Beneath the Rising Sun: “Frenchness” and the Archaeology of Desire

This article takes the case of “rouge pot” fragments found in an archaeological context in New Orleans’ French Quarter associated with the circa 1822 Rising Sun Hotel and investigates the discourses and desires that shape our interpretations of artifacts. We argue that archaeological, historiographic, and public desires overlap and inform one another in a complex web of relations. In New Orleans, the particular web into which the archaeology of cosmetic jars and hotel sites can fall is spun by the ways in which the former French colonial capital is sexualized in both textbooks and folk songs.     

Late third‐millennium elite burials in Bahrain

Studies of old aerial photographs of the Bahrain burial mound fields have revealed that a small number of both Early Type (c. 2200–2050 BC) and Late Type (c. 2050–1750 BC) mounds are encircled by an outer ring wall, apparently marking out the mound as belonging to an elite. Four of these mounds have been excavated, and the results are presented. The geological differences between the Early Type and the Late Type mound landscapes are discussed.     

Trends in pig product processing at British Neolithic Grooved Ware sites traced through organic residues in potsherds

Gas chromatography (GC), GC-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and GC-combustion-isotope ratio MS (GC-C-IRMS) analyses of absorbed and surface lipid residues preserved in potsherds were used to explore the extent of pig product processing exploitation in the later British Neolithic Grooved Ware tradition. Assessments were made regarding whether porcine lipids were associated with specific Grooved Ware traits, i.e. decoration, substyle, geographical area and type of site. Two hundred and twenty-two Grooved Ware potsherds were analysed, 70% of which contained lipid concentrations considered significant (>5 μg g⁻¹). All the lipid residues were dominated by animal fats, although plant and beeswax were also detected in a small number of extracts. δ¹³C values of the major fatty acid components of degraded animal fats (C_16:0 and C_18:0) were determined for 126 extracts and used to assign ruminant or porcine origins to the residues; 16% of these were found to have a predominantly porcine isotope signature. Statistical associations with pig exploitation were shown to exist with substyle, geographical area and site type, whereas, no relationship was seen between decoration and the type of commodity processed. Intact triacylglycerols were preserved in 19% of the sherds; half of these had distributions consistent with the identifications based on δ¹³C values, the remainder differed either due to the presence of mixed commodities or because lower molecular weight homologues had been lost due to degradation. In addition to the detection of pig exploitation, results from lipid residue analysis showed a good correlation with faunal assemblages, suggesting that stable isotope analysis may be used as a proxy for animal exploitation at sites where bones have not survived.     

Plant exploitation and ethnopalynological evidence from the Wadi Teshuinat area (Tadrart Acacus,Libyan Sahara)

Pollen analyses of 13 archaeological sites in the Wadi Teshuinat area, in southwestern Fezzan, Libya, were synthesised to explore the potential contribution of palynological investigation to archaeological research in this area. During the Holocene, the sites were occupied by pre-Pastoral (hunter–gatherers) and Pastoral (pastoralists) cultures. Different pollen stratigraphies and floras characterised the diverse sites and the relevant cultural phases. Pollen data were reported by discussing the sites separately, and by combining them to interpret the regional data set. Emphasis was made on the anthropogenic pollen indicators and grasses, including large grass pollen grains (>40 μm), which were considered evidence of plant transport into the site. These were ethnobotanical markers, human-made evidence of plant harvesting by hunter–gatherers, or of animal breeding by pastoralists. The disappearance of some wild cereals was also observed, consistent with increasing climate dryness and land exploitation. Macroremains were used as a parallel tool to better understand plant exploitation in the region.     

Same island, different diet: Cultural evolution of food practice on Öland, Sweden, from the Mesolithic to the Roman Period

The Mesolithic–Neolithic transition in north-west Europe has been described as rapid and uniform, entailing a swift shift from the use of marine and other wild resources to domesticated terrestrial resources. Here, we approach the when, what and how of this transition on a regional level, using empirical data from Öland, an island in the Baltic Sea off the Swedish east coast, and also monitor changes that occurred after the shift. Radiocarbon dating and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of bones and teeth from 123 human individuals, along with faunal isotope data from 27 species, applying to nine sites on Öland and covering a time span from the Mesolithic to the Roman Period, demonstrate a great diversity in food practices, mainly governed by culture and independent of climatic changes. There was a marked dietary shift during the second half of the third millennium from a mixed marine diet to the use of exclusively terrestrial resources, interpreted as marking the large-scale introduction of farming. Contrary to previous claims, this took place at the end of the Neolithic and not at the onset. Our data also show that culturally induced dietary transitions occurred continuously throughout prehistory. The availability of high-resolution data on various levels, from intra-individual to inter-population, makes stable isotope analysis a powerful tool for studying the evolution of food practices.     

