Human skeletal and mummified remains from the AD1854 siege of Mugombane,Limpopo South Africa

In 1854 Chief Mugombane and members of his Kekana Ndebele chiefdom took refuge in what is now known as Historic Cave, in the Makapan Valley, South Africa. The chiefdom retreated into the cave following an attack on a party of Trekboers. The subsequent siege of the cave, which lasted just under a month, ended in the death and surrender of its occupants and their dispersal among the Trekboers and their African auxiliaries. However, the number of people and the composition of the group that hid in the cave, as well as factors that led to the demise of the Kekana became blurred in the various renderings of the historical event. During the 1980s researchers began to cast doubt on the original Trekboer documents and the magnitude of the event when it became apparent that the Kekana oral histories remained silent on the matter. Between 2001 and 2007 the material remains of the siege were excavated to provide new data from which to judge the scale and impact of the siege event. Human remains, the primary focus of this paper, afford this perspective. This paper provides the result of the analysis of the human remains excavated from the cave, as well as an account of those remains that have been recorded or are housed in collections. The study of two naturally mummified individuals removed from the caves and stored in collections is also presented.     

Notice of New Publications

The Roman earthworks at Burnswark, Dumfries and Galloway, have long been the subject of different interpretations. Were the Roman camps on either side of the hill-fort erected as part of a siege or as a training ground for the Roman army? This paper reviews the evidence, quoting extensively from the excavation reports and surveys of the site in the hope that one interpretation might predominate.     

Excavations at Bishop's Street Without: 17th Century Conflict Archaeology in Derry City

Abstract

Excavations on this site, undertaken by Paul Logue for EHS: Built Heritage DOE: NI, produced evidence for at least two phases of occupation outside Bishop's Gate, Londonderry during the 17th century. This occupation came to an end with a phase of activity dated to the commencement of the Jacobite siege in A.D. 1689. Further evidence of that siege was uncovered in the form of a ravelin ditch 2.8 m wide and 0.57 m in depth, constructed in early 1689 to front Bishop's Gate. The extant remains of a sally port interrupted the ditch. A nearby larger ditch, scarped from the sloping ground outside Double Bastion, measured a maximum of 8.4 m in width and 1.4 m in depth. This larger ditch may have been part of efforts to improve the City defences in the wake of the 1641 rebellion. Further evidence of conflict archaeology was recovered in the form of lead shot, weapon furniture and flint gunspalls.     

Isolation Through Humanitarianism: Subaltern Geopolitics of the Siege on Gaza

Scholars have argued that in attempts to achieve geopolitical goals, siege often results in covert assaults against civilian populations. In the Gazan context, siege subjects are rendered as surplus to the Israeli state, and are therefore isolated and deprived of basic human needs as well as human rights. In 2006, siege was enacted against Gaza, enforced by the Egyptian and Israeli militaries. As a consequence, the population of Gaza is isolated from the exchange of goods, services, people, and ideas. This article begins with an analysis of siege as a violent process and as a subset of occupation practices. Using ethnographic data collected in Gaza between 2009 and 2014, this article mobilizes the methods and approach of subaltern geopolitics to undermine the notion of siege as a humanitarian alternative to war. This study reveals the micro‐scale, graduated nature of siege and its impacts on the civilians living in Gaza.     

The Archaeology of the Siege of Leith, 1560

Abstract

This paper summarises the findings of two evaluations carried out in public spaces in the Leith area, both of which were specifically designed to establish the survival or otherwise of remains relating to the siege of Leith in 1560. Between 6 and 10 November 2006 a trial trenching evaluation was carried out within Pilrig Park to the south of the French citadel to 'ground truth' geophysical anomalies identified during a previous phase of work (Banks et al. 2006) and also to establish the character of topographic features on the ground. The main aim of the project was to establish the presence or absence of remains related to the siege fort known as Somerset's Mount which from a map drawn in 1560 is known to have been located in the vicinity. The evaluation identified the remains of a WWII air raid shelter, the remains of a building associated with Pilrig House demolished sometime in the early to mid 19th century, and a possible ditch associated with the fort, into which several archaeological features including the foundation slot of a small building or other structure and a probable blacksmith's forge had been cut.

