure. Near-field and far-field scour pits form at wreck sites due to the interaction of horseshoe and lee wake vortices with the mobile substrate. The morphology of resultant scour signatures are controlled by the orientation of the wreck structure in relation to the prevailing hydrodynamic regime, the morphology and size of the wreck and individual site components, the hydrodynamic regime (currents, waves or combined waves and currents), bathymetry and the geology of the site (seafloor and sub-surface conditions). Individual objects or artefacts may act as nuclei to promote scour at a local scale. Under high-energy conditions, groups of artefacts and/or disarticulated structural components emanating from a wreck may compound natural scour processes by rolling or sliding. Under suitable environmental conditions, wreck-associated scour features can be preserved in the sedimentary record.     

Jetty-site artefacts from Holdfast Bay, South Australia: tracing the State's historical development from its early years, based on a functional analysis of submerged material culture

The results of an analysis conducted on an assemblage of artefacts recovered from an old jetty site in Holdfast bay, South Australia are presented. More than 5,000 artefacts were recovered during excavations in the 1970s at the site where the State's first settlers landed. Various objects were raised from the seabed, representing aspects of social, religious, economic, military, commercial, and maritime activities. The artefacts were recently recorded, catalogued, and analysed in an attempt to trace the history and development of the township from its early years as well as to assess the significance of the site.     

The archaeological remains of Ratu Boko: From Sri Lankan Buddhism to Hinduism

From the 8th to the early 10th century the region around mounts Merapi and Sumbing in central Java was the centre of powerful Indianised kingdoms. One such site, Ratu Boko, was transformed into a Javanese replica of the Abhayagiri-vihāra, a well-known Buddhist monastery in Sri Lanka. Shortly afterwards, the Sinhalese influence showed elements of Hindu and Vajrayāna traditions revealing from the archaeological remains that it was not merely a copy of a Sri Lankan model but a testimony of Javanese civilisation and history.     

Multi-Image Photogrammetry to Record and Reconstruct Underwater Shipwreck Sites

Methods to record shipwreck sites have evolved considerably in the past two decades. Digital technology and marine robotics regularly present faster and more precise ways to excavate, clean, tag, and record ship remains, while computers simplify many of the steps involved in the reconstruction of ships from their archaeological remains. At the same time, the internet is creating opportunities to share primary data in real time and on a wide scale. This paper presents a methodology used by the authors to record and reconstruct the wooden structures of a 19th-century shipwreck in southern Brazil (Lagoa do Peixe site) and of a 16th-century shipwreck in Croatia (the Gnali? shipwreck).     

THE ORCE BASIN (ANDALUCÍA, SPAIN) AND THE INITIAL PALAEOLITHIC OF EUROPE

Recent excavations in southern Spain have led to claims that humans were present in this part of Europe much earlier than had been generally believed — perhaps as early as 1.8–1.4 million years ago. The evidence from the Orce basin is summarized and discussed. Initial work at a newly discovered site, Fuentenueva 3a, indicates a good chance that genuine artefacts may indeed be present in early Pleistocene levels. Further excavation at this site can be expected to settle the matter in due course.     

Time and space in the Sri Lanka‐Tamil diaspora

Based upon fieldwork in Sri Lanka and among Tamil migrants in Norway, this article discusses the relationship between space, time and national identity. The author argues that in the Sri Lanka‐Tamil diaspora one finds two different conceptions of Tamil culture, the ‘traditional’ and the ‘revolutionary’. The first expresses a space‐time relationship that is nomadic and grounded in heritage; the second one is sedentary and historicist. The latter serves as a basis for Tamil separatism, the first does not. By propagating the ‘revolutionary’ model of culture, with its particular understanding of space and time, the Tamil separatist movement Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has adopted viewpoints that throughout this century have fuelled the nationalism of the Sinhalese majority in Sri Lanka. The author argues that instead of explaining social change historically, which is one trend within anthropological theory today, anthropologists should concentrate on exploring under which conditions historical explanations are seen as more valid than their alternatives.