Sherborne Old Castle,Dorset. Archaeological Excavations 1930–90

Abstract

THIS is an account of both the history and the recent findings of the Mosfell Archaeological Project. Excavation is part of an interdisciplinary research approach that uses archaeology, history, anthropology, forensics, environmental sciences and saga studies to construct a picture of human habitation, power relationships, religious and mortuary practices, and environmental change in the region of Mosfellssveit in south-western Iceland. The valley system with surrounding highlands and lowland coastal areas has interlocking natural and cultural components which developed from the 9th-century settlement of Iceland into a Viking Age chieftaincy dominated by the family at Mosfell/Hrísbrú. Excavations of both pagan and Christian sites are providing significant information on the changing periods of occupation, with implications for the larger study of Viking North Atlantic. During the Viking Age, Mosfell was a self-contained social and economic unit connected to the rest of Iceland through a network of roads, including a major E.–W. route to the nearby assembly place for the yearly Althing. With its ship's landing or port at Leirvogur, in the bay at the valley's mouth, the region was in commercial and cultural contact with the larger Scandinavian and European worlds.     

Petrographic Analysis of Late Woodland and Middle Mississippian Ceramics at the Iva Site (47Lc42), Onalaska,Wisconsin

The Iva site contained a rare effigy mound and Middle Mississippian (Ramey horizon) component within the Late Woodland Lewis phase territory of the Upper Mississippi River valley. Salvage excavations in 2002–2003 recovered fragments of numerous Angelo Punctated, Powell Plain, and Ramey Incised vessels, including examples of Angelo and Ramey in direct association. Petrographic analysis was conducted on seven grit-tempered and six shell-tempered vessels, eight of which are stylistically Mississippian. The results indicate that four of eight Mississippian vessels were likely manufactured in the American Bottom, with the other half being local imitations of Mississippian styles. These data are compared to contemporaneous Ramey horizon components in the Driftless Area of Cahokia's northern hinterland.     

A chronometric tool for Hawaiian archaeology: the hydration dating of Pu'u Wa'awa'a trachytic glass

The Pu'u Wa'awa'a trachytic glass deposit located on the Big Island of Hawai'i was a source of lithic tools for much of Hawaiian prehistory. Routinely encountered at habitation sites, the glass has the potential to provide absolute dates based upon the degree of surface hydration. Infrared photoacoustic spectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry were used to monitor the diffusion of water in archaeological and experimental samples. Accelerated laboratory hydration experiments show that water diffusion in trachytic glass containing a structural water content of 0.16% ± 0.03% is linear with time. Application of the calibration to trachytic glass artifacts from the Kahalu'u habitation cave have produced chronometric dates in the 17th–18th centuries. These age estimates are in agreement with radiocarbon dates and artifactual data that bracket the site occupation. However, the glass dates do not correlate well with site stratigraphy and this suggests that slight sample imperfections that retain water may be one factor that results in ages that are too early for later occupation levels.     

Memorializing Race in the Deep South: The 'Good Darkie' Statue,Louisiana, USA

Abstract

The period between World War I and World War II saw the development of several memorials commemorating African Americans in the Southern USA. The 'Good Darkie' is unique amongst these in being a life-size bronze statue. It was erected in Natchitoches, northwestern Louisiana in 1927, where it remained in a prominent position in the centre of the town until it was taken down in 1969, ending up in the Louisiana State University Rural Life Museum where it is displayed as the statue of 'Uncle Jack'. The various meanings and values given to the statue over the last 80 years, from acceptable paternalism to its politicization in the 1960s, to the criticism currently levelled at its use make this an important case study in public commemoration. This paper explores the various meanings given to the statue by different social groups, which reveal how the concept of race, and solutions to the 'race problem' of the Southern USA have evolved over time.     

Secondary burial cemeteries,visibility and land tenure: A view from the southern Levant Chalcolithic period

Off-site secondary burial cemeteries in the southern Levant are an innovation of the Chalcolithic period. Ethnographic studies suggest that location of burial places was one of the means used to establish and socially mediate ownership over the landscape. The current research examines whether the spatial pattern of burial sites during the Chalcolithic period in the southern Levant represents a land tenure system. Spatial analyses of burial and habitation sites located mainly along the central Israeli coastal area indicate that Ghassulian communities avoided locating their burial sites near habitation sites concentrations. Viewshed analysis indicates that the areas observed from burial sites are significantly larger than those observed from habitation sites, and that their location scattered across an area which increases rather than overlaps the size of area visible from the habitation sites. Furthermore, our results show that communities which wanted to claim land tenure over a larger territory use burial sites locations in order to maximize the observed area within habitation sites surroundings.     

