The Murder of James Leslie Starkey near Lachish

On 10 January 1938, the British archaeologist James Leslie Starkey was murdered on his way from Lachish to Jerusalem. From that time onwards, the murder has been presented as just one more of the insurgency episodes that were so common in those days. There was, however, a conflict at Lachish with the local landowners regarding the excavation of the site's summit, the expedition's preferred area. An amicable resolution of this conflict was never reached between the two sides, and only legal expropriation of this land by the Mandatory Government of Palestine enabled the excavation of the upper part of the site. The landowners never received full compensation for the expropriated land, undoubtedly a strong motive for revenge.     

The Chemical Environment in a Burial Mound Shortly after Construction—An Archaeological–Pedological Experiment

A number of burial mounds from the South Scandinavian Early Bronze Age have contained iron pan encapsulated, wet mound cores, in which organic material has been extraordinarily well preserved. Chemical analysis of iron pan formations in recently excavated burial mounds from Jutland, Denmark have demonstrated that the iron pans were formed by redox-processes, caused by anaerobic conditions in the core of the mound and possibly influenced or determined by the way the mound was constructed. In 1995 an experimental burial mound was erected at the Historical-Archaeological Research Centre at Lejre in Denmark. The purpose of the experiment was to test and elaborate the theories on the iron pan formation and the mound construction developed on the basis of the previous chemical analysis. Three years after construction the mound was excavated and the iron pan formation and the preservation of organic matter in an oaken log coffin were studied. Anaerobic conditions had developed in the mound core and the contents of the oaken log coffin were found to be well preserved. This paper describes the results of the experiment.     

CONFIRMATION OF AN ARCHAIC PERIOD MOUND IN SOUTHWEST MISSISSIPPI

Abstract

Site 22LI504 is a predominantly Archaic period site in Lincoln County, Mississippi. One of its primary elements of interest is a single conical mound from which small-diameter cores revealed evidence of advanced pedogenesis. A radiocarbon sample from one soil core produced a date suggesting that the mound was Archaic in age (Fulmer 2001); however, it was unclear whether the sample came from within the mound or an underlying midden. In the spring of 2006, we excavated a 1-x-1-m unit in the mound to investigate this question. Diagnostic lithic artifacts, an advanced state of soil horizonation, and a lack of ceramics indicate that the mound is of Archaic period construction, with as many as five construction stages and artifact-rich features. We describe the soil profiles, features, and artifacts recovered from the mound, with comparisons to excavation units in an adjacent Archaic midden to show that there is no clear evidence for the mound being a functionally specific locus. We also present radiocarbon dates that indicate the earthwork is over 5,000 years old. These results are evaluated within the broader context of Archaic mound building, focusing in particular on environmental parameters underlying bet-hedging behavior.     

Mapping geographies of Canadian colonial occupation: pathway analysis of murdered indigenous women and girls

This paper builds on scholarship within life course studies, particularly notions of pathway analysis, to demonstrate how such analysis can be combined with cartography in order to be applied to studies of missing and murdered indigenous women, as a means to better understand the geographies of violence they live and die in. In this sense, this work utilizes the theoretical underpinnings of pathways analysis but transforms it into an indigenized tool for narration and analysis, by linking the pathways studied with relationships to land, colonialism, and intergenerational violence. By telling the narratives of the women studied in this paper in this way, this paper demonstrates that the binaries that are frequently applied to missing and murdered indigenous women create popular knowledge on this violence that is not necessarily reflective of reality, and that when we look beyond or between these binaries, different patterns and sites of violence emerge.     

The Moorehead Phase Occupation at the Emerald Acropolis

The Emerald site, also known as the Emerald Acropolis, was an early Mississippian pilgrimage center key to Cahokia’s development. This paper presents the hitherto unpublished results of two archaeological projects conducted at the site, one led by Howard Winters and Stuart Struever in 1961 and the other by Robert Hall in 1964. These investigations produced the most comprehensive information on Emerald’s Moorehead phase (1200–1300 CE) occupation, during which two of its mounds were capped, a secondary mound was constructed on the central mound, and a mound-top structure was erected on this secondary mound. Similar activities took place throughout the region during the thirteenth century, a time marked by dramatic social, political, and religious change in Greater Cahokia. Based on these data, we argue that people returned to Emerald to memorialize or draw on the powers inherent there and thus reincorporate this place into the newly imagined thirteenth century Cahokian world.     

