Biros,Books and Big‐men: Literacy and the Transformation of Leadership in Simbu,Papua New Guinea

This article examines local strategies used to build leadership roles and enlist public support in a newly literate Papua New Guinean highlands rural community. The ethnographic evidence presented shows how the relationship between literacy and local ideas about modernisation and development has facilitated a shift in patterns of local political structures. When literacy is viewed as an unequally distributed and novel resource with inherently modernist connotations it becomes evident why male villagers in a contemporary highlands village endeavour to acquire and exploit it in rivalry with others. And while individual villagers market their reading and writing proficiency as a means to bolster their reputations within the existing socio‐political system, this has significance for traditional leadership and authority patterns, given that village leaders have traditionally been unschooled and therefore do not possess these highly regarded skills. To illustrate these processes I examine the political careers of two prominent villagers with particular attention to their respective claims to head two competing village‐based development projects. An analysis of the agendas they use to legitimate their authority roles in these projects makes clear how the quest to be seen to be literate has become a constitutive component of a prospective leader's repertoire of skills.     

Regular field and tenurial arrangements in Holderness,Yorkshire

In this paper I shall argue that in a small district of Yorkshire, details of field form and holding layout in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century townships suggest that these came into being as a result of a phase of reorganization and planning. I shall also consider the possible period of this reorganization, and discuss the circumstances that may have been involved.An approach of this kind inevitably raises the problem of the extent to which landscape forms can be used as evidence of their modes of origin. It is fashionable to argue that an emphasis on morphological aspects overlooks functional and change-producing mechanisms in field systems, that such an approach tends to assume stability of form where positive evidence for change is lacking, and that identical forms can originate in different ways and at different times. On the other hand, landscape forms are often the only clues to phases of development that occurred before documentary evidence was of sufficient quantity and quality to reveal them. The value of the methodology has been particularly well demonstrated in Sweden, where more recent landscapes have been used as the basis for the identification of earlier generations of field patterns and settlements. ^[1] In England, the approach has been most successfully applied to the analysis of settlement forms. Both Roberts and Sheppard have convincingly demonstrated that an examination of regular village plans in northern England can reveal evidence of their early development. ^[2] This paper is an attempt to use a similar technique in the study of field morphology and tenurial patterns.     

Military Identities in Late Roman Britain

Changes in the material culture of the late Roman army in Britain mean that it is often difficult to identify archaeologically. Some of these changes have in the past been taken as symptoms of decline, without attempt at further explanation. This paper aims to explore these changes and their deeper significance, within a theoretical framework which stresses the importance of the use of material culture in the expression of identities. Building from a detailed case study of fourth century occupation at Caerleon, it will be suggested that categorising material as ‘civilian’ or ‘military’ obscures complex patterns of both uniformity and variation between different kinds of site. These have implications not only for our understanding of the army in fourth and fifth century Britain, but also for society in general at this time, as it is within this wider context that the army should be seen.     

The Neolithic Ceremonial Complex at Niuheliang and Wider Hongshan Landscapes in Northeastern China

This paper reviews the current evidence for settlement patterns and ceremonial activity amongst Hongshan Neolithic groups in northeastern China, with particular attention to the well-known ceremonial site at Niuheliang. We consider the location of Hongshan ceremonial sites in their wider landscape settings, arguing that such sites are a chronologically late stage of Hongshan ceremonial investment and that, within these broad complexes, the most impressive architecture and portable goods come from an especially late phase of activity. These more impressive localities were also particularly privileged places in terms of their access to major routes, specific kinds of local geology and integrated patterns of visibility. In contrast to more loosely organized Hongshan residential sites of similar size, ceremonial centres such as Niuheliang (and, within these, certain important sub-localities) clearly functioned as key mechanisms for social, political and regional stratification around roughly the mid 6th millennium BP.     

