EVIDENCE FOR THE MIXING OF FATS AND WAXES IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL CERAMICS

Lipid residues from two Late Saxon/early medieval ceramic vessels recovered from excavations at West Cotton, Raunds, Northamptonshire, U.K., have been investigated by high-temperature gas chromatography (GC) and GC/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The solvent extracts of sherds sampled from different points on each vessel (i.e., base, body and rim) were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively and compounds were identified which were characteristic of beeswax and animal fat. Furthermore, by determining the sites of accumulation of the specific lipid types and their concentrations in different parts of the vessels it can be inferred that the beeswax was added to the vessels prior to the addition of the fat. It was concluded that the two vessels performed different functions in antiquity.     

CARBON AND OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIOS OF MARBLES FROM SOME ANCIENT QUARRIES OF WESTERN ANATOLIA AND THEIR ARCHAEOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE

¹³C/¹²C and ¹⁸O/¹⁶O ratios have been measured for 42 marbles from the main quarry localities of archaeological interest of Western Anatolia (Marmara, Ephesos, Aphrodisias, Denizli and Afyon) in order to test the possibility of isotopically characterizing ancient marbles from this region. The various groups of samples are not clearly distinguishable on a δ¹³C-δ¹⁸O diagram. However, if only white or slightly coloured samples are considered, the isotopic method appears to be much more selective.     

AN ASSESSMENT OF COMPOSITIONAL AND MORPHOLOGICAL CHANGES IN MODEL ARCHAEOLOGICAL GLASSES IN AN ACID BURIAL MATRIX

The degradation mechanisms of glass in a buried context result in surfaces that have been depleted in various elements. The stability of the glass is primarily affected by the burial environment and the glass composition. However, in all archaeological glasses, the corroded layer that is formed on the surface tends to be low in alkalis, high in silica and lacking in cohesion. The extent to which the material has degraded, along with the physical nature of the corrosion, has a profound effect upon a wide range of factors affecting the stability of artefacts, as well as the choice of conservation techniques to be employed. This study has a number of objectives: determination of the morphology of the surface of the leached layer in glasses of two different compositions with different surface finishes; examination of the transition between the corroded material and the unaffected substrate; and investigation of concentration profile of different elements within the surface layers, as a function of depth. The study uses two glasses, fabricated under laboratory conditions, to replicate two common glass types found in the historical environment; a soda–lime–silica glass typical of those found in the Roman period throughout the Mediterranean and northwestern Europe, and high‐lime–potash glasses typical of those of Western Europe in the late medieval period. Three different surfaces have been prepared to mimic alternative manufacturing techniques such as blown, cast and ground surfaces for each composition. The glasses have been corroded under controlled laboratory conditions to replicate the buried environment. Imaging and chemical information is obtained using SEM–EDX and morphological information using IFM to produce 3‐D mapping from topographical surfaces.     

THE SHELBY FOREST SITE IN SOUTHWEST TENNESSEE AND EARLY MISSISSIPPIAN RED-FILMED POTTERY IN THE CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI VALLEY

Abstract

The Shelby Forest site in southwest Tennessee is an Early Mississippian component characterized by Varney Red Filmed ceramics. Comparison to other sites in the Reelfoot Lake area of west Tennessee and the Upper St. Francis Basin of Missouri and Arkansas allows refinement of the direction, timing, and characteristics of influences from these areas northeastward to American Bottom and southward into the Yazoo Basin of Mississippi. Subsequent influences from the Cahokia area into the southern Yazoo Basin and northeast Louisiana are also discussed.     

技术学习与创新:经济地理学的视角

技术学习与创新是20世纪90年代以来经济地理学研究的核心领域之一,它与"异端经济学"之间的互动,既促进了经济地理学的繁荣和学科地位的提升,也为"异端经济学"对技术学习与创新的研究提供了独特的地理视角。本文试图全面梳理经济地理学技术学习与创新研究兴起与深化的过程,从地理接近与面对面交流,关系接近与实践社区,制度接近、嵌入、路径依赖与创新场三个既相互争论又高度互补的方面,来系统阐述技术学习与创新的经济地理机制,并针对当前研究的局限性提出了建构高层次综合的技术学习创新与区域发展理论的设想。     

GC–MS ANALYSIS AND FATTY ACID RATIOS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL POTSHERDS FROM THE WESTERN GREAT BASIN OF NORTH AMERICA*

The study of organic residues in archaeological pottery has focused on fatty acids due to their relative stability and longevity. However, even these compounds are subject to degradation, which makes assignment of residues to original foods problematic. This paper suggests that the use of ratios of fatty acids that degrade at roughly the same rate can be useful to identify very general categories of foods. It compares independent information on pot function based on ethnography and engineering/technological studies to that reconstructed based on extracted fatty acid ratios. The results support the notion that Great Basin pots were used primarily to boil seeds and that pot shape and pot function were related.     