Building Monks Mound,Cahokia, Illinois,a.d. 800–1400

Abstract

Cahokia (a.d. 800–1400), located near the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, was the largest settlement in ancient North America. Monks Mound occupies the center of Cahokia and provides both a modern and ancient focal point for the site. Past investigations of Monks Mound explored issues of mound chronology and use. Recent soil coring around the perimeter clarifies the geological context and degree of preparation necessary before the mound was built. The results suggest that the mound is not optimally positioned for stability and its location may ultimately accelerate deterioration. Moreover, evaluation of the mound features and fill indicates that maximization of the geotechnical potential of sediments was not a primary concern for the Cahokians. Although poorly engineered relative to modern standards, the suitability of the mound as a platform may have been secondary to other design choices made while building the largest single mound in ancient North America.     

日文提要

<東南文化>2011年第3號主な論文の要旨1.文化遺産.文化自覚.文化建設--中国文化遺産事業の発展過程を追う(曹兵武)要旨:文物史跡は過去の文化を反映するもので、文化は異なる時期における人類共同体が特定時期と空間において環境と社会に適応するものだけではなく、人類過去の生存可能性の記録でもある。故に、文化遺産は社会発展を推進させる知恵になり、決して負担ではない。改革政策実施以来、我々は文物と文化遺産及びそれらの価値に対     

CHRONOLOGY,SITE FORMATION,AND THE WOODLAND-MISSISSIPPIAN TRANSITION AT BAYSHORE HOMES,FLORIDA

Bayshore Homes (8PI41) is a large mound and midden complex on Florida’s west-central Gulf Coast that was investigated originally by William Sears in the 1950s. From 1999 to 2009, the authors conducted survey, test excavations, and soil coring to address questions regarding site formation, chronology, and cultural affiliation. Radiocarbon dates and ceramic analysis indicate two separate occupations during the Woodland and Mississippi periods, cal. A.D. 140–565 and cal. A.D. 890–1390 (2 sigma). The earlier occupation is associated with the Manasota archaeological culture, sand-tempered plain pottery, burials in midden deposits, and interments in a sand mound accompanied by Weeden Island–related mortuary ceramics. The later occupation is associated with Weeden Island–related decorated and Pinellas Plain ceramics in midden deposits and represents the transition from terminal Weeden Island to the Englewood phase of Early Safety Harbor. A large burial mound and a platform mound are associated with this period of site use. Our results also indicate that the unusual ceramic sequence identified by Sears in the site’s large shoreline shell midden is the result of redeposition, which occurred sometime after cal. A.D. 1220. Possible explanations for the redeposition event include monumental mound construction or the elevation of the midden ridge to serve as a foundation for structures to protect them from rising sea levels or storm surges.     

土墩墓考古:新收获,新思考——在江苏句容、金坛土墩墓群抢救性发掘考古成果汇报会上的讲话

2005年江苏句容、金坛土墩墓群抢救性发掘考古成果在一墩一墓、一墩多墓、向心结构等土墩墓重大学术问题上取得了突破性进展,并为田野考古科学操作提供了典范。从方法论和考古学理论角度思考,土墩墓的发掘和研究还需进一步深化。     

Pits,mounds, and vernal ponds in a Tasmanian subalpine grassland

Falling trees commonly turbate soils in primary forest, creating characteristic edaphic patterns related to pit and mound topography. Vernal ponds with associated mounds were observed in mineral soils on a treeless plain in subalpine Tasmania, Australia. The hypothesis that paired ponds and mounds on the plain originated as pit and mound features in forests that were later destroyed by fire was tested by comparing the soils and landforms caused by recent tree falls in adjacent forest with those on the plain. The soil characteristics, orientations, and dimensions of the ponds and mounds were consistent with a tree fall origin, although rare secondary ponds on the tops of mounds may derive from the burrowing activities of the medium‐sized marsupial, Vombatus ursinus (common wombat). The characteristics of pond and mound soils suggested that most were hundreds to thousands of years old, with the ponds persisting because of differences in deflation, deposition, and organic matter formation between themselves and adjacent persistently dry land.     

