Reply to the comments

The question of when and how fanning was introduced in the north of Norway has for decades been entangled with the hypothesis of a teutonic immigration in the Early Iron Age. New evidence ‐ mainly pollen analytical results ‐ takes away the basis for the immigration hypothesis. Both animal husbandry and barley growing originate in the neolithic periods. Although artifacts and intentional deposits of south Scandinavian types are comparatively few, important parallels are seen with Hordaland, west Norway, especially in the late Middle Neolithic Period. In the establishment and early development of farming in the North no doubt diffusional processes were at work, but small scale immigrations may also have occurred.     

Reply to the comments on analytical archaeology

A view of the Middle‐Upper Paleolithic transition in Europe is offered from the perspective of Americanist anthropological archaeology. After a brief consideration of how the transition seems to be perceived by many British and Continental workers, patterns in lithic typology and technology, raw material variability, reduction strategies and intensity of site use, blank frequencies; bone, antler and ivory technologies, paleolithic art, subsistence strategies and settlement patterns are reviewed. It is concluded that perceptions of pattern, and what it might mean, are (1) theory‐laden and paradigm dependent, and (2) are almost entirely determined by the relative importance of historicist biases in a particular research tradition, and (3) by preconceptions about the nature of the biological transition between archaic and modern humans.     

Archaeological material and ethnic identification. A study of Lappish material from Varanger,Norway

The term Lappish Iron Age has been established in Scandinavian archaeology but the ethnic affiliation of the body of archaeological material labelled so has never been discussed in detail. In this article two questions arc discussed: Is it possible from archaeological material to verify a hypothesis about a specific ethnic affiliation? And is it appropriate to refer to this archaeological material as iron age finds? A general discussion about problems involved in identifying ethnic groups is given, after a brief presentation of the empirical material. Attention is drawn to Barth's analysis, where he shows that the cultural content seems to be of two orders: (i) overt signs and signals, and (ii) basic value orientations. The discussion is carried out in accordance with these two orders. It is argued that this analysis cannot provide us with information about a specific ethnic affiliation; although it cannot tell us which group, it can verify that the material in question does represent one specific ethnic group. If we want to identify one specific ethnic group we have to use other sources besides the archaeological record. The use of sources like written documents, linguistics, place names and physical anthropology is discussed. The conclusion is drawn that by the use of various sources we can trace the identity of one specific ethnic group.     

Otosclerosis and stapedial footplate fixation in archaeological material

A total of 1164 temporal bones from various cemetery sites in England were examined using a fibre optic endoscope. Eight bones were found to have evidence of otosclerosis in which proliferative new bone fixes the footplate of the stapes into the oval window, causing deafness. A prevalence of 0.9 per cent in this study is comparable with the incidence found in modern white populations and with that found in a study of 2760 Lithuanian temporal bones of various periods.     

New archaeological and epigraphical material from Qana (South Arabia)

Excavations at Qana, the ancient port of the Hadramawt on the Indian Ocean, have been carried out systematically by a Soviet-Yemeni Expedition since 1985. Several houses, a storeroom, and probably a religious building have been excavated in the "Lower City". A rich collection of archaeological material has been obtained, including several hundred bronze coins; painted and inscribed fragments of texts in Greek datable to the fourth century AD; African and Mediterranean pottery. For the first time it is possible to reconstruct the history of a large South Arabian port belonging to the kingdom of Hadramawt. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that Qana existed until the beginning of the Islamic era.