AN ALTERNATIVE ONTOLOGY AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF POTTERY PUNCTATION IN SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN REGION PREHISTORY

Abstract

Implements used in punctation and incising of prehistoric ceramic artifacts were potentially as meaningful as the designs they imparted. Their use may have been prescribed by a perceived relationship between the tool or its source and the vessel in production or its intended function. Replicative experiments reveal use of various styli, but especially feather quills, by native potters of the Appalachian Summit region in applying punctations and incisions to wet clay. Feathers of various birds may have been used because of their roles in the beliefs, rituals, and medicine of Southeastern Indians. Results of this study may benefit typological refinements, studies of vessel function, and traditional craft revitalization and inquiries into prehistoric animism.     

ANALCIME CRYSTALLIZATION AND COMPOSITIONAL PROFILES—COMPARING APPROACHES TO DETECT POST‐DEPOSITIONAL ALTERATIONS IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL POTTERY*

The approaches of comparative studies and profile measurements, often used in order to detect post‐depositional alterations of ceramics, have been applied simultaneously to two sets of Roman pottery, both of which include altered individuals. As analytical techniques, Neutron Activation Analysis and X‐Ray Diffraction have been used. Both approaches lead to substantially different results. This shows that they detect different levels of alteration and should complement each other rather than being used exclusively. For the special process of a glassy phase decomposition followed by a crystallization of the Na‐zeolite analcime, the results suggest that it changes high‐fired calcareous pottery rapidly, and so fundamentally that the results of various archaeometric techniques can be severely disturbed.     

PHOENICIAN UNGUENT FACTORIES IN DARK AGE GREECE: SOCIAL APPROACHES to EVALUATING the ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE

Several cases of overseas branches of Phoenician unguent factories have been hypothesized for Dark Age Greece. Efforts to evaluate the hypotheses to date have focused on technical and artistic characteristics of artifactual remains. This paper shifts that focus to examination of social and economic prerequisites and concomitants of foreign branch plants, and implications for archaeological testing. the economic structure of the problem is characterized as involving factory location and foreign direct investment; these concepts are examined for anachronisms. the size of establishment required to make the branch factory hypothesis plausible may not have been an insuperable problem, but the capacity to repatriate profits in the Greek Dark Age places more serious restrictions on the branch plant hypothesis. One of the more reasonable alternatives to the branch plant hypothesis is the immigrant craftsman, the implications of which are discussed.     

FORTY FRENCH TOWNS: AN ESSAY ON ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE EVALUATION AND HISTORICAL AIMS

Summary. A preliminary review of forty French towns suggests that the survival of archaeological evidence in urban sites is due to a combination of physical factors, many of which can be known before an excavation campaign begins. The distribution of surviving archaeological strata proves to be uneven, both in time and space; neither is it generally coincident with the riches of the written record. A new approach to national research-policies is offered, where archaeological site-evaluation plays a major role and the bias inherent in the differential survival of archaeological and documentary data is explicitly stated. Some compensation for the inadequate record left to us may be achieved by redefining the range of objectives accessible to archaeological investigation in towns.     

FLEXIBLE TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY: SOME EVIDENCE FROM VANCOUVER

This paper provides some preliminary evidence on the impact of flexible equipment on the clothing industry in Vancouver. It is argued that the implementation of these machines is limited to certain sectors of the industry and to specific sections of the labour process in clothing factories. In spite of the limited impact of these machines in Vancouver, the implications of flexible equipment in this manufacturing sector are far-reaching.
Get article fournit des évidences préliminaires sur l'effet de l'outillage maniable sur la confection à Vancouver. L'on dit que la réalisation de ces machines est restreinte à certains secteurs de l'industrie et aux parties précises du processus du travail dans les usines de confection. Malgré l'effet restreintde ces machines à Vancouver, l'implication de l'outillage maniable dans la confection est d'une portée considérable.     

RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS IN AFRICA: SOME LESSONS FROM WESTERN NIGERIA

I n an analysis of regional problems within Africa, the frequent imbalance between the geographic distribution of resources and of population suggests that rural development and resettlement will play an increasingly important role in mobilizing the continent's latent resource base. With the almost universally increasing rates of population growth in Africa, pressure for redistribution of people is increasing, most of which manifests itself in accelerating rates of urbanization. But it is also apparent that developing urban areas can only effectively absorb a small proportion of maldistributed population. Therefore national planning programs are increasingly focusing upon the need to reconstruct or to reorientate the economic milieu of rural areas, as is demonstrated by increasing investment in rural development and settlement schemes.     

POTS, HOUSES AND METAL: TECHNOLOGICAL RELATIONS AT THE BRONZE AGE TELL AT SZÁZHALOMBATTA, HUNGARY

Summary.   At the Bronze Age tell of Százhalombatta, Hungary, techniques used for making pottery echo those used in other media. Pottery and architecture have a close relationship. Not only were both made of clay, but methods of making pots echo those used for building. Similarly, pottery and metalwork share common themes and technologies for working with clay and bronze. Since choices made by potters are not solely confined to the environment, raw materials and tools, but are also socially and culturally defined, by implication the transfer of know-how must be situated within social networks between people. This paper considers how the identification of technical relationships between different media at Százhalombatta can be used to explore social relations in Bronze Age society, thereby suggesting relationships that work on both technical and social levels.