Father Julien Vidal and the Social Transformation of a Small Polynesian Village (1787–1930): Historical Archaeology at Massacre Bay,American Samoa

The site of A‘asu, American Samoa, is infamous in the annals of history as the site of a tragic encounter, in 1787, between French explorers and Samoans, that left 42 or more dead and wounded. Beginning in 1876, an investigation of A‘asu was independently conducted by a French missionary priest, Father Julien Vidal (SM). His letters document his search for answers at A‘asu, and to find the resting places for the men left behind by the French fleet. Archaeological investigations at A‘asu carried out in 2001 and 2002 yielded evidence that contribute to our understanding of the social transformations taking place in Tutuila during the late 18th to early 20th century.     

清末四川庙产兴学进程中的砍伐庙树

During Sichuan’s promotion of education in the late Qing Dynasty, trees in the domain of Buddhist or Daoist temples, which were part of temples’ property, had been felled across the province. The profits gained were used to repair or build schools as well as to fund their management. In different regions, the characteristics and intentions of the felling activities differed. Meanwhile, such fever gave rise to corrupt practices of deceitfully seeking profits which in turn caused numerous disputes and lawsuits, reflecting the confrontation provoked between the state and the people as well as different communities over tradition, ritual, and belief. The investigations of felling temple trees could enrich the understanding of provincial promotion for education in the late Qing period, and that of the social and cultural changes taking place in rural communities in modern times. Translated by Chen Haitian from Sichuan Daxue Xuebao 四川大学学报 (Journal of Sichuan University), 2007, (5): 136–144     

Landscape and Environment: Insights from the Prehispanic Central Andes

Attention to human–environment relationships in the central Andes has a long history. Although the area is not a neat microcosm of the globe, wholly representative of worldwide trends in the archaeology of human–environment interactions, it has been the site of both seminal investigations in archaeology and a substantial body of recent work that investigates themes of broad archaeological relevance. Specifically, central Andean environments have been variously conceived as structuring, modified, and sacred. These approaches to some extent reflect broad trends in archaeology, while also suggesting directions in which the archaeology of human–environment interactions is moving and highlighting archaeology’s relevance to discussions of contemporary human–environment interactions. This article characterizes concepts that are key for describing central Andean environments and considers the ways in which the particular ecology of the central Andes has informed archaeological research in the region. The example of the central Andes highlights the importance of understanding environments as dynamic, considering both geomorphic and anthropogenic contributors to that dynamism, and examining both ecological (“environment”) and ideological (“landscape”) implications of archaeological landscapes.     

Silent Voices,Hidden Lives: Archaeology,Class and Gender in the CMS Missions,Bay of Islands,New Zealand, 1814–1845

This paper explores the themes and tensions of class and propriety at one of New Zealand’s early European settlements, a Church Missionary Society mission in the Bay of Islands. Archaeological investigations at the site of the Te Puna mission house revealed a cellar containing, among other articles, items connected with domesticity and feminine concerns, demonstrating the presence of women and their daily activities. The interweaving of the archaeological and historical record sheds light upon the replication of class and culture through themes such as the “cult of domesticity” at this remote location, a decade prior to British colonization.     

How to Queer the Past Without Sex: Queer Theory, Feminisms and the Archaeology of Identity

A queer archaeology is often equated to looking for ancient homosexuality. As a challenge to heteronormative practice, queer theory, instead, provides a framework for engaging with all aspects of identity formation and the processes and behaviors that mediate it. This article examines two primary points: (1) queer theory’s relationship to feminist practice and archaeology and (2) its application to the construction and production of difference among ancient Maya commoners. Through this analysis, I explore how investigations of identity and status can and should be part of a queer analysis. Work at the Northeast Group, part of the site of Chan, Belize illustrates how focus on internal class composition, specifically change through time, “queers” traditional models of ancient Maya class formation.     