The social networks of the Buckinghamshire gentry in the thirteenth century

This empirical study offers a contribution to a continuing debate about the county community and the significance of feudal ties by analysing the contacts of twenty small and middling knightly families. It explores their geographical range and the relative significance of horizontal and vertical ties. The evidence indicates a world dominated by local connections, stretching five to ten miles from a family manor. Nonetheless, the gentry were not necessarily restricted by county boundaries in their connections, as patterns of monastic patronage show. Nor were their social networks always limited to their neighbourhood. The search for good marriages mobilised wider networks, while financial pressures led families to look to towns like Oxford and London for credit. Ties with feudal superiors were rare, except for tenants of the honor of Wallingford, who had links with the earls of Cornwall. Horizontal ties with other gentry families and family members significantly outnumbered those with any other groups, and this applied both to supportive relationships and conflictual ones. Placing this study in the context of other gentry studies, I conclude by emphasising the prevalence of local ties mainly with those on the same social level or below. Although there is evidence to suggest that wealthier families with several manors had wider ranging connections, the everyday world of these men was apparently a fairly parochial one.     

The social networks of the Buckinghamshire gentry in the thirteenth century

This empirical study offers a contribution to a continuing debate about the county community and the significance of feudal ties by analysing the contacts of twenty small and middling knightly families. It explores their geographical range and the relative significance of horizontal and vertical ties. The evidence indicates a world dominated by local connections, stretching five to ten miles from a family manor. Nonetheless, the gentry were not necessarily restricted by county boundaries in their connections, as patterns of monastic patronage show. Nor were their social networks always limited to their neighbourhood. The search for good marriages mobilised wider networks, while financial pressures led families to look to towns like Oxford and London for credit. Ties with feudal superiors were rare, except for tenants of the honor of Wallingford, who had links with the earls of Cornwall. Horizontal ties with other gentry families and family members significantly outnumbered those with any other groups, and this applied both to supportive relationships and conflictual ones. Placing this study in the context of other gentry studies, I conclude by emphasising the prevalence of local ties mainly with those on the same social level or below. Although there is evidence to suggest that wealthier families with several manors had wider ranging connections, the everyday world of these men was apparently a fairly parochial one.     

Small carnivores from a Late Neolithic burial chamber at Çatalhöyük,Turkey: pelts,rituals, and rodents

Results derived from the analysis of small carnivores from a burial chamber at the Late Neolithic Çatalhöyük (TP Area) shed light on the socioeconomic significance of stone martens (Martes foina), red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), and common weasels (Mustela nivalis). All of these are fur-bearing animals, though only the stone marten remains to show evidence that this animal was exploited for its pelt. The evidence consists of the observed skeletal bias (only the head parts and foot bones were present) and skinning marks. Two of five sets of articulated feet are most likely linked with an almost completely preserved human infant skeleton, one of two well-preserved skeletons that were interred on the burial chamber floor. In contrast to these, other human skeletons were found mostly incompletely preserved, though with evidence of articulation. It seems that the articulated forepaws were deliberately incorporated into the structure, most likely as a part of burial practice and ritual behavior. These distinctive deposits, along with rich grave goods, emphasize the uniqueness in the entire Anatolian Neolithic of the assemblage from the burial chamber, which is decorated by a panel incised with spiral motifs.     

Elymian regional interaction in Iron Age western Sicily: a preliminary neutron activation study of incised/impressed tablewares

Neutron activation analysis of indigenous ceramics from western Sicily reveals five compositional clay types used in production, suggesting specific exchange patterns around the 5th century BCE, at a time of escalating Greek and Phoenician colonial intrusions. A sample of 62 incised/impressed tableware specimens suggests that ceramic manufacture was organized on a regional level with distinct patterns of intra-group trade of vessels, and that the distribution of these ceramics has important implications for the refinement of cultural–historical affiliations of western Sicily at this time. In fact, the spatial distribution of one of these compositional groups appears to directly correspond with epigraphic data regarding the presence of the Elymians centered at Segesta.     

