AMURRU＇S EXPANSION AND EGYPT＇S RESPONSE IN THE AMARNAAGE

In the Amama Age, contacts between Egypt and its vassals, especially vassals in the northern Canaan, are attested in the Amama Letters. Amurru has once been a powerful state in the eyes of other vassals, as is reflected by the Amama Letters.Among the Amarna Letters, there were at least 78 letters relating to Amurru. Just as Murnane points out, “When Amurru first appears on the political map of Syria in the fourteenth century B. C., it is not as the unified country it was to become, but as a loose grouping of city states, each under its own rulers,” the kingdom of Amurru may consisted of many city-states.     

A DOG’S LIFE IN THE IRON AGE OF THE SOUTHERN LEVANT: CONNECTING THE TEXTUAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE

Studies of dog remains focused on the Iron Age southern Levant generally highlight their unique nature in the archaeological context, specifically in relation to their post-mortem exploitation. Here we review the published archaeological and textual data to evaluate the current understanding of dogs’ roles in their Iron Age settings. The analysis reveals that dogs are relatively common in the archaeological record, having been reported at 66% of sites. This study further contextualizes this presence in light of their co-occurrence with caprine and wild taxa. The significant number of dog remains indicates that they were part of the social matrix of a village. While dogs have been viewed as ‘unclean’ or pariah, based on certain textual references in the Hebrew Bible, we assert, on the basis of the archaeological record, that they were part of the life of the village, functioning as herders, guards and occasionally hunters.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EGYPT AND PALESTINE IN THE MIDDLE BRONZE AGE （CA.2000-1550／1500 BCE.）

The relationship between Egypt and Palestine during the Bronze Age has been discussed since the 1940s. For the period of the Middle Bronze Age, the problem is both chronological and interpretative. The end of the Middle Bronze Age is fixed by the initial military activities of Dynasty 18 in Palestine around the end of the 16th century BCE. But the dates for the beginning of this period and the transition from one archaeological phase to another are still debated. Lacking a generally accepted solution, the chronology adopted here is that of Dever --- the transition from MB Ⅰ to MB Ⅱ occurred around 1800 BCE,     

MIGRATION AND THE WELL-BEING OF THE ‘LEFT BEHIND’ IN ASIA

This paper serves as an introduction to the three substantive papers in this themed section on the impact of migration on the well-being of the ‘left behind’ in Asia. In the light of recent migration trends such as the ‘feminization’ of migration and ‘brain-drain’ of health workers in the region, the paper provides a brief review of the existing scholarly literature on the vulnerability of different groups of the 'left behind’, particularly women, children and the elderly. It argues that a multi-dimensional approach is needed, taking into consideration not only the economic impact of remittances but also factors such as social networks and gender effects.     

THE TEL NAGILA MIDDLE BRONZE AGE HOMES—STUDYING HOUSEHOLD ACTIVITIES AND IDENTIFYING CHILDREN IN THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD

Abstract

The excavation at Tel Nagila uncovered a series of domestic structures dating to the Middle Bronze Age II. In the following paper, a division of the finds in the various structures is undertaken, in order to further our understanding of the use of space at the site. Within the domestic structures, many miniature vessels were found. We suggest that these were not votive offerings, rather attest to the presence of children in the various rooms of the homes. The role of children and the ability to identify them in the archaeological record is discussed.     

THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF COMMUNICATIONS’ DIGITAL AGE

Abstract

This paper reviews the history of the digital age of communications that began with the invention of the stored program computer in 1948 and is today realised by the World Wide Web, super fast broadband and the smart phone. Taking a predominantly UK focus, the paper examines the key technological advances that were made, where they occurred and what archaeological evidence remains of their existence. The paper begins by examining how digital technology was applied to the telephone network, how that network then provided the means by which early computers could be connected together, and from there to subsequently offer access to information services. Packet switching, the home computer, modems, optical fibre and the Internet are reviewed in terms of their importance in the creation of and growth in the World Wide Web. Finally, the application of digital technology to the mobile phone is discussed in terms of the development of mobile networks and the evolution of the handset into today’s smart phones. The paper concludes by recognising that much of the archaeological evidence of communication’s digital age has already been lost and that urgent action is needed to put in place appropriate preservation strategies.     

COMMUNITY AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SOCIAL ORDER ON THE CANADIAN FRONTIER IN THE 1840s AND 1850s: AN ENGLISH IMMIGRANT’S ACCOUNT

Abstract

This article draws on the letters of a young immigrant doctor, Francis Codd, who arrived in British Canada in the I84os. Many of the one million migrants, mainly of British and Irish origin, who arrived in Canada in the mid-I9th century, benefited from the availability of land and absence of social barriers to mobility. This enabled them to think and feel like citizens of the new country,in a way denied them at home. Francis Codd’s account throws light on the part played by the appreciation of nature and ‘wilderness’ in this process, as well as describing the beginnings of a new civil society and the development of ‘community’ institutions. However, at the same time as a ‘Canadian’ identity was being constructed for the white settler population, that of the indigenous population was accorded little recognition or respect.     

