New Interpretations Concerning the Shape of Queen Eleanor Plantagenet’s Headdress from her Tomb in Las Huelgas Abbey (1214)

This article focuses on the headdress with which Queen Eleanor Plantagenet was buried in Las Huelgas Abbey in 1214. Headdresses have not received much attention from scholars, perhaps because few remains survive. Fortunately, new research has made it possible to re-attribute to Queen Eleanor some of the textiles that once composed her headdress. Originally from Las Huelgas mausoleum and now housed in the Royal Palace in Madrid, all the grave goods were first studied when the mausoleum was opened in the 1940s. This paper also deals with issues arising from the preservation and interpretation of the headdress and problems related to the loss of data from the studies conducted in the 1940s. Studying the textiles, including technical analyses on their weaves and comparisons with visual sources and unpublished materials from the 1940s, has allowed for a new understanding of the appearance of the Queen’s headdress, an aspect never previously described in detail.     

Two Traditions of Bronze Age Burial in the Stonehenge Landscape

A study of the size of round barrows in relation to their position in the Stonehenge landscape allows us to define two types of mound, here termed 'Conspicuous' and 'Inconspicuous'. Conspicuous barrows are large and prominently located, whilst inconspicuous barrows are smaller and less strikingly placed. Inconspicuous barrows were associated mainly with funerary urns and were constructed throughout the Early and Middle Bronze Ages. Conspicuous barrows contain a wider range of grave goods and were mainly built in the later part of the Early Bronze Age. The Conspicuous barrows were impressive features of the prehistoric landscape and may have been built there because of the long-established significance of some of the local monuments, including Stonehenge itself. They contain exotic grave goods and could have been the burial places of a wider population. By contrast, the Inconspicuous barrows appear to be associated with settlement areas. They contain a range of ceramic grave goods which extend throughout the Early and Middle Bronze Ages and may have been built by the people who were living in the area. The latter tradition is the longer lived and retained its importance into the Middle Bronze Age when more conspicuous mounds were no longer built.     

四川地区西汉土坑墓分期研究

目次一墓葬形制分析二随葬器物类型学研究三墓葬分期与变迁分析四墓葬区域特征分析五结语四川地区(包括今重庆市)西汉时期的墓葬,以土坑墓为主。该地区20世纪90年代以前发现的西汉时期墓葬虽然数量相对较多,但大部分材料较零散,且多数墓葬中的器物保存较差,资料不够完整。正是由于上述原因,迄今未有专文对四川地区西汉土坑墓进行研究,仅有个别文章有所涉及,始终无法深入。何志国对四川地区西汉土坑木椁墓进行了初步分析后,做了大     

Social Analysis of Mortuary Evidence in German Protohistoric Archaeology

German early historical archaeology has witnessed since the 1960s an intensive debate on the social analysis of mortuary remains. It started out with the question of archaeological criteria for the inference of social status in early medieval cemeteries. In the 1970s, attention shifted from quantitative to qualitative analyses of grave goods and to the use of data on labor investment and skeletal data. In the last decade or so, younger colleagues have tried to overcome the weaknesses of traditional inferences from grave goods (status, religion, ethnic affiliation) by looking at the implications of ritual, and new methods of analyzing biological kinship have been applied to identify families in prehistoric and early medieval cemeteries. The German debate shows similarities to as well as differences from the Anglophone debate. It is suggested that we may learn from these parallel developments, but we should also learn from the fact that two scholarly debates on the same subject could ignore each other for 3 decades.     

Mortuary Variability and Status Differentiation in the Late Jomon of Hokkaido Based on the Analysis of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Shuteibo</Emphasis> (Communal Cemeteries)

The shuteibo, a type of communal cemetery characterized by a circular embankment, was constructed in the latter half of the Late Jomon (c. 1520 cal BC–1250 cal BC) in Hokkaido, Japan. Shuteibo at the Kiusu, Misawa-1, Bibi-4 and Kashiwagi-B sites are key to understanding the complex hunter-gatherer societies of the Late Jomon. Elite graves inside the shuteibo and non-elite graves outside them show clear differences in terms of grave goods, red ocher and grave markers at Kiusu-4. These communal cemeteries may have been created and maintained by elites who had access to highly valued materials, such as jadeite, through long-distance trade. Differences in the number of graves and grave goods among shuteibo at the Misawa-1 and Bibi-4 sites indicate differences in group size and intra-site elite differentiation. The Kiusu site has both the largest example and the largest concentration of these cemeteries in Hokkaido. At the inter-site level, differences in the size of these communal cemeteries indicate variability in the number of corporate groups as well as in relative power between sites.     