Life at the end of the Holocene moist phase in south‐east Arabia — the Late Neolithic site of Jebel Thanais 1 (JTH1)

The surface site of Jebel Thanais 1 is located in the Emirate of Sharjah (U.A.E.) at the western flank of the Jebel Faya/Jebel Buhais anticline structure. A dense scatter of lithic artefacts and fireplaces indicates Stone Age settlement activities in this area. Radiocarbon dates obtained from fireplaces date the occupation of the site to both the beginning and the very end of the fifth millennium cal. BC. During the second half of the fifth millennium the deterioration of climatic conditions in south‐east Arabia had a noticeable impact on settlement patterns and subsistence strategies. While coastal habitation sites from this time are well known along the shores of the Oman peninsula, only a few poorly dated sites allow insights into habitation and raw material procurement strategies and lithic technology in the interior. Investigations into the spatial structure of the site and an analysis of lithic finds will contribute to a better understanding of this period.     

Archaeology and Development: the Tembladera Sites of the Peruvian North Coast

Abstract

Utilizing the example provided by a major water-control project planned for construction in the Jequetepeque Valley on the Peruvian north coast, this paper emphasizes a number of problems in the implementation of cultural resource-management programs in the Third World. The impact of this particular economic development program on the archaeological record is demonstrated by focusing on the project's most devastating aspect, the construction of a large dam in the up valley region just south of the town of Tembladera. Special attention is given to the threatened Chavin-related sites in this region, sites about which little is known other than that they are characterized by a highly valued ceramic style often found in private and museum collections.     

Aborigines,Islanders and Hula Girls in Great Barrier Reef Tourism

ABSTRACT

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the world's premier tourist destinations. It is promoted and marketed to tourists as part of an idealised Pacific island paradise. While the gardens and decor of island resorts mimic those of resorts elsewhere in the Pacific, the way in which Indigenous people are represented is markedly different. This paper presents an analysis of historic tourist ephemera to suggest that Australian Aboriginal people are largely invisible at the Great Barrier Reef, despite their role in establishing the tourism industry. It suggests that ambiguities of Aboriginal presence, in labour and performance, are a product of tourism ideals and colonial race relations.     

The Historic Landscape of the Saga of the People of Vatnsdalur: Exploring the Saga Writer's Use of the Landscape and Archaeological Remains to Serve Political Interests

Abstract

The saga of the People of Vatnsdalur (Vatnsdaelasaga) provides a case study for a new approach to the Sagas of Icelanders (Íslendingasögur). This treats the saga as a cultural product of the 13th century that can give insights into its creator's ideas and worldviews. Fieldwork at five sites in the Vatnsdalur valley in NW Iceland seeks to establish what these places were like in the 13th century. This knowledge, alongside the saga and place-name evidence, illustrates how the saga writer, presumed to come from a powerful 13th-century family, systematically used the landscape and archaeological remains in the valley to serve his political interests when describing 10th-century events.     

Mapping Qijiaping: New Work on the Type-Site of the Qijia Culture (2300–1500 B.C.) in Gansu Province,China

Recent work at the Qijia Culture type-site of Qijiaping in the Tao River valley of Gansu Province, China, has shed light on the complex nature of this early Bronze Age site. Situated at the intersection between the mixed pastoralists of eastern central Asia and the agriculturalists of China’s northern Central Plain, Qijia peoples absorbed, evolved, and transmitted products and technologies that shaped cultural developments in both directions. The Tao River Archaeological Project (TRAP) used a combination of surface survey, geophysics, digital mapping, and targeted excavation to expand our understanding of the multicomponent nature of Qijiaping. This included identifying potential habitation, mortuary, and production locales; examining site-wide ceramic use; mapping anomalies through geophysics; and further exploring these through targeted excavations. The results have expanded our knowledge of the site structure of Qijiaping and its place in the wider Qijia interaction sphere, while also confirming the usefulness of this methodology.     