Seventeenth-Century Vehicle of the Middle Passage: Archaeological and Historical Investigations on the Henrietta Marie Shipwreck Site

This study describes the archaeological investigations that have taken place at the wreck site of the English slave ship Henrietta Marie (1700) since its location in 1972. Information is provided on the methodology utilized during on-site archaeological data recovery, and the artifacts retrieved from the wreck site are described in detail. An account of complimentary documentary research on this wrecked slaver is also presented. Contemporary historical data gleaned from shipping lists, slaver’s logs, seamen’s wills and other sources are utilized to place Henrietta Marie within her proper context as a vehicle involved in the notorious transatlantic slave trade.     

Strontium isotopes and human mobility in prehistoric Denmark

The principles behind the strontium isotopic system are an important tool for archaeologists tracing human migration and patterns of movement in prehistory. However, there are several scientific challenges of analytical nature, as well as those which relate to unknown parameters inherent to the interpretation of such data. One prerequisite is the knowledge of the range of strontium isotopic ratios that best characterize the bioavailable fractions of a particular area of interest. The study reported here attempts to establish a baseline for strontium isotope signatures valuable for Denmark (excluding the island of Bornholm) and particularly for the use in archaeological investigations. We present strontium isotope ratios of bones and teeth from modern mice contained in owl pellets, of snail shells, and of archaeological fauna samples. We compare these ratios with median strontium isotope signatures characterizing human enamel populations from archaeological sites within Denmark. The fauna samples reported here range from ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr = 0.70717 to 0.71185 with an average of 0.70919, and human enamel defines a range from ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr = 0.7086 to 0.7110 with an average of 0.7098. In both datasets, we observe a small difference between the baseline values for the western (Jutland) and eastern (Funen, Zealand, and the southern islands) parts of Denmark. We therefore propose two slightly different baseline ranges with a partial overlap for the isotopic signatures of bioavailable strontium fractions within Denmark, namely a range of ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr = 0.7078–0.7098 for the western area and a range of ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr = 0.7089–0.7108 for the eastern parts.     

Colonowhen, Colonowho, Colonowhere, Colonowhy: Exploring the Meaning behind the Use of Colonoware Ceramics in Nineteenth-Century Manassas, Virginia

This paper explores the meaning and use of colonoware ceramics recovered from six archaeological sites dating from the nineteenth-century at Manassas, Virginia. Americans, both free and enslaved, occupied this landscape. Archaeological investigations have recovered colonoware at some nineteenth-century domestic sites but not others. The occurrence of colonoware at these sites is patterned: colonoware in nineteenth-century Manassas was not an “ethnic” marker denoting peoples of African descent, but rather a social marker that distinguished enslaved people from free. People of free and enslaved status attributed negative connotations to colonoware. Enslaved servants employed colonoware out of economic necessity, not as a way to express ethnicity.     

Historical Archaeology of Indigenous Culture Change in Mesoamerica

This essay outlines recent archaeological research on post-Columbian (c. A.D. 1500–1925) indigenous sites in Mexico and Central America. Historical archaeology is a growing field in Mesoamerica, and over the last 20 years investigations of native culture change have increased, especially in rural areas. Contemporary research contributes new insights on indigenous responses to Spanish colonization over a long period. This work also is reassessing chronologies and examining the diversity of indigenous behavior from late preconquest to historic times. Indigenous adaptations to culture contact and social change are characterized by three general stages: conquest, colonization, and independence. Although I do draw on other regions, the focus of the article is the Maya area and Central America, where more investigations have taken place.     

South Carolina Shipyards: Labour,Logistics, Lumber and Ladies

Southern shipyards, like Hobcaw and Mars Bluff, were established at locations chosen primarily for convenient access to transportation networks, building materials, clientele and labour. The historical record reveals a home front role played by local plantation owners and slaves as shipyard labour. Women served as project fundraisers, shipyard dilettantes, shipwright’s wives and possibly slave mistresses with a paucity of material culture to confirm their presence in the archaeological record. Archaeological investigations on land and underwater yield evidence of artefacts associated with diet, shipbuilding, warfare and ethnicity.     

