Standardisation in 3D Geometric Morphometrics: Ethics,Ownership, and Methods

The collection and analysis of 3D digital data is a rapidly growing field in archaeology, anthropology, and forensics. Even though the 3D scanning of human remains in archaeology has been conducted for over 10 years, it is still frequently considered as a new field. Despite this, the availability of 3D scanning equipment and the number of studies employing these methods are increasing rapidly, and it is arguably damaging to the validity of this field to continue to consider these methods new and therefore not subject to the same standardisations as other researches. This paper considers the current issues regarding the lack of standardisation in the methods, ethics, and ownership of 3D digital data with a focus on human remains research. The aim of this paper is to stimulate further research and discussion, allowing this field to develop, improving the quality and value of future research.     

Pre-hispanic goldwork technology. The Quimbaya Treasure,Colombia

One of the most important pre-Columbian gold assemblages made up of more than one hundred objects from two tombs in the Cauca river valley, Colombia, was studied to obtain archaeometric information. Although several attempts have been made to arrange gold production in time and space from the stylistic point of view, no firm conclusions were possible due to the lack of archaeological contexts. This paper presents first results of a new, fully instrumental approach, in which different analytical techniques, including OM, SEM-EDS, XRF, PIXE, RBS, AMS and X-ray imaging, were applied in order to determine a technological, metallurgical and chronological frame of the so-called Quimbaya Treasure.     

Evolution of small valley mire in central Poland as a result of hydroclimatic oscillations

This paper demonstrates the results of analyses of Cladocera, pollen, plant macrofossil, lithological and radiocarbon data recovered from a mire located in the Rawka River valley in central Poland. These studies permit to recognise the development of hydrology phases in Kopanicha mire and give insight into Holocene fluvial dynamics of the system; radiocarbon dating partly allowed da-ting of the patterns of Holocene valley floor development of the Rawka River. The Kopanicha mire was formed during the Atlantic period. At that time, an oxbow lake formed, becoming a mire during the Subboreal and possibly Subatlantic periods. The high sensitivity of the oxbow lakes, fens, fauna, and flora remains to climate variations - especially to changes in water level connected with the ag-gradation-erosion cycle of rivers - allows the reconstruction of the palaeoecological changes that oc-curred in the mire. The frequency and timing of hydroclimatic oscillations at Kopanicha show strong similarities to records from other sites in Poland. Changes in Cladocera frequency and plant assem-blages were mostly influenced by the Rawka River which controlled the hydrological regime of the mire. The main factors controlling the presence of Cladocera taxa were the water level and the pres-ence of favourable conditions in the mire (e.g. pH, vegetation). Most of the changes occurred in re-sponse to climate changes, but some of them were connected with local factors.     

Continental Patterns in Stone Tools: A Technological and Biplot-Based Comparison of Early Late Pleistocene Assemblages from Northern and Southern Africa

The technology of the end products i.e. blades and points in Late Pleistocene stone artefact assemblages from Klasies River, South Africa, and the Nile Valley, Egypt, are compared. The comparison includes univariate and multivariate analysis of metrical attributes enhanced by graphical biplot displays. The end products in these assemblages are either dominantly points or blades and this is related to the core reduction strategy adopted. The MSA 11 from Klasies River and the Nubian Complex industry from the Nile Valley are point industries made in the Levallois tradition, while the MSA 1 from Klasies River and the Taramsan from the Nile Valley may be non-Levallois or adapted Levallois blade industries. Dating of the assemblages shows the changes between dominant core reduction strategies are sequential and time restricted in both South and North Africa. It is concluded that variability of the same kind occurs in Middle Stone Age and Middle Palaeolithic assemblages south and north of the Sahara in the early Late Pleistocene.Dans cet article, les technologies des produits recherchés, des lames et des pointes, pour certains ensembles lithiques de Klasies River, Afrique du Sud et la Vallée du Nil, Egypte, sont comparées. Cette comparaison implique des analyses univariées et multivariées de variables métriques biplot. Les produits recherchés sont bien des pointes que des lames, selon les stratégies dexploitation adoptées. Le MSA II de Klasies River et le Complexe nubien de la Vallée du Nil sont des industries à pointes issues de la tradition Levallois. Par contre, le MSA I de Klasies River et le Taramsien de la Vallée du Nil évoquent une technologie de production non-Levallois ou Levallois modifiée. Les éléments de datation disponibles indiquent que les changements dans la prépondérance des stratégies dexploitation senchaînent dans une séquence chronologique bien identifiable, aussibien dans lAfrique du Sud que lAfrique du Nord. On arrive à la conclusion quune variabilité du même caractère est attestée dans les ensembles du Middle Stone Age et du Paléolithique moyen au sud et au nord du Sahara, pendant le Pléistocène supérieur ancien.     