PINE BARRENS AND POSSUM’S RATIONS: EARLY ARCHAIC SETTLEMENT IN THE NORTH CAROLINA SANDHILLS

Abstract

Competing models of Early Archaic settlement in the Southeast propose broad-scale organization conditioned by either lithic raw material availability or seasonal exploitation of biotic resources and social interaction. We offer a view from beyond the quarries and away from the river with data from the North Carolina Sandhills, a unique physiographic zone of the interior Coastal Plain. Analysis of the distribution of Early Archaic sites at Fort Bragg, including posited upland base camps, raw material use, and application of GIS least-cost path analysis, suggests intensive interriverine settlement, with watershed divides serving as conveyance corridors between high-quality toolstone areas in the Piedmont and resource blooms in the Coastal Plain. Some settlement changes are evident within the Early Archaic sequence, including a gradual shift from logistical to residential mobility and infilling of the local landscape. In the proposed Sandhills model, biocultural needs, social interaction, and requirements for high-quality toolstone are identified at the local band level. Mobility and settlement are considered to be broadly structured by networks of interriverine trails between the major resource areas of the Piedmont and Coastal Plain. Aspects of both the bandmacroband model and Uwharrie-Allendale model apply to the Early Archaic record of the Sandhills, but with closer affinities to the latter.     

LAST CALL BEFORE THE UNDERTAKER: A COMMUNITY’S PERCEPTION OF THE LOCAL WORKHOUSE AND OLD PEOPLE’S CARE BEFORE AND AFTER THE INCEPTION OF THE WELFARE STATE

Abstract

Workhouses were no doubt the first old people’s homes. Sick old people without social or financial resources had no alternative other than admission to one of these state institutions . These institutions instilled fear in local communities and admission represented a failure in society. Due to medical advances and improved social conditions, people lived for longer and during the 20th century the majority of the inmates were old people. After the inception of the welfare state institutional care for older people was mainly in buildings inherited from the poor law. Consequently, even after I948, for many old people admission to an institution still carried a stigma. By using oral histories of relatives and professionals who cared for old people during this time, alongside documentary sources, this article examines how the process of transition from poor law to welfare state affected families in Oxford. This first-hand perspective, missing from most studies on the history of ageing, explores how caring for old people at a time of great social change was influenced by the local workhouse.     

FROM ‘ONE OF THE COUNTRY’S GREATEST ASSETS’ TO ALIENATION AND ANGER: VOICES OF THE LOWER WHARFEDALE FARMING COMMUNITY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Abstract

The British farming community is rapidly diminishing due to its ageing workforce, the rise of second-home ownership, and the costs involved in running a farming business in the twenty-first century. The private nature of this community, often coupled with a deeply held mistrust of non-farmers has made it difficult to ascertain farmers’ own feelings on their current situation, and how things have reached such a position. This article explores how some of the major twentieth-century events for agriculture have affected a single Yorkshire farming community by tracing the deteriorating relationship between farmers and the government, through changing legislation and reactions to crises, from a point where farmers were held to be vital to Britain’s survival through to one where the agricultural community finds it plausible that their own government would actively try to destroy their livelihoods.     

LEGISLATION AND REALITY: THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR SANITATION AND HOUSING QUALITY IN URBAN WORKERS’ HOUSING IN THE ANCOATS AREA OF MANCHESTER BETWEEN 1800 AND 1950

Abstract

This paper will look at some of the excavated material for British urban workers’ housing, built and occupied during the period 1800 to 1950 in the Ancoats area of Manchester: Ancoats was notorious amongst contemporary writers and campaigners for its poor quality and overcrowded housing. This archaeological evidence has emerged as a result of developer-funded excavations and represents part of a growing body of data collected since 1990 from within many of the great industrial cities of Britain (Glasgow, London and Manchester), as well as excavations in the numerous smaller industrial manufacturing towns of the UK. In this study particular attention is given to the impact of national legislation, private acts and local by-laws aimed at improving industrialised living conditions and the build quality of 19th-century workers’ housing occupied into the 20th century. Using excavated examples from more than 50 houses within Ancoats, it will be argued that archaeology can provide a distinctive and unique view of urban domestic life in the 19th and first half of the 20th century, whilst demonstrating continuity in occupation patterns during this period. The evidence for urbanised, industrial living also compliments the more extensive archaeological studies of manufacturing industry from the period.     

‘YOUTH RIOTS’ AND THE CONCEPT OF CONTENTIOUS POLITICS IN HISTORICAL RESEARCH

This article analyses European ‘youth riots’ as a social phenomenon after World War II. It also uses a specific riot – the 1948 Stockholm Easter Riots – in order to discuss the limits and potential of some theoretical assumptions underlying the field of historical contentious politics studies, primarily ‘contentious politics’ and ‘claims’. Using police reports and newspapers, the article shows that the riots were part of a European repertoire of post-war ‘youth riots’, but that they also bear similarities to an older popular repertoire of contention in Sweden. However, the riots do not really fit into the concept of ‘contentious politics’, as this concept is built on ‘claim-making’ as a key aspect and the participants did not make explicit claims. This leads to the conclusion that other theoretical tools, inspired by the concept of ‘moral economy’, are better suited for understanding the motivations of the rioters, whose actions are interpreted as a way of defending a perceived moral right of access to the urban public space.