The second part of this report concerns the evaluation at Leith Links, around 1 km to the north east of Pilrig Park and to east of the French citadel. A week long evaluation similar to that carried out at Pilrig took place in April 2007, the aim being to locate further evidence for siege works. Once again, attention focussed on geophysical anomalies resulting from the previous survey. The Links are traditionally associated with the siege through the presence of two mounds, which at least since the 19th century have been identified as the platforms for siege guns directed against the eastern face of the French citadel. An area between the two mounds, which are scheduled ancient monuments, was trial trenched along with an area further to the north. Only the latter produced physical remains which seem to relate to the 1560 map. These took the form of an earthen bank and possibly related ditches which run along the same alignment as a feature shown on the early map, though there is some question as to its function.     

Crusader Diet in Times of War and Peace: Arsur (Israel) as a Case Study

This paper puts forward an archaeozoological analysis of two sizeable animal bone assemblages from the thirteenth‐century Crusader town of Arsur (Israel). Each represents a distinct behavioural practice, one of meat eaten in peaceful times and the other of meat consumed under stressful conditions while preparing for and undergoing a siege, when consideration was given to factors of benefits and space. Our results show that the faunal remains from before and during the Mamluk siege enunciate differences of subsistence and identity at the site at two different times and under diverse conditions.     

An Archaeological Study of Talamanca Battlefield

Abstract

The Peace of Utrecht (1713) ended the War of the Spanish Succession as a global European conflict. However, the treaty abandoned to their fate the Spanish territories that had supported Archduke Charles. Resistance to the House of Bourbon was focused in the city of Barcelona, which was immediately put under siege. However, the Catalan government managed to create a powerful army outside the siege belt of the capital. This force, comprising almost 5,000 soldiers, attacked a similar Bourbon army in the small town of Talamanca on 13 August, 1714. The Catalan commander, the Marquis of Poal, successfully launched three simultaneous attacks against the Bourbon force. This study is an approach to this battle, using the results of archaeological fieldwork undertaken in the area. The study of material evidence is combined with GIS and statistical analysis in order to better understand the armies of the 18th century.     

Edward III’s siege of Calais: A reappraisal

In September 1346, Edward III brought his victorious army to the gates of Calais to begin a siege that over 12 months developed into the largest military operation conducted by the English on French soil during the fourteenth century. It is also perhaps the least understood campaign of Edward III’s reign, because of the loss of the army pay records. We know from chronicles that the men of Calais conducted a heroic defence of their town, and we know too that the English created and maintained an enormous logistical operation first to besiege and then to capture the port. What is little understood, however, is the scale, scope and chronology of the siege. The role played by English naval forces has received little attention, yet there is a series of pay records relating to their service which can compensate for the loss of the vadia guerre accounts and which can enrich understanding of the campaign. Using this evidence, this article reappraises the whole expedition, highlights the numbers of ships and mariners involved in the siege, and draws attention to periods of intensive military activity. Edward III’s ultimate objective was to capture, hold and use the town as a safe port of disembarkation for future invasions.     

The Cinderella complex – narrating Spanish women's history, the home and visions of equality: developing new margins

This paper examines the development of feminism in Spain within the context of political transformations. It focuses on one particular strand of feminist thinking: 'equality feminism'. The paper traces the evolution of equality feminism and its institutionalization, supported by the production and dissemination of a feminist history of the Franquista dictatorship (1936–1939). Yet, under scrutiny such narratives maintain a silence on the social, political and geographical diversity of women's experiences prior to, during and beyond the Franquista dictatorship. Drawing on women's oral testimonies (recorded in the city of Málaga, Andalucía) the paper animates the silences of this feminist history in Spain and the limits of state feminist ideology.     

