Personal,Political, Pedagogic: Challenging the Binary Bind in Archaeological Teaching,Learning and Fieldwork

In this paper, we consider how we can undercut the various binaries of gender and sexuality in archaeological practice and particularly in our teaching. We argue that taking an assemblage theory approach enables us to look at the multiplicity of identities of those practicing archaeology as different and intersecting assemblages that bring one another into being through their connections at different scales. In particular, we examine how this approach can be applied to archaeological pedagogy and how this in turn enables us to move away from modern binary distinctions about sex and gender identities from the ‘bottom up’, fostering an approach in our students that will then go on to be developed in professional practice.     

Rentiers and Autocrats, Monarchs and Democrats, State and Society: the Middle East Between Globalization, Human 'Agency', and Europe

The key concerns in work on the politics of the Middle East in the past decade have been economic and political liberalization/democratization (or the absence thereof) and security, both domestic and international, along with a continued focus on the Arab‐Israeli conflict. There has been an increasing recognition that these issues are strongly interrelated. Europe cannot avoid concerns over economic and political stability in the region affecting its own interests. Together with economic reasons for engagement with the region, this has brought about a desire to see economic and political reform take place. The Euro‐Mediter‐ranean Partnership Initiative (EMPI) is one result of this. The background against which these policies, concerns and hopes are evolving is ‘globalization’, both of the discourse of ‘democracy’ and in the growing hold of liberal market economics internationally. Recent research on the politics and political economy of the region, and on EMPI, however, shows that a combination of political‐economic and related political‐cultural factors, along with the Arab‐Israeli conflict, continue to hamper political and economic reform in the Middle East, and that European policy as currently conceived is unlikely to affect this greatly. Yet such recent work also shows that aspects of globalization are changing the environment in which Middle Eastern regimes are having to function, while at the same time offering civil society new tools. Middle Eastern societies do, to varying extents, possess the necessary ‘spaces’ and traditions for human ‘agency’ to escape the constraints of domestic and international ‘structures’ and evolve new political cultures‐including democratic ones. Existing judicial or legislative institutions may acquire volition of their own and reinforce this process. There is nothing in ‘Islam’ that necessarily obstructs such possibilities. And supposedly ’obsolete‘ monarchies might yet be among the most successful types of regime in coping with such change.     

Breaking Bones to Obtain Marrow: A Comparative Study between Percussion by Batting Bone on an Anvil and Hammerstone Percussion

The fat‐ and nutrient‐rich marrow of animal bones can be extracted using different techniques. Passive hammerstone percussion has been the primary focus of experimental bone breaking and the main analogy to understand archaeological bone breakage. Here, the term ‘passive’ is applied because the bone to be broken passively receives the impact from a hammerstone. In addition to this technique, there is another bone‐breaking method that also requires direct percussion, but in an active way. This method is percussion by ‘batting’, in which the bone is actively hit against an anvil until the bone breaks. This technique has rarely been considered at an experimental level and, therefore, has been omitted in the majority of the archaeological interpretations of faunal assemblages with pre‐use of fire technologies. In this study, we attempt to analytically characterize this type of bone‐breaking technique through a systematic comparison with hammerstone percussion. The applied statistical tests will allow us to distinguish some diagnostic modifications, such as the outlines of the fracture planes and the type of notches or their location with respect to the longitudinal axis of the bone. These features and their proportions allow the consideration of the use of this technique in Pleistocene anthropogenic faunal assemblages.     

Ochre Provenance and Procurement Strategies During The Middle Stone Age at Diepkloof Rock Shelter,South Africa

Usually referred to in archaeological contexts simply as ‘ochre’, ferruginous rocks were commonly used during the Middle Stone Age (MSA) in South Africa. While ochre use by early modern humans has often been interpreted as reflecting complex behaviours, related procurement strategies and selection criteria remain poorly documented. Eight ochre sources from the surroundings of Diepkloof rock shelter in South Africa and 28 ochre pieces from the site's MSA levels were studied by XRD, ICP–OES and ICP–MS. Mineralogical and geochemical data demonstrate that ochre was both locally procured and transported to the site from more distant sources. Here, we investigate the reasons underlying the choice of particular local and non‐local ochre sources exploited at Diepkloof, emphasizing differences in their physico‐chemical properties. Regardless of the motivations behind ochre selection, our data shed new light on the behavioural complexity of MSA societies and suggest that ochre procurement strategies may be independent of subsistence concerns.     

