Examining the memorialscape of occupation and liberation: a case study from the Channel Islands

This paper introduces the concept of the ‘memorialscape’ as a tool for studying the inter-relationship of memorials within a single rural or urban environment or landscape. Using a case study of the British Channel Islands, where the number of memorials relating to the German occupation of 1940–1945 has increased greatly since 1985 (the 40th anniversary of liberation), I examine the active role these memorials have played in changing the occupation narrative of the islands. This paper will also explore the importance of memorial marginality and centrality; memorial inter-visibility; the difference between the memorialscape of the capital towns of Guernsey and Jersey and the groups they commemorate; and the narrative that the resulting memorialscape produces.     

From Pleistocene Mariners to Complex Hunter-Gatherers: The Archaeology of the California Channel Islands

California’s Channel Islands were home to some of the most distinctive Native American peoples along the Pacific Coast. Never connected to the mainland during the Quaternary, the Channel Islands have an impoverished terrestrial flora and fauna, but some of the richest and most productive marine environments in the Americas, including diverse kelp forest, intertidal, and offshore marine habitats. Native Americans occupied the Channel Islands for roughly 13,000 calendar years until the early nineteenth century, providing one of the longest and best preserved records of maritime hunter-gatherers in the Americas. We provide an overview and analysis of Channel Islands archaeology, from the relatively mobile peoples who colonized the islands during the Late Pleistocene to the complex hunter-gatherers documented by early Spanish explorers. Our analysis demonstrates the importance of Channel Islands archaeology for enhancing knowledge on a number of broad anthropological issues, including coastal and aquatic adaptations, seafaring, cultural complexity, trade and exchange, and ancient human impacts on the environment.     

The PalaeoEnvironments and ARchaeological Landscapes (PEARL) project: Recent findings from Neolithic sites in Northern Oman

The PalaeoEnvironments and ARchaeological Landscapes (PEARL) research project is a joint German–British project with the principal objective of developing a framework of past human occupation and landscape change in south-eastern Arabia. Fieldwork during 2018 and 2019 involved the systematic survey and excavation of sites in the Rustaq and Ibri regions of Northern Oman, with the aim of establishing the nature and timing of human occupation and landscape change during the Early Holocene period (c. 10,000–7,000 years BP). Further to the findings previously reported, results from recent excavations of the site Hayy al-Sarh in Rustaq revealed the presence of animal remains, stone and shell beads and stone structures, indicating a large Neolithic settlement with burial areas. In addition, preliminary excavations at a rock shelter site near Ibri have revealed stratified archaeological remains, including a Fasad-type assemblage. Future fieldwork will further develop archaeological and palaeoenvironmental records to help build a framework for studying cultural and natural developments in Northern Oman.     

Taboo and sensitive heritage: labour camps,burials and the role of activism in the Channel Islands

In this article we propose the concept of taboo heritage as a way to describe a legacy of war so sensitive that it never undergoes heritage creation. Attempts at creation, such as heritage listing, renovation or excavation, are blocked by local authorities. We also examine the transition from taboo heritage to sensitive heritage, the next step along the ‘heritage continuum’, which we propose can only occur through the combined efforts of the passage of time, the role of activists and official authorisation. We take as our case study two of the British Channel Islands of Jersey and Alderney, occupied by German forces from 1940 to 1945. Labour camps were built in both islands, where the dead were also buried locally. We explore how the existing legacy of these events is still taboo heritage in Alderney, but has achieved partial progress in the transition to sensitive heritage in Jersey.     

The role of fire within Neolithic collective burials: Spatial analyses of cremains from the site of La Truie Pendue,France

The use of collective graves is one of the main features of the western European Late Neolithic. A single gravesite received the successive deposition of dozens or sometimes hundreds of individuals. While cremations or even full-fired inhumation layers are often found within these funerary deposits, the actual role of fire is still poorly understood. Recently discovered within the important archaeological complex of Passy (Yonne, France), the burned collective grave of La Truie-Pendue provides an outstanding case study to examine the use of fire within Neolithic funerary rites. In this study, we develop a new contextual approach to bone alterations in order to reconstruct the original circumstances of combustion and to examine cultural motivations for the use of fire. Results of spatial statistical analyses indicate that the fire event was the first step of a procedure that sealed the grave, closed the access to the dead and signaled the end of the grave's history. Similar sealing procedures were usual elsewhere during the Late Neolithic. Finally, this study demonstrates the value of using GIS as a tool to optimize taphonomic analyses of widely fragmented and commingled skeletal assemblages.     