江苏徐州市奎山四座西汉墓葬

2005年8月,徐州博物馆在徐州市南郊西奎山北麓清理了4座西汉时期夫妻同穴合葬墓。其中M9、M10为石坑竖穴墓,竖穴底部并列葬夫妻二人;M11、M12为石坑竖穴洞室墓,竖穴底部及洞室内均葬有人。墓葬虽遭盗扰,但仍出有陶器、原始瓷器、铜器、铁器、漆木器、玉石器等。4座墓分布较为集中,应为同一家族墓葬。     

Her Mirror,His Sword: Unbinding Binary Gender and Sex Assumptions in Iron Age British Mortuary Traditions

At the site of Hillside Farm, Bryher, on the Isles of Scilly, a materially rich single Iron Age inhumation was discovered containing the unsexable fragmented remains of one adult with a number of high-quality metal grave goods including an iron sword with a bronze scabbard and a bronze mirror. Swords and mirrors have long been considered high-status, oppositionally gendered grave goods that crosscut regional divisions in the pre-Roman British Iron Age (c. 800 B.C.–A.D. 43). Their combined presence within the burial of a single individual represents a touchstone within the ongoing unraveling of a long-held, interconnected set of reified binary sex and gender assumptions that have permeated discussions of British Iron Age mortuary contexts. In better recognizing this web of “binary binds,” we can deconstruct the a priori, exclusionary, interconnected sex and gender assumptions that configure how we investigate the terms of engagement between materials and persons in these burial contexts. Crucial to this analysis is an approach to patterning that (1) does not begin with a search for sex and gender as evidence of male and female dichotomies, (2) sees the potentiality for any component of a mortuary assemblage to have multiple points of significance, and (3) embraces data ambiguity. Developing such critical approaches will ultimately contribute to the deployment of more inclusive forms of analysis that do not reify sex and gender as the primary organizing principles within mortuary contexts, aiding scholars in avoiding assumptions that bind sex and gender analyses into artificially binary paradigms.     

河北正定县吴兴墓地战国墓葬发掘简报

吴兴墓地位于河北省石家庄市正定县新安镇吴兴村,距正定县城15公里。京广铁路在墓地东南2.5公里处南北向穿过,滹沱河在墓地南12公里处自西向东流,地势平坦(图一)。2006年,南水北调中线工程河北段考古发掘工作全面展开。受河北省文物局委托,辽宁省文物考古研究所与朝阳市博物馆     

A Rich Bell Beaker Burial from Wellington Quarry, Marden, Herefordshire

An intact Bell Beaker grave was discovered in February 1996 at Wellington Quarry, Marden, Herefordshire. The unmarked flat grave had no signs of a ditch or barrow, but may have been timber lined. It contained a tanged copper knife, a shale wristguard fragment, four barbed and tanged arrowheads, three arrowhead blanks, three flint knives, two triangular points or small daggers and four flint flakes. The adult male inhumation was accompanied by a complete, Maritime (AOO) Bell Beaker and may be dated to 2750–2500 BC (Late Neolithic). It belongs to Case's Group D. A notable feature of the grave goods is their different states of wear and completeness, varying from pristine to old, and including a fragment of a wristguard.     

辽宁朝阳市金代纪年墓葬的发掘

1998年9月中旬,北方航空公司朝阳飞行大队在基建施工过程中,发现一座古墓葬。施工人员揭开墓顶封石进入墓室,并取出了三件随葬品。朝阳市博物馆(现朝阳博物馆)闻讯后派人到现场调查,追回被取出的器物,并对该墓葬进行了抢救性发掘,编     

Results of micrometallographic analysis of metalworking tools in graves of metallurgists in Moravia/Czech Republic

The number of finds relating to metalworking, without evidence of mining and processing facilities, is very limited. In Final Eneolith graves of specialized metallurgists that have occurred, they contain a metal-founding or metalsmithing toolkit, whose origins were from eastern Europe (the Maykop, Yamnaya Culture). Such metallurgical tools may have reached central Europe as part of the so-called Yamnaya Package before the onset of the Bee Beaker Culture (BBC); and unlike the Pontic region, these two types of metallurgy separated here. There are found an accumulation of metallurgists' graves in Moravia, where the complete metalworking toolkit is deposited in a predefined place in richly furnished male graves with a distinctive funerary architecture that exhibit a clear relationship to the grave goods. EDX-analysis detected a high content of metals (Cu, Ag, Au, Au–Ag alloy) on all working surfaces of stone tools, grinders, and boar tusks used for the final treatment of their metal products. This makes us believe that the used artefacts were laid as symbolical objects in the graves of these craftsmen who perfectly knew these advanced technologies. Due to their knowledge, their social significance gradually rose and finally reached the level of social elites, who were usually buried in a spectacular manner, including the quantity of grave goods (Überausstattung) and the pars pro toto deposition in one part of the finds.     

