Zooarchaeology and Modernity in Iceland

This paper follows the lead of the increasing numbers of scholars utilizing the methods and theory of environmental archaeology within historical archaeology. This paper addresses the issue of ??modernity?? in early modern Iceland through the analysis of faunal assemblages from historic sites in Iceland. It examines the idea of modernity through the ideas of commoditization of animals as well as the improvement of domestic animals as seen through these faunal assemblages. There are a number of possible faunal indications of processes associated with modernity in the existing historic assemblages of Iceland though at least some of these have deep roots in the medieval period. Examining the idea of modernity through the faunal assemblages of historic-period Iceland both help refine the idea of modernity as well as reveal the medieval roots of much of what we term ??modern??.     

An Interview with Merrick Posnansky

Professor Merrick Posnansky has made numerous influential contributions to archaeology and African Studies during the last half century. Foremost among these is his holistic and inclusive archaeological initiatives that have developed informed representations of Africa and Africans in long-term historical perspective and in the present. He helped shape the early development of historical archaeology in Africa and African diaspora archaeology in the Atlantic world. Posnansky also developed university archaeology programs and reoriented museums in Uganda, West Africa, and the Americas, making them living institutions with a mandate to serve the public. He spent two decades in Africa, primarily in Uganda and Ghana, and later worked as Professor of Anthropology and History at UCLA and, for a period, directed the UCLA Center for African Studies. This interview outlines Posnansky’s life, career, and contributions to archaeology and African Studies across three continents. In addition, Posnansky reflects on contemporary archaeology and the discipline’s future prospects and challenges in Africa.     

METAARCHAEOLOGY

The present study represents a condensation of much of the theoretical thinking in archaeology by Leo Klejn of St. Petersburg over the past half century. It has in itself been underway for a decade or two in step with the timid opening, later the fall of the Soviet Union and the rebirth of Russia.
The volume is the result of the collaboration between the general editor and the author, helped towards the end by enthusiastic assistants, and supported by the European Union (INTAS) as well as by Acta Archaeologica.
Much of Leo Klejn's work has hitherto only been known sporadically in a Western language and little of it in a comprehensive form. It is hoped that the reader will savour this novel and logically consequent, almost neo-modernist perspective on archaeology, as well as its high spirits.
K.R.     

Post-medieval archaeology in Portugal

Abstract

Portuguese post-medieval archaeology corresponds to the period between the early 16th century and the late 18th century, identified in the archaeological record through several distinct artefact categories, of which ceramics are the most abundant. New products such as thin-walled moulded coarsewares and faience are found together with imports from different European countries, China and other Eastern lands. Although sites and finds are mentioned in Portuguese archaeological and art-historical literature from the late 19th century, it only became a scientific discipline in the 1980s. This paper aims to provide a general view of investigations in post-medieval archaeology for more than a century, focusing on contexts and finds, but also looking towards the discipline’s future.     

THE EMERGENCE OF STRATIGRAPHIC ARCHAEOLOGY IN MEDITERRANEAN EUROPE

In Italian classical archaeology, the definitive adoption of the stratigraphic excavation method occurred later than in other European countries. This methodological shift took place in Italy in the 1970s. We aim to scrutinize some points of the established historiographical reconstruction. We focus on three scholars regarded as “key figures” in the birth of Italian stratigraphic archaeology, yet all of the first half of the twentieth century, Giacomo Boni, Nino Lamboglia, and Luigi Bernabò Brea. We examine the origin of their stratigraphic approach and thus their relationship with prehistoric research. This is also an opportunity to reflect upon the conceptual and methodological transfer from one type of archaeology to another. In general, through comparison of these scholars, we aim to highlight some key factors in the establishment of a stratigraphic method in the history of archaeology.     

Folklore’s Timeless Past,Ireland’s Present Past,and the Perception of Rural Houses in Early Historic Ireland

This study examines how the archaeology of historic Ireland has been interpreted. Two approaches to the history and archaeology of Ireland are identified. The first, the timeless past, has its roots in a neo-Lamarckian view of the past. This perspective was particularly developed in the work of geographer and ethnographer, Estyn Evans. The second view, associated in particular with a nationalist approach to Ireland’s past, looked to the west of the country where it was believed the culture had been preserved largely unchanged and in its purest form. The continuing impact of these frameworks upon the interpretation of rural settlement in the period 1200–1700 is examined. It is argued that historians and archaeologists alike have underestimated the quality of buildings.     