Space, Time and Sustainability in the Hadejia-Jama'are Wetlands and the Komodugu Yobe Basin, Nigeria

Debates about sustainability still take insufficient account of the significance of space and time. In this paper, their significance is demonstrated empirically through an account of the complex environmental and socio-economic impacts of dam construction on flood-plain wetlands in the Hadejia-Jama'are river basin in Nigeria. Socio-economic data from a rapid rural appraisal exercise and household questionnaire survey (data on patterns of production in the flood plain and patterns of mobility) are appraised in the context of patterns of environmental change and of inundation (analysis of riparian vegetation and time-series aerial photographs). The paper concludes that sustainable river basin development requires more attention to be paid to the perspectives derived from different scales of analysis. This calls for appropriate institutions allowing communication at the interface between village-level producer and river basin manager.     

The Style of Blugzeimat and the “Masks” of the Prehistoric Rock Art of the Western Sahara: New Evidence for Long-Distance Contacts

Blugzeimat is a prehistoric rock-art site in the Tiris region (southern Western Sahara), with more than 100 engraved slabs. The major portion of these engravings represents zoomorphs, anthropomorphs and non-figurative signs. Based on the absence of protohistoric texts, chariots or horse riders, and the probable depiction of a halberd, the age of these engravings may correspond to the first half of the second millennium BCE. The stylistic attributes of the engraved bovines, which are the most commonly represented subject, allow us to relate Blugzeimat to several sites with pecked engravings located in the Tiris (Western Sahara) and Adrar (north-western Mauritania) regions. In addition to this first stylistic and geographic delimitation, we have also been able to identify signs, traditionally designated as “masks” in the literature, which relate Blugzeimat to several sites with incised engravings located in the northern Saguia el Hamra basin. As incised and pecked engraving techniques have been regularly considered examples of unrelated rupestrian traditions in the Western Sahara, the engraving of these highly specific signs using both techniques allows us to question that paradigm. Finally, the long-distance thematic coincidence represented by the presence of such signs, in regions far from one another, provides additional evidence to refute the common idea of an absence or scarcity of cultural contacts between the north and south of the Western Sahara before the adoption of the horse and camel.     

Absent Regions: Spaces of Financialisation in the Arab World

This paper examines processes of financialisation in the Arab world, a region that has been almost completely absent from the wider financial literature. The paper shows that financialisation is much more than simply the expansion of financial markets within neatly bounded sets of social relations operating at the national scale. In the Arab world, financialisation has been marked by the growing weight of regional finance capital—most specifically, those capital groups based in the Gulf Cooperation Council—in circuits of capital operating at all scales. This has important implications for processes of class and state formation. Approaching financialisation in this manner—moving away from methodologically nationalist assumptions and the literature's largely singular focus on the advanced capitalist core—brings into focus the significance of cross‐scalar accumulation patterns, their spatial hierarchies, and geographic unevenness. The paper thus reaffirms the need for a more spatially sensitive approach to financialisation.     

安徽何郢遗址植物残体切割形态与脱粒农具的关系

石器和植物残体的相关研究证明,脱粒板曾大规模应用于近东地区。为探索古代中国或远东是否也曾使用过这种工具或类似工具,本研究对何郢遗址植物残体形态进行了研究,结果表明中国商周遗址存在切割形态植物残体的证据,以此推测类似脱粒板的农具在商周时期曾被使用。无疑,这一发现对我国古代农作物的脱粒加工方式具有重要的启示,可望深化我国农业考古的探索。     

一件刻纹玉饰的辨识

1987年在安徽省含山县凌家滩墓地第四号墓中曾出土一件刻纹玉饰,现收藏于故宫博物院。以往关于这件刻纹玉饰的放置方式及刻纹内容,很少提及。本文率先探讨了这件刻纹玉饰的用途,认定其为梳背饰;在明确了其摆放方式的基础之上经仔细审视,提出这件刻纹玉饰上所琢刻的应是一条单首双身的龙形图案。     

