A Raman spectroscopic study of glass trade beads excavated at Mapungubwe hill and K2, two archaeological sites in southern Africa,raises questions about the last occupation date of the hill

Thousands of glass trade beads were excavated over a 75 year period on Mapungubwe Hill and at K2, two archaeological sites in the Limpopo valley, South Africa. An assemblage of 175 beads that appeared to be different in shape, size and colour (red, yellow, green, blue, white, black, pink, plum) was studied with Raman scattering. At least seven different chromophores or pigments (lazurite, lead tin yellow type II, Ca/Pb arsenate, chromate, calcium antimonate, Fe–S “amber” and a spinel) have been identified. Pigment identification allows the recognition of specific productions and indicated that many of the pigments colouring the beads excavated on Mapungubwe hill were manufactured after the 13th century, confirming the presence of modern beads in the archaeological record, some dating from the 19th century. This date is in agreement with the last occupation date for the hill suggested by the earlier excavators and raises questions about the revision of this date to 1290 AD by archaeologists in the 1970’s.     

NISP, Bone Fragmentation, and the Measurement of Taxonomic Abundance

Zooarchaeologists have long recognized that the number of identified specimens (NISP) is dependent on the degree to which bones are fragmented, but attempts are rarely made to control for the effects of fragmentation on NISP. This paper provides insight into those effects by presenting both a formal model of the relationship between NISP and fragmentation and experimental data on that relationship. The experimental data have practical implications regarding the effectiveness of potential measures of bone fragmentation, suggesting that specimen size—which can be determined easily through digital image analysis—is more useful than other variables that have been or might be used as fragmentation measures.     

试论博物馆物的语境化阐释:内涵、目标与策略

博物馆将“物”从现实时空中抽离转变为“博物馆物”后,会引发物的“去语境化”,导致物变得沉默与陌生.将语境视野贯彻于所有阐释环节的“语境化阐释”,可为克服“去语境化”困境提供理论框架和实践建议.在厘清物的语境是由包含关联人群、关联物的微观语境以及包含自然、社会与文化等维度的宏观语境构成的关联性网络的基础上,可梳理出同时空...     

Technological organization and sedentism in the Epipalaeolithic of Dakhleh Oasis,Egypt

At Dakhleh Oasis in south-central Egypt, a group of Epipalaeolithic or Masara sites featuring stone-built structures suggests a degree of sedentism that was unusual for the Eastern Sahara in early Holocene times. The paper investigates this apparent increased sedentism by focusing on the organization of lithic technology within the three Masara units defined in the oasis, including that with which the stone structures are associated. Information on three aspects of technological organization — the acquisition of raw material, core reduction sequences, and the portability of the resulting toolkits — when combined with evidence on other artifact categories and on site features and locations, points to a dramatic dichotomy within the Masara between small, highly mobile groups that ranged far beyond the oasis (Masara A), and a more sedentary element (Masara C), consisting of groups confined for at least part of the year to a particularly favoured locale in south-eastern Dakhleh.

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Résumé A l'oasis de Dakhleh, en Egypte Sud-Centrale, un groupe de sites Epipaléolithiques ou Masara a livré des structures en pierre qui suggèrent un degré de sédentarisation peu courant pour l'Est du Sahara au début de l'Holocène. Cet article étudie l'accroissement apparent de la sédentarisation en se concentrant sur l'organisation de la technologie lithique au sein des trois unités Masara définies dans l'oasis, y compris celle associée aux cercles de pierre. L'acquisition de la matière première, les séquences de réduction des nucleus, et le transport des outils qui en résultent sont des informations sur trois aspects de l'organisation technologique qui une fois combinées avec les données obtenues à partir d'autres catégories d'artefacts lithiques, de la configuration et de la situation du site, mettent en évidence une dichotomie très claire au sein du Masara entre des groupes petits et très mobiles qui se déplacaient bien au delà du périmeètre de l'oasis (Masara A) et un elément beaucoup plus sédentaire (Masara C) consistant en des groupes confinés pour au moins une partie de l'année dans un site particulièrement apprécié de la partie sud-est de Dakhleh.

     

Electoral Behavior in the Russian Far East, 1995-2000: Contextual and Compositional Effects

A group of political scientists specializing in Russia's post-Soviet electoral behavior explores the question of whether genuinely regional effects of voting behavior can be discerned (and at what scale) by controlling for variations in compositional characteristics measured by aggregate social and economic data. The paper seeks to identify situations in which contextual effects may be operating, using a scale of analysis that is intermediate between regional (oblast)-level case studies and nationwide surveys—that of the Russian Far East macroregion. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: H10, O50, Z10. 4 tables, 40 references, 1 appendix.     

