Precolumbian Settlements on Carriacou,West Indies

Abstract

The first systematic archaeological investigation of Precolumbian sites on the island of Carriacou in the West Indies provides a rich source of information regarding Amerindian settlement in the southern Caribbean. Herein, we report results from an island-wide survey and subsequent excavation at two large village sites—Grand Bay and Sabazan—that provide evidence for an intensive late Ceramic Age occupation dating between CAL. A.D. 400–1200. Results from four seasons of excavation at Grand Bay and two at Sabazan indicate that inhabitants colonized the island later than larger nearby islands (although an earlier settlement is possible); were engaged in inter-island and South American interactions as evidenced through analysis of pottery, stylistic artifacts, and faunal remains; exploited a variety of marine and terrestrial foods, including several animals rarely found in the Antilles that were translocated to the island from elsewhere; and buried their dead in and around shell middens and, at least once, under a habitable structure.     

Evidence for inter-island transport of heirlooms: luminescence dating and petrographic analysis of ceramic inhaling bowls from Carriacou,West Indies

Ceramic snuffing tubes and inhaling bowls used for ingesting hallucinogenic substances are known from several islands in the West Indies, but their chronological distribution is often vague. A partial inhaling bowl found at the site of Grand Bay on Carriacou in deposits dating between ca. A.D. 1000–1200, along with two other unprovenienced specimens from the local museum, were dated using luminescence (TL and OSL) to determine their antiquity. Surprisingly, the dates had a weighted average of 400 ± 189 B.C., making them several hundred years older than all ¹⁴C assays from the island; however, they do overlap in age with similar artifacts found on Puerto Rico and Vieques Island over 750 km away. Additional luminescence dating of two stylistically distinct Suazan ceramic sherds excavated from stratified deposits at Grand Bay fall within the expected ceramic and radiocarbon chronology. These data, coupled with petrographic analysis of the specimens, suggests that they were not made using local materials. Instead, they appear to have been transported to the island, possibly hundreds of years later, as heirlooms. This may be the first evidence for inter-island transport of drug paraphernalia in the Caribbean.     

The Prehistoric Settlement Pattern of Nevis,West Indies

Abstract

This paper reports the results of an intensive settlement survey of Nevis, a volcanic island of 132 sq km in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles. Twenty-one sites were discovered from three major periods—the aceramic in the last millennium B.C., the Saladoid in the first 600 years A.C., and the Ostionoid period dating from 600 A.C. until European contact. The implications of the distribution of settlements and their artifact assemblages for the prehistory of the Leeward Islands are discussed.     

安徽肥西塘岗遗址发掘

塘岗遗址是安徽省江淮之间具有新石器和商、周时代文化遗存并存的重要遗址。遗址位于安徽省肥西县南岗镇鸡鸣村牌坊自然村北岗地上,占地面积约35900平方米。2006年3～8月,安徽省文物考古研究所对遗址进行了抢救性的科学发掘。该遗址最早地层堆积属于新石器时代中期,共发现了7个房址和一些其他遗迹,出土遗物包括陶器、石器。该遗址的发掘,首先推动了江淮之间古人类居住环境的研究,其次对于研究本地区考古学文化与周边地区考古学文化之间的相互关系提供了第一手的宝贵资料。     

A sugar-boiling house at Galways: An Irish sugar plantation in Montserrat,West Indies

Abstract

The former village of Cowlam lies on the Chalk Wolds of the old East Riding of Yorkshire at SE/965657. When the village earthworks were threatened with destruction in the early 1970s, the late T.C.M. Brewster carried out a series of rescue excavations for the East Riding Archaeological Research Committee. He examined the remains of four structures within the ‘courtyard farm’ complex of one croft. His excavations demonstrated that this courtyard farm represented the amalgamation of two earlier croft units, probably at some time towards the end of the medieval period.

Three of these four structures had ground plans of typical ‘longhouse’ form, with dwarf chalk footing walls and opposed central doorways. Their similarity of form raised problems of their respective functions and the changing role of buildings within the complex. The wide range of artefact material recovered from the vicinity of these buildings provided additional evidence for their use.

The pottery demonstrated that this courtyard farm had remained in occupation until the later 17th century, a date which correlated with the documentary evidence for the desertion of the village. Cowlam is only one of a number of Wold villages which were abandoned in the post-medieval period.     

从陆机《辩亡论》看赤壁之战的战址

陆逊之孙, 陆抗之子的陆机, 在《辩亡论》中指出赤壁之战曹军的进军路线是:“浮邓塞之舟, 下汉阴之众”, 邓塞是今襄樊市市区; 与陈寿“公自江陵征备, 至巴丘, ……公至赤壁”吻合, 因为江陵为汉县, 包括今荆州市市区和江陵县, 荆门市市区和沙洋县, 以及潜江市; 巴丘乃云梦泽的古称, 正好循古代夏口至江陵走夏水航线一致。加之文聘为江夏郡太守, 郡址先沔口 (今汉阳), 后石阳 (今黄陂), 所以赤壁之战战址是黄州。     

Introduction: The historiography of slavery in the Danish-Norwegian West Indies,c. 1950-2016.

This introduction to the special issue ‘Slavery, Servitude and Freedom in the Danish-Norwegian West Indies, 1672–1848’, edited by Niklas Thode Jensen and Vibe Maria Martens, situates the five essays in the issue in the framework provided by previous research. It begins with a historiographical overview of research carried out since c. 1950 concerning Caribbean and Danish-Norwegian West Indian racial slavery, and continues to locate the essays within this field and its recent historiographical trends. The introduction ends with a brief overview of the history of the Danish-Norwegian and later the Danish West Indies to provide the general context for the five essays.     