The Exploitation of Plant Resources by Neanderthals in Amud Cave (Israel): The Evidence from Phytolith Studies

The depositional environments of Amud Cave indicate that phytolith assemblages retrieved from the cave's sediments are an integral part of the Middle Palaeolithic sequence. As such, they provide direct evidence for plant use. The Amud Neanderthals emphasized both wood and grass exploitation. Ligneous parts of trees and shrubs were used mainly for fuel. Herbaceous plants were used for bedding, possibly fuel, and for food. There is clear and repetitive evidence for the exploitation of mature grass panicles, inferred to have been collected for their seeds. These findings suggest that, as with the pattern recently discerned for faunal resources, a broad spectrum of plants has been exploited from at least the end of the Middle Palaeolithic. Phytolith analysis now provides a tool for testing models explaining subsistence and mobility patterns during the Levantine Middle Palaeolithic and for better understanding the role of vegetal resources in shaping these patterns.     

The History and Charters of Ingulfus Considered

The current Bronze Age settlement model for the middle and upper Great Ouse valley is based on the distribution of ring ditches from aerial photography, their excavation and the occurrence of stray finds. This settlement study, which is part of a broader survey programme, has initially concentrated on obtaining flint distribution patterns by field walking to see in what ways these could amplify and perhaps solve the problems posed by present evidence. It was also intended to assess its value as a tool for problem solving in the context of landscape archaeology and settlement studies. Although the areas examined were small and selective, the flint distribution patterns, when considered with other evidence suggested that ring ditches were part of complex and extensive settlement locations. However it was evident that the ring ditches were set away from the main habitation foci.     

The Central Adriatic Wine Trade of Italy Revisited

Since Maria Teresa Cipriano's and Marie‐Brigitte Carre's seminal 1989 paper ‘Production et typologie des amphores sur la côte adriatique de l'Italie’ in the volume ‘Amphores romaines et histoire économique’, our knowledge of Adriatic Italian wine amphorae has much improved. Most of these ‘new data’, however, remain poorly known among the wider scholarly community and no real update regarding their production loci and distribution patterns has as yet been attempted. This paper fills the void for the central part of the eastern coastline between Rimini and Pescara and reviews the latest evidence regarding the manufacture and circulation of these amphorae. In the process, the central Adriatic area of Italy emerges as a key player in the Late Republican and Early Imperial wine trade. This reassessment provides a new starting point for the diachronic exploration of the Adriatic wine commerce between c.250 BC and AD 150.     

DEATH, DECAY, AND RITUAL RECONSTRUCTION: ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF CADAVERIC SPASM

Summary. Archaeologists often joke that patterning which cannot be explained in socio-economic terms is likely to be of ritual significance. This view has contributed to both reticence about and a rather impressionistic approach to potential ritual patterning in the archaeological record. The application of interpretations derived from the forensic sciences to such contexts may help to exclude natural or taphonomic processes that can mimic these patterns and elucidate aspects of ritual behaviour. In this contribution, we review some recent advances made in the application of such understanding to human remains and provide two examples of another — cadaveric spasm — a condition that has, at times, been interpreted as relating to 'live' burial. From these examples, it is clear that the relationship between well-analysed human remains and their context is the key to differentiating natural from ritual processes associated with interment.     

From Greek Boar's‐Tusk Helmets to the First European Metal Helmets: New Approaches on Development and Chronology

After more than a century of research into Bronze Age helmets throughout Europe, both the development and chronology of conical helmets with spool‐shaped sockets still remain unclear. The comprehensive studies and analysis of the helmet from Biecz have not completely resolved the discussions. Other helmets, when not solitary finds, have been usually dated according to their alleged associations in a hoard but have never been extensively discussed as a single helmet type of one date range. By introducing to the discussion a Greek bronze helmet with incised boar's tusks as well as those boar's‐tusk helmets with bronze cheek plates, more light is shed on the development and chronology of these very first European bronze helmets.