The Wreck of the Ex-Slaver James Matthews

This contribution presents the progress of investigations into the wreck of the ex-slave ship James Matthews, wrecked off Western Australia in 1841. The James Matthews wreck site preserves many elements of the vessel’s structure, with the result that the basic architecture of an actual transport vehicle of the Middle Passage has been recorded in detail and can be analyzed in depth by maritime archaeologists working in tandem with naval architects. The discovery of the James Matthews wreck has made possible cross-disciplinary research of a type not previously feasible for the illegal period of slavery in the Atlantic.     

Postcolonial Archaeologies in Africa: Breaking the Silence

Postcolonial archaeologies in Africa are engaged in a variety of agendas including the decolonization of everyday practices in the field and in the classroom. Postcolonial theory, concerned with issues of power and the Other, is increasingly being invoked to examine how archaeologists conduct their field research and how archaeology is used to dismantle essentialized histories—the metanarratives that arose in the colonial as well as the postcolonial era. Easily misunderstood, however, is the passion expressed by some African archaeologists who are voicing their own views while simultaneously trying to free themselves from dominating “expert” voices. These occurrences create tensions in archaeological discourse that are a natural part of decolonizing archaeology, joining other forms of disenchantment, particularly the disenchantments arising in contemporary African communities about social services, civil society, and human rights. Archaeologists are also implicated in disenchantments as they conduct investigations in the midst of people who may be without water or are suffering from HIV/AIDS—conditions that starkly contrast with their own comfortable lives. We may also need to reconsider how to deal with states that see archaeological research as contrary to nation building. This essay responds to some current misunderstandings that have arisen over these and related issues.     

Copper Working Technologies, Contexts of Use, and Social Complexity in the Eastern Woodlands of Native North America

The creative ways in which native North American peoples of the Eastern Woodlands utilized copper throughout prehistory present provocative contrasts to models of Old World metallurgical development. Archaeological approaches that incorporate laboratory methods into investigations of indigenous metalworking practice have brought new insights and raised new questions about the development and use of techniques, sources of materials, and the social dynamics of copper consumption. This paper integrates the results of these studies into a discussion of copper use in Old Copper, Hopewellian, and Mississippian traditions that focuses on illuminating the complex relations among levels of technological sophistication in the manipulation of the material itself, the often elaborate and meaning-laden contexts in which artifacts were used, and the relative social complexity of the cultures that supported copper procurement, transformation, and use. It is suggested that ‘technological style’ approaches will assist archaeologists in efforts to flesh out culture-specific aspects of its consumption.     

Characterisation of the pigments in a Ptolemaic Egyptian <Emphasis Type="BoldItalic">Book of the Dead</Emphasis> papyrus

A relevant subject of study in the sphere of ancient Egyptian painting technology is given by the evolution of the palette across New Kingdom, Ptolemaic and Roman periods. Functionally to secondary factors such as geographic occurrence of minerals and type of associated surface, the employment of certain painting materials provides relevant insights into particular issues such as relative dating of the object and social rank of the owner. The Book of the Dead of Amenemhet (ROM 978 × 43.1, middle Ptolemaic Period) has been analysed at the Department of Restoration and Conservation of Archivals, Graphics and Book Illumination of the Cologne Institute of Conservation Sciences (Germany). Together with visible reflectance spectroscopy, digital and optical microscopy, devices such as XRD, SEM-EDX and FT-IR have been successfully employed for the characterization of the pigments from the polychrome funerary papyrus displayed at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (Canada). The present research took place within a series of investigations performed at the CICS, devoted to the interdisciplinary study of funerary Egyptian papyri dating from the early 18th Dynasty onwards.     

Archaeology and roman society: Integrating textual and archaeological data

Although the collection of new data and the development of an enduring interest in theoretical concerns characterize much current work in Roman archaeology, the field continues to experience, tension between traditional classical archaeological approaches and practices borrowed from other branches of archaeology. This tension is most clearly visible with the integration of textual and archaeological data. How the dynamic between these provenances plays out in Roman archaeology can be seen in theoretical and methodological applications, the use of field survey, and the adoption of an Annaliste perspective by some Roman archaeologists. Text and archaeology are crucial contributors to the the study of early Rome and its origins, investigations in the capital for all periods, the study of Pompeii, and attempts to illuminate the chief characteristics of the Roman economy. Many advances in Roman archaeology have occurred largely as a result of a conscious attempt on the part of Roman archaeologists to properly contextualize textual data in light of the archaeological data, thereby providing a better balance between the two sets of information and liberating archeeology from being the “handmaid of history.”     

