The Lower Paleolithic of the Arabian Peninsula: Occupations,Adaptations, and Dispersals

To understand major processes of human evolution during the Plio- Pleistocene, it is necessary to consider the available evidence from key regions of the Old World. The Arabian peninsula is often depicted as a key geographic route for hominin dispersals in Out of Africa models, although the available primary evidence is rarely cited. And yet, significant Lower Paleolithic assemblages have been identified in many parts of the peninsula, including in areas near the Strait of Bab al Mandab. The presence of Oldowan-like and Acheulean assemblages may reflect at least two major dispersals outside of Africa. Acheulean localities are particularly abundant on the Arabian peninsula, and variations in stone tool manufacturing techniques and tool-type frequencies may reflect temporal changes in assemblages. Although there is good potential to chronometrically date sites in the Arabian peninsula, absolute dating methods have not been adequately applied, most temporal reconstructions relying on typotechnological change. If the Arabian peninsula is to provide solid evidence for understanding hominin adaptation and dispersal patterns, future fieldwork in secure depositional contexts needs to be conducted to overcome current limits in dating and environmental reconstructions.     

Shell Middens, Ships and Seeds: Exploring Coastal Subsistence, Maritime Trade and the Dispersal of Domesticates in and Around the Ancient Arabian Peninsula

The Arabian Peninsula occupies a critical position at the intersect of several major Old World landmasses. Inland aridity and a major coastal perimeter have long made maritime activities critical to Arabia’s cultural trajectory. A wealth of recent studies, not previously synthesised, suggest not only that the peninsular littoral offered a rich resource base for thousands of years of human occupation in the region, but also that Arabia witnessed some of the world’s earliest seafaring and maritime exchange activities, and played a role in Bronze Age maritime trade that has often been underestimated. Maritime activities were closely linked to developments in agriculture, which not only fuelled trade and exchange, but were also impacted on by the dispersal of domesticates along early maritime corridors. While regional specialisation has to some degree prevented consideration of the maritime prehistory of the peninsula as a whole, it is clear that there are interesting parallels, as well as important differences, between cultural trajectories in different parts of the peninsula.     

Pottery and Other Finds from the Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Sandy,Bedfordshire

INTENSIVE museum research and examination of documentary records of the discovery in the 18th and 19th centuries of Anglo-Saxon urns and other finds at Sandy (Beds.) reveals a series of 5th- to early 6th-century cremation urns and other pottery from the site. These are published together for the first time and their significance is discussed. A metal find of importance, a silver bracelet, is given extended treatment.     

寿县李三孤堆楚器的研究与探索

本文介绍了李三孤堆楚墓所出青铜器的流散和收藏慵况,回顾了自20世纪30年代初至今学者们对这批楚器的研究历程及成果,并从铭文释读、器物形制、器群主人及其埋葬环境几方面分别阐述了各家之说,最后通过回顾和分析总结出目前这一研究中存在的问题,提出了深入进行这一研究的重要意义,并指出了今后的研究方向。     

An 18th-Century Mansion,a Fishpond,and Post-Medieval Finds from St. Neots,Huntingdonshire

Abstract

The remains of Hall Place, St. Neots, a late 17th- or early 18th-century house facing Church Street, were encountered during the excavation of an Anglo-Saxon settlement in 1961. Hall place had been built over the site of a large timber-lined cutting, perhaps a fishpond, which had been filled up with domestic rubbish and demolition debris during the course of the 16th century. The fishpond contained a large group of finds including both local and imported pottery, metalwork and leather objects. Pits, wells and other late and post-medieval structures and features were also found in the garden areas behind Hall Place and other Church Street houses.     

Prehistoric Human and Ungulate Remains from Preston Docks,Lancashire, UK: Problems of River Finds

Isolated and usually undated human crania from riverine deposits in the British Isles present something of an archaeological mystery. The large numbers sometimes involved—several hundred from the River Thames alone—together with the recovery of unassociated metal artefacts have been taken to imply some or other “ritual” activity. We offer a taphonomic investigation of human crania and ungulate remains obtained from dock excavations during the 1880s at Preston in Lancashire in northwestern England. Although apparently recovered in close spatial proximity, a series of AMS determinations on crania of humans, aurochsen (Bos primigenius) and red deer (Cervus elaphus) has established at least a Neolithic to Saxon age range for the sample. Such a chronological span for a diverse assemblage when considered against modern forensic studies of the taphonomy of bodies in water strongly implies that the human crania need represent no more than an accumulation of elements that normally separate quite naturally from the rest of the body. While the reasons for initial entry to the water may well have included “ritual” activity in one or more case there is simply no reason to infer such behaviour for the human sample as a whole in the absence of direct evidence.     

试论朝鲜半岛民族主义的特性及影响

历史已经证明,作为一种强大的思想和运动,民族主义具有神话般的建构和解构能力：它不仅可以创建一个新的民族国家,而且还能冲破国家主权的控制,导致民族国家的解体或融合。朝鲜半岛民族主义之强烈是一个不争的事实。半个多世纪以来,朝鲜半岛南、北两国都宣称致力于朝鲜民族统一,但至今未果。本文力图通过探究朝鲜半岛民族主义所具有的三大特性——反抗性、分裂性和精英主义——来揭示朝鲜半岛民族主义在朝鲜民族分裂和统一进程中的矛盾角色。     

‘Not All That Is White Is Lime’—White Substances from Archaeological Burial Contexts: Analyses and Interpretations

Archaeological burial contexts may include a variety of white substances, but few analyses have been published. This study reports on the physico‐chemical characterization of such residues from seven archaeological sites. It is often assumed that white materials from burial contexts are lime. Our findings demonstrate that they can be gypsum, calcite (chalk), aragonite, brushite, degraded metal, natural (gum) resins or synthetic polymer–based products. These may be present as the result of diagenetic processes, funerary practices or modern contamination. This paper provides an analytical approach for the holistic investigation of white materials encountered in burial contexts.     

