Blind tests in microscopic residue analysis: comments on Wadley et al. (2004)

In this comment, we critique a recent paper by Wadley, Lombard and Williamson entitled ‘The first residue analysis blind tests: results and lessons learnt’ (Journal of Archaeological Science 31 (2004) 1491–1501) as a means of assessing the role and utility of such blind tests. We find that apart from not being the first residue analysis blind tests, the tests conducted by Wadley et al. exhibit problems at each stage of experimental design. Most of the issues identified can be attributed to loss of experimental control, including lack of documentation of residues prior to blind testing and contamination of their samples. We suggest possible means of avoiding these issues in future microscopic residue analysis blind tests.     

Late Holocene climatic fluctuations and soil genesis in southern Patagonia: effects on the archaeological record

Geoarchaeological research conducted at five localities in southern Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego identified a mollisol within late Holocene aeolian and colluvial deposits associated with archaeological material. The mollisol's origin and development are related to an increase in humidity (c. 1000 BP) following an episode of severe drought during the Medieval Warm Period. Corroborating data is supplied from dendroclimatic and pollen studies. A drastic reduction in frequency of artefact distribution recorded at the sites studied corresponds to this pedologic event, suggesting a greater human presence at these sites during earlier, regional-scale arid conditions. However, the paucity of archaeological remains may also be the result of the low resolution of cultural evidence following the pedologic development due to superimposition over previous archaeological deposits.     

Identification of pastoral sites using stable nitrogen and carbon isotopes from bulk sediment samples: a case study in modern and archaeological pastoral settlements in Kenya

The identification of pastoral sites in the East African archaeological record is problematic. Recently, a method for the identification of degraded livestock enclosure sediments had been developed that takes into account the geoarchaeological indicators of micromorphology, phytolith concentrations and the mineral assemblages. This suite of indicators may not always be present in degraded livestock enclosure sediments. This study presents an additional indicator by which degraded livestock enclosure sediments may be identified, namely the isotopic composition of organic nitrogen measured on bulk sediment samples. We studied a highly controlled ethnoarchaeological sequence of abandoned Maasai livestock enclosure sediments sampled in Rombo area, southern Kenya. The results were compared to archaeological sediments from the Elmenteitan Pastoral Neolithic site of Sugenya, southwestern Kenya, radiocarbon dated to ca. 2000 BP (uncalibrated). The sediments from both sites were studied using all four types of analyses, i.e., micromorphology, mineralogy, phytolith concentrations, and stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions on bulk sediment samples. The results show that in abandoned livestock enclosure sediments of known ages a significant enrichment in the heavy nitrogen isotope (¹⁵N) occurs, and that carbon isotopic compositions may be useful for differentiating cattle from caprine enclosures following their dietary preferences (i.e., grazers vs. browsers). A similar pattern of ¹⁵N enrichment is observed in sediments sampled within the site of Sugenya while sediments sampled outside the site's perimeter are generally depleted in ¹⁵N. The micromorphological, mineralogical and phytolith analyses support the conclusion that the sediments from within the site of Sugenya represent degraded livestock enclosure sediments. The carbon isotopic composition from the degraded dung deposits strongly suggests that livestock kept at Sugenya were cattle. Overall, this study presents new empirical data that can be used for the identification of livestock enclosures, and shows that the isotopic signatures and geoarchaeological indicators can preserve for at least two millennia.     

The movement against illegal immigration: analysis of the central node in the Russian extreme‐right movement

ABSTRACT. The goal of this article is to analyse the political communication style of the Movement Against Illegal Immigration (Dvizheniye Protiv Nelegalnoy Immigrazii – DPNI), which is one of the central nodes in the Russian extreme‐right movement web network. In the article, the political communication style of the organisation is investigated at two levels – the presentation of online identity and the presentation of offline identity. Online self‐presentation is studied by means of the qualitative analysis of the incoming links (position in the web network) and the internal structure of the website. DPNI is conceptualised as a new type of political organisation based on the networking principle allowing flexible membership and based on the interplay of its online and offline self‐presentations. The study provides insights into how the new media become embedded in the political communication of extreme‐right political organisations in Russia.     

论汉代土地所有制的结构和运动

本文从土地所有制形成和发展的前提--劳动与土地的结合这一思维视角,分析了汉代土地所有制的结构和运动的前提条件、基本结构、运动特点和运动的结果,从中总结出中国专制主义中央集权时代土地所有制的形成和发展规律.     

