Varied visions: an iconographic reevaluation of Ramey Incised production and distribution in the American Bottom,Illinois

ABSTRACT

Ramey Incised ceramics, characterized by incised symbolic motifs, are often viewed as a hallmark of Stirling-phase Cahokia and the surrounding American Bottom region. However, few comprehensive analyses of the regional Ramey motif assemblage have been conducted. Here I evaluate spatial and temporal variation in Ramey Incised motifs across 16 sites in the American Bottom to improve understandings of Ramey Incised production and distribution. Stirling-phase motif data indicate that the Ramey Incised manufacturing process likely was not as centralized as previously proposed. A qualitative analysis of the regional motif assemblage uncovers variation that may reflect stylistic experimentation. Additionally, motif frequency distributions reveal potential site-specific thematic preferences. Both findings support the existence of local production within the region. Diachronic data suggest the collapse of the Ramey Incised tradition in the Moorehead phase, perhaps in response to sociopolitical and religious transitions occurring at Cahokia. Overall, Ramey Incised ceramics may have served as vehicles through which American Bottom Mississippians variably expressed their interpretations of and relationships to the cosmos.     

Style and information: An analysis of Susiana ceramics

Style is viewed as a mode of communication that signals social group identification and helps to maintain boundaries between social groups. A theoretical framework is developed which relates changes in social messaging in the stylistic mode to changes in the sociopolitical organization of chiefly societies. Observable changes in style are specified for situations in which sociopolitical organization becomes more complex through an increase in horizontal differentiation of social units, as well as those in which complexity increases through vertical differentiation. A methodology for quantifying changes in stylistic complexity, using two measures of redundancy and the information statistic H, is outlined. A specific proposition relating changes in sociopolitical and stylistic complexity in chiefly societies is tested using painted ceramic bowls from several late sixth and fifth millennium B.C. sites on the Susiana Plain in Iran.     

Pier Paolo Pasolini and the medium of song: Texts written for Laura Betti for the Giro a vuoto show

This article focuses on the outcome of an important episode within contemporary Italian culture: the encounter between the world of literature and song, and specifically examines the lyrics written by Pier Paolo Pasolini for the actress and singer Laura Betti for the Giro a Vuoto show, performed in 1960 in Milan. This essay intends to highlight the key elements of this encounter and the characteristic elements of these songs by virtue of textual and stylistic analysis, and provide remarks with regard to the relationship between music, text and singing performance. A study of this kind allows emphasis to be placed on the innovation originating from this distinctive collaboration which represents an important sign of change towards the emergence of a quality song within the mass market which would later come to be defined as canzone d’autore (singer-songwriter genre).     

NATUFIAN INTERACTIONS ALONG THE JORDAN VALLEY

Abstract

Building on recent observations made by Belfer-Cohen and Goring-Morris, this study proposes that a zone of intensive interaction existed between communities in the Jordan Valley during much of the Early Natufian period (c. 12,500–11,000 cal bc). Recently published data demonstrate distinctive and even unique links between open-air Jordan Valley sites. Whereas some models have utilised specific types of material culture (e.g. bone artefacts or art items) to identify cultural provinces in the Natufian, this enquiry uses multiple categories of evidence (site types, shared artefact types, artefacts with close stylistic similarities, embodied behavioural practices, and raw material movements) to propose a Natufian sub-region in the Jordan Valley. The likely existence of a post-Lisan “Damya Lake” is suggested as a rationale for extensive north–south contexts south along the Rift Valley, especially for the transport of heavy materials such as basaltic rock. In the future, scientific techniques such as the isotopic analysis of human skeletal remains, elemental characterisation of raw material source, and reliable dating of excavated sites will prove to be decisive in evaluating the model.     