The famished soul: resonance and relevance of the Irish famine to Irish men’s accounts of hunger following immigration to England during the 1950s and 1960s

This paper uses a hermeneutically informed analysis to reveal how Irish men’s accounts of acute hunger on arrival in England during the 1950s and 1960s resonate with archival oral accounts of the Great Hunger in Ireland during the 1840s. The paper makes the case for a new continuum of memory which foregrounds the corporeal and spiritual dimensions of acute food deprivation and its significance over space, place and time. I argue that a corporeal-spiritual medium of memory represents a two-sided reality, a pivotal yet nebulous point of contact which exemplifies our understanding of how discourses of hunger recounted over the course of a century help shape reconstructions of Irish sociocultural identity. The symbolic potency of hunger and particular foods to expose a distinct moral and social order during both time periods is examined. I also show how this more burnished and fluid medium of corporeal and spiritual memory highlights the importance of intracultural diglossia in respect of Irish sociocultural identity and with it, the interface between individual, collective and folk memory.     

Gorazde: the peacekeepers' tale

This review article of a double CD–ROM focuses on the siege of the Bosnian 'safe area' of Gorazde during the period 1994–5. Overshadowed by the attack and massacre at Srebrenica, the defence of Gorazde has received little mention. This is rectified by Gillian Sandford and Mike Price's CD–ROM, in which British soldiers of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment and the Royal Welch Fusiliers discuss their personal experiences of the siege as well as the nature of their responsibilities as peacekeepers in this 'safe area'. The soldiers discuss their support of the 'safe area' and how they contributed to averting a massacre by defending Gorazde until Bosnian forces were able to defend it themselves.     

Material Culture and Indigenous Spiritism: the Katamansu Archaeological “Otutu” (Shrine)

Through the integration of oral history and ethnographic and historical data with archaeological evidence, attempts have been made to understand and reconstruct the settlement history of Katamansu, a late eighteenth-century historic town located on the Accra Plains of Ghana. Two seasons of archaeological excavations at the Koowule site of the town yielded some evidence of the 1826 Battle of Katamansu, a battle that was fought on the site between the Asante and the Ga and their coastal allies of the Gold Coast. The excavations also yielded two spectacular features, whose configuration and content appear to be the remains of a shrine of the Ga people. The features correlate well with ethnographic parallels described by Margaret Field, an anthropologist, in her research on the religion and medicine of the Ga in the 1930s. This paper presents the historical and material evidence of the 1826 battle as well as the analysis of the shrine contents. The shrine features provide insights into an archaeological shrine's mundane materiality. They also expose how local (Neolithic and historic) and European artifacts were recrafted and imbued with medicinal, magical, and spiritual properties to possibly cure and impress patients and supplicants in shrine ritual practices.     

The failure of the siege of Damascus in 1148

It has commonly been maintained that those who went on the Second Crusade were betrayed or at least deceived by the Syrian Franks at the siege of Damascus in 1148. Yet, although the Christian camp was moved during the siege to an unsuitable site, it may be doubted whether this is to be explained by treachery, the reports of which are open to various objections. It may be argued that the transfer was occasioned by the deteriorating situation in which the Christian forces found themselves. Treachery, however, was an explanation for failure that was more acceptable to Western Christendom.     

Silk and Propaganda — Two Ottoman Silk Flags and the Relief of Vienna, 1683

This article focuses on two Ottoman silk flags and discusses not only their original contexts of production but also traces their biographies until their reception as booty items and their further use after the Siege of Vienna in 1683. Banners and standards were symbolically charged signs used for military organisation. The higher the rank of a flag, the more coveted it was as booty. It was not so much their material value, which was in fact negligible, but rather their symbolic worth that made them so desirable. In their new context in the hands of the enemy they could be used for propaganda purposes, as indeed they were during and after the second siege of Vienna in 1683. This article investigates the trajectories of two flags captured at the siege and a year after its end and explores the intentions behind their use for propaganda purposes. It thus attempts to untangle the political rivalries, imperial vanities and cultural misunderstandings underlying their complex biographies.     