Comments on Richards et al., Journal of Archaeological Science 35, 2008 “Strontium isotope evidence of Neanderthal mobility at the site of Lakonis,Greece using laser-ablation PIMMS”

We present an evaluation of the laser ablation Sr isotope data reported by Richards et al. [Richards, M., Harvati, K., Grimes, V., Colin Smith, C., Smith, T., Jean-Jacques Hublin, J.J., Karkanas, P., and Panagopoulou, E., 2008. Strontium isotope evidence of Neanderthal mobility at the site of Lakonis, Greece using laser ablation PIMMS. Journal of Archaeological Science 35, 1251–1256] for a Neanderthal tooth recovered from a site in Greece. Based on an alternative and analytically more robust method of correcting for isobaric interferences present during the analysis the tooth appears to be isotopically homogenous and within uncertainty of the value for modern seawater. If this is the case then contrary to the migration model proposed by Richards et al. [Richards, M., Harvati, K., Grimes, V., Colin Smith, C., Smith, T., Jean-Jacques Hublin, J.J., Karkanas, P., and Panagopoulou, E., 2008. Strontium isotope evidence of Neanderthal mobility at the site of Lakonis, Greece using laser ablation PIMMS. Journal of Archaeological Science 35, 1251–1256] the Neanderthal individual may have actually been a coastal dweller and lived within the vicinity of the find site.     

Analysis of ancient mycolic acids by using MALDI TOF MS: response to “Essentials in the use of mycolic acid biomarkers for tuberculosis detection” by Minnikin et al., 2010

The mycobacterial cell wall is consists of several long chain lipid and glycolipid components. Mycolic acids are major and unique fraction of the cell envelope of mycobacteria that include the ancient causative agents of tuberculosis and leprosy. The analytical investigation of these lipid biomarker residues is one of the most promising perspectives in the field of molecular paleopathology. Recently published in this journal, Minnikin et al. present a systematic critique of the MALDI TOF MS analysis for determination of ancient mycolic acids, focusing on our previous paper. In this study, our mass spectrometric investigations by commonly used 2,5 DHB matrix were presented with our comments to the critique authors. On the base of our previous and recent mass spectrometric results we have to realize that the clinical protocols and standards cannot directly be used for the biomolecular paleopathological investigations. The applicability of the recent mycobacterial and clinical results is very limited in the biomolecular archaeology, thus the recent scientific results and protocols should be adapted carefully to bioarchaeological sciences.     

U-series and radiocarbon dates on mollusc shells from the uppermost layer of the archaeological site of KHB-1, Ra's al Khabbah,Oman

The archaeological site of KHB-1, Oman, has been investigated in order to improve the chronological knowledge of the site, which is dated to the beginning of the fourth millennium B.C. on the basis of the archaeological context. Mollusc shells of the genus Anadara, coming from the uppermost layers of the site, have been dated using two different methods, radiocarbon and U-series technique. The results of the two techniques date the last occupational phase of the site from the end of the fourth millennium B.C. to the beginning of the third millennium B.C.     

Experimental examination of animal trampling effects on artifact movement in dry and water saturated substrates: a test case from South India

This paper presents the motivation, procedures, and results of an experiment that examines short episodes of animal trampling in dry and water saturated substrates in South India. While horizontal artifact displacement was similar to that modeled by other trampling experiments, vertical artifact displacement in water saturated substrates was greater than any reported experiment to date. The toolstone used in this experiment, a silicious limestone, exhibited minimal damage after trampling. Artifact inclination patterning appeared to be a potentially diagnostic middle-range marker of trampling in water saturated substrates. Given the abundant number of Paleolithic sites that are located on flat, open surfaces near water-bodies, or experience monsoonal climatic regimes, we propose that future excavations should measure artifact inclination on a regular basis.     

Linking Land and Navy: archaeological investigations at the site of the Woolwich Royal Dockyard,south‐eastern England

This paper outlines the archaeological evidence found at the demolished Royal Naval Dockyard at Woolwich for the development and construction of dockyard structures of the 18th to early‐19th centuries. This is set within the framework provided by historic, documentary, map and historic‐model evidence. The results of earlier excavations at the same facility are also reviewed. The themes covered include; the interplay of ‘carpentry’ versus ‘shipwrightry’ in dockyard construction, aspects of naval timber‐supply and landscape, the recycling of ships' timbers, dockyard craft specialisation and changing relative sea‐levels. © 2011 Pre‐Construct Archaeology Limited     

Interpreting pachyderm single carcass sites in the African Lower and Early Middle Pleistocene record: A multidisciplinary approach to the site of Nadung’a 4 (Kenya)

Nadung’a 4 is one of the single carcass pachyderm sites recorded in East Africa during the Lower and Early Middle Pleistocene. The site has yielded an abundant lithic assemblage in close association with the partial carcass of an elephant. Conjoined pedological, geoarchaeological, spatial, technological, and taphonomical analyses have been carried out to address the relationship between hominids and elephant. The resulting data are consistent with a non-fortuitous association between both categories of remains. The lithic artefacts do not match a classical Acheulean tool-kit, as would be expected for the time period ascribed to the site, and the functional patterns inferred from their analysis make this site radically different from other purported butchery sites. The implications of these original features are discussed.     