Mid‐Holocene Development of Mangrove Communities Featuring Rhizophoraceae and Geomorphic Change in the Richmond River Estuary,New South Wales,Australia

This paper describes the hitherto unreported occurrence of mid‐Holocene mangrove deposits in the Richmond River estuary, southeastern Australia, thereby providing evidence for changes in the distribution and composition of mangrove communities within a subtropical estuarine system during the Holocene. Stratigraphic, radiocarbon and palynological evidence indicates that widespread development of mangrove communities took place in the upstream reaches of the Richmond River estuary during the period 7000 to 6000 years BP. These communities maintained their habitat through substrate aggradation under the conditions of a moderate sea‐level rise, in contrast to other estuaries within the region, which generally experienced the submergence of intertidal substrates. Mangrove species belonging to the family Rhizophoraceae, most likely Bruguiera gymnorrhiza and Rhizophora stylosa, dominated these communities, in strong contrast to contemporary communities, which are dominated by Avicennia marina. Moreover, these mid‐Holocene communities were located a considerable distance upstream of the contemporary occurrences of Rhizophoraceae species within the estuary. The changes in the spatial distribution and composition of mangrove communities parallel the large‐scale evolution of the estuary driven by sea‐level variation. Shallow, buried Pleistocene terraces probably contributed to the regionally unique aggradational response of the mangrove communities and their substrates to a sea‐level rise during mid‐Holocene times.     

Rock-art and the transition to farming. The Neolithic landscape of the central Mediterranean coast of Spain

Summary. This paper deals with the analysis of stylistic variation between the different rock‐art traditions that coexisted in the central Mediterranean coastal area of Spain in the Neolithic period – the Macro Schematic tradition, the Schematic tradition and the Levantine tradition. The stylistic variation is analyzed in different scales from the panel with its compositions and superimpositions, to the shelter – shared or exclusive – and the landscape, focussing on patterns of distribution and relationships with settlement sites. This stylistic analysis enables us to study the chronological aspects of the process of Neolithization; while the symbolic character of these marks on the landscape offers an insight into the perception and use of space by the communities who made them.     

Prehistoric farming in the mfolozi and hluhluwe valleys of Southeast Africa: an archaeo-botanical survey

The Mfolozi and Hluhluwe Valleys of southeastern Africa are representative of a sub-tropical biome and have archaeological evidence for farming settlement spanning more than 1500 years. By collecting information on soils and plant communities within the same sample frame as archaeological data, the relative importance of environmental and anthropomorphic influences can be assessed. It is argued that, although climate and soils have determined the overall distribution of plant communities, human land use has had a considerable effect on the composition of both woodland and grassland. The nature of this interaction between man and environment provides inferential data on prehistoric economies and also aids the formulation of conservation policies in protected areas.     

Prehistoric migration at Nebira, South Coast of Papua New Guinea: New insights into interaction using isotope and trace element concentration analyses

Migration is a commonly used explanation for cultural change in world prehistory, and is also a central theme in the prehistory of the Pacific Islands. However it is rarely subject to direct archaeological research. This paper applies strontium and oxygen radiogenic/stable isotope (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, δ¹⁸O), and trace element concentration (Ba/Sr) analyses to 27 individuals buried at the archaeological site of Nebira (ca.720–300 BP), located inland on the South Coast of Papua New Guinea. The analyses seek to identify non-local individuals within the population and provide a more in-depth understanding about the social identity of the possible migrants in this community.The strontium isotope data indicates that five individuals were non-local to Nebira, having possibly come from a coastal location. Correlation with biological data, such as age and sex, also indicates that the pattern of migration at Nebira was not sex or age specific. The results support the archaeological findings that suggest the inhabitants from Nebira were in contact with coastal communities during a period in prehistory of increased cultural interaction. However, despite the considerable isotopic variation identified in the Nebira sample, it is also demonstrated that more research is needed to identify the possible origins of these non-local individuals.     