The Work‐Life Balance: Geographical Perspectives on Lifestyle,Leisure, Stuff and the FuturePresidential Address to the Institute of Australian Geographers’ Conference,Hobart, July 20081

The work‐life balance is a pressing social issue in Australia but one on which geographers have been relatively silent. Predictions of ‘a leisure society’ have not been fulfilled. Instead, work has come to dominate life in Australia and in many other advanced western societies. The reasons for this are explored. Materialism is at the heart of the work‐life imbalance. There is, however, evidence of a changing work ethic and the emergence of leisure‐orientated lifestyles, albeit with ‘leisure’ interpreted as ‘freedom to’ undertake gratifying activity rather than simply ‘freedom from’ obligatory commitments. Despite the supposed homogenising influence of globalisation and the internet, place will become increasingly important in a leisure‐orientated lifestyle‐led future.     

International Heritage Tourism in Rwanda: Paving Over the Past at the Musanze Caves

Through a case study of the Musanze Caves, this paper describes the impact of Rwanda’s heritage tourism industry on archaeological resources. The paper outlines Rwanda’s tourism industry and describes how it privileges ‘natural heritage’ above ‘cultural heritage’, a situation which is negatively impacting upon archaeological sites such as the Musanze Caves. To create the Musanze Caves tourism experience there has been significant non-archaeological excavation and construction in the caves, which has damaged regionally significant archaeological remains that date from 1000 CE to the present. Furthermore, the Musanze Caves tourism experience does not incorporate extant archaeological information into the presented narrative, which is instead based on ‘natural heritage’ and adventure tourism. This situation is damaging rare resources that might help construct new historical narratives to replace untenable colonial and pre-genocide ones, and is generally unhelpful in communicating the knowledge that we do have about the region’s history.     

Indigenous African Furnace Types and Slag Composition—Is there a Correlation?

Within variation, three major iron smelting furnaces were used in the Iron Age of sub‐Saharan Africa, ranging from the natural draught driven tall shaft to the forced draught powered low shaft and bowl furnaces. These furnace types are, however, mostly known from the ethnographic context. Often, archaeologists are confronted with remnants from the smelting process, forcing them to speculate on the anatomy of the extant furnaces. The presence of multiple fused tuyeres has been used to identify natural draught furnaces in the archaeological record. However, working back from smelting remains such as slag to the furnace type using physical and chemical evidence has generally proved to be ‘undoable’. Thus, when randomly selected, the chances are high that one cannot separate bowl furnace slags from those that formed in their tall or low shaft counterparts. This observation is hardly unexpected; analogous thermodynamics and thermo‐chemical reactions governed bloomery smelting irrespective of furnace type. Rehren et al. (2007) have labelled this phenomenon the ‘tyranny of system driven constraints’. In this study, we argue that the hierarchical use of statistical methods may add another layer of evidence which, when coupled to archaeological indicators, may be useful in correlating slag chemistry to furnace types used in antiquity.     

Magdalenian Children: Projectile Points,Portable Art and Playthings

Children, no doubt, were a significant component of Upper Palaeolithic societies. Despite this fact, however, serious identification and consideration of material culture which may have belonged to children – at least at one time during their use‐life – have not been undertaken. This situation extends to the best represented and most intensively studied of the European Palaeolithic techno‐complexes, the Magdalenian (c.21,000–14,000 cal BP), and consequently, we know very little about the children of this enigmatic people. As play, including object play, is a ‘true cultural universal’, we can be certain that Magdalenian children integrated objects into their games, with these playthings later incorporated into the archaeological record. Through examining ethnographic accounts of recent hunter‐gatherer children and reconsidering archaeological assemblages in light of these data, this paper suggests that Magdalenian playthings probably included full‐sized adult weapon tips and – more significantly – pieces of what archaeologists term ‘art mobilier’.     