The Late Upper Palaeolithic Occupation of the Moroccan Northwest Maghreb During the Last Glacial Maximum

New work at Kehf el Hammar Cave provides the first well-dated palaeoenvironmental sequence for the Late Upper Palaeolithic in this region of the northwest Maghreb. The archaeological layers are dated via a combination of AMS radiocarbon and luminescence dating methods. The sequence contains charcoal-rich occupation layers with faunal, human and lithic finds. Local vegetational patterns are reconstructed on the basis of preliminary analysis of the charcoal evidence. Using standard calibration curves the AMS radiocarbon dates are compared with proxy evidence for climatic change from sea core records in the Alborán Sea. These appear to show that the Late Upper Palaeolithic occupation of the region coincides closely with Heinrich Event 1, a period marked by intense aridification and dating to ca. 16,700–17,250 calendar years ago.Les nouvelles recherches dans la grotte de Kehf el Hammar ont permis d’obtenir la première séquence paléoenevironnementale bien datée du Paléolithique supérieur tardif au Nord Ouest du Maghreb. En effet, les niveaux archéologiques ont été datés par le radiocarbone par accélérateur (AMS) et des méthodes radiométriques basées sur la luminescence. En revanche, les paléoenvironnements végétaux ont été partiellement reconstitués à base des premières analyses des charbons de bois. Les dates AMS calibrées ont été comparées aux données climatiques issues des carottes marines dans la mer Alborán. Ainsi, les occupations humaines du Paléolithique supérieur tardif dans la région ont sensiblement coïncidé avec l’événement climatique Heinrich 1. Celui-ci correspond à une période qui a été marquée par une aridification intense entre 16.700 et 17.250 ans (cal.).     

Reviews

ROBERT J. YOUNG. French Foreign Policy, Nineteen Eighteen to Nineteen Forty-Five: A Guide to Research and Research Materials, ed. Christoph M. Kimmich. Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources Inc., 1981. Pp. xv, 242. $17.50 (US). Reviewed by A.S. Kanya-Forstner

CHRISTOPH M. KIMMICH. German Foreign Policy, Nineteen Eighteen to Nineteen Forty Five: A Guide to Research and Research Materials. Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources Inc., 1981. Pp. ix, 293. $17.50 (US). Reviewed by Ulrich Trumpener

ALAN CASSELS. Italian Foreign Policy, Nineteen Eighteen to Nineteen Forty- Five: A Guide to Research and Research Materials, ed. Christoph M. Kimmich. Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources Inc. 1981. Pp. xi, 271. $17.50 (US). Reviewed by Peter C. Kent

VOJTECH MASTNY. Russia's Road to the Cold War: Diplomacy, Warfare, and the Politics of Communism, 1041–1945. New York: Columbia University Press, 1979. Pp. xix, 409. $16.95 (US). Reviewed by Teddy J. Uldricks

R. KEITH SCHOPPA. Chinese Elites and Political Change: Zhejiang Province in the Early Twentieth Century. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1982. Pp. 280. $30.00 (US). Reviewed by J. Shrecker

EDWARD M. SPIERS. Haldane: An Army Reformer. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1980. Pp. vi, 240. £10.00. Reviewed by John E. Kendle

IAN NISH, ed. Anglo-Japanese Alienation, 1919–1952: Papers of the Anglo-Japanese Conference on the History of the Second World War. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982. Pp. 320. $37.50. Reviewed by Ray Jones

JOHN C. G. RÖHL and NICOIAS SOMBART, eds. Kaiser Wilhelm II: New Interpretations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982. Pp. 319. $39.50 (US). Reviewed by Konrad H. Jarausch

ROBIN FISHER and J.M. BUMSTED, eds. An Account of a Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America in 1785 and 1786 by Alexander Walker. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre; Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1982. Pp. 319. $24.95. Reviewed by Christon I. Archer

ERIK P. HOFFMANN and ROBBIN F. LAIRD. The Politics of Economic Modernization in the Soviet Union. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1982. Pp. 215. $19.50 (US). Reviewed by Cyril E. Black

WERNER G. HAHN. Postwar Soviet Politics. The Fall of Zhdanov and the Defeat of Moderation, 1946–53. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1982. Pp. 243. $19.50 (US). Reviewed by Richard K. Debo

VICTOR ROTHWELL. Britain and the Cold War, 1941–1947. London: Jonathan Cape, 1982. Pp. 551. £16. Reviewed by Gerald Jordan

DAN P. SILVERMAN. Reconstructing Europe after the Great War. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982. Pp. vii, 347. $25.00 (US). Reviewed by Keith L. Nelson