Identity and Material Culture in the Later Prehistory of Central Europe

Examination of the archaeological evidence for the expression of identity in later European prehistory provides a new and promising approach to understanding change in this period. New views of the role of material culture in the communication of meanings, of the nature of identity, and of agency in the past provide a useful framework for approaching the evidence. Analysis of patterns of sameness and difference in style and decoration of manufactured objects indicates how people used their material culture to structure and to communicate their identities—on the level of the individual, of groups such as families and residential communities, and of larger entities commonly referred to as ethnic groups. This approach offers insights that complement social and economic models of change in later prehistory.     

中国钢铁工业的诞生考释

中国钢铁工业诞生的问题学术界至今没有统一的认识。按照当今中国钢铁工业协会所定标准,福州船政局所属锤铁厂和拉铁厂应为中国最早的钢铁加工企业,它的创建标志着中国钢铁工业的诞生;青溪铁厂是中国第一家钢铁联合企业;汉阳铁厂则是中国第一家大型钢铁联合企业。     

Coloured Cabinets: A Reflection on Material Culture as a Marker of Coloured Identity in Cloetesville,South Africa

In coloured neighbourhoods of the Western Cape in South Africa, there are objects in people's homes that live in a unique historical and cultural moment. This article reports on an examination, in the neighbourhood of Cloetesville, Stellenbosch, of how these objects inside residents’ homes tell a story of a creolised people and the locations in which they are situated. In the case of Cloetesville, as in many neighbourhoods that arose from a history of forced removals, many people experience various social and economic problems. Coloured people's identities are commonly thought to rest in these problems. This article, however, seeks to suggest an alternative way of exploring coloured identity through looking at objects in households and broader living environments. Thus, I hope to provide insight into different yet distinct experiences by contributing new perspectives through looking at nostalgic and ordentlike (respectable) sentiments of belonging. Specifically cabinets in living rooms are conceptualised as repositories of such sentiments in the home, and how the objects residing in the home have the power/ability to symbolically ground their owners in the neighbourhood of Cloetesville.     

Iron age chronology and biblical history rejoinders: The late bronze/iron age transition,Tel ʿEton and Lachish

ABSTRACT

In this article, I review three recent articles. In the first, Asscher and Boaretto (2018 Asscher, Y. , and Boaretto, E. , 2018. ‘Absolute time ranges in the plateau of the Late Bronze to Iron Age transition and the appearance of Bichrome pottery in Canaan, Southern Levant’, Radiocarbon 60, 1–25. doi: 10.1017/RDC.2017.96 [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]. ‘Absolute time ranges in the plateau of the Late Bronze to Iron Age transition and the appearance of Bichrome pottery in Canaan, Southern Levant’, Radiocarbon 60, 1–25) suggest that the Late Bronze/Iron I transition occurred in neighboring sites a century and more apart. In the second, Faust and Sapir (2018. ‘The “Governor's Residency” at Tel ?Eton, the United Monarchy and the impact of the old-house effect on large-scale archaeological reconstructions’, Radiocarbon 60, 801–820.) date the construction of a solid building at Tel ?Eton to the tenth century bce and interpret this as validation for the historicity of the United Monarchy of ancient Israel. In the third, Garfinkel et al. (2019a Garfinkel, Y. , et al. , 2019a. ‘Lachish fortifications and state formation in the Biblical kingdom of Judah in light of radiometric datings’, Radiocarbon 61, 1–18. doi: 10.1017/RDC.2019.5 [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. ‘Lachish fortifications and state formation in the Biblical kingdom of Judah in light of radiometric datings’, Radiocarbon 61, 1–18) announce the discovery of a city-wall belonging to Level V at Lachish, and affiliate it with the building operations of King Rehoboam of Judah, described in 2 Chronicles. Scrutiny of the methods and facts dismisses all three theories.     

The Lion Salt Works,Northwich: A Legacy of the Cheshire Salt Industry

The Lion Salt Works are the last standing buildings of the open-pan salt industry that dominated the mid-Cheshire valleys of the rivers Weaver and Wheelock in North-West England. The site had been in the hands of the Thompson family from 1856, when the first works the Alliance Salt Works began. The Lion Salt Works occupied an adjacent land plot and ran from 1894 until their closure in 1986. The site opened with a small museum, but despite the continued campaigning of the Lion Salt Works Trust over the next 25 years the majority of the buildings remained in a dilapidated state. The site was closed between 2009 and 2015 as the buildings were restored and reopened as a museum, conference facilities and café as part of a project funded by a combination of the Heritage Lottery Fund, Cheshire West and Chester Council, Manage+, WREN and Historic England. Archaeological and historical research was conducted as part of the project. This paper describes the results of this research, detailing how salt was made at the site, the development of salt-making in Cheshire, the archaeology uncovered on site and the Thompson family business. It finally concludes by examining the Lion Salt Works place in a wider landscape of the Cheshire salt industry and the chemical industry in North-West England.     