The Palaeolithic of the Middle Son valley, north-central India: Changes in hominin lithic technology and behaviour during the Upper Pleistocene

The Middle Son valley in north-central India preserves extensive Quaternary alluvial deposits. A long history of archaeological and geological research in the valley has resulted in the discovery of lithic assemblages ranging from Lower Palaeolithic to microlithic, a rich corpus of fossilised faunal remains, and ash deposits from the 74,000 year-old Toba supereruption. This paper reviews the chronology and stratigraphy of the valley’s Quaternary sediments, and presents a model that hypothesizes the temporal sequence of important lithic assemblages from excavated and surface contexts. Artefacts in these assemblages are analysed and changes in lithic technology through time are described; this evidence is used to propose shifts in hominin behaviour and demographic structure in this region during the Upper Pleistocene. Recognising gaps in our understanding of the Middle Son record, future avenues of research are recommended that will build upon previous research and address questions of palaeoanthropological significance. The Middle Son valley preserves a long and rich record of hominin occupation from all periods of the Palaeolithic that is rarely paralleled by other sites in India.     

The Prehistory of NW Argentina: the Calchaquí Valley Project, 1977–1981

Abstract

The late pre-Hispanic populations of the Calchaquí Valley of NW Argentina may be seen as typical of the native culture of the south Andes. The developmental sequence for these sedentary village societies, however, has only recently begun to be detailed. Field and lab results pertaining to a survey of 24 sites are summarized, including one of the first ceramic seriations to include the full range of pottery types; ceramic wares and their significance are also identified. Findings further include the first recognition of what are believed to be Middle Period sites for the valley, thus filling an important gap in our understanding of the region's prehistory.     

Protecting what is left after colonisation: embedding climate adaptation planning in traditional owner narratives

Climate change is disproportionally affecting Indigenous peoples' livelihoods across the globe. Despite this fact, climate adaptation planning and responses are not immediate concerns for most Indigenous people, whose key challenges are deeply embedded in colonial history. Through collaborative research centred on climate adaptation planning with the Yuibera and Koinmerburra Traditional Owner groups on the Great Barrier Reef Catchments, we demonstrate that Traditional Owners' primary concerns are in aligning the climate adaptation opportunity with their own strategies for Indigenous cultural renewal and survival. Their Indigenous identity generates a responsibility to protect cultural landscapes, sites, and their connections with these places. In this case study, to “protect what is left” of Indigenous material culture and socio‐cultural relationships emerged as the best approach to climate adaptation planning, providing both the decolonisation narrative and the means to strengthen their Indigenous practices. Planning for climate change adaptation is useful for Indigenous peoples when it supports decolonising, strengthens Indigenous customary practices, and recognises customary governance.     

Hunter‐gatherer use of small animal food resources: coprolite evidence

Faunal remains are commonly found in coprolites and provide direct evidence of animal consumption. An evaluation of hunter‐gatherer coprolites from the Southwest US shows that animal bone in coprolites can be used to assess patterns of hunting, food preparation, and general importance of small animals in diet. This is demonstrated by a comparison of faunal assemblages between two hunter‐gatherer sites with respect to small animal hunting strategies. The sites are Dust Devil Cave on the Colorado Plateau, an Archaic winter habitation, and Hinds Cave, a warm season Archaic habitation in the lower Pecos of Texas. The results indicate that small animal hunting varied regionally and seasonally. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spatial and temporal variety of prehistoric human settlement and its influencing factors in the upper Yellow River valley,Qinghai Province,China

We report an investigation of forty-two prehistoric sites in the upper Yellow River valley located in Guide, Jianzha, Hualong, Xunha and Minhe, Qinghai Province, China, including forty-four new radiocarbon dates from twenty-four sites, review published archaeological surveys and radiocarbon dates, analyze landform features and discuss the reasons for spatial and temporal variety of regional prehistoric human settlement. Our results suggest that people occupied the upper Yellow River valley during the early Holocene, but a continuous archaeological record begins only after about 5500 Cal yr BP. Thereafter, the intensity of prehistoric human settlement in the area is varied. Neolithic human settlement spread northwestward to high altitude areas of the upper Yellow River valley during early-mid Majiayao and Qijia periods, but moved southeastward to lower locations in the area during late Majiayao period. During the Bronze period, two coeval archaeological cultures, the Kayue and Xindian, occupied the upper Yellow River Region. Kayue archaeological sites are numerous and widely distributed in the high areas of the upper Yellow River, while Xindian sites are restricted to the lowest basin of the region. Variation in site density and location are likely the result of changing paleoclimate and technology.     