葡人开辟欧印新航路辨正

葡萄牙人开辟成功欧印新航路已经整整５００年了。一些学者认为,“开辟”或“发现”新航路只是欧洲人的片面观点。本文辨析和研讨对这一命题的各种怀疑和否定,指出,腓尼基人曾环航非洲不可信;进行探航没有返回不知所终便不足为凭;没有阿拉伯水手的领航达·伽玛等仍能航速印度;此前已有的航路只把莫桑比克中部以北的非亚地区联系起来;在迪亚士探航前,无法排除非洲如托勒密所说延伸到南极的可能性;虽然希罗多德等猜测过大西洋与印度洋相通,但也需要航海探险去开辟和证实;远洋探航当时是很艰难危险的创造性的工作。     

Sugar Monoculture,Bovid Skeletal Part Frequencies,and Stable Carbon Isotopes: Interpreting Enslaved African Diet at Brimstone Hill,St Kitts,West Indies

Sugar production was so pervasive in the British West Indies during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries that provisions were regularly shipped to the islands from as far away as Europe and North America. Skeletal part frequencies of bovids from late 18th century enslaved African contexts at Brimstone Hill Fortress, St Kitts, indicate that sheep and goats were probably raised locally, but that many of the cattle bones were transported to the site as barrelled beef. Stable carbon isotopes in sheep, goat, and cattle bones confirm these interpretations. This, in spite of the fact that cattle remains from Brimstone Hill included numerous marrow bones that ostensibly were excluded from barrelled beef. It is concluded that marrow bones, while reportedly excluded from barrelled beef, may have been included in provisions destined for enslaved Africans in the West Indies.     

Destruction of the 1912 Lenakel Church (Tanna,Vanuatu) in Cyclone Pam,and Thoughts for the Future of the Site

We report on the destruction of the 1912 Tanna Church by tropical Cyclone Pam, which struck Vanuatu on the 13th March 2015. This building was a very significant prefabricated timber structure that had been archaeologically recorded in great detail. Detailed documentation mitigates to some extent the loss of the physical structure, especially when considered alongside the community’s interests in the intangible values of the site. Returning to the site after the building’s destruction allowed us to record some new details, and to discuss future heritage plans with representatives from local communities.     

An African-Type Healer/Diviner and His Grave Goods: A Burial from a Plantation Slave Cemetery in Barbados, West Indies

An adult male buried in the late 1600s or early 1700s and excavated from a plantation slave cemetery in Barbados had the cemetery's richest assortment of grave goods: an iron knife, several types of metal jewelry, an earthenware pipe, and a necklace of money cowries, fish vertebrae, dog canine teeth, European glass beads, and a large carnelian bead probably from India. Most of these artifacts are unique to New World African descendant sites. The individual was probably an African-type diviner/healer whose high status in the slave community is reflected in his relatively elaborate artifact inventory.     

内蒙古林西县井沟子遗址西区墓葬出土的动物遗存研究

井沟子遗址位于内蒙古林西县双井店乡井沟子村北约400米处的坡岗之上,面积约20000平方米,西区墓葬位于遗址中部地势较平处。该遗址于1989年赤峰市文物普     

Variation in Venues of Slavery and Freedom: Interpreting the Late Eighteenth-Century Cultural Landscape of St. John, Danish West Indies Using an Archaeological GIS

An archaeological GIS is used to examine the late eighteenth-century cultural landscape of St. John, US Virgin Islands. Land use patterns are reconstructed using a combination of historic maps, tax records, and survey reconnaissance. The study demonstrates significant, heretofore undocumented, transitions taking place that reflect dynamic cultural and economic change within Danish West Indian plantation society that includes a significant trend towards land ownership by free-colored St. Johnians more than a half a century before emancipation. These venues of freedom are discussed in relation to broader patterns of estate consolidation and economic shifts.     

湖北巴东旧县坪遗址考证

22001-2003年,为配合三峡工程,武汉大学考古与博物馆学系与武汉市文物考古研究所联合对湖北巴东旧县坪遗址进行了大规模的考古发掘工作,全面揭示了两宋巴东县治的整体面貌,本文以考古发掘的成果为依据,结合文献记载,考证了旧县坪遗址沿革、旧县坪遗址的兴废原因、以及与旧县坪遗址相关的归乡县、乐乡县、信陵郡等遗址所在地。指出六朝晚期的归乡县、信陵郡、乐乡县以及随后隋设的巴东县均在旧县坪。     

关于通化万发拨子遗址的考古与民族学考察

本文就吉林通化万发拨子遗址的考古发现,从考 古和民族学角度,提出以下主要看法：1．万发拨子遗址所处浑江中上游,应为“高句丽先 世”貊人故地;2．遗址中土坑石椁(棺)墓与大石盖墓、积石墓共存,反映了西汉高句丽建 国前,辽东“　　　”与“貊”文化的交汇;3．遗址“二期”三足器的存在,主要反映了“西团山文化”的影响所及;4．以“三、四、五”期为代表的主体文化内涵,是“二江”流域“前高句丽”时期的貊族(高夷)青铜文化遗存;5．万发拨子遗址的“环山围沟(壕)”,是高句丽城邑出现前,貊部(高夷)氏族聚落的代表类型。在高句丽建国前,不存在“古句丽国”。