A tool for deep-water archaeology

( Though the method of raising a boat illustrated in Fig. 3 would seem to the archaeologist unhappily drastic, it could well be that the circumstances of discovery at extreme depths might make it the only possible method of recovery . Ed.)     

Methods of soil P analysis in archaeology

Phosphorus (P) is unique among the elements in being a sensitive and persistent indicator of human activity. It has long been of interest to archaeologists because of its potential to inform them about the presence of past human occupation and to offer clues regarding the type and intensity of human activity. A wide variety of methods have been developed in both soil science and in archaeology to extract and measure soil P, resulting in a tremendous amount of data and a wide array of interpretations, but also considerable confusion over appropriateness of methods and terminology. The primary purpose of this paper is to address these issues by clarifying soil P analyses. Anthropogenic additions of phosphorus to the soil come from human refuse and waste, burials, the products of animal husbandry in barns, pens, and on livestock paths, or intentional enrichment from soil fertilizer. Once added to the soil, phosphorus in its common form as phosphate is stable and generally immobile in soils. Soil P comes in many forms, organized for the purposes of this paper on the basis of extraction and measurement procedures as (1) extraction for available P (Pav); (2) portable field techniques (the spot test or ring test); (3) chemical digestion of a soil sample for total P (Ptot); (4) extractions of inorganic P (Pin) for fractionation studies and extractions to look at individual compounds of P; (5) measurements of organic P (Porg); and (6) extractions for total elemental analysis. To compare the suitability of various extractants as the “best” indicator of human input and activity we subjected samples from three very different archaeological sites (Lubbock Lake, TX; Hulburt Creek, IA; British Camp, WA) to four methods of soil P extraction: perchloric acid digestion (Ptot), sulfuric–nitric acid extraction Ptot), hydrochloric acid extraction after ignition (Pin), and citric acid extraction (Pav). Further, methods of measurement were compared via colorimetry vs. Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) spectrometry, and the two methods of supposed “total P” were both measured via ICP. In general, the stronger extractants yielded more soil P, but the result are not clear-cut. Likely variables include the intensity of occupation, nature of the parent material, and postdepositional weathering (e.g., the addition of dust).     

Migration as an explanatory concept in paleolithic archaeology

Migration is frequently invoked as an explanation for pattern in paleolithic archaeology but the credibility of doing so depends almost exclusively upon acceptance of an analogy between historical process and the processes that have combined to create an ancient archaeological record. It is argued here that paleolithic archaeology cannot be treated as an extension of history and that historical processes are therefore inappropriate analogies for the site formation processes manifest in Upper Pleistocene archaeological contexts. The credibility accorded migration as an explanatory concept varies from one national or regional research tradition to the next. Why this should be so is examined in a discussion of the paradigm concept and how it affects construals of the nature and meaning of pattern.     

Prologue to a contextual archaeology

The thesis of this essay is that a gap presently exists between the research interests of modern scientific archaeology and the research methodology which structures archaeological investigation. It is argued that this is a function of the traditional objectives of archaeology, and that a methodology justified by a distinctive set of goals is necessary to produce studies more closely related to present archaeological concerns. The traditional goals of archaeology are here characterized as the historical result of prior interests, reinforced by the character of formal programmes of graduate study. The set of distinctive goals identified in the essay derives from assessment of the significance of methodologies appropriate to the investigation of palaeoenvironments in modelling prehistoric cultural systems and subsystems.The proposed methodology is substantively, as well as substantially, different from methodologies in present use. I have called it Contextual Archaeology in recognition of its debt to the statement of an archaeologically-significant method Butzer (1978) has advanced under the name Contextual Approach. It is argued here that contextual archaeology, despite practical problems, is both a productive and an implementable alternative.     

Re-visiting the field: Collaborative archaeology as paradigm shift

Abstract

The emphasis of the JFA on field methods resonates strongly with current disciplinary interest in multivocality and participatory research. In this new epistemology of inclusiveness, communities play an active role in the production of archaeological knowledge as well as in the conservation of cultural heritage. From the perspective of archaeologists trained in the U.S. who conduct research in Latin America, we historicize changes in the triadic relationship among archaeologists, contemporary communities, and things of the past. This examination focuses on the evolving social context of archaeological practice. The social milieu within which archaeology is conducted is explored further by reference to a recent survey of archaeologists that elicited comments on grand challenges to archaeology. A few examples of the many forms that an engaged archaeology might take are offered from the Maya region. Although collaborative research poses challenges that emerge as communities entangled with archaeological practice become research partners, we suggest that the enhanced relevance that accompanies this transformation is well worth the effort.     

Settlement models in archaeology

Theory, taken phenomenologically, relates to what it is about not as an equation or a rendering, but as a logos which lets something be seen which is then seen on its own.     

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.     