Prelude to War: The Russian Siege and Storming of the Fortress of Ganjeh, 1803–4

This essay is the full account, the first in English, of the correspondence between the Russian general, Paul Tsitsianov, and the governor of the khanate of Ganjeh, Javād Khān Qajar. Drawing on contemporary Russian and Iranian records, it includes a daily account of Tsitsianov’s preparation, siege and the storming of the fortress of Ganjeh, which led to the First Russo-Iranian War (1804–13). The essay further includes two special maps—the first is the map of the South Caucasus in 1800 and the route of the invasion; while the second is based on a rare Russian military map that reveals the siege and storming of the fortress.     

The archaeology of private life: the Dudley Castle condoms

Abstract

During excavations of the mid 1980s at Dudley Castle in the West Midlands the contents of the keep garderobe were recovered intact and processed by sieving and hand-sorting, with samples being subjected to full laboratory analysis. The latrine was sealed during demolition of the castle’s defences in 1647, the intact deposit containing both the domestic and organic remains of the occupying royalist force which defended the castle under siege conditions between 1642 and 1646. Examination of the compacted organic mass of the latrine produced fragments of ten individual animal-membrane condoms, which were subsequently taken to the Department of Scientific Research, British Museum, for further analysis. The terminus ante quem deposit of 1647 represents the earliest definitive physical evidence for the use of animal-membrane condoms in post-medieval Europe, although at this early date it is impossible to know for sure whether they were designed as prophylactics for protection against venereal disease or as contraceptive devices. This report comprises a note on the excavation of the Dudley Castle garderobe and the process of recovery (PB and SL), a full scientific report on the condoms which includes a comparative examination of a set of late 18th-century condoms in the British Museum collections (CC), and concludes with a discussion of the significance of the Dudley Castle finds in the light of the historical evidence for early condom technology and use (DG). This paper was edited for publication by DG.     

湘淮集团与19世纪60年代上海的崛起

19世纪60年代,是上海从"江南的上海"向"上海的江南"过渡的关键时期。这一时期,湘淮集团一方面通过解除太平军对上海围困,解决在此过程中产生的诸多社会问题,有效控制了上海的军政大权;另一方面通过采取系列的手段和措施,以处理日显复杂的上海中外关系,为上海的发展创造了一个相对安定和平的环境,从而成为了19世纪60年代上海崛起的一个重要因素。     

Mythmakers of Maiden Castle: Breaking the Siege Mentality of an Iron Age Hillfort

The idea that an invading Roman army brought about the end of hillforts in south‐west Britain, using artillery fire to demoralize and defeat their enemy, is one of the most powerful narratives in British archaeology, being a constant element in both academic literature and public discourse. At the heart of the debate is the evidence recovered by Mortimer Wheeler during fieldwork conducted at Maiden Castle, in Dorset, between 1936–37. Wheeler interpreted a series of burials found in the east gate of the hillfort as a ‘war cemetery’, residue of an ultimately futile defence of the site, in the face of Roman aggression, by the local Durotriges tribe. A recent survey of hillforts in Dorset has, however, cast significant doubt on Wheeler’s hypothesis, suggesting that not only is the widely accepted battle‐theory unsupported by the archaeological evidence, but also that the Durotriges themselves were unconnected to any fortification or defence of Maiden Castle. This paper explores the conclusions of that survey, examining how the dramatic story of a siege first took shape in the late 1930s and why it became so immediately popular with the public. The problems of linking material remains to postulated historical events are outlined and the beginnings of a new model for Late Iron Age settlement at Maiden Castle are presented for the first time.