Aspects of continuity and change in the Italian placitum, 962-72

In the preface to his liturgical calendar The reckoning of the course of the stars Bishop Gregory of Tours (538–594) — author also of Ten books of histories and Eight books of miracles as well as of a Commentary on the understanding of the Psalter (of which, however, only fragments are preserved) — declares God's “wonders” of the natural world to be superior to the seven ancient wonders of the world. The reason for this is that the latter, being works of men, are subject to decay and destruction, while the former, as miraculous works of God, are divinely sustained and renewed daily or annually, thereby becoming imperishable. An examination of the associative contexts in which two of these wonders — the sea (enlarged to include water in its various forms) and plant life — occur in the rest of Gregory's works reveals several essential themes of his thinking not only about nature, but also about God, man and society. Thought, for him, nature as a (divinely sustained) system of regularities does exist as a kind of backdrop, sudden unpredictable divine — and sometimes diabolic — action in and through phenomena occupies the center of the stage. Gregory tends to see this action in the shape of what he regards as pre-existing images or patterns of invisible spiritual truth, to which the visible, even material, structure of events must necessarily conform. He shows, too, how this action could reflect as well as meet various needs of the individual and of society as a whole. An association which recurs almost constantly in his treatment of divine action in these natural phenomena, which he sometimes describes as analogous to that in man, is precisely that with the cluster of closely related concepts of renewal, rebirth and creation ex nihilo. Together with what appears as an extreme, as it were ‘poetical’, sensitivity to sudden perceptions and intuitions, something like a longing for and surrender to what he describes as “astonished admiration” may have helped to make possible his recognition of that which he designated as divine creative power in the world of visible reality as well as in man's inner experience. His seeing this as an essential dynamic of the holy may mean that he felt it to be a fundamental need and concern not only of the individual personality but also, more obscurely, of the society in which he found himself.     

New Dating and Contextual Evidence for the Fragmentary Timber Remains Located in the Dor D Site, Israel

The laboratory report for a wood-sample taken from one of the ship-timbers discovered at the Dor D site for C14 analysis is completed. This dating result indicates a potential revision for the group of timbers in this deposit and, consequently, new chronological contexts for their construction characteristics. Subsequent excavation and survey in the lagoon has resulted in a revised interpretation for the components of the Dor D deposit. Taken together, this new dating and contextual evidence helps to clarify what these timbers can and cannot contribute to the understanding of trends in ship construction.
© 2005 The Nautical Archaeology Society     

Intermarriage,Technological Diffusion,and Boundary Objects in the U.S. Southwest

This article draws upon ethnographic accounts of female potters’ movement and intermarriage into multi-ethnic Pueblo communities in the U.S. Southwest to illustrate how marriage networks created opportunities for innovation through the production, distribution, and consumption of boundary objects. These objects did not define boundaries but facilitated boundary crossing or bridging by potters. I argue that the concept of boundary objects is more useful than hybridity for understanding the processes of culture contact and material culture diffusion. Archaeological evidence for late twelfth through thirteenth century migrations from the Four Corners to the southern Colorado Plateau is used to make a case for a high degree of intermarriage and post-marital movement of women. Such patrilocality challenges normative views of post-marital residence, including those employed by early ceramic sociologists working in the same area of the Southwest and even at the same sites. The case that I discuss provides a contrast to other Southwest examples in which conformist transmission was more common, and helps to solve a paradox in explanations of the Southwest Pueblo Sprachbund. I conclude that the concept of boundary objects complements formal social network approaches in archaeology by bringing out the active role of objects in linking social actors.     

Privatization and Foreign Investment in the Utilities Industries of Kazakhstan

An American economist specializing in the natural resource and related industries of Kazakhstan examines the experience in the privatization of that country's power generation, telecommunications, and postal services sectors. A focus is on the involvement of foreign companies in the process, the terms of the management contracts/joint-venture agreements, and the extremely short time frame within which privatization was implemented. Difficulties resulting from the rapid pace of privatization are described: unclear terms of sale, reversals of tender awards and cancellation of agreements, nonpayment by consumers, and uncertainties in the setting of rates. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F21, G34, L90. 1 figure, 1 table, 30 references.