Multiple traumatic dental injuries: a case report in a young individual from the Samnitic necropolis of Opi Val Fondillo (VI-V century BC; Central Italy)

Traumatic dental injuries, although apparently rare in archaeological populations, can be found under certain circumstances affecting the dentition in a variety of ways. This paper contributes to the paleopathology literature by reporting one case of dental trauma. Evidence for differentiating antemortem/perimortem dental trauma from postmortem damage is presented, and it is suggested that these injuries were sustained due to an accidental fall, supported by the morphology, location and extension of the injuries and characterization of the impact. These data provide a valuable information for a reconstruction of past behaviors in the Samnitic necropolis of Opi Val Fondillo (VI-V century BC; Central Italy).     

West Indian archaeology. 1. Overview and foragers

Caribbean archaeology is riding the wave of an exponential growth curve. In fact, so much has happened during the past 5 years that it is impossible to review everything in a single article. The present article is written as the first in a series. The first part of the paper provides an archipelagic overview of the regional environmental and cultural diversity in conjunction with references to recent archaeological research. The second part of the present paper focuses on recent research into the preceramic Lithic and Archaic Ages in the West Indies. Alternate theories of population movements and regional differences in artifact assemblages during the preceramic are discussed. The second article in this series will examine the early and middle ceramic periods, while the emergence and florescence of the Tainos must be postponed until the third installment.     

Foreign countries: The development of ethnoarchaeology in sub-Saharan Africa

Ethnoarchaeological research in sub-Saharan Africa began as a distinct study in the late 1960s and early 1970s and developed rather differently in different areas of the continent. This variability is related to a number of research circumstances in these regions: the presence of an important francophone archaeological tradition in West Africa, palaeoanthropological studies that have taken place in East and southern Africa over the last 60 years, and a concentration upon the study of forager groups in different parts of the continent. Ethnoarchaeology in West Africa, in East and Central Africa, and in southern Africa are examined in turn, with particular attention paid to the influence of research lineages in each region and to changes in methodologies and theoretical perspectives through time.     

The neolithic and early bronze age of the Lake Baikal Region: A review of recent research

Rich settlement and burial evidence from the Baikal/Angara region in Central Siberia provides one of the most promising opportunities in the global boreal forest for studying Holocene foragers. The Neolithic and Early Bronze Age prehistory of the region is known to western scholars only through a few English translations of the works of A. P. Okladnikov. Since the publication of Okladnikov's model, the region has witnessed large-scale archaeological fieldwork that has produced abundant quantities of new evidence. Moreover, the model has been partly invalidated by extensive radiocarbon dating. Research advances over the last couple of decades have augmented the area's previous reputation but have also revealed the need for new theoretical perspectives and modern analytical techniques.     

What can we make of these fragments? Excavation at ‘Mamilla’ Cave,Byzantine period,Jerusalem

This paper reports on the pathology and discrete traits of 1388 vertebrae uncovered from a mass burial site at ‘Mamilla’ cave, Jerusalem, dated to the Byzantine period. Observations of the vertebrae were aimed at reconstructing an anthropological profile of the population, by describing such factors as the frequency of pathology and discrete traits, and age at death of the population. The results show that most of the victims were relatively young, and that they differed significantly in their epigenetic traits from Jews and nomadic Arabs. The results reinforce earlier assumptions that the skeletal material excavated at Mamilla cave represents the Christian population of the city, massacred by the Persians in 614 ad . Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.