Gated communities as spatial manifestations of moral differentiation and competition: an example from Istanbul,Turkey

Gated communities have received significant attention in academic debates. Despite this, there is a lack of studies on differentiation and tensions between them. This paper analyses differentiation between gated communities by adopting the theory of “symbolic boundaries” [Lamont, M., 1992. Money, morals, and manners: the culture of the French and American upper-middle class. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press]. It uses the data collected from fieldwork in two gated communities in Istanbul, Turkey, comprising semi-structured in-depth interviews with residents. First, the paper contributes to Lamont's “symbolic boundaries” [Lamont, M., 1992. Money, morals, and manners: the culture of the French and American upper-middle class. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press] by showing that morality is not independent from socio-economic context, but indicates the legitimate values of a given social context. This is shown in residents’ use of moral boundaries such as a law-abiding lifestyle, legitimate sources of capital accumulation and the existence of warmer relations with each other. Second, the paper contributes to the study of gated communities by demonstrating that they can be regarded as spatial manifestations of the division within the upper classes which results from competition for deserved status.     

ZOOMORPHIC EFFIGY PENDANTS: AN EXAMINATION OF STYLE,MEDIUM, AND DISTRIBUTION IN THE CADDO AREA

Abstract

Caddo zoomorphic effigy pendants were crafted from a wide variety of raw material, such as freshwater mussel shell, Busycon perversum (whelk) marine shell, animal bone, and various types of soft stone. They have been documented at contemporaneous Late Caddo (A.D. 1400–1700) sites along the Red River in northeast Texas, southwest Arkansas, and northwest Louisiana; the Black Bayou, Big Cypress Bayou, and upper Sabine River basins in northeast Texas; the Ouachita River in south-central Arkansas; and the Arkansas River in central Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. This paper describes the development of a comprehensive corpus that investigates stylistic groups, differential raw material or medium utilized, and the spatial distribution of zoomorphic effigy pendants throughout the Caddo area. Results reveal north-south heterogeneity, suggesting the presence of broader traditional cultural narratives associated with a complex idea that is manifest regionally in distinct stylistic forms and linked to Caddo beliefs concerning Beneath World themes. Additionally, this stylistic and spatial analysis offers an additional dataset to further explore social, political, and economic linkages among and between contemporary Caddo groups around A.D. 1500.     

Prehistoric Mink (Mustela vison) Trapping on the Northwest Coast

Abstract

Excavations and survey since 1970 have produced data on many aspects of human occupation in the Basin of Mexico between 1200 B.C. and 500 B.C. (un calibrated radiocarbon dates). We attempt here to summarize our current understanding of the communities of that period in the Basin, with respect to chronology, stylistic affinities of their material remains, subsistence patterns, craft production, trade relationships, socio-political aspects, and the possible religious beliefs of their inhabitants. We urge in conclusion that even-handed attention be provided to both the historical and the processual aspects of the evidence in the interest of a more complete understanding of the past in our region.     

The Book of Job – The Cyclical Progression of the Aporia

ABSTRACT

This article explores the relation between aesthetics and theology in the Book of Job. The overall aim of the article is to explain the relationship between centre and periphery (poetry and prose) and its significance for the theology of the book. The article claims that Job's problem is not the attainment of wisdom but how to reconcile wisdom with suffering—how to relate to suffering. And this theological theme is propagated through aesthetics—including stylistic, narrative, compositional and structural features.

It is impossible to point out a preferential reading in the Book of Job because of the fundamental and structural dissonance of the text. This destabilized, ambiguous, paradoxical, ironical and dissonance-producing text is the hermeneutical starting point. Qua dissonance-producing text this feature is used as foundation for the interpretative task. And to get a comprehensive grip on the book two instruments are used: the literary and compositional means are analyzed, and the structural elements are evaluated in their relation between frame and centre. Following this line of interpretation reveals that the stylistic differences of the work manifest crucial theological distinctions. In the book of Job, shape and aesthetics are meaning and theology.     