Description and Analysis of the Finds from the 2006 Turkish Coastal Survey: Marmaris and Bodrum

In the summer of 2006, RPM Nautical Foundation continued its survey along the south-western Turkish coast. After completing the verification of anomalies along the south-east Bozburun peninsula close to Marmaris, a new survey was conducted along the coast near Bodrum. Additional shipwrecks were discovered, those of historic interest ranging in date from Roman Republican to Ottoman. This report describes the shipwreck sites and some of the random finds along the Bozburun coast, as well as the depositional characteristics in the Bodrum approaches.
© 2007 The Author     

Interpreting Intra-site Spatial Patterns in Seasonal Contexts: an Ethnoarchaeological Case Study from the Western Alps

This paper deals with the ethnoarchaeological analysis of the spatial pattern of artefacts and ecofacts within two traditional pastoral huts (a dwelling and a seasonal dairy) in the uplands of Val Maudagna (Cuneo province, Italian western Alps). The composition of the ethnoarchaeological assemblages of the two huts was studied and compared; point pattern analysis was applied to identify spatial processes mirrored in the interactions between objects; Moran’s I correlogram and empirical variogram were used to investigate the effects of trampling on the displacement of objects on the floor. The results were compared with information provided by the herder who still used the huts. The quantitative and ethnographical data enabled inferences to be made that can help in the interpretation of archaeological seasonal sites. The function of a seasonal site can be recognized, as can the impact of delayed curation on the composition of the assemblage and the importance of the intensity of occupation compared with the frequency of occupation. The spatial organization of activities is reflected in the spatial patterns of objects, with clearer identification of activity areas in intensively occupied sites, and there is evidence for the behaviour behind the spatial segregation of activities. Trampling is a crucial post-depositional factor in the displacement of artefacts and ecofacts, especially in non-intensively exploited sites. From a methodological point of view, this research is another example that highlights the importance of integrating quantitative methods (especially spatial analysis and geostatistical methods) and ethnoarchaeological data in order to improve the interpretation of archaeological sites and assemblages.     

Technical aspects of a worked proboscidean tusk from Inmachuk River,Seward Peninsula,Alaska

Prehistoric reduction sequences of proboscidean ivory have been described and discussed within the Russian and European Upper Paleolithic archaeological literature. A culturally modified proboscidean tusk (Mammuthus sp.) in Seward Peninsula, northwestern Alaska, displays longitudinal grooving, providing an insight into a reduction technique rarely described within North American archaeological literature. Similar reduction sequences have been described for the production of bone, antler and walrus ivory artifacts in the North American prehistoric record; however, examples on proboscidean ivory are extremely rare.     

Vestiges and Witnesses: Archaeological Finds from the Nazi Euthanasia Institution of Hartheim as Objects of Research and Education

In Hartheim Castle, more than 30,000 people became victims of National Socialist euthanasia programs. In the course of building the memorial at the end of the 1990s, numerous structural remnants of the killing institution were found. In 2001 several pits with structural elements, some human remains, as well as belongings of people murdered were found by chance in the former castle garden. This contribution establishes the meaning these items have for research, as well as considerations and discussions about the possibilities of presenting the vestiges in museum form and how to use the latter for teaching projects.     

The Standard Model,the Maximalists and the Minimalists: New Interpretations of Trypillia Mega-Sites

The currently prevailing view of the Trypillia mega-sites of the fourth millennium BC has been the dominant model for over 40 years: they were extra-large settlement examples of the Childean ‘Neolithic package’ of permanent settlement, domesticated plants and animals, and artifact assemblages containing polished stone tools and pottery. Trypillia mega-sites have therefore been viewed as permanent, long-term settlements comprising many thousands of people. This view of these extraordinary sites has been identical whatever the various opinions on their urban or other status. In recent mega-site publications, a maximalist gloss has been put on this standard view—with population estimates as high as 46,000 people (Rassmann et al. in J Neolit Archaeol 16: 96–134, 2014). However, doubts about the standard view have been emerging over the past two decades. As a result of the last six years’ intensive investigations, a tipping point has been reached, with as many as nine lines of independent evidence combining to create such doubts that the only logical response is to replace the standard model (not to mention the maximalist model) with a version of the minimalist model that envisions a less permanent, more seasonal settlement mode, or a smaller permanent settlement involving coeval dwelling of far fewer people (the ‘middle way’). In this article, I seek to construct an evidential basis for the alternatives to the standard view of Trypillia mega-sites.     

Construction of Meaningful Contexts On War,Lions, Dogs,Birds and a Vineyard

The present article argues that 1 Kgs 20-22 are not well-suited as historical sources for the Aramean wars, but are of considerable importance in the reconstruction of the world of ideas of that time. It is shown how animals and plants can be used as codes in the narrative. The use of lions, dogs and birds in 1 Kgs 20-22 illustrates one and the same theme: killing and devouring. Yahweh can appear as a lion or send a lion, but even though the lion kills, it does not “devour” the disobedient prophets of Yahweh. Yahweh is also behind the treatment of Ahab, Jezebel and the prophets of Baal, but Yahweh leaves it to dogs and birds to devour them. The king of animals is connected to Yahweh's prophets and the unclean animals to the apostate royal house. Through the codes we gain insight into certain basic modes of thought in Old Testament cosmo-ontology. For linguistic expressions acquire their meaning not only from the narrative sequence in which they are used, but also from the system in which they are included.