New evidence on the introduction,cultivation and processing of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) in southern Sweden

Subfossil remains of Cannabis sativa L. (hemp) have been found at Lindängelund in the region of Malmö, southern Sweden. These represent the earliest robust evidence so far for hemp retting in Scandinavia. Finds of seeds, stems and pollen of C. sativa from a waterlogged context on a settlement dating to the Roman Iron Age demonstrate that the plant was locally cultivated and processed during the 1st–2nd centuries AD. An introductory phase in Scandinavia is proposed (c. AD 1–400) during which the cultivation of hemp was apparently small scale and processing was probably carried out within settlements. In the succeeding centuries, c. AD 400–550 (the Migration Period), remains of hemp are mostly found in pollen records from lake sediments, and less frequently in the archaeological record. This could indicate that the process of hemp retting relocated from settlements to lakes shores where activity became larger in scale and more integrated with the prevailing agricultural system.     

Race and Identity: The Culture of Combat in the Pacific War

This article addresses how the Royal Navy intended to defend the British Isles from invasion before the First World War. Revisionist historians have recently suggested that during his first tenure as First Sea Lord, 1904–10, Sir John Fisher conceived and implemented a radical new home-defence strategy. Fisher's ‘flotilla defence’ system assigned a hitherto unprecedented importance to flotilla craft. This was apparently a marked departure from previous practice, which had been to rely upon armoured warships to deter invasion. These claims are not supported by the evidence and have failed to appreciate that flotilla craft had historically formed the foundation of the naval defence of the British Isles. War Plans drafted in early 1909 confirm that before leaving office Fisher remained committed to the blockade of enemy naval forces and that he identified blockade as key to the security of the British Isles.     

The Legacy of the Vietnam War: Making a Living amid Unexploded Ordnance in Xieng Khouang Province,Northern Laos

Laos was drawn into the Second Indochina War, making the country the most heavily bombed country on earth. Although the war ended more than four decades ago, unexploded ordnance (UXO) continues to kill and injure civilians. In many provinces UXO constitutes the major hindrance to socioeconomic development and obstacle to local people earning a decent living. The aim of this article is to examine the ways in which local people have developed livelihood strategies to survive in dangerous environments through the lens of sustainable livelihood perspectives. This article argues that livelihood improvements in Xieng Khouang Province should be characterised as a bottom-up phenomenon. UXO is still a major concern for the government and local people with respect to achieving development objectives. As the financial resources for UXO clearance are limited, education is a powerful tool for creating awareness of UXO risks among local people. The research suggests that more resources should be mobilised to deal with UXO problems.     

The Iron Age landscape of Alcoi Valley,eastern Iberia: Agricultural intensification and sociopolitical dynamics

Abstract

New archaeological survey data are combined with previous evidence to examine the rural landscape during the Iberian Iron Age in the Valencia region of eastern Spain. One goal was to understand the settlement pattern and agricultural intensification through manuring. The second objective was to address the socioeconomic aspects of changes in the landscape. It is possible to trace the emergence of a hierarchical settlement pattern in the Iberian Iron Age in which large fortified settlements carried out the most important functions of control and exploitation of the territory, extending their authority over small rural villages and farmsteads. This pattern is associated with the complex socioeconomic structures and political organization of early Iberian states.     

Fuelling the Fires: The Contribution of Wood Charcoal Analysis to a Landscape Scale Project at and Around Pre-Conquest Iron Age Silchester and a Reflection on Its Wider Implications

ABSTRACT

The contribution of targeted wood charcoal analysis (anthracology) to understanding of the 1st millennium BC Pre-Conquest Late Iron Age oppidum and transition to Early Roman town life at Silchester and nearby late prehistoric hinterland sites investigated by the Silchester Environs project is considered. Attention is given to whether substantive differences in charcoal assemblages of varying size and origin are discernible through time and space, and to their value in elucidating landscape, environment, woodland structure, taphonomy, site function and lifestyles. This paper aims to take stock of the work so far and reflect on what lessons can be learned within and beyond the project. Site-level data are summarised and contrasted for the reader, while full context-level interpretation is published elsewhere [Barnett Forthcoming a. “The Early Roman Wood Charcoal and Waterlogged Wood at Silchester.” In Silchester Insula IX: The Claudio-Neronian occupation of the Iron Age Oppidum. Britannia Monograph Series, edited by M. G. Fulford, A. Clarke, E. Durham, and N. Pankhurst. London: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies; and Barnett Forthcoming c Barnett, C. Forthcoming c. “Overview of the Archaeobotanical Evidence.” In Silchester Environs: the Landscape Context of Iron Age Calleva, edited by C. Barnett and M. G. Fulford. Oxford: Oxbow Books monograph due 2020. [Google Scholar]. “Overview of the Archaeobotanical Evidence.” In Silchester Environs: The Landscape Context of Iron Age Calleva, edited by C. Barnett, and M. G. Fulford. Oxford: Oxbow Books monograph].     

