The Archaeological Field Staff: The Geologist

Abstract

This article is the first in a series devoted to discussions of the responsibilities, activities, and techniques of the various specialists who might make up a modern archaeological field staff The articles are all written by scholars with extensive field experience. It is hoped that the series will be beneficial to scholars in framing the design of their research projects, in planning their budgets, and in determining the number and types of specialists best suited for the projects envisioned. Readers are urged to comment on the series in the light of their own experiences in the field: letters will be published in Perspectives.

Authors of a few of the forthcoming articles in this series include Vaughn M. Bryant, palaeobotany; Frederick R. Matson, ceramics analysis; and Al B. Wesolowsky, physical anthropology.

THE EDITOR

Few major excavations are now mounted without staff representation from the natural sciences. The classical concern of the geologist with stratigraphy and chronology coupled with his/her broad training in the natural sciences makes the geologist a particularly necessary component of the field staff Responsibilities of the staff geologist are likely to include regional geologic studies, lithology and identification, on-site stratigraphy and sedimentology, other technical assistance (e.g., surveying), and post-excavation laboratory analyses. The staff geologist should playa major role in the final synthesis of all environmental data.     

The Archaeological Field Staff: The Architect

Abstract

In the following article is discussed the archaeological need of the field architect, the work and responsibilities that he undertakes on an excavation, the training that he ideally should have to become an archaeological architect, and the contributions that he can make to the knowledge of ancient architecture.

As well as the advisory help that he can give, the prime role of an architect, from the point of view of the director of an excavation, is that of making accurate surveys and clear and comprehensible drawings. The more conscientious he is and the more experience he has had, the more valuable the architect will be on a dig. This article sets forth various procedures for surveying and measuring and also gives a brief account of the instruments and tools needed for performing these operations. Mention is also made of the different types of drawings that are usually required, starting with the actual state plan and cross-sections and terminating with the completely restored plans, elevations, and perspectives.

For the architect who has the time, training, and initiative, there is also the opportunity of doing individual scholarly work. As pointed out herein, the study and definitive publications of ancient monuments, which only he can successfully conclude, contribute greatly to the archaeological field of knowledge.     

The Interregnum: The South's Insecurity Dilemma

Abstract. This article investigates the ‘insecurity dilemma’ facing many Third World states arising from the fact that multiple ethnic communities reside within their borders. In terms of analysing the types of states that exist in the ‘South’, much of the literature on this phenomenon serves to confuse the various elements of state power and, therefore, the reasons for the existence and persistence of internal threats to Third World states. It is posited that the ‘insecurity dilemma’ has three possible sources: a lack of coercive means by the state for imposing its rule; a deficient infrastructure; and a lack of legitimacy. In examining the persistence of the ‘insecurity dilemma’ the article focuses on the third dimension of state power and the possible diminution of challenges from ethnic communities within a state's borders via the process of nation-building. The possibility that it will only be a matter of time before the embryonic states of the South will emulate the success of European states in achieving some degree of domestic consensus is highly questionable when the processes of nation-building are examined, for two reasons. Firstly, the emphasis placed on ‘modernisation’– infrastructural development and state imposition of a national ‘high’ culture – may be misplaced. Secondly, because of their peripheral status in the world economy the assimilative tendencies associated with ‘modernisation’ may take an extremely long time in arriving.     

Pinochet: The Politics

Against the background of the Pinochet affair, the author considers that a new era of international politics is in the process of being created. The House of Lords' ruling which has allowed extradition procedures against the former Chilean dictator, is understood as a formidable and groundbreaking decision in international law based on the defence of human rights against crimes committed by authoritarian and unlawful rulers. The decision taken under the European Convention on extradition and the setting up of a Permanent International Criminal Court in the summer of 1998 are, according to the author, signs that international law and international politics are moving in the direction of a universal acceptance that violators of human rights must bepunished.
However, the author is also cautious about the tension between the new path opened to international politics and the old power politics based on the absolute and indivisible sovereignty of the state. Double standards will certainly prevail and powerful states, in particular the United States, are reluctant to accept that international law and international politics are in the process of change.     

The unbearable weight of music: The intermezzo

The affordances of musical experience, its capacity to become our mode of being-in-the-world, especially in ritual situations, can be turned against us into an aversive sonic attack that bends the social arc into a liminality without end, a time in between that goes nowhere. And when this happens, we have entered the realm of music torture, a relatively recent innovation in that dark art that was ushered into the world in full force at the beginning of the 21st century. Music became part of a regime of no-touch torture inflicted upon detainees in the ‘global war on terror’, itself a war without end. In this article, the author argues for an ontomusicology that understands music as ritual and ritual as music – in this case, ritual that inverts Victor Turner’s notion of communitas, with all of its attendant modes of being-with, into a solitary mode of existence with no hope of escape, a musical ritual torture, a perpetual intermezzo.