Geophysical Investigations at Teotepec,Mexico (1000 B.C.–A.D. 1000)

Abstract

Recent investigations at the site of Teotepec in the Sierra de los Tuxtlas in southern Veracruz, Mexico explored Middle Formative through Late Classic (1000 B.C.–A.D. 1000) socioeconomic conditions. A central focus was the form and function of the site's distinctive architectural configuration, the Long Plaza Group. During the 2007 and 2008 field seasons, a systematic geophysical survey of Teotepec obtained initial information on the layout, orientation, and possible function of the site's central architectural core. Results from the survey allow for a clear definition of the site's Long Plaza Group in addition to the identification of a possible ball court along its eastern edge. It is also clear that Teotepecans incorporated natural features into their architectural core by placing a pyramid atop a volcanic landform and modifying a natural basalt flow in order to create a level plaza. Finally, the geophysical data indicate significant time depth in architectural construction by suggesting diffirent mound construction techniques, thus underscoring the importance of Teotepec as a persistent place in a region marked by significant population fluctuations in the Formative and Classic periods.     

W. B. Yeats,the Abbey Theatre,and the Cinema, 1909–1939

ABSTRACT

Given the significance of new technologies to the literary and visual cultures of the early-twentieth century, it is surprising how little has been written about W. B. Yeats and cinema. Viewed by some scholars as emphatically resistant to what he termed “the leprosy of the modern,” Yeats has long been a difficult writer to situate in relation the progressive impulses of modernity. Building on Kevin Rockett’s identification of the parallels between the work of Abbey Theatre and a nascent Irish cinema culture, this article argues that Yeats played a prominent role in early attempts to develop an indigenous film industry, and to cultivate representations of Ireland on screen abroad. During the period I consider, the Abbey Theatre and the film industry were similarly affected by state censorship programmes and various forms of cultural nationalism. Exploring the Abbey Theatre Minute Books and archival materials discovered in Trinity College Dublin, I suggest that Yeats’s Abbey was a shaping force in Irish cinema history, despite the fact that most attempts to create a national cinema met with limited success.     

Review - H. B. Clarke,M. N Mhaonaigh,R. Ó Floinn (eds.): Ireland and Scandinavia in the Early Viking Age

Magdalena Midgley: The First Farmers of the North European Plain. Edinburgh University Press, 1992. XVI + 550 pp. 132 figs. ISBN 0 7486 0348 4.

Julian Thomas: Rethinking the Neolithic. (New Studies in Archaeology). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1991. xvi + 212 pp. 60 figures. ISBN 0–521–40377–4 (hardback).

Stuart J. Fiedel: Prehistory of the Americas. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1992. 400pp. ISBN 0–521–41532–2—ISBN 0–521–42544–1 (pbk.).

Timothy Earle (ed.): Chiefdoms: Power, Economy and Ideology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1991. 34 pp. ISBN 0–521–40190–9.

J?rgen Steen Jensen, Kirsten Bendixen, Niels‐Knud Liebgott and Fritze Lindahl, with the cooperation of Keld Grinder‐Hansen and Gert Posselt: Danmarks middelalderlige skattefund c.1050‐C.1550/Denmark's medieval treasure‐hoards C.1050‐C.1550, I‐II. Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskriftselskab, Copenhagen, 1992. ISBN 87–87483–23–2.     

The Late Prehistoric,Protohistoric, and Early Historic periods in Eastern Arabia (ca. 5000–1200 B.C.)

This paper presents an overview of cultural developments in eastern Arabia during the Late Prehistoric, Protohistoric, and Early Historic periods (ca. 5000–1200 B.C.) as defined here. Emphasis is placed on the indigenous lithic industries, ceramics, architecture, burial practices, and subsistence data, while interregional ties and comparative chronology are treated as well. A unified chronological schema for the entire region is proposed which can function alongside local, regional sequences.     

Why decorate a pot? Midwestern household pottery, 200 B.C.-A.D.600

The middle centuries (200 B.C.-A.D.600) of the Woodland period in the central riverine region of North America witnessed significant changes in the amount of decorative effort that people invested in their household pottery. Such historical phenomena raise the usually unasked question, why do people decorate their utilitarian household goods at all? More specifically, why might people in a particular historical setting decorate their utilitarian household objects at one time but not at another? This paper argues that the answer to such questions must always be different for each historical setting, and not predictable from any cross-cultural regularities. The Woodland case also illustrates a need to take into account relationships minimally among (a) construction practices, (b) decorative practices, (c) the physical uses of utilitarian objects, and (d) household-scale social relations in any social analysis of decoration on household objects.