The Sarmatians: The Creation of Archaeological Evidence

According to the general modern view the steppes of the northern Black Sea region, from the Danube to the Ural valleys, in the period from the third century BC to the mid‐third century AD, were inhabited by Sarmatian tribes using a burial mound rite. Several consecutive waves of Sarmatian peoples came to this territory from the East, conquering the local population. This view is based on the paradigmatic explanatory model, which has its roots in the history of the Russian Empire. However, the archaeological culture of the Volga–Don and Ural steppes, known as the ‘Sarmatian Motherland’, is apparently not related to the Sarmatians of the written sources. In addition, the culture of the northern Black Sea region features various kinds of archaeological monuments (settlements, votive depositions, kurgans, flat necropolises), which are characteristic of different cultural‐economic types. This demonstrates the complexity and diversity of the culture in the region, which could be influenced by many factors: the presence of Greek settlers on the northern shore of the Black Sea, the expansion of the Roman Empire, the pressure of nomadic tribes from the East, the advance of the Celtic–Thracian peoples from the West, changing environmental conditions, etc.     

Bands of brothers: a re‐appraisal of the Viking Great Army and its implications for the Scandinavian colonization of England

Although the ninth‐century Viking Great Army has been subject to intensive historical and archaeological study, it remains an enigmatic entity. This article explores the evidence for the Great Army in England through the consideration of archaeological materials in addition to the organizational structures underpinning the formation of Viking ‘armies’. In light of this, I argue that the Great Army is better considered as a mobile society or polity rather than an armed force. Viewing the Great Army in this way influences not only the interpretation of evidence recovered in the field, but also our understanding of the Scandinavian settlement of northern and eastern England during the late ninth century.     

A NEW METHOD FOR EXTRACTION,ISOLATION AND TRANSESTERIFICATION OF FREE FATTY ACIDS FROM ARCHAEOLOGICAL POTTERY

This paper presents evidence for increased recovery of organic residues from archaeological pottery through use of a microwave‐assisted liquid chromatography protocol. C_16:0 and C_18:0 saturated fatty acids were obtained from archaeological potsherds recovered from nine Neolithic settlements in the Middle East dating between 4700 and 7300 cal bc , including materials that had not produced evidence for the survival of any lipid species through use of ‘conventional’ solvent extraction techniques. Compound‐specific isotopic analyses of C_16:0 and C_18:0 fatty acids in potsherd extracts subsequently revealed δ¹³C/δ¹²C compositions consistent with modern subcutaneous fats of wild boar and goats pastured on lands adjacent to the Jordan Valley, and residues from a modern pottery vessel used in the manufacturing of butter, cheese and yogurt in central Turkey. These results are presented as an illustration of capabilities of the microwave‐assisted recovery protocol. The reclamation of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids from archaeological pottery fragments recovered from a number of the earliest ceramic horizons in the Middle East is herewith reported, and the extraction methods and instrumental analytical techniques are described.     

Excavating ‘Hell Upon Earth’ Towards a Research Framework for the Archaeological Investigation of Workers’ Housing: Case Studies from Manchester,UK

This paper uses 16 years of targeted fieldwork on excavating workers’ housing in the Manchester region, UK, to assess a variety of research approaches to the investigation of urban industrial housing of the late 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. Manchester was one of the ‘shock’ cities of industrial Britain, and a honey pot for social commentary during the Victorian period. Using data from more than 30 excavation sites, it looks at the way in which archaeological evidence can be used to explore issues around house build quality, overcrowding, sanitation and disease, and reconstructing households from their material remains. Manchester's reputation for poor living conditions during the industrialising period was crystallised around the comments of contemporary social commentators from Engels to Gaskell. Yet, the archaeological evidence reviewed in this article demonstrates the value of archaeological approaches in challenging and testing such views through detailed case studies. More importantly, it shows that archaeological material can be used to study directly features of the new industrialised form of urban living, providing a set of research questions applicable across the industrial urban workers’ housing of Britain.     