Degenerative Joint Disease and Social Status in the Terminal Late Archaic Period (1000–500 b.c.) of Ohio

This research presents an analysis of the inferred Late Archaic social structure in Ohio based on degenerative joint disease (DJD, also known as osteoarthritis) and mortuary practices. We tested the hypothesis that mechanical loading involving physical activities is differentially distributed in a population along levels or types of social stratification. This hypothesis was investigated via statistical treatment of DJD as a skeletal stress marker of activity, its occurrence by age and sex, an association with grave goods, and spatial distribution in terminal Late Archaic cemeteries. The skeletal samples used in this study came from three cemeteries, the Boose, Kirian‐Treglia (KT), and Duff sites, dating to the Ohio terminal Late Archaic period. In general, the high overall prevalence of DJD in these people indicates that this population led a rigorous life. This study hypothesized that the burials in the Late Archaic period in Ohio might be socially patterned as evidenced from the unequal distribution of grave goods and skeletal variability in DJD. Nevertheless, the analyses suggest that there is no statistical association between DJD and mortuary practices including grave goods and burial location in a cemetery. As observed in numerous hunter–gatherer populations, the societies in our sample were also characterized by the absence of a marked social stratification. The results suggest that there were only ‘natural inequalities’ in Late Archaic societies due to biological factors, such as age and sex. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Notices of New publications

This paper records the excavation of a ploughed-out round barrow (ring-ditch) at Ravenstone, Buckinghamshire (SP 8535 4895). The circular ditch (12.0 m diameter) was broken by four narrow causeways. Two graves were located at the centre of the monument. The primary grave was apparently a cenotaph, for although a coffin, an antler spatula and a flint fabricator were discovered, no skeletal material was found. The secondary grave contained the crouched inhumation of a woman, accompanied by grave goods. Finds from both graves suggest leather-working. A four-post structure (3.60 m square) may have existed on the site prior to the barrow's construction. A substantial quantity of worked flint came from the excavated area, and small pits contained flints of late Neolithic and pottery of Iron Age date. The excavation records are housed at the Buckinghamshire County Museum, as CAS 2555 in the Sites and Monuments Record, and the finds as L.301.     

Tongzhou's Commerce in the Ming and Qing Dynasties

During the Ming and Qing dynasty, Tongzhou was not only a riverside port city for transporting grain to the capital, a key site for goods storage, but also witnessed the means of transportation of commercial goods from southern China changed from water to land, where commercial goods imported to Beijing together with those to be sold in northern China splits. Both the Ministry of Revenue (Gongbu) and Ministry of Works (Hubu) set up their customs in Tongzhou, respectively, and Zhangjiawan was the subsection of the customs; the major commercial goods including grain, liquor, distiller’s yeast, textiles, and groceries, were transferred through the customs of Ministry of Works. Judging from the establishment of broker house and broker tax, the volume of commodities being transported via Zhangjiawan might be bigger than Tongzhou. Shanxi merchants established guild halls (huiguan) in both Tongzhou and Zhangjiawan. They transported bulk commodities such as textiles and tea to the north of China, while Zhangjiakou and Guihuacheng were their main resale destinations. In other words, both Tongzhou and Zhangjiawan were important transportation ports for the businesses of Shanxi merchants regarding their trades within the northern territory as well as the trade at Khyagt between late imperial China and tsarist Russia.     

Consumption and endeavour

Over the course of the 18th century, it is apparent from studies of probate inventories that the consumption of bought textiles, stimulants and household goods among common people increased substantially. This article presents empirical evidence to demonstrate that this is the case also among fisher-farming households in the region of north Norway studied here. The article then explores the relevance of the concept of an industrious revolution to explain the changes in consumption. It would appear that increased consumption was accompanied by more strenuous work, but whether consumption change was demand or supply led is undetermined. Attention is given to what motivated the acquisition of new consumables. It is shown that new consumer goods were used to bolster traditional customs. Nonetheless, attitudes towards acquisition and a desire to increase comfort might have been significant factors leading to increasing demand.     

Late pre‐Islamic burials at Mleiha,Emirate of Sharjah (UAE)

The history of two monumental grave buildings (nos. 4 and 5), excavated in area P of the late pre‐Islamic city of Mleiha, has been studied in detail. Like all other tombs excavated up to the present day in Mleiha, their chambers had been emptied in ancient times. They were found devoid of human remains and grave‐goods. In the upper parts of the grave fills, however, skeletal remains were encountered. One of the skeletons was radiocarbon dated to AD 623–656, the time of the Islamisation of south‐east Arabia. A radiocarbon date of 384–233 BC for a wooden beam from the same tomb showed that it was built during the late pre‐Islamic period (PIR‐A). These dates and stratigraphic observations made clear that the interments were intrusive. The surrounding sediments were deposited by flooding. Directly underneath the skull of the dated skeleton, a layer of sandy loam was encountered, showing mud cracks. To understand the relationship between the burial and these deposits, micromorphological analyses of the surrounding sediments were conducted. The microstructural organisation of the sedimentary components implied that the skull was interred as part of a burial, and not deposited by natural processes.     

