Elements of an inclusive evolutionary model for archaeology

In the following pages it is argued that the transformational, progressive framework of Cultural Evolution often employed in archaeology is limited to the extent that it can but rarely function in an explanatory capacity. It is proposed that the goals of a processualist archaeology can be met more fully by the scientific, inclusive evolutionary paradigm discussed here. Components of this new paradigm, based on a selectionist perspective of change, are introduced. In sum, it is suggested that the construction of an evolutionary theory applicable in archaeology requires that artifacts at any scale be interpreted as part of the human phenotype, and that fitness be assessed through the concept of replicative success. In this fashion, selective mechanisms may be identified and processual explanations of change generated.     

Evaluating the use of IKONOS satellite imagery in lowland Maya settlement archaeology

This article presents an extensive evaluation, in several contiguous or near-contiguous areas, of the viability of IKONOS satellite imagery in detecting sub-canopy Maya settlement in Peten, Guatemala. Initial research in and around San Bartolo, Guatemala, led to the conclusion that IKONOS imagery could be highly effective in detecting and predicting Maya settlement of the Preclassic and Classic periods, in zones of dense occupation near swampy lowlands known as bajos. The pioneering methods at San Bartolo are applied here to other regions in the Maya lowlands, but with mixed or unpromising results. Preliminary evaluation indicates that local climate, geology, hydrology, topography, pedology, and vegetation differ dramatically in these other regions, with consequences for wider application of the settlement signature discerned at San Bartolo. Possible reasons for these difficulties are offered in this paper, along with ways to strengthen the use of multispectral imagery in archaeological survey of tropical forests.     

Hopewell archaeology

David S. Brose and N'omi Greber, editors. Hopewell Archaeology: The Cillicothe Conference. MCJA Special Paper Number 3. Kent, Ohio: The Kent State University Press, 1979. xiv + 309 pp., illustrations, bibliography. Paper.     

Earthquakes and archaeology

This article examines the use of archaeological evidence for the assessment of historical earthquakes in the Eastern Mediterranean region and Middle East, long before the advent of modern seismology. We ask the questions when and where have large earthquakes happened in the past? How can this evidence contribute to our scientific understanding of earthquake activity? Is it possible on literary and archaeological grounds to distinguish between earthquake damage and damage from other causes? It is found that archaeological evidence for an earthquake is not always clear or unambiguous and that there is a need for collaboration between archaeologists, historians, geologists, engineering seismologists and workers in other disciplines, to evaluate the traces of earthquakes in excavations, both for understanding their effects at the site and for the information they can provide about the nature of the earthquake implicated.     

Touchstones of archaeology

European archaeological collections record hundreds of thousands of stone artefacts from the Early Middle Ages described as whetstones. However, traces of non-ferrous metals, including precious metals preserved on a number of such artefacts. Many of the finds served in fact as touchstones – tools to test the quality of a particular metal. These artefacts are concentrated mainly in Vendel and Viking Age and Slavic coastal settlements and trade centres in the Baltic Sea basin, the coast and islands of Northwestern Europe, at Central and Eastern European fortresses and suburbia. Many finds also come from rural settings. In early medieval graves the touchstones join balance scales and weights as a sign of the buried individual’s access to precious metals. Especially the rural finds with traces of precious metal provide a strong reason for a revision of present views on the social stratification of the early medieval society in Europe. Chemical microanalysis allows identifying the composition of the alloys. Besides new perspectives on the fields of the social history and the circulation of precious metals, the method also provides new information for the field of archaeometallurgy.     

The archaeology of place

It is suggested that if archaeologists are to be successful in understanding the organization of past cultural systems they must understand the organizational relationships among places which were differentially used during the operation of past systems. This point is illustrated by observations made among the Nunamiut Eskimo. Against this background it is demonstrated that the two most common forms of archaeological systematics, “assemblage”- versus “type”-based systematics, are not appropriate for the study of places. In the latter case, it is not possible to analyze places as such, while one cannot see places with different “content” as part of a single system in the former. It is concluded that current archaeological systematics are totally inappropriate for studying past systems of adaptation and their evolutionary modification.     

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.     

千载难逢的考古发现——记长沙马王堆西汉墓

马王堆位于长沙市东效,距市中心约4公里。这里原有两个土家,相传为五代楚王马殷|公元907至930年|的莫地,故名“马王堆”。又因两堆东西并列,故又名“马鞍堆”。《太平寰宇记》说是西汉长沙王刘发的母亲程姬及姬的“又女冢”,或名“二姬墓”。发掘结果证明,     

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.     

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.     

Earth science and archaeology

Rapp, George, Jr., and John A. Gifford. eds. Archaeological Geology. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985. xvii + 435 pp. including figures, chapter references, appendix, and index. $35.00 cloth.

Stein, Julie K., and William R. Farrand, eds. Archaeological Sediments in Context. Orono: University of Maine, Center for the Study of Early Man, Peopling of the Americas Edited Volume Series 1, 1985. xi + 147 pp. including figures, chapter references, and index. $19.00 paper.     

One world archaeology today

Resumen Desde su aparición en 1986, el World Archaeological Congress ha defendido el desarrollo de una arqueología política y éticamente informada y desde una perspectiva global, que actualmente se conoce como “Arqueología de un único mundo”. En este corto ensayo argumento que la “Arqueología de un único mundo” es la arqueología de la era de la globalización. Y como tal la “Arqueología de un único mundo” no debe ser más que una tentativa política y éticamente motivada de aumentar, con los medios de los que disponen los arqueólogos, la solidaridad entre los seres humanos de este planeta y de reducir las alarmantes desigualdades que existen entre ellos. Soy partidario de que los dos principios más importantes tanto para el World Archaeological Congress como para el trabajo que desarrolla sean la solidaridad y la inclusión. Este artículo contiene varias sugerencias sobre lo que debería implicar en la práctica.

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Résumé Depuis son apparition en 1986, le Congrès Mondial d'Archéologie défend une perspective informée des points de vue politique, éthique et global sur l'archéologie que l'on est venu à conna?tre sous le nom d' “Archéologie Mondiale.” Dans cette courte présentation je discute le fait que l'archéologie mondiale est une archéologieau temps de la mondialisation. En tant que telle, une archéologie mondiale ne devrait être autre qu'un mouvement motivé par l'éthique et la politique avec pour fins d'augmenter la solidarité mondiale entre les êtres humains de cette planète et de réduire les inégalités grotesques qui existent entre eux. Je propose que les deux principes les plus importants pour l'Archéologie Mondiale et l'oeuvre du Congrès Mondiale d'Archéologie devraient être la solidarité et l'inclusivité. Cette communication contient un nombre de suggestions pour la réalisation de ces idées.