Earthen mound formation in the Uruguayan lowlands (South America): micromorphological analyses of the Pago Lindo archaeological complex

The stratigraphic excavation of the Pago Lindo archaeological complex, in central-eastern Uruguay (La Plata basin), helped to propose an alternative model for mound formation that expresses the intrinsic complexity of prehistoric earthen architecture. This model, known as the spatial–temporal discontinuous model, sees mound complexes as multi-functional areas, with diverse earth works occupied and abandoned intermittently. Since earthen mound sediments are homogeneous, resemble natural soils and show evidences of intense bioturbation, soil micromorphology was used to confirm, refute and further investigate issues raised during field work, related with the prime material used for mound construction, detection of major episodes of mound building, identification of activity areas and taphonomic processes. In this paper, we present the results of the micromorphological analyses of two different earth works from the Pago Lindo archaeological complex (a mound and a micro-relief). Analyses proved the recurrent use of surface horizons for mound and micro-relief building throughout the entire period of site occupation. It also demonstrated the difficulty in identifying discrete depositional episodes and occupation surfaces, because of the intense bioturbation. Two activity areas where recognized: a domestic hut built over a platform, ca. 1600 yrs. BP; and an area of plant residue accumulation over a platform, raised almost 800 hundred year after the domestic hut. The practice of cleaning the occupation surfaces was interpreted from the complete absence of bioarchaeological remains (bones and micro-charcoal). The use of micromorphology as a complementary tool in the stratigraphic excavation of Pago Lindo unraveled evidences that corroborate a newly proposed model for mound growth.     

土墩墓一墩多墓问题讨论

对作为吴越文化主要遗存的土墩墓的研究成果累累,对其埋葬特点、文化内涵、文化性质、时代等,学术界已墓本达成共识,但对是否存在一墩多墓的问题,意见不一。本文根据对南岗山、连山等地的考古材料分析,认为一墩多墓现象在土墩墓中的确存在。     

Sea level rise or shallow-water midden deposition? Archaeopedology at the Seminole Rest archaeological site,coastal East-Central Florida

Sedimentological and faunal studies at the Seminole Rest archaeological site on the Atlantic coast of Volusia County, FL, addressed the question of whether construction of the large shell mound at the site began on dry land or in the shallow waters of Mosquito Lagoon. Particle-size analysis defined a sand body beneath the hardshell clam mound, which is bordered by mucky tidal marsh and the shallow, silty lagoon. Weathered kaolinite, hydroxy-interlayer vermiculite, and gibbsite clays in the sub-mound sediments, identified by X-ray diffraction, contrasted with the ‘shrink-swell’ smectite clays of the tidal marsh and mound periphery and corroborated the particle-size evidence of a sand bar or bank. The presence in the sub-mound sediments of articulated valves of the diminutive Brown Gem Clam (Parastarte triquetra, Family Veneridae), and their absence in the silty marsh sediments, presented another line of evidence for a sand body beneath the mound. Parastarte is a common inhabitant of shallowly submerged sand bars. The existence of articulated valves of all size classes below the mound argues for a thriving population of the clams in their preferred habitat at the onset of mound deposition, which would have begun in the shallow water adjacent to the shore and not on dry land.     

DETERMINING THE SEASON OF MISSISSIPPIAN HOUSE CONSTRUCTION FROM PLANT IMPRESSIONS IN DAUB

Abstract

It has been suggested that Mississippian farmsteads in some parts of the Southeast were abandoned in the late fall/early winter, with concomitant population concentration in large, palisaded villages. This assertion is contradicted by published data on plant impressions in daub which indicate farmstead house construction during the fall. Missing from this debate has been information on the season of house construction at mound centers. Plant impressions in daub from a structure at the Lyon’s Bluff site (22OK520) in Mississippi indicate that house construction took place during early to midspring. When coupled with other data, year-round construction at this mound and village complex is suggested. Although these results do not solve the question of the season of house construction at farmsteads, they do suggest that house construction at mound sites was not confined to any particular season of the year, as might be expected with seasonal influxes of farmstead inhabitants.     

马韩古坟坟丘的区划盛土法

坟丘的区划盛土法是指在筑造坟丘时将其分成许多区域,由不同人力分别承担作业的筑造方式。为识别区划界限可设置异色粘土带、土囊列或排列石材作为标志物。坟丘的区划方向都是从坟丘中心呈放射状分布的,随着坟丘规模的扩大,区划数也在增多。中国春秋时期已使用区划盛土法这种技术,因而这种盛土方法应当是起源于中国。     

Mississippian monumentality in the Yazoo Basin: recent investigations at the Carson site (22CO505), northwestern Mississippi