Pagan: the archaeology of a WWII battle never fought in the Northern Mariana Islands

Archaeological and historical investigation of WWII battles fought in the Micronesian archipelago of the Mariana Islands has generally concentrated on the fierce struggles for Saipan, Tinian, and Guam. Smaller islands that were neutralised during the U.S. thrust to establish air bases for the bombing campaign over Japan beginning in 1944 have received less attention, but were a strategic link in the Absolute National Defence Sphere. This paper examines the archaeological evidence of Japanese military planning for the defence of the island of Pagan situated north of Saipan, a battle that was never fought. The strategy based on an analysis of fixed weaponry emplacement appears to have been conceived in terms of engagement evolving from a ‘defence-at-the-waters-edge’ tactic in the southern Mariana Islands towards a ‘defence-in-depth’ posture faced in Iwo Jima and Okinawa.     

Evidence for a Neolithic Age fire-irrigation paddy cultivation system in the lower Yangtze River Delta,China

Establishing stable cropping systems was vital in antiquity, assuring certain yields and enabling ancient people to settle, thus possibly causing various modern food habits and culture to form around the world, especially in cereal-cultivation-dominated countries. China, one of the most famous ancient agricultural countries, has a long history of rice planting, and the fire-irrigation paddy cultivation system is prevalent in the lower Yangtze region, which is considered a rice domestication center. However, its origin and cultivation pattern remain unclear. We studied a famous agricultural vestige, the Chuodun site, involved in rice planting in the lower Yangtze River Delta in eastern China, during the Neolithic Age. Clear evidence from archaeology, paleobiology, pedology and biogeochemistry suggest both that the rice fire-irrigation cultivation system formed during the Neolithic Age and that ancient peoples lived there steadily. Under this extensive cultivation system, soil structures and properties changed significantly; in particular, it left more black carbon in the soil and increased the organic carbon soil stability, which can be used to reconstruct prehistoric environments. Meanwhile, the prevalent fire-irrigation paddy cultivation system used by farmers in this area, though for a different purpose than ancient people, may be inherited from the Neolithic Age.     

Neolithic cremation in south‐east Arabia: archaeological and anthropological observations at FAY‐NE10 in the Emirate of Sharjah (UAE)

Small fragments of cremated human bone, clearly representing numerous individuals, were found in a stratified Neolithic context in a small cave at Jebel Faya in the Central Region of the Emirate of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. With radiocarbon dates between 6500 and 5800 cal BC, they are among the earliest well‐documented cases of cremations in south‐west Asia. Taxonomic identification of the small burned bone fragments is based on morphological and histological analysis. The deposits are to date the oldest human remains found in south‐east Arabia and represent a phase during the Middle Neolithic for which no other types of burials have yet been documented.     

A Healed Wound Caused by a Flint Arrowhead in a Neolithic Human Innominate from the Trou Rosette (Furfooz,Belgium)

A new case is described here of a wound caused by a flint arrowhead in the neolithic period. The specimen comes from a collective burial excavated last century in the cave Trou Rosette (Belgium). It consists of a fragment of left adult ilium. The fragment of arrowhead is located in a rounded cavity which is open in the medial surface of the bone. The CT scan and the artefact study allow us to reconstruct the scenario of the accident. The arrow pierced the musculus gluteus of the individual prior fixing in the iliac blade. The arrow tip broke at the moment of impact; its tang broke either at the moment of impact or during attempts to extract the arrow.     

Neolithic Pottery Traditions from the Islands, the Coast and the Interior of East Africa

Scholars have attributed the spread of agriculture and pottery technology to the larger part of eastern and southern Africa to Bantu speakers. However, the spread of similar aspects to the Kenya and Tanzania Rift Valley as far south as Eyasi Basin and as far east as Mount Kilimanjaro has been attributed to Cushitic speakers. Whereas the spread of these innovations to the Rift Valley region can be dated back to 3000 BC, the remaining part of eastern and southern Africa is alleged to have received similar innovations only after the BC/AD changeover, when iron technology was introduced. These theories can no longer be sustained. The coast of Tanzania, its immediate hinterland, and the deep sea islands of Zanzibar and Mafia were settled by people who had knowledge of agriculture and pottery making probably from 3000 BC. These innovations are also found to have spread to southern Africa in the last millennium BC. The introduction of iron technology and beveled/fluted pottery, associated with Bantu speakers, was just another stage in the cultural evolution of the people of eastern and southern Africa, but not the beginning of settled, farming/domesticating communities.La diffusion de l'agriculture et la technologie de poterie à la région plus grande de l'Afrique orientale et méridional ont était attribué au parleurs des langues bantou. Cependant, la diffusion des aspects semblables au Rift Valley de Kenya et Tanzania, sud au Bassin d'Eyasi et est au Mont Kilimanjaro ont était attribué au parleurs des langues Cushitic. Tandis qu'on peut dater la diffusion de ces innovations à la région du Rift Valley à 3000 BC, il est prétendu que la région restante d'Afrique orientale et méridional ont reçu les innovations similaires seulement après le changement de BC/AD, au temps que la technologie de fer était indroduit. Il n'est pas possible maintenant à sustenir ces théories. La côte de Tanzania, son hinterland immédiat/les regions près de la mer, et les îles de Zanzibar et Mafia, ont étaient colonisé par les personnes qui avait la connaissance de l'agriculture et de la poterie probablement à partir de 3000 BC. On peut trouver aussi que ces innovations ont diffusé à l'Afrique méridional pendant la dernier millénaire avant J. -C. L'introduction de la technologie du fer et la poterie avec le biseau, liée avec les parleurs des langues bantoues, était seulement un autre étape dans l'évolution culturelle du peuple de l'Afrique orientale et méridional. Il n'était pas le commencement des communautés établis qui ont pratiqué l'agricole et la domestication.     