A chronometric tool for Hawaiian archaeology: the hydration dating of Pu'u Wa'awa'a trachytic glass

The Pu'u Wa'awa'a trachytic glass deposit located on the Big Island of Hawai'i was a source of lithic tools for much of Hawaiian prehistory. Routinely encountered at habitation sites, the glass has the potential to provide absolute dates based upon the degree of surface hydration. Infrared photoacoustic spectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry were used to monitor the diffusion of water in archaeological and experimental samples. Accelerated laboratory hydration experiments show that water diffusion in trachytic glass containing a structural water content of 0.16% ± 0.03% is linear with time. Application of the calibration to trachytic glass artifacts from the Kahalu'u habitation cave have produced chronometric dates in the 17th–18th centuries. These age estimates are in agreement with radiocarbon dates and artifactual data that bracket the site occupation. However, the glass dates do not correlate well with site stratigraphy and this suggests that slight sample imperfections that retain water may be one factor that results in ages that are too early for later occupation levels.     

Revolutionary archaeology in Cuba

The Revolution of 1959 brought forth changes in the mission, theoretical orientation, and organization of archaeology in Cuba and created a role for, and constraints on, the profession that are unique in the Western Hemisphere. This paper draws upon examples from substantive field and laboratory research to examine the methods and theoretical perspectives of Cuban archaeology since the Revolution, focusing on the period from 1962 until the collapse of the Soviet Union. Archaeological practice during the Revolutionary period in Cuba has reflected the aims of the Revolutionary government, the influence of Soviet archaeology, the legacy of pre-Revolutionary approaches in North American archaeology, and the Cuban sense ofpatria.     

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.     

Evolutionary approaches in archaeology

Two evolutionary approaches in contemporary archaeology, selectionism and processualism, are compared in terms of their theoretical perspectives, methodologies, and empirical contributions. Selectionism is a tightly focused approach that aims to apply a strict Darwinian framework to the study of cultural evolution. The selectionists view cultural evolution as a shift in the relative frequencies of cultural traits; the evolutionary mechanism that brings this about entails undirected variation followed by selection in a manner analogous to biological evolution. Processualism is a more flexible approach that acknowledges the importance of variation and selection but employs these concepts in a broader framework that recognizes fundamental differences between cultural and biological evolution. Among them are the central roles played by directed variation and the hierarchical operation of selection in cultural evolution. As we enter the late 1990s, the selectionists appear comfortably ascendant while the processualists often seem in disarray—they appear less confident, more embattled, more internally diverse. This diversity and dynamism, however, may harbor great potential for further growth and development. It is suggested that processualism's ongoing ferment will spawn the evolutionary archaeology of the future.     

Geology/archaeology in action: a personal perspective

This article uses Bruno Latour’s concept of Science in Action to consider the relationship between archaeology and geology. It is argued that neither the New Archaeology nor Postprocessual Archaeology provides a strong foundation for dialogue between archaeology and geology. Significant differences in temporal scale and structure pose a significant hurdle to integration of geology and archaeology. However, the practice of both disciplines is characterized by an internal tension between the use of imagination and intuition versus a reliance on data. This dynamic provides the basis for cooperation between geology and archaeology, but it must be realized that collaboration requires that geologists be seen as equal partners in inquiry rather than as specialists in service of an archaeological research agenda.     

Vein quartz in lithic traditions: an analysis based on experimental archaeology

Worldwide, vein quartz was a commonly used raw material for stone tools but this material has proved difficult for archaeologists to analyse because many quartz assemblages appear to be comprised of amorphous pieces, not easily recognised as humanly modified or forming ‘tools’. This paper discusses the analysis of the debitage – focusing on the debitage fragmentation rate, the debitage, break, and fragment types, and the quantitative analysis of the complete flakes – resulting from experimental knapping of quartz, which formed part of a project which investigated the use of quartz in Irish prehistoric lithic traditions. The results have highlighted the complexity involved in analysing quartz assemblages, and the significant differences between the debitage products of quartz and chert knapping assemblages. While bipolar knapping is generally easy to differentiate from direct percussion, it is harder to differentiate between soft and hard hammer percussion.     

Visual methodology as a pedagogical research tool in geography education

This article offers an overview of visual methodology and its applications to geography in higher education. Drawings from an undergraduate mapping and map analysis course are used to concurrently highlight and deconstruct students' sense of place in the context of teaching and learning. As a pedagogical research tool, visual methods nurture self-reflection in learners, inform curriculum and instruction for diverse classrooms, and support the construction of meanings in geography.     

Paradigms in science and archaeology

The paradigm concept as developed in western philosophy of science contexts is reviewed, and the metaphysical paradigms that govern research protocols in mainstream Old and New World prehistoric archaeology are described and compared. It is concluded that post-1970 New World archaeological research receives its intellectual mandate from anthropology, is founded on postpositivist biases, and is governed by a critical-realist ontology, a modified-objectivist epistemology, and an experimental-manipulative methodology. Post-1970 Old World archaeological research is viewed as a kind of history, remains mostly in the strict empiricist tradition, and is governed by a realist ontology, an inductivist epistemology, and by an observational methodology. The claims of various kinds of postprocessual archaeology are also evaluated in terms of the paradigm concept.     

Recent publications in historical archaeology

Historical Archaeology -     

Recent publications in historical archaeology

Historical Archaeology -