Comment on ‘A Bayesian approach to ageing perinatal skeletal material from archaeological sites: implications for the evidence for infanticide in Roman Britain’ by R.L. Gowland and A.T. Chamberlain

In 1993, I published a paper noting that the age distribution of perinatal infants for some Romano-British sites did not conform to a natural mortality pattern but rather showed a pronounced peak at a gestational age corresponding approximately to a full term infant. I interpreted this as suggestive of infanticide, given that the deed is generally carried out immediately after birth. Gowland and Chamberlain have recently published in this journal (J. Archaeol. Sci. 29 (2002) 677) a reconsideration of the problem of Roman infanticide in which they suggest that the peak I observed in the Romano-British perinatal age at death distribution may have been an artefact of the particular ageing technique I used, and they hence call into question the evidence for Roman infanticide. In this comment I argue that their work is seriously flawed and, using a re-analysis of my 1993 data, I demonstrate that the perinatal peak I observed in the Romano-British age distribution is a robust result that supports an interpretation of infanticide.     

Lithic refitting and movement connections: the NW area of level TD10-1 at the Gran Dolina site (Sierra de Atapuerca,Burgos, Spain)

The first lithic refit studies were carried out at the end of 19th century, but the method was not considered an area of real interest to archaeology until quite recently. Today, lithic refitting is applied in a multitude of areas of enquiry including lithic technology, intra-site and inter-site spatial distribution, archaeostratigraphy and formation processes. In this paper, we present a refit study of the lithic materials recovered in the base of the NW sector of level TD10 at the site of Gran Dolina (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain). We aim to provide information about spatial distribution through identifying activity areas and the internal connections between those areas. Our work resulted in various refits whose connections reveal the movements of the pieces and/or knappers that once occupied the site. Our results also show the importance of studying the set of materials as a whole and the bias involved in analyzing only a small sample. The refits, connections and directions of movement allow us to infer areas in which an activity took place, but these results must be confirmed in future works covering the entire lithic assemblage of TD10.     

Constructive comments on D Massey 'Space-time, "science" and the relationship between physical geography and human geography:rsquo;

This paper provides a discussion of Massey's (1999) account of the role of space-time in human and physical geography. Recognizing the relative (but not absolute) paucity of comment from physical geographers on questions of approach and method, the paper seeks to demonstrate three things. First, it casts a history of a narrow part of geomorphology in a similar vein to a part of human geography to demonstrate that it is possible to find strong shared characteristics in the ways in which the two subjects are being approached. This emphasizes the importance of analyses that recognize both space and time in seeking explanation in physical geography and which has important implications for: (i) the nature of laws and processes in geomorphology; and hence (ii) the interpretation of specific landforms and their histories. Second, the paper argues that much of what Massey addresses relates to the closure required to make things amenable to study, something that is characteristic of almost every type of research. This has long been acknowledged in science in general and in physical geography in particular, but is often forgotten. Third, the paper uses this consideration of closure to address the issue of the relational nature of different sorts of space-time models. Following Massey's argument that the sort of space-time model that we adopt needs to be informed by the entities that we study, the paper concludes that some of the space-time models that Massey critiques (e.g. classical Newtonian mechanics) may still be fundamental to what we do, and in no sense necessarily ahistorical.     

‘Circulating commodities’: reflections on the movement and meaning of shells and stories in North Australia and Eastern Indonesia1

As Victor Turner (1974) so eloquently argues, symbols have the capacity to move people, in both emotional and physical terms. In this article, I explore the power of certain kinds of symbols, namely shells (trochus shell, Tectus niloticus) and stories, to do just this. Stories, I argue, construct pathways for the movement of people and objects. Shells too also evoke (e)motion through their ability to signify specific spheres of exchange and the relationships, identities and values which circulate within these domains. Importantly, stories and shells not only suggest movement but are themselves entities which are moved between differently valued social and political contexts. As things which are defined in terms of their high exchangeability quotient, shells and stories, at certain times in their biographies, correspond to Appadurai's (1986) notion of a commodity. Through an exploration of the commodity status and circulation of both shells and stories within the broad ethnographic context of Maluku Tenggara, Indonesia, I aim to challenge some of the commonly held beliefs and stories which are transmitted via the Australian media and along other lines of communication about the so-called ‘problem’ of illegal Indonesian fishermen in north Australian waters.