The Mesolithic–Neolithic Transition in the Channel Islands: Maritime and Terrestrial Perspectives

This paper investigates the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition in the Channel Islands. It presents a new synthesis of all known evidence from the islands c.5000–4300 bc , including several new excavations as well as find‐spot sites that have not previously been collated. It also summarizes – in English – a large body of contemporary material from north‐west France. The paper presents a new high‐resolution sea‐level model for the region, shedding light on the formation of the Channel Islands from 9000–4000 bc . Through comparison with contemporary sites in mainland France, an argument is made suggesting that incoming migrants from the mainland and the small indigenous population of the islands were both involved in the transition. It is also argued that, as a result of the fact the Channel Islands witnessed a very different trajectory of change from that seen in Britain and Ireland c.5000–3500 bc , this small group of islands has a great deal to tell us about the arrival of the Neolithic more widely.     

新石器时期中原地区谷物加工技术初探

本文从考古发现的石磨盘、石磨棒中的石磨棒的形制入手,讨论了石磨棒的使用方式,指出滚压是史前粟脱壳加工的有效方式,揭示了中国先民7000年前就已经熟练运用滚压技术的事实。     

The role of waterways in the spread of the Neolithic

The causes and implications of the regional variations in the spread of the incipient agriculture in Europe remain poorly understood. We use population dynamics models to study the dispersal of the Neolithic in Europe from a localised area in the Near East, solving the two-dimensional reaction-diffusion equation on a spherical surface. We focus on the role of major river paths and coastlines in the advance of farming, to model the rapid advances of the Linear Pottery (LBK) and the Impressed Ware traditions along the Danube–Rhine corridor and the Mediterranean coastline, respectively. We argue that the random walk of individuals, which results in diffusion of the population, can be anisotropic in those areas and hence lead to an effective advection. The standard reaction-diffusion equation is thus supplemented with an advection term, confined to the proximity of major rivers and coastlines. The model allows for the spatial variation in both the human mobility (diffusivity) and the carrying capacity, reflecting the local altitude and latitude. This approach can easily be generalised to include other environmental factors, such as the bioproductivity of landscapes. Our model successfully accounts for the regional variations in the spread of the Neolithic, consistent with the radiocarbon data, and reproduces a time delay in the spread of farming to the Eastern Europe, Britain and Scandinavia.     

New models of North West European Holocene palaeogeography and inundation

This paper presents new 500 year interval palaeogeographic models for Britain, Ireland and the North West French coast from 11000 cal. BP to present. These models are used to calculate the varying rates of inundation for different geographical zones over the study period. This allows for consideration of the differential impact that Holocene sea-level rise had across space and time, and on past societies. In turn, consideration of the limitations of the models helps to foreground profitable areas for future research.     

Early Neolithic Agriculture in the Iberian Peninsula

The spread of agriculture in the Iberian Peninsula is documented from at least ca. 5600–5500BC, although botanical data are absent or very limited for large areas. Archaeobotanical information shows from the beginning an imported agrarian system with a great diversity of crops: hulled and naked wheats and barleys, legumes such as pea, lentil, fava bean, vetches and grass peas, flax and poppy. This diversity of plants with different requirements, processing and uses, implies that the first farmers quickly imported or acquired a wide range of agrarian knowledge. Regional and inter-site agrarian differences are discussed in relation to factors like ecology, culture, use of the cultivated plants and management of the risk of crop failure. The adoption of farming resulted in significant ecological, economic, dietary, and social changes for the Neolithic people of Iberia.     

浅谈新石器时代出土陶器的考古修复

根据陶器质地、火候的差异使用不同的粘接剂是陶器修复的关键;补配材料及作色材料的应用得当,将使出土陶器再现当年风采。     

吴江梅堰龙南新石器时代村落遗址第三、四次发掘简报

吴江梅堰龙南遗址第三、四次发掘所出土的器物表现出明显的良渚文化晚期特征,极大地丰富了该遗址的分期资料。第三、四次发掘所发现的以木桩为基础的干阑式房址与该遗址以往发现的浅穴或半地穴式的建筑风格迥异,反映了水网地区原始先民为适应环境在居住形式上的多样性。     

长江三峡地区远古人类埋葬习俗（墓葬）资料的考古发现与研究

本文根据考古发掘公布的数百座新石器时代墓葬资料,对长江三峡地区距今约6000年至4000年之间的远古人类埋葬习俗作了系统研究,反映了当时人类社会历史发展中的各个方面。