Beyond the grave: variability in Neolithic diets in Southern Germany?

Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses were undertaken on human and faunal remains from two Neolithic sites in Southern Germany; the LBK settlement at Herxheim and the middle Neolithic cemetery at Trebur. Stable isotope data were used to reconstruct the diets of individuals buried at these sites and to look at dietary variation between groups classified by their sex, age, grave goods and cultural affiliation. Overall there was surprisingly little variation in the diet between the groups, as described by the stable isotope analysis, despite significant differences in the composition of grave goods. Also surprising, considering the archaeological evidence for extensive grain cultivation in this region during the Neolithic, was that the majority of individuals had δ¹⁵N values consistent with the consumption of significant amounts of animal protein.     

Grave‐goods from the long chamber tomb “Dibba 76/1” (Fujairah,UAE): a first inventory

The aim of this paper is to present the rich set of finds collected inside the grave Dibba 76/1, in the Emirate of Fujairah, during a season of rescue excavation conducted under the direction of S. Ali Hassan in 1994. The recovered grave‐goods include pottery, soft‐stone vessels, metal finds, personal ornaments, coins, and other items. Although comparable with other corpuses of material excavated in south‐eastern Arabia, the material of Dibba 76/1 stands out for the inner variety of the different artefacts’ classes and their remarkable chronological heterogeneity. The study of the grave‐goods suggests that Dibba 76/1 was reused over several centuries, showing a strong continuity in the funerary destination of this specific place from the end of the Wadi Suq period (2000–1600 BC) to the first phases of the late pre‐Islamic period (250 BC–AD 400), and the full integration of the area of Dibba in the succession of the various cultural facies known during this long time span.     

METALWORKING TECHNIQUES ON THE EURASIAN STEPPES IN THE LATE BRONZE AGE: TECHNICAL ANALYSES OF THE BORODINO TREASURE SPEARHEADS

The Late Bronze Age is a period characterized by chariots and riders, spearheads, bows and battle axes. Such are the assemblages of grave goods attributed to the Seima‐Turbino, Timber‐grave, Abashevo, Sintashta, Pokrovsk and other cultures of the Eurasian forest‐steppe and steppe belt. Although hoard deposits are comparatively rare in this context, this category of finds has also provided some extraordinary examples of metalwork. This paper reports on the analysis of three such artefacts, namely the gold‐ornamented silver‐alloy spearheads from the ‘treasure’ recovered near Borodino in Ukraine at the beginning of the twentieth century. The high‐ resolution technological study of these items presented here includes experimental research to produce similar decorative patterns and a comparison of the resulting traces and imprints with the original archaeological artefacts. The results help to identify use‐wear traces and reveal new information about casting and crafting techniques, tool sets and individual technical styles. Although the spearheads share some basic decorative features such as a gold plate attached to the silver, variations in the tools used and the technical repertoire – chasing, punching, and cutting – suggest that the spearheads were decorated by different hands. The study inevitably leaves many questions about the ‘life history’ for these objects unanswered, but takes the first steps towards a more complete understanding of this remarkable assemblage.     

The origin of the Juch'uypampa Cave mummies: strontium isotope analysis of archaeological human remains from Bolivia

Previous analyses of strontium isotopes from human bone and teeth have identified diverse patterns of residential mobility in the South Central Andes during the Middle Horizon (AD 500–1100). During this time, the large polity of Tiwanaku exerted great influence over what are now southern Peru, northern Chile, northwestern Argentina and Bolivia. Recently, five naturally-mummified individuals were discovered in the cave of Juch'uypampa in the Pulacayo region of southern Bolivia. Although these individuals were buried with a number of fine Tiwanaku-style grave goods as well as non-Tiwanaku items, the burial site is isolated and does not conform to the pattern of large Tiwanaku-affiliated cemeteries and residential sites outside of the Lake Titicaca Basin. Strontium isotope analysis was performed on enamel from two adult men and bone from a third adult male in order to test the hypotheses that one or more of the males was from either the Tiwanaku heartland in the Lake Titicaca Basin, the Chilean oasis of San Pedro de Atacama, which contains a series of cemeteries with Tiwanaku-style grave goods, or the local area in which they were buried. Results show that two individuals likely spent their childhood in the local area where they were interred, while the third man probably spent at least the last twenty years of his life in that region before being buried there. This raises interesting questions regarding the nature of Tiwanaku influence in southern Bolivia and the relationship between the Juch'uypampa mummies and the Tiwanaku polity.