Authenticity,antiquity and archaeology

If nationalism shaped the assumptions and methods of archaeology for well over a century, archaeological concepts and practices made a significant contribution to the nationalist ideal of the distinctive, territorial nation. This is partly because nationalism and archaeology shared a belief in the ethnic uniqueness and tangibility of archaeological cultures, and partly because of the influence of key archaeological concepts and practices. The latter included a profound concern with the authenticity of material cultures; the related belief in ethnic rootedness in the historic territory; archaeology's well‐known interest in the antiquity of civilisations; and its use of the stratigraphic method to analyse continuity and change. Aside from these contributions, the archaeological domain provides a repertoire of vivid symbolism in its often spectacular ‘finds’, which have been able to express and embody the nation's unique culture and the intimate nature of the national bond.     

Historical Archaeology of Indigenous Culture Change in Mesoamerica

This essay outlines recent archaeological research on post-Columbian (c. A.D. 1500–1925) indigenous sites in Mexico and Central America. Historical archaeology is a growing field in Mesoamerica, and over the last 20 years investigations of native culture change have increased, especially in rural areas. Contemporary research contributes new insights on indigenous responses to Spanish colonization over a long period. This work also is reassessing chronologies and examining the diversity of indigenous behavior from late preconquest to historic times. Indigenous adaptations to culture contact and social change are characterized by three general stages: conquest, colonization, and independence. Although I do draw on other regions, the focus of the article is the Maya area and Central America, where more investigations have taken place.     

A Comprised Archaeological History of Taiwan through the Long-Term Record of Heping Dao,Keelung

We present the results of six years of archaeological work carried out in Heping Dao, Keelung, northern Taiwan. The site has revealed a rich archaeological record spanning a sequence that comprehends most of the history of Taiwan, including the most salient historical landmarks in it. The study of this long-term sequence of habitation in Heping Dao throughout prehistory to current times, allows us to attempt a historical archaeology of the longue duree of the place that in turn enables the establishment of comparisons between periods and raising of specific questions, among them: the general understanding of cultural transformation along the Neolithic and the Iron Age, and in turn the transition Iron Age/Aboriginal historic times in Taiwan, which in our view has to be observed as a history of continuity rather than of interruptions; the recognition of the Chinese presence in Taiwan in the pre-European period; the implantation of the European colony and its effects on the local populations; the differing material remains and impacts caused by the presence of pre-European Chinese and the Qing occupation; and the potential for a comparison between the European and the Japanese colonial projects as seen in the material record.     

Prometheus Unbound: Southern Caucasia in Prehistory

This paper examines the intellectual traditions and recent advances in the archaeology of the Bronze and Iron Ages of the South Caucasus. The first goal of the paper is to provide an account of the scholarly traditions that have oriented research in the region since the mid-nineteenth century. This discussion provides a detailed case study of an archaeological tradition that arose within the context of Russian and Soviet research—traditions still poorly understood within Western archaeology. Yet archaeology in the South Caucasus was strongly influenced by international research in neighboring southwest Asia, and thus the region’s intellectual currents often diverged from the debates and priorities that predominated in Moscow. The second goal of this paper is to outline the primary issues that orient contemporary work in the region from the Neolithic through the Urartian period. My interest here is both didactic and prognostic. While I am concerned to fairly represent the primary foci of contemporary regional scholarship, I also make an argument for a deeper investigation of the constitution of social life. Such studies are critical to the advancement of archaeology in the South Caucasus over the coming decade.     

Lapita before Lapita: The Early Story of the Meyer/O’Reilly Watom Island Archaeological Collection

ABSTRACT

Seventeen years before the first excavation at the archaeological site of Lapita (New Caledonia) in 1952, two men of the cloth met and exchanged artefacts, notes and ideas to produce some of the earliest analyses of what later became known as Lapita pottery. Otto Meyer (1877–1937), a Sacred Heart Missionary stationed on Watom Island, described chance finds of ‘prehistoric pottery’ in 1909, following these with more systematic excavations. Patrick O’Reilly (1900–88), a Marist Father associated with the Musée de l’Homme in Paris, drew on Meyer’s work, his own extensive bibliographical knowledge and his observations during a one-year mission in the region in 1934–5 to present part of the collection in France, laying the ground for further theories. The publication, interpretation and curation of the Meyer/O’Reilly collection represents an exemplary journey through the history of Pacific archaeology and the emergence of the Lapita paradigm. We consider the context of Meyer’s encounter with O’Reilly, the ideas both men advanced in analysing the collection and the site, and how these resonated during the development of Pacific and Lapita archaeology throughout the first half of the 20th century.     

From <Emphasis Type="Italic">Grand Dérangement</Emphasis> to Acadiana: History and Identity in the Landscape of South Louisiana

Acadian expulsion from Nova Scotia and subsequent settlement in south Louisiana during the late eighteenth century have inspired numerous studies since the 1970s concerning their history, cultural practices, and ethnic identity. The transformative landscape of south Louisiana is the milieu where actions, experiences, and perception interconnect with collective memory and historical consciousness in the production of Cajun identity. The resulting historical narratives and commemorations constitute a heritage landscape known as Acadiana, where monuments, memorials, historic sites, and parks reaffirm and reproduce this identity. An historical archaeology of Acadiana, including a recent investigation of the Amand Broussard homesite, offers a unique opportunity for cultural analysis and historical critique.     

