Ceramics and change: an overview of pottery production techniques in northern South Africa and eastern Zimbabwe during the first and second millennium AD

In southern African Iron Age studies, there are few attempts to systematically apply and include laboratory analyses when studying archaeological ceramic materials. As demonstrated in this paper, such analyses help to understand the technological aspects such as raw materials, manufacturing techniques and vessel function. Combined with vessel shape and decoration as well as ethnographic studies, the results provide new ways to understand local and regional distribution networks of the ceramics craft. Furthermore, laboratory analyses are most useful when studying continuity and changes in the ceramics handicraft over time, which has implications both on cultural and social change as seen in the shift in ceramic production techniques. We use examples from Zimbabwe and South Africa to illustrate these changes and discuss them in a broader social and technological context in Iron Age southern Africa.     

The evolution of rice: molecular vignettes on its origins and spread

The domesticated species Oryza sativa or Asian rice evolved starting approximately 9,000 years ago and from its centers of origin in China and India has subsequently spread throughout the Old World (and in historical times in the New World as well). This species is one of the key domesticated crop plants in the world and has emerged as a model for studying the origins and spread of domesticated taxa as well as in investigating the genetic basis for plant variation under domestication. Archaeological data has been critical in dissecting the origins and spread of rice throughout Asia, but molecular information has also provided a complementary approach to examining the evolutionary dynamics of this species. The evolutionary history of a species can leave its footprints within its genome. Moreover, genetic studies allow us to study the history of traits that do not leave an archaeological record—for example, grain stickiness or flowering time—which can provide insights into how crop species are adopted by different cultures. In this review, several molecular studies into the origin and spread of Asian rice are discussed and we explore the advances these genetic studies offer in our understanding of the evolution of domesticated species. We also explore how archaeological data can provide critical insights that can help refine genetic models of the origin and spread of domesticated species.     

A NEW METHOD FOR EXTRACTION,ISOLATION AND TRANSESTERIFICATION OF FREE FATTY ACIDS FROM ARCHAEOLOGICAL POTTERY

This paper presents evidence for increased recovery of organic residues from archaeological pottery through use of a microwave‐assisted liquid chromatography protocol. C_16:0 and C_18:0 saturated fatty acids were obtained from archaeological potsherds recovered from nine Neolithic settlements in the Middle East dating between 4700 and 7300 cal bc , including materials that had not produced evidence for the survival of any lipid species through use of ‘conventional’ solvent extraction techniques. Compound‐specific isotopic analyses of C_16:0 and C_18:0 fatty acids in potsherd extracts subsequently revealed δ¹³C/δ¹²C compositions consistent with modern subcutaneous fats of wild boar and goats pastured on lands adjacent to the Jordan Valley, and residues from a modern pottery vessel used in the manufacturing of butter, cheese and yogurt in central Turkey. These results are presented as an illustration of capabilities of the microwave‐assisted recovery protocol. The reclamation of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids from archaeological pottery fragments recovered from a number of the earliest ceramic horizons in the Middle East is herewith reported, and the extraction methods and instrumental analytical techniques are described.     

THE USE OF OXYGEN ISOTOPES IN SHEEP MOLARS TO INVESTIGATE PAST HERDING PRACTICES AT THE NEOLITHIC SETTLEMENT OF ÇATALHÖYÜK,CENTRAL ANATOLIA

This paper presents a pilot study designed to test the use of oxygen isotopes for investigating aspects of early herding practices in the Neolithic of western Asia, using the site of Çatalhöyük in central Anatolia as a case study. Time‐sequenced δ¹⁸O values in dental enamel of archaeological sheep are assessed for post‐depositional diagenetic effects and compared with seasonal δ¹⁸O meteoric water values in the region today. The evidence is used to indicate the environmental conditions in which individual sheep spent their first year, enabling management of breeding and birthing seasons, and movement to seasonal pastures, to be investigated.     

Descent of Iron Age Farmers in Southern Africa During the Last 2000 Years

Ethnographies from southern Africa indicate that patrilineal descent dominates Bantu-language speakers. With great differences in material culture suggesting sociopolitical and economical changes between the earliest farmers that settled in the region in the first millennium AD and those described from ethnographies, it is very likely that descent patterns did not remain static over the course of nearly 2000 years. With major sociopolitical and economical changes, it is not surprising to suggest that other forms of descent also existed amongst farmers of southern Africa in the past. Although it remains ambiguous to establish descent patterns from archaeological remains in the absence of human burials, in this paper I investigate herding practices and the nature of farming as ways to infer descent. The results indicate that at least matrilineal descent was common in southern Africa before the arrival of ancestral Nguni and Sotho-Tswana speakers in the region during the Late Iron Age in the second millennium AD. Other forms of descent were likely present alongside matrilineal descent during the Early and Middle Iron Ages, when widespread evidence for patrilineal descent is absent.     

The Early Middle Pleistocene Site of Gombore II (Melka Kunture,Upper Awash,Ethiopia) and the Issue of Acheulean Bifacial Shaping Strategies

The Gombore II site dates to circa the Brunhes Matuyama Reversal and is one of the Acheulean localities of the Melka Kunture (Upper Awash, Ethiopia) archaeological complex, known since the 1970s. In 2001, this locality was selected as the site for an Open Air Museum and thus excavated. The excavation area has yielded an abundant Acheulean lithic assemblage manufactured on volcanic raw materials in close association with numerous paleontological remains. A technological analysis was carried out on a fraction of the bifacial tools (bifaces and cleavers) which could be temporarily removed from the displayed surface in the museum. This set of artefacts reveals new data about the bifacial shaping strategies adopted at the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene in Ethiopia. The use of obsidian and the systematic manufacturing of twisted bifaces are original features of the assemblage. These data are discussed in the framework of penecontemporaneous East African sites.     

Pre-screening techniques for identification of samples suitable for radiocarbon dating of poorly preserved bones

Under certain environmental conditions, post-depositional diagenetic loss of bone collagen can severely reduce the number of bones from a particular archaeological site that are suitable for stable isotopic analysis or radiocarbon dating. This study examined nearly 300 bones from 12 archaeological sites across southern England known to yield poor or variable preservation to try to identify one, or more, pre-screening technique(s) that would indicate suitable collagen preservation for radiocarbon dating. The most reliable method was shown to be the percent nitrogen (%N) of whole bone powder, which has an 84% chance of successfully predicting whether or not a bone will yield sufficient (i.e. >1% weight) collagen for dating.     

How Relational Dimensions Affect Knowledge Redundancy in Industrial Clusters

This paper focuses on the effects of social capital on industrial clusters. Close networks with strong ties provide benefits for the companies involved in terms of knowledge flow; however, they can also have some negative effects such as knowledge redundancy and obsolescence. We propose an explanatory model to study factors and mediators affecting the redundancy of transmitted knowledge. The model has been applied to a sample of 152 companies in two Spanish industrial clusters. Findings suggest that although strength of ties was associated with redundancy, structural dispersion and local institutions have a negative effect on knowledge redundancy. The findings have a number of relevant implications for individual firms and their policies.