Distributional Survey of the Reinhardt Site (33PI880), Pickaway County,Ohio: A Strategy for Deciphering the Community Structure of a Fort Ancient Village

Abstract

There is currently a paucity of Fort Ancient sites with deciphered settlement structures. If settlement structure is reflective of social organization, then a larger sample of sites is needed to evaluate extant models of Fort Ancient social development. A distributional survey of the Reinhardt site, a Middle Fort Ancient habitation in the Middle Scioto Valley, Ohio is proposed as a model of efficient, multi-staged investigation that can aid in detection and interpretation of community structure. By combining an intensive surface collection and a 10 -×-20 -m grid of small volumetric shovel test units, I was able to discern a probable small plaza (circa 40 -m diameter) and a partial, relatively wide habitation ring (>30 m). I argue that this strategy can be usefully employed in a variety of situations to increase our understanding of variability in settlement organization in general, and specifically for the Late Prehistoric agricultural societies of the Middle Ohio Valley.     

Obituary—The Rev. Robert Mackenzie,M.A.

Abstract

This paper examines how CCTV-assisted bird-watching mediates people's relationship with a particular representation of an animal world. By focusing on people's interpretations and responses to CCTV camera technology at three bird-watching sites around Scotland, it is argued that the use of CCTV technology represents a qualitatively different mode of engaging with birds which has bearing on how this mediated animal world appears in and to people's everyday lives. It is asserted that the spatial relations invoked in the act of looking at birds through a CCTV lens inscribe a conceptual hyper-separation between see-er and seen that serve to normalise a vision of humanity inherently separate from and dominant over the wildlife on screen. As a technologically mediated way of seeing, the paper explores the use of CCTV cameras as inscribing particular ‘ways of being’ that serve to define and limit people's conduct towards the birds on view. By drawing attention to the conservation discourses that support, and are supported by the use of CCTV-assisted bird-watching, it is argued that the notion of ‘keeping an eye on nature’ is embedded in a cultural agenda that assists with the construction of nature as tele-visual commodity.     

Metallurgical findings from a Viking Age chieftain’s farm in Iceland

The metalworking, metal import, and use of metal in medieval Iceland is still little understood. When the Scandinavian settlers colonized Iceland in the 9th c. AD, the island was found to contain no useful metal deposits save for bog iron, and the deforestation that followed the settlement resulted in a scarcity of wood. Only in the last decades have archaeological excavations begun to unravel how the first Icelanders dealt with this lack of resources. This paper presents the metallurgical findings from a Viking Age chieftain's farmstead at Hrísbrú in the Mosfell valley, located just outside Iceland’s present-day capital Reykjavik. The excavated metal objects had all been crafted with good workmanship employing technology similar to that used in mainland Scandinavia. However, most excavated metal finds show evidence of re-use, which together with the second-grade metal in some of the objects indicates a shortage of raw material that prompted the Icelandic colonizers to improvise and make do with whatever material was at hand.     

New Evidence for Neolithic Habitation in the Hinterland of the Troad

This essay introduces two newly discovered Neolithic sites identified through the archaeological surveys conducted in the hinterland of the Troad in north‐western Turkey. Most of our knowledge about the Neolithic period of the region comes from the coastal site of Co?kuntepe, as well as U?urlu on the island of Gökçeada (Imbros) and Kara?açtepe (Protesilas) on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The lack of evidence for Neolithic habitation in the hinterland of the region was apparently due to the state of research. The recently discovered rock shelter‐type site of Evkayas? and the mound of Taraçc? imply that the hinterland of the Troad also bears traces of Neolithic habitation. Each of these sites yielded a single obsidian artefact of Melian origin, suggesting that these two settlements were on a land‐based route that connected the Gulf of Edremit with the southern coast of the Sea of Marmara.     

REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article: Shaping Melbourne's Future: Town Planning, the State, and Civil Society Reef, Range and Red Dust: The Adventure Atlas of Queensland David Wadley (General Editor) and W. (Bill) King (Cartographic Editor) Agriculture, Environment and Society: Contemporary Issues for Australia Geoffrey Lawrence, Frank Vanclay and Brian Furze (eds) Trans-Tasman Migration: trends, causes and consequences Gordon A. Carmichael (ed). Metropolis 2000. Planning, Poverty and Politics Thomas Angotti An Introduction to Political Geography John Rennie Short The Geography of Contemporary China: the impact of Deng Xiaoping's decade T. Cannon and A. Jenkins (eds) The Changing Geography of China F. Leeming