21世纪的中国考古学

中国考古是世界上国别考古中时空最大、体量最宏、内容最为丰富的考古学体系,本世纪中国考古最大的成就就是考古学文化时空体系的建立与完善,以及对传统的中国历史体系的修正和补充。２１世纪,中国考古学不但应当在揭示华夏传统的形成以及人类、农牧和文明国家三大起源问题上有所贡献,更应依赖自身的优势,对考古学以及整个人文科学的理论建设做出贡献。     

Combining Indigenous and Maritime Archaeological Approaches: Experiences and Insights from the ‘(Re)locating Narrunga Project’, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia

This paper details the unique pairing of Indigenous and maritime archaeological approaches in the ‘(Re)locating Narrunga Project’. Narrunga was a ketch built by the Narungga Aboriginal community at Point Pearce Mission (Yorke Peninsula, South Australia) at the turn of the twentieth century and later sunk in the 1940s. It is argued that convergences between the scholarly interests of Indigenous and maritime archaeological approaches have been slow to develop and that maritime archaeology as a sub-discipline has not capitalized on the insights that can be gained from collaborative approaches between communities and practitioners. Similarly, Indigenous communities in Australia have had few opportunities to work with researchers to record their maritime heritage. As is evident in the Narrunga story told in this research, non-Indigenous records have been complicit in underplaying the maritime achievements and skills of Narungga people and collaborative research can work towards decolonizing this past.     

On the Particularism of English Landscape Archaeology

The aim of this paper is to explore the question: why is the archaeology of English historic landscapes apparently so provincial? Inevitably the response must be that matters are more complex. In this paper, I examine the work of W. G. Hoskins, the “father of English landscape history,” and draw attention to: the complex way in which landscape is embedded in nationalism; the relations between locale, province, and nation; and the way wider tensions, in particular of colonialism are embedded within Hoskins's own discourse. In conclusion, I examine ways in which this problematic continues to structure enquiry into the English landscape today and to inhibit a genuinely international and comparative approach to historic landscapes.     

Experimental archaeology in Denmark

When experimental archaeology began 100–150 years ago, it was carried out scientifically alongside regular archaeology. However, while general archaeology has continued intensively, scientific experimental archaeology has continued very sporadically during this century. The fact that there is a considerable amount of so‐called ‘experimental archaeology’ does not mean that it has been carried out scientifically. This is exemplified by house reconstructions, which despite their great number have only in a few cases added something new to archaeological research. Although these particular house reconstructions serve a pedagogic function, it would be better if, instead, scientific education was made available in the area of experimental archaeology.     

Battlefields as cultural resources

Abstract

The category of 'historic battlefield' is a relatively new one in archaeology. As a place of activity in the past, a battlefield is most often considered to be a 'historic place', rather than an 'archaeological site', although the attention of archaeologists over the past few decades has done much to indicate the archaeological potential and significance of such places. As a site of attention by heritage agencies in the present, battlefields are subject to a range of different treatments not only in different territories, but often also different manners of treatment under the same management regime. Neither of these sets of approaches has resulted in any kind of debate about the nature of the historic battlefield as an object — the discourse remains locked in a set of unexamined assumptions that are worthy of review. Accordingly, this paper reviews, from the perspective of archaeology, the current state of the category of 'historic battlefield' internationally. In particular, it considers the historical development of battlefield studies in archaeology and examines the ontology of the historic battlefield from three key perspectives: the definition of 'battle'; battlefields as places; and the manner in which they are given value as part of management regimes.     

Introduction: Singularization of History and Archaeological Framing

Microhistory and historical archaeology are important comrades, even in the broad-scale analysis of the modern world. Two scholars in Iceland have been paying close attention to the theory of microhistory. This brief introduction to their papers provides my thoughts on the linkage between historical archaeology and microhistory.     

No need to hear your voice,when I can talk about you better than you can speak about yourself…’ Discourses on Knowledge and Power in the !Khuiseb Delta on the Namib Coast, 1780–2016 CE

Indigenous pastoralists at Walvis Bay on the Namib Desert coast were drawn into global commerce at the end of the eighteenth century. A hundred years later, they were impoverished and peripheral to colonial settlement, but their resilience and traditional reliance on the endemic !nara melon gave them a unique cultural identity and a way into the informal domestic market. Subaltern and subservient in the past, the Topnaar today are creating a niche in the modern Namibian economy. I present a background historical archaeology and some of the challenges facing the Topnaar through the subjective voices of a number of historical and current stakeholders. There may be parallels between the story of the Topnaar in the Namib and the archaeology of indigenous communities in Australia, the Americas and elsewhere in the world.