Theory and methods in settlement studies

Ruth S. Tringham, ed. Ecology and Agricultural Settlements: An Ethnographic and Archaeological Perspective. Andover, Mass.: ‘Warner Modular Publications, 1973. Unpaginated (ca. vi + 146 pp.). Tables, figures, and notes. (paper).

Ruth S. Tringham, ed. Territoriality and Proxemics: Archaeological and Ethnographic Evidence for the Use and Organization of Space. Andover, Mass.: Warner Modular Publications, 1973. Unpaginated (ca. vi + 115 pp.). Tables, figures, and notes. (paper)

Ruth S. Tringham, ed. Urban Settlements: The Process of Urbanization in Archaeological Settlements. Andover, Mass.: Warner Modular Publications, 1973. Unpaginated (ca. vi + 122pp.). Tables, figures, andnotes. (paper).     

Quantifying the Consumption of Obsidian at Neolithic Çatalhöyük,Turkey

Abstract

Archaeological studies of consumption are hampered by the lack of quantified data. New data from the Neolithic site of Catalhiiyiik in Turkey allows the annual consumption of obsidian at the site to be calculated as a minimum of between 116 to 318 kg. The method employed is simple and can be employed at other sites provided appropriate sampling, topographic survey, and dating strategies are implemented.     

Tom Licence,What the Victorians Threw Away. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2015. 108 pp., 90 illus. £9.99. isbn 9781782979756

Abstract

Beehive coke ovens in Derbyshire were used to provide fuel for local blast furnaces, for the Sheffield crucible steel industry and for railway locomotive fuel. Members of the Industrial Archaeology Section of Derbyshire Archaeological Society have made a careful survey of four ranges of beehive coke ovens at Ramshaw, near Unstone, formerly the site of Ramshaw Colliery.     

Halse Maltings,Somerset

Abstract

In the summer of 1986 The Conservation Section of Taunton Deane Borough Council asked the Somerset Industrial Archaeological Society for advice on a malthouse at Halse which was the subject of a planning application for conversion into two dwellings. The site was surveyed in November 1986, and research into its history revealed an elderly farm worker who could remember it in use and some of the characters associated with it. The archaeology and history of the site are described.     

Socio-political change on a slave-raiding frontier: war,trade and 'Big Men' in nineteenth century Sisalaland,Northern Ghana

Abstract

Life in nineteenth century northern Ghana was characterised by insecurity as inhabitants experienced frequent slave-raiding. Local villages forged alliances with raiders as a means to alter the local political balance in their favour. Preliminary research indicates that many of the local powerbrokers who emerged as war leaders during this period also occupied easily defensible locations or well-fortified villages with access to trade routes. Archaeological investigations at the hilltop site of Yalingbong reveal that the community was well-situated to take advantage of increased trading opportunities but that status differences within the site are not marked.     

Conservation and management of prehistoric rock art sites on the World Heritage List: A report on the Côa Valley international symposium, 1999

Abstract

A meeting of managers of prehistoric rock art sites inscribed on the World Heritage List was held at the Côa Valley Archaeological Park in Portugal in May 1999. Site managers from Africa, the Americas, Australia and Europe discussed issues of site protection, visitor management and interpretation to the public. The following report summarizes the experience reported at the symposium, which has led to the proposal to create an international network of site managers responsible for rock art sites.     

The Evolving Relationship between the Côa Valley Archaeological Park and the Local Community: an Account of the First Decade

Abstract

The Côa Valley Archaeological Park (PAVC) reaches its 13th birthday in August 2009. Although the relationship between the Park and the local community has not always been unproblematic, the last few years have witnessed a major shift in the situation. While some misunderstandings still exist, recent efforts made by the PAVC, specifically enhancing education services involving local schools in heritage management and conservation, and in organizing activities aimed at the local population, have helped develop ties with the community.     

Research on Conservation State and Preservation Conditions in Unsaturated Archaeological Deposits in Oslo

Abstract

Archaeological, biological, and geochemical investigations of soil sample series from a section and five boreholes have been studied to evaluate the state of preservation at the time of investigation and the preservation conditions of urban archaeological deposits from medieval Oslo, Norway. Focus has been put on the most fragile deposits in the unsaturated and fluctuation zones. Even with limited investigations, it is possible to assess the archaeological conservation state and the preservation conditions. Further work should focus on interpreting measured results and on mitigation strategies.     

Looting and vandalism around a World Heritage Site: Documenting modern damage to archaeological heritage in Petra’s hinterland

Abstract

In 2012 the ancient city of Petra celebrated the 200th anniversary of its Western re-identification. The Brown University Petra Archaeological Project (BUPAP) has sought to document the northern hinterland of Petra through a multi-component methodology that includes intensive field survey, feature documentation, and limited test excavations. The iconic site of Petra has a long and storied history, and it is a site that presents many challenges to archaeologists and cultural heritage managers. During a series of test excavations, meant to ground truth locations earmarked by the overlapping intensive field survey and feature documentation, several patterns of looting were identified. These instances of looting were often paralleled by observed vandalism that defaced archaeological heritage, within and outside the Petra Archaeological Park, with archaeological artifacts being sold to tourists at nearby shops. This study provides crucial documentation of these processes of vandalism and looting recorded over the last three years. We propose that only through continued monitoring can local authorities be provided with ample evidence calling for additional cultural heritage protection.     