The Organization of Late Paleoindian Lithic Procurement Strategies in Western Wisconsin

Abstract

The applicability of employing an organization of technology framework to the analysis of prehistoric lithic procurement strategies is demonstrated here. Analysis reveals that a spatial separation is present in the distribution of lithic raw materials used by Late Paleoindian populations in western Wisconsin. This raises the possibility that lithic raw material functioned as a stylistic indicator of group membership. To evaluate this suggestion microstylistic traits present on a large sample of diagnostic Late Paleoindian projectile points were examined. Significant differences in stylistic traits were observed between sample areas. Furthermore, these differences correspond to spatial differences in raw material use. The correlation between lithic raw material use and microstylistic traits is consistent with the idea that lithic raw material serves as a stylistic marker of group membership, and indicates the presence of some form of social boundary within western Wisconsin during the Late Paleo indian Period.     

Storage in traditional farming communities of the western Mediterranean: Ethnographic,historical and archaeological data

Abstract

This paper presents ethnographic, historic and archaeological data from the western Mediterranean in order to explore the variability of storage methods and the various strategies that may have existed in the past in this region. The paper includes ethnographic information on traditional storage methods collected in farming communities in northern Morocco (Rif area). We record the use of plant fibres such as canes (Arundo donax), dwarf palm (Chamaerops humilis), esparto grass (Stipa tenacissima) and dis (Ampelodesmos mauritanica) to make containers. Recipients made of cow dung and unfired clay, as well as underground silos, have been also used in this region to store food. In addition, we explore historical and ethnohistorical data on the use of large storage structures, including the study of communal granaries, a particular type of granary located at inaccessible places, such as cliff faces or mountain tops, or within fortified buildings, from which harvests can be easily protected and defended. We also examine the archaeological evidence of storage strategies in the Iberian Peninsula during prehistoric times. The paper informs of the large variety of systems and materials used, the functioning of storage structures, and more generally, provides a framework for reflecting on the enormous diversity of solutions that could have existed in the past and that may have left little or none archeological traces.     

Becoming ‘enchanted’ in agro-food spaces: engaging relational frameworks and photo elicitation with farm tour experiences

Abstract

Ecofeminists maintain that seemingly diverse and naturalized socio-ecological issues are in fact rooted within a particular cultural framework that perpetuates inequality and severs relationships among human and more-than-human communities. This important yet perhaps abstract understanding can be made tangible via examination of the ‘conventional’ food system, in which human and more-than-human communities are simultaneously otherized, marginalized, and exploited, realities largely hidden in a global industrial food system that disconnects production from consumption and obscures embedded relationships. Yet as consumer awareness rises, more people wish to know and move closer to the sources of their food, fueling community-based agro-food alternatives. When endowed with an ethic of care, such alternatives can be transformative for individuals and communities across scales.

This article situates conventional and alternative agro-food systems within relational frameworks of ecofeminism and care ethics and uses participant-driven photo elicitation (PDPE) to engage with experiences of consumers participating in a community farm tour. Findings suggest that such ‘enchanting’ experiences can begin to (re)embed food ‘products’ within contexts of place, people, and process, contributing to a relational consciousness that is central to an ethic of care. Findings also illustrate that PDPE can serve as a valuable window into experiences of reconnection, particularly useful for feminist researchers interested in learning more about enchantment and the transformational potential it holds.     

A Moral Economy of Water: Charity Wells in Egypt's Nile Delta

Though commonly viewed as a human right, access to water is often difficult and highly unequal within and between communities, depending on various social and power relations, access mechanisms and property rights regimes. However, moral norms and subsistence ethics can also play a balancing role, enhancing access to water for vulnerable groups and individuals, particularly in contexts of water scarcity. Using the example of a Nile Delta village, this article explores the role of charitable water wells (sobol) in influencing both irrigation and drinking water access relations, by understanding their different modes of governance and the motivations behind their emergence. The article argues that charitable norms underlying sobol are dynamic. They stem from certain moral ideologies concerning religion, property and reciprocity, and while they do greatly enhance access to water, it is with varying degrees, limitations and remaining access discrepancies. Sobol alter property rights relations, extending entitlements to water, but their effectiveness is also limited by existing property rights regimes. Sobol are also limited by existing anti‐cooperative actions, and being embedded in an inequitable access system, they may not fully counterbalance inequitable water access. The limitations of cooperative water access arrangements should be counterweighed and complemented by overarching and equitable water distribution systems.     