Archaeological Collections, Government Warehouses, and Anxious Moderns: The Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory

This paper focuses on archaeological curation repositories and their role as more than mere storage facilities. Archaeological collections are increasingly marshaled to confront anxieties about a seemingly ‘vanishing past’ and to arrest its disappearance. In Maryland, the state has invested heavily in a ‘state-of-the-art’ facility to protect and study archaeological collections in its custody. The facility has become the proxy for the collections and a form of cultural property itself, becoming part of the ongoing process that serves to recast this portion of the state as a place rooted in the past.     

Agency,Periodisation and Change in the Gender and Women's History of Colonial India

The paper begins with a critique of the ‘imperialism‐nationalism’ paradigm and its concomitant privileging of the period 1885–1947, which has dominated the writing of modern Indian history. It is argued here that the fixation with the ‘birth‐of‐the‐nation’ theme has led to the neglect of women's agency; that it has resulted in many inconsistencies, dilemmas and unresolved issues regarding a range of topics within Indian gender‐relations; and that this periodisation inhibits the reclamation of terms such as ‘feminist’ and ‘feminism’. The second half of the essay proposes that women's agency can be recovered via a new chronology and a new template for understanding agency within which scholars will be enabled to retrieve the conscious voices of Indian women and record change in gender relations.     

Thalassaemia: Its diagnosis and interpretation in past skeletal populations

The diagnosis of thalassaemia in archaeological populations has long been hindered by a lack of pathogonomic features, and the non‐specific nature of cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis. In fact, clinical research has highlighted more specific diagnostic criteria for thalassaemia major and intermedia based on changes to the thorax (‘rib‐within‐a‐rib’ and costal osteomas). A recent re‐examination of 364 child skeletons from Romano‐British Poundbury Camp, Dorset revealed children with general ‘wasting’ of the bones and three children who demonstrated a variety of severe lesions (e.g. zygomatic bone and rib hypertrophy, porotic hyperostosis, rib lesions, osteopenia and pitted diaphyseal shafts) that are inconsistent with dietary deficiency alone, and more consistent with a diagnosis of genetic anaemia. Two of these children displayed rib lesions typical of those seen in modern cases of thalassaemia. The children of Poundbury Camp represent the first cases of genetic anaemia identified in a British archaeological population. As thalassaemia is a condition strongly linked to Mediterranean communities, the presence of this condition in a child from England, found within a mausoleum, suggests that they were born to wealthy immigrant parents living in this small Roman settlement in Dorset. This paper explores the diagnostic criteria for genetic anaemia in the archaeological literature and what its presence in ancient populations can contribute to our knowledge of past human migration. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Holocene History of the Southern Lake Chad Basin: Archaeological, Linguistic and Genetic Evidence

Archaeological evidence indicates a complex history of settlement of the southern Lake Chad Basin from the mid-Holocene onward, in parallel with the gradual desiccation of the Sahara and reduction of lake and river systems in the region. These archaeological data can be compared with a growing body of data from historical linguistics and genetics, and the southern Lake Chad Basin is one of few areas in Africa where such comparisons can be undertaken. This paper will serve as a preliminary consideration of some of the issues generated by an initial comparison of archaeological, genetic and linguistic evidence for the peopling of the Lake Chad Basin. It focuses on the contexts of initial encounters between ancestral Nilo-Saharan and Chadic populations south of Lake Megachad and subsequent population expansions and diversifications around the Mandara Mountains.     