The development of animal husbandry from the Late Iron Age to the end of the Roman period: a case study from South-East Britain

In this paper zooarchaeological evidence from Iron Age and Roman sites in South-East Britain is presented and the results are applied to the continuing debate over culture contact and change following the Roman invasion. Evidence from Heybridge in Essex indicates that there were two stages of livestock development. These may reflect the import of new breeding stock into Britain. Differences between the rate of livestock development at this rural site and the nearby urban centre of Colchester indicate differing mechanisms of animal supply between the two sites. The appearance of very large cattle in Late Roman contexts at Boreham in Essex suggests that improvement of animals continued throughout the Roman occupation and was not merely an initial response to new economic and administrative demands. The biometrical evidence from these three sites is compared with evidence from elsewhere in Europe and the development of livestock during the Roman Period is shown to be complex and varied. The impetus and ideology behind the changes in animal husbandry following the Roman invasion in Britain are explored.     

Site maintenance practices and settlement social organization in Iron Age Karnataka, India: Inferring settlement places and landscape from surface distributions of ceramic assemblage attributes

This paper investigates the spatial organization of social relations in settlement contexts through a quantitative and distributional analysis of surface ceramic attributes from Iron Age Period (1200–300 BC) archaeological sites in Southern India. The results discern variation in depositional contexts across each site, from which I infer a variety of basic settlement activity structures (e.g., site maintenance, trash disposal, residence, animal husbandry, metallurgy, ritual). I use these results, together with further analyses of artifact and feature distributions, to infer a basic suite of places, place-making practices and some of the social relations and organizational structures that produced these historically unique Iron Age settlement landscapes.     

文化认同理论下的伊斯兰文化与全球化——阿拉伯学者的学术视野与理论路径

面对全球化的挑战,阿拉伯—伊斯兰文化认同的核心内涵正在经历着一系列重新定义的任务,命题的多重性导致观点的多样化。在西方前所未有的优势和汹涌澎湃的全球化浪潮面前,阿拉伯—伊斯兰世界日益担心自身的文化认同困境以及文化自主特性阿拉伯学者认为全球化确实是一种挑战,这种挑战认知并不是相同的,而是多元主义的。阿拉伯学者从不同角度开出应对良方,包括排斥全球化、应对全球化、捍卫全球化以及敌视全球化,以伸张阿拉伯—伊斯兰文化。阿拉伯学者对全球化的不同视角说明阿拉伯世界的思想、社会与文化的多元化,对全球化的多元认知有其历史与现实的影响元素。而对阿拉伯—伊斯兰文化参与全球化而言,全球化不可能被全部接受也不能全部抛弃,接受其的态度可以称为“积极中立“的方式。     

San Juan,the Fragile City: Finance Capital,Class, and the Making of Puerto Rico's Economic Crisis

This paper narrates Puerto Rico's fiscal and financial crisis through a reading of San Juan's urban landscape. We underscore the role of capital in the city, primarily embodied by the local capitalist class (the Criollo bloc) and foreign capitalists. Historically excluded from the manufacturing sector (dominated by US capitalists), the Criollo bloc accumulates its wealth by concentrating financial assets in the city. In times of crisis, the Criollo bloc resorts to the acquisition of new assets and asset exchange with foreign capitalists to remain solvent and provide short‐term solutions to the state's fiscal and financial limits. The survival of the local capitalist class, we demonstrate, is dependent on asset stripping. Drawing on Clyde Woods, we document how asset stripping unevenly redistributes wealth and risks along class and racial lines within a colonial economy. The finance capital/asset stripping basis of San Juan's economy renders it an extremely fragile city, we contend.     

Temporal changes in diet: a stable isotope analysis of late Iron Age and Roman Dorset,Britain

This study investigates the relationship between diet and cultural change in late Iron Age and Romano-British populations from Dorset, England (1st century BC to the early 5th century AD). Dorset was the only region in Britain to exhibit continuity in inhumation burial rites through these periods and a wide array of environmental, archaeological and material culture evidence is available there. A sample of N = 77 human adult and N = 17 faunal rib samples were utilized for carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis to test the hypothesis that Romanization of the diet would result in greater dietary variation.     

资本贪婪与金融危机:资本的本性、特点、霸权、转嫁危机和思维方式

回顾西方资本的历史,有利于认识它的今天,预计其未来行动. 马克思在<资本论>中科学地分析资本的融资流通等经济作用的同时,特意指出:资本需要流通,"只是在这个不断更新的运动中才有价值的增殖.因此,资本的运动是没有限度的."他进一步指出:资本家的目的"不是取得一次利润,而只是谋取利润的无休止的运动".马克思称之为"绝对的致富欲,价值追逐狂",而且,"资本来到世间,从头到脚,每个毛孔都滴着血和肮脏的东西".[1]