The Ben Lawers Historic Landscape Project: Simultaneous Multi-element Analysis of Former Settlement and Arable Soils by X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry

X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRFS) was used in the analysis of A horizon soil samples collected from a former farming settlement and its associated area of infield (i.e. arable) located in the Central Highlands of Scotland. To date, XRFS has not been extensively used in geoarchaeological research, but in our study the simultaneous multi-element capabilities of this instrumental technique allowed the total concentrations of 25 major, minor, and trace elements to be fully quantified with acceptable levels of accuracy and precision. Included within this group of chemical elements are a number (e.g. Ba, Ca, P, Pb, Sr and Zn) that have proved to be of value to archaeological interpretation in earlier investigations undertaken in Scotland. In our preliminary work documented here, significant differences were found between the A horizon soils of former settlement and infield areas for 18 chemical elements. Subjecting the XRFS data—and three other measured variables: soil organic carbon (SOC), pH and A horizon depth—to discriminant analysis indicates that soils of former settlement and arable farming can be effectively classified according to their pH, SOC content and Ca, Cu, Mg, Rb, and Zn concentrations. The inference is that areas of former infield and settlement elsewhere at this study location in the Central Highlands may be able to be identified according to their soil chemical composition and use of discriminant function, even though the surface remains of pre-eighteenth century settlement sites are not readily evident today because they were constructed of perishable materials.     

Tracing the Busy Gap Rogues

Busy Gap is one of the earliest attested place names located along the line of the central sector of Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland, yet in Newcastle during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it was a term of abuse, applied collectively to those who came from upland Tynedale and was synonymous with the Border Reivers. Archaeological and historical sources indicate that throughout the Middle Ages the place was located in a zone of seasonal settlement, characterized by groups of shielings probably associated with townships located in the valley of the South Tyne. The question is how to understand the role of Busy Gap, a place identified with a triangular earthwork on the north side of the Roman Wall. This paper will consider the results of recent archaeological investigations carried out by the author on the site and will investigate the place and its setting within the archaeological and historical context of early-modern Northumberland.     

Seafaring as social action

This paper builds upon traditional investigations of maritime activities, particularly seafaring itself, to study the social relationships between people and the sea as well as the technology, necessary knowledge and skills that are implicated. The research is based upon evidence of seafaring drawn from the circulation of obsidian from the island of Lipari around the central Mediterranean throughout the Neolithic c.6500–3500 BC. It focuses upon journeys across the Adriatic, identifying the importance of travel in the creation of social alliance and identity, shedding light upon relationships and practices that are generally invisible without proper consideration of maritime activity. The implications of ongoing maritime activity in the region reflect upon Neolithic activities and temporalities which are outside the sphere of settlement specific landscapes, hitherto the sole focus of the majority of Italian Neolithic research.     

Phytolith assaying using a micron-scale electrokinetic sorting ring

A particularly useful indicator of past vegetation are phytoliths, glassy products of plant metabolism which have distinctive size and morphology based on the plant taxa which produced them; however, their analysis is a time-consuming task. Building on investigations into mobilizing and sorting of synthetic polystyrene microspheres using a closed loop rectangular microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) electrokinetic array, we investigate these devices’ utility for sorting natural microparticles. Using phytolith samples extracted from archaeological sediment, we show that closed loop MEMS can separate the glassy bodies from both mineral contaminants and each other. Also, small differences in polarization between the phytoliths cause lateral segregation between particles of different sizes and shapes. This process facilitates manual analysis by providing a motive force to the phytoliths that translates and rotates them, showing different configurations as they are propelled by the MEMS array. The organization of the phytoliths into streams also opens the door to automated analysis using image processing. Phytolith assaying is therefore feasible using a MEMS electrokinetic ring and merits additional research to explore the potential of this innovative approach.