Investigations at the Carson site (22CO505), located in Coahoma County, Mississippi, have uncovered data on the development of a large Mississippian mound center dating to the period from A.D. 1200 through European contact. Recent sediment coring, excavation, artifact analyses, and radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating shed light on earthworks and household structures at Carson, and on Mississippian culture in the Yazoo Basin more generally. Sediment coring demonstrates a laterally transgressing Mississippi River system deposited coarse sandy ridges and clay-filled swales underneath a surface horizon comprised of variously coarse to medium-fine sediment originating from generalized overbank flooding. In some instances, flood-borne sediments were found on mound flanks, indicating that at times river-based flooding may have interrupted mound construction. Sediment coring and trench excavation also demonstrate that Carson’s Mound D was built in four stages, with Stages II and III comprising the major stages of earth moving. Excavations on the mound summit reveal evidence of several superimposed structures that were burned in place and likely used for the production of stone, shell, and wooden craft items, perhaps related to Mississippi Ideational Interaction Sphere (MIIS) paraphernalia. Here we describe recent investigations at Carson and present preliminary findings; forthcoming publications will emphasize strategies of power, monumentality, craft production, and Mississippian exchange systems.     

韩国坟丘墓社会的性质

在古代韩国,马韩盛行过坟丘墓,其主要特征是在地上的坟丘中,由多个埋葬主体通过追加葬形式形成。坟丘墓最晚到公元前1世纪开始出现,其存在从方形木棺向圆形石室的变迁过程。韩国坟丘墓社会中只有百济国发展成为国家百济,因其与先进地区临近,容易接收先进文化,其它小国在酋长社会状态下被吞并,因其农业共同体性质过强,并且与周边国家对等交流困难。     

Daily risks: A biocultural approach to acute trauma in pre‐colonial coastal populations from Brazil

Brazilian coastal pre‐colonial skeletal series were examined for accidental fractures, which were grouped according to biomechanical interpretation of the causative events, and results were interpreted based on cultural and environmental aspects. More than 19% of the shell mound builders and 27% of the fisher–hunter–gatherers presented healed fractures. Both series presented balanced values between male and female (18.7 and 20%, respectively, for shell mound builders; 28.1 and 25.6%, respectively, for fisher‐hunter‐gatherers), and more than the double that proportion of the individuals (69.6% for shell mound builder and 88.5% for fisher–hunter–gatherers) had localised lesions, associated with only one traumatic event. The most common type of fractures were those caused by falls blocked by lower limbs (47.8% for shell mound builders and 46.1% for fisher–hunter–gatherers), interpreted as a result of moving along the rocky coastal cliffs. Despite these similarities, both series presented particular aspects which were related mainly to differences in subsistence strategies. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

THE BILTMORE MOUND AND HOPEWELLIAN MOUND USE IN THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS

Abstract

Biltmore Mound, located on the Swannanoa River in Asheville, North Carolina, was constructed over a Connestee phase habitation, the earliest evidence dating to about A.D. 300. Mound construction began sometime between A.D. 400 and 550, with the second to last mound stage constructed about A.D. 580–600. Because of the diverse contexts and the excellent preservation of faunal remains, we are able to provide some insights into Connestee ritualism at Biltmore Mound. The Biltmore Mound was a platform used to support large public structures for ritual and ceremonial activities. It was constructed of varying colored and textured soils from a variety of source areas that arguably had symbolic importance. The mound was primarily built out (rather than up) with several mantles that may have comprised a complete ritual cycle of mound construction.     

OYSTER DEMOGRAPHICS AND THE CREATION OF COASTAL MONUMENTS AT ROBERTS ISLAND MOUND COMPLEX,FLORIDA

Abstract

Anthropogenic coastal landscapes often incorporate shell, a durable remnant of subsistence activity. Collection, consumption, and even feasting can thus contribute to histories of site formation and mound construction. This research assesses how oyster consumption related to the creation of Mound A, a shell mound at the Roberts Island Shell Mound Complex in Citrus County, Florida, is differentiated from the instances of oyster consumption that resulted in the midden constituting the rest of the island. I compare the size of shell remains from mound and off-mound midden contexts to assess variation in the sizes represented across the samples, stratigraphic variation within each context, and evidence for directional change indicative of over-exploitation. I identify a relationship of dependence between shell size and stratigraphic depth in off-mound samples that does not appear in mound samples, suggesting a relatively short period of time for the accumulation of mound deposit oyster shells. The findings of this study point to mound construction at Roberts Island Shell Mound Complex as a distinct and deliberate activity, with the construction event likely sharing importance with the community aggregation and consumption that facilitated it.