Archaeological Explorations of Cultural Identity and Rural Economy in the North of Ireland: Goodland,County Antrim

Renewed examination of an enigmatic settlement site perched atop a cliff above Murlough Bay in Goodland Townland, County Antrim, Northern Ireland calls into question long held ideas about Gaelic rural economy on the eve of the Ulster Plantation by reintroducing the complex cultural and political relationships between the north of Ireland and the Scottish isles. Long interpreted as temporary post-medieval booley huts associated with seasonal transhumance, recent re-evaluation of the site suggests instead that Goodland represents a permanent seventeenth-century Highland Scottish village. Although the medieval linkages between the north of Ireland and the Scottish isles have long been acknowledged, twentieth-century sectarianism has subjugated awareness of the Highland (Roman Catholic) Scots focusing upon the legacy of the in-migration of Protestant Lowland Scots during the Ulster Plantation. Material evidence at Goodland re-introduces the Highland Scot to the contested landscape of contemporary Ulster identity, while also facilitating analysis of continuity, change, and cultural complexity in the rural economy of early modern Ireland.     

Civilisation et Naissance de l’Histoire Mondiale Dans l’<Emphasis Type="Italic">Historie des Deux Indes</Emphasis> de Raynal

In the Histoire des deux Indes, the concept of civilization applies initially to the making of modern Europe since the fall of the Roman Empire, in which the commerce does much to promote the civil and political «enfranchisement» of the third-estate in sovereign states. For Raynal, this historical experience of Europeans serves as paradigm, based upon which he depreciates the civilization of the ancient empires of the two Indies, and also elaborates various political proposals for transformation, or even for abolition, of the European colonial empires. Thus, universalizing the political structure of modern Europe, and pursuing the realization of civil and political liberty in diverse modes, he announces the advent of historical and political space of the modern world, composed of nation-states against the background of the global commercial networks.     

Échange,Contrat et Civilisation

With the word «exchange», the confusion is often made between the savage of social contract and the savage of the market. This paper would a contrario set the one against the other, in showing how the two characters agree in fact to two absolutely different kinds of argumentation, which the Enlightenment led to coexist according to very distinct issues. Then the modern term of «civil society» has never solved this ambiguity and we find here the matter of several teachings, because it is possible to think at once about what is a «concept», a «historicity» and a «citizen». Methodology, anthropology and politics come therefore into sight as three horizons of an analysis which does not want to reduce the equivocation, but rather to measure its wealth.     

Editorial

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

清代泉州晋江沿海商人的乡族特征

Along with the promotion of Taiwan’s economic status in the mid-Qing Dynasty and the expansion of trade with the mainland, the merchants of Jinjiang County of Quanzhou Prefecture in the Qing Dynasty developed a business model focused on the growing cross-strait trade and coastal shipping in Southeast China. The success of these coastal traders in business was closely related to their full use of family and lineage. However, the links of family and lineage, at the same time, were problematical for these businessmen when exploiting economic opportunities. These complex family and lineage ties could either promote or obstruct the development of commercial capital depending on specific situations. Thus, the traditional argument that the family and lineage system hindered socio-economic development should be re-examined.     

Luminescence Dating of Monumental Stone Architecture at Chavín De Huántar,Perú

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) is applied to quartz extracted from mud mortar collected from Chavín de Huántar, an early Andean monumental center. The samples appear to have been only partially exposed to sunlight during construction, so a minimum age model is applied to equivalent dose distributions. Complications, including complex radioactivity, low sensitivity of the quartz, and limited sample, prevent high precision, but the 14 dates obtained cluster around 1000 BC largely in agreement with radiocarbon assays on charcoal also collected from the mortar. Results suggest a relatively rapid construction for the monument. This work develops OSL as a method for directly dating architectural mortar.     

The Archaeology of Trading Systems,Part 1: Towards a New Trade Synthesis

After almost three centuries of investigations into the question of what it means to be human and the historical processes of becoming human, archaeologists have amassed a huge volume of data on prehistoric human interactions. One of the largest data sets available is on the global distribution and exchange of materials and commodities. What still remains insufficiently understood is the precise nature of these interactions and their role in shaping the diverse cultures that make up the human family as we know it. A plethora of theoretical models combined with a multitude of methodological approaches exist to explain one important aspect of human interaction—trade—and its role and place in shaping humanity. We argue that trade parallels political, religious, and social processes as one of the most significant factors to have affected our evolution. Here we review published literature on archaeological approaches to trade, including the primitivist-modernist and substantivist-formalist-Marxist debates. We also discuss economic, historical, and ethnographic research that directly addresses the role of traders and trade in both past and contemporary societies. In keeping with the complexities of interaction between trade and other aspects of human behavior, we suggest moving away from the either/or perspective or strong identification with any particular paradigm and suggest a return to the middle through a combinational approach to the study of trade in past societies.