Review Article — The Buildings of England Series — the Second Editions

Abstract

An account of the excavation by members of the Somerset Industrial Archaeological Society of a stone built engine house dating from the mid-nineteenth century. Documentary evidence indicated that a portable engine pumped and wound from Smoky Bottom mine. The archaeological and historical evidence has enabled a conjectural restoration of the building and machinery.     

GREATER MANCHESTER'S PAST REVEALED

Abstract

A survey of the eighteenth-century quay and nineteenth-century copper mine and arsenic works at Gawton was carried out in 1988 by the Exeter Museums Archaeological Field Unit. Although ruined, many structures remain from each of the four main uses made of the site, and these are described and discussed below. A study was also made of the available documentary material, and this is integrated with the physical evidence and the history and development of the site discussed. The process of arsenic manufacture is briefly described with reference to the surviving buildings.     

Haselden Hall,Wakefield

Abstract

An architectural survey of the surviving remains of Haselden Hall was undertaken by the Wakefield Archaeological Research Group in August 1967, a few months prior to the demolition of the building. An excavation to examine the medieval remains on the Hall site was then undertaken and this will be the subject of a separate report to be published elsewhere.     

Butchery of horse and dog at Witney Palace,Oxfordshire, and the knackering and feeding of meat to hounds during the post-medieval period

Abstract

Upper levels of deposition associated with Witney manorhouse have yielded dense aggregations of bones which were mainly of horses and dogs. Probably these animals were butchered for their meat and skins. Possibly beginning in the medieval period, the practice reached a peak during the 18th century as occupation of the ruinous large house ceased. Archaeological and historical arguments point to the bones having little connection with normal household consumption of human food and show that horse meat was fed to hunting dogs at kennels kept by wealthy landowners and later to pets of people of various social status.     

Lithic Analysis of an Early Archaic Knapping Area

Abstract

Archaeological excavations at 15LO207 in Logan County, Kentucky documented a lithic reduction area associated with an Early Archaic Kirk Corner Notched component. High densities of flake debris were recovered, along with biface production failures, from this area. Analysis of these materials indicated that lithic manufacture focused on the reduction of early stage bifaces of the local Ste. Genevieve chert into late stage bifaces. These bifaces were transported elsewhere for further reduction and use. In addition, data indicate a staged approach to biface reduction for the Early Archaic.     

Management Plans for Archaeological Sites: A World Heritage Template

Abstract

A failed attempt to produce a Management Manual for World Heritage Archaeological Sites and Monuments brought together a body of experts in 2002 at Ma'agan, Israel. This paper aims to make the general recommendations of the Ma'agan meeting more widely known among those concerned with the management of archaeological sites. The paper summarizes the outcomes of the meeting, including ideas on the structure of a management plan, the planning process, team building and public participation, site significance, conservation, monitoring, maintenance, presentation and interpretation, tourism and action plans; and includes a select bibliography.     

Ethnoarchaeology

John E. Yellen. Archaeological Approaches to the Present, Models for Reconstructing the Past. New York: Academic Press, 1977.

Richard A. Gould, ed. Explorations in Ethnoarchaeology. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1978.

William H. Adams. Silcott, Washington: Ethnoarchaeology of a Rural American Community. Reports of Investigations, no. 54. Pullman: Laboratory of Anthropology, Washington State University, 1977.     

Comments on Jan Harding (2005): Rethinking the Great Divide: Long‐term Structural History and the Temporality of the Event. Norwegian Archaeological Review 38, 88–101.

After agreement with Magister Knut Odner, his article was chosen as a subject for review and discussion in the first number of Norwegian Archaeological Review. Offprints of the article were sent to 12 Scandinavian specialists who have worked on problems in Stone Age chronology similar to those discussed by Odner here, and they were invited to participate in the review. We received a positive answer from 5 archaeologists, Egil Bakka, C. J. Becker, Irmelin Martens, Kristen M?llenhus, and Povl Simonsen, and their reviews are published after Odncr's short abstract of his article. Odner's reply follows at the end.     

A group of early 20th-century naval victualling finds from Royal Clarence Yard,Gosport, Hampshire

Abstract

Archaeological excavation in 2007 on the site of a late 18th-century brewery and associated pump-house at Royal Clarence Yard, Gosport uncovered an assemblage of pottery within the backfill of the latter structure. This was one of a small number of Admiralty victualling yards responsible for the provisioning of ships and shore establishments of the Royal Navy at home and overseas. Analysis of the pottery and other finds, supplemented by documentary research, has provided an opportunity to study items distributed by the yard to the messes of ships of the Royal Navy in the early 20th century.     

Russia and Norway: Research Collaboration and Comparison of Asymmetrical Relations

Archaeological excavations in 1954, 1958, and 1962 directed by Dr. C.L. Vebaek of The Danish National Museum at the Norse site 0 17a in the modern Greenlandic town of Narssaq revealed a farmstead apparently occupied from the 11th century into the later phases of the Eastern Settlement. The excavations recovered a quantifiable amount of animal bone from well‐defined strata within and immediately around the main structure. These collections were analysed in 1976–77 by the authors and show both continuity and some important changes in subsistence patterns between occupational strata.     

Production and reproduction: A reprise

Michael B. Schiffer, ed. Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory. New York: Academic Press. 1978, 1979, 1980. Vol. I: xv+426 pp., $24.50; Vol. II, xii + 340 pp., $28.50; Vol. III, xii + 448 pp., $39.50.