Confronting a Disciplinary Blindness: Women,War and Rape in the International Politics of Security

Much of the debate surrounding the inclusion of women in the study of international politics, particularly in reflections of war, promotes passive representation. State-sanctioned images of non-combatant women in supportive wartime roles reflect, rather than confront, traditional conceptualisations of 'legitimate knowledge' and ways of knowing. Therefore, estimates that 30,000 women were raped during the war in Bosnia shocked the international community. Yet it shouldn't. War rape is as old as war itself. This article looks at why, and how, traditional forms of theorising about international politics fails to identify or vocalise the violent insecurities of women in domestic and international space, thus ensuring women's silence. It also draws on alternative ways of knowing to confront the tradition and to un/recover the experiences of women.     

Reconstructing subsistence at the Yingpanshan and Gaoshan sites in Sichuan province,China: Insights from isotope analysis on bone samples and charred crop remains

During the Neolithic period, the Chengdu Plain was a key region where two important crops, rice and millet, were cultivated together. Millet was probably introduced from north-western China c.3500–3300 cal. bce , and rice came from the Middle Yangtze River c.2600 cal. bce . In this study, human and faunal remains, as well as charred crop grains, were collected from the Yingpanshan (3300–2600 cal. bce ) and Gaoshan (2500–2000 cal. bce ) sites where the dominant crop was millet and rice, respectively. Carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses were conducted on human bones and the ecofact samples in order to reconstruct the subsistence at the sites. The results indicate that the diets of two individuals recovered from the Yingpanshan site consisted of both C₃- and C₄-based foods, predominantly the former. By contrast, Yingpanshan pigs consumed a large quantity of C₄ fodder. This result, combined with the ecofact evidence, suggests that millet was the main crop at the Yingpanshan site. It also highlights the fact that the two Yingpanshan individuals might be non-locals and/or belonged to later periods. On the other hand, the diet of the Gaoshan community was dominated by C₃-based foods. When considering the archaeobotanical evidence at Baodun, a site contemporaneous with and near to the Gaoshan site, it can be stated that rice was an important food resource for the Gaoshan community. This study also suggests how crops were managed at the two sites. The Yingpanshan people might have used manure for growing millet. Both manuring and irrigation might have also been practised by Gaoshan's rice farmers. However, more studies are required to understand the extent of manuring and irrigation in their agricultural economies.     

Intervention or inspiration?: Kolam and fieldwork ethics in the Tamil diaspora (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

This article explores a classic dilemma concerning the extent to which anthropologist fieldworkers may influence their fieldwork hosts. This dilemma arose in the course of the author's research on kolam drawing practices among diaspora Tamils in the UK. Kolam constitute a popular visual practice among Tamils in India and Sri Lanka, but less so in the diaspora. However, the researcher's interest in kolam practice began to awaken an interest on the part of diaspora Tamils in the UK and affect the very practices researched. Does this constitute an intervention or might it be considered an appropriate form of inspiration? The article makes a contribution to the literature on ethics and on diasporic communities, whose members, although reticent to perpetuate practices that might upset their host society, may nevertheless defer to researchers with specialist knowledge of their homeland.     

Finding Vikings in the Danelaw

Historical, artefactual and place‐name evidence indicates that Scandinavian migrants moved to eastern England in the ninth century AD, settling in the Danelaw. However, only a handful of characteristically Scandinavian burials have been found in the region. One, widely held, explanation is that most of these Scandinavian settlers quickly adopted local Christian burial customs, thus leaving Scandinavians indistinguishable from the Anglo‐Saxon population. We undertook osteological and isotopic analysis to investigate the presence of first‐generation Scandinavian migrants. Burials from Masham were typical of the later Anglo‐Saxon period and included men, women and children. The location and positioning of the four adult burials from Coppergate, however, are unusual for Anglo‐Scandinavian York. None of the skeletons revealed interpersonal violence. Isotopic evidence did not suggest a marine component in the diet of either group, but revealed migration on a regional, and possibly an international, scale. Combined strontium and oxygen isotope analysis should be used to investigate further both regional and Scandinavian migration in the later Anglo‐Saxon period.