Defining the OE hearg: a preliminary archaeological and topographic examination of hearg place names and their hinterlands

The OE term hearg is interpreted variously as ‘pagan temple’, ‘hilltop sanctuary’ and even ‘idol’. It is a rare survival in the English place‐name record. When it can be identified, the place name is commonly considered to refer to a location of pre‐Christian religious activity, specifically a pagan Anglo‐Saxon temple. Taking inspiration from the extensive and methodologically well‐advanced studies in Scandinavia, which have successfully related place‐name evidence for cultic and religious sites with the archaeology and topography of these localities, this paper adopts and uses a similar methodology to investigate the archaeological and topographic character of a selection of hearg locations. The traditional interpretations of the place name are questioned and evidence is presented that these sites are characterized by long‐lived, localized cult practice spanning the late prehistoric to early historic periods, but with activity reaching a zenith in the late Iron Age to Romano‐British eras, rather than the fifth to seventh centuries AD.     

Is ‘child placement’ trafficking?: Questioning the validity of an accepted discourse (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

Within the discursive‐institutional space occupied by organisations working on child protection, child trafficking is often assumed to represent a direct outgrowth of the socio‐cultural custom of ‘child placement’, whereby parents send their children to live (and work) within other households. In Benin, where research for this paper was conducted, the narrative of ‘placement corrupted’ has become so well established that the country's anti‐trafficking law is in fact a law regulating the movement (including placement) of minors, and has in practice resulted in a de facto criminalisation of the intra‐familial mobility that has long formed a normal component of child‐rearing and socialisation within the region. In this paper, I offer a brief overview of this situation, and attempt to question the validity of the discourse on which the anti‐placement law and its attendant policies are based. I will employ the Foucauldian techniques of discursive archaeology and genealogy to unravel the origins of the discourse, and will draw on my own and related empirical research to problematize its conclusions.     

Living Mesolithic Time: Narratives,Chronologies and Organic Material Culture

British and Irish Mesolithic studies have long been characterized by a reliance on broad-scale lithic typologies, both to provide chronologies, and in discussion of ‘cultural’ groups. More recently, traditional narrative structures—period definitions of ‘Early’ and ‘Late’, or culture typologies—have been complemented by a host of other evidence. This has included new studies of site stratigraphy, evidence for seasonality, and material culture chaîne opératoire chronologies, which place a greater emphasis on both temporal precision and the lived experiences of Mesolithic peoples. This paper will consider how the study of organic artefacts forces these narrative scales into acute focus, and presents an opportunity to explore the challenges in synthesizing different forms of data. We discuss how the evidence from sites in Ireland and Britain allows for new approaches, and highlight some of the challenges that this evidence presents, not least the perennial issue of moving from site-specific data to broader narratives. While the nature of earlier prehistoric evidence makes this an especially obvious issue for Mesolithic studies, it is one which generally besets archaeology. We suggest that in order to move beyond this in earlier prehistoric studies specifically, we need to make better use of all evidence sources, however seemingly prosaic, including antiquarian collections in museums, and chance and casual finds. Only by including the raft of available data, and recognizing its utility beyond the sum of individual apparently uninspiring parts, can we begin to move from generalizing narratives to more nuanced archaeological understandings of past material worlds.     

Archaeology and the Irish rediscovery of the Celtic past

This article examines the place of archaeology in the second wave of Irish cultural nationalism, and how archaeological findings were appropriated by rival ethno‐religious communities in Ireland. In particular, it focuses on George Petrie, who was the founder of ‘scientific’ archaeology and was also one of the leading figures in the nineteenth‐century Celtic revival that sought a moral regeneration of the Irish nation In Ireland, as elsewhere, archaeology was important in reconstructing an early history of the nation where few written records existed and in making this visible through material artefacts. However, archaeology was only significant as part of a wider cultural revival that presented artefacts and sites as national symbols to an island undergoing rapid social change. This article will explore the relationship between archaeology and this national revival, and how the material objects recovered by archaeologists extended and transformed the existing repertoires of how the nation was imagined and felt. It will assess the different reception of these images in the rival Catholic and Protestant communities. Finally, it will comment on the capacity of a medieval ‘Celtic’ repertoire to provide the basis of a dynamic modern Irish national culture.