Reviews

Bente Magnus: Krosshaugfunnet. Et fors?k på kronologisk og stilhistorisk plassering i 5. årh. (The Krosshaug find. An attempt at a chronological and stylistic placing within the 5th century). Stavanger Museums Skrifter 9. Stavanger 1975. 159 Pages, 68 Figs. English summary.     

Of Winds,Worms and Mana: the Traditional Calendar of the Torres Islands,Vanuatu

This paper explores how the expression of ‘capacity’ (mena, more commonly known as mana in other Oceanic settings) and the evocation of abundance are played out in relation to seasonal change and human‐environmental relations, as observed in the Torres Islands, Vanuatu. It considers the importance for communities of North and Central Vanuatu of the appearance of a ubiquitous sea worm known as the Palolo, in combination with the regular motions of the sun and the moon, the prevaling winds and various other ecological patterns. While human‐environmental relations are often mediated by the idea of mena, this also constitutes a basic social value that informs local senses of place and belonging. The study of temporality and environmental knowledge can help to de‐centre territorial notions of ‘place’ by situating this concept within the broader context in which people experience it. Finally, because these data bear on macro comparisons that span the Western Pacific, this article is aimed in part at putting the interpretation of time and calendrics within the Indo‐Pacific frame of reference that they should begin to take.     

‘My voice counts because I’m handsome.’ Democratising the museum: the power of museum participation

Abstract

Participation – where visitors are invited to leave a comment, co-create, or contribute to exhibitions – has been hailed as an opportunity to democratise the museum experience. New qualitative data from on-site and follow up interviews with museum visitors and practitioners at the experimental exhibition Power of 1 at the Museum of Australian Democracy has been used as a case study to determine if the rhetoric of the highly interactive, audience-centred approach of the participatory museum is meeting its aims. This paper argues that participation has the potential to democratise the museum experience for visitors, particularly when a more expansive definition is applied which acknowledges the benefits of participation beyond simply leaving a comment. Participation can provoke conversations and forge connections with real and imagined communities within the museum and beyond; however this potential is hampered by the often unacknowledged undemocratic practices within institutions by professionals who devalue visitor participation and power-sharing in order to uphold traditional museum practices.     

Molecular evidence of changing foodways across the Mississippian transition at the George Reeves site (11S650)

ABSTRACT

The George Reeves site (11S650) is a multicomponent village on the bluffs in the central American Bottom, Illinois. The site was occupied from the Late Woodland Rosewood phase through the Mississippian Lohmann phase. Pottery use and dietary variation between the Late Woodland and Emergent Mississippian occupations at the site were explored through stylistic analysis, pottery residue analysis, and compound-specific carbon isotopic analysis of pottery residues. Although more samples should be analyzed, diet and pottery use at George Reeves seems to have been varied, with maize present by cal AD 900–1000, but comprising a relatively small portion of lipid residues in pottery. Residue analysis indicates a C₄ presence in 5 of 16 sampled pots from the early Emergent Mississippian deriving from either maize or from meat from animals consuming maize. Pottery residues were mixed, showing C₃ and C₄ plants as well as meat and fish or shellfish. One residue showed a high incidence of C₄ contribution, most likely from Portulaca oleracea (common purslane), as well as large amounts of fish or shellfish and another C₃ plant. Residue from a ceramic pipestem indicates that maize may have been smoked, probably in the form of maize silk mixed with other nontobacco plants.