Mexico: A Leader in Ratification of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage

Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History established an ethical program for the protection and research of the country’s underwater cultural heritage (UCH). Its Vice-Directorate of Underwater Archaeology trains archaeology and conservation students, participates in national and international initiatives regarding UCH, and develops multidisciplinary projects in maritime and continental waters. During negotiation of the UNESCO Convention, the Latin American and Caribbean Group united in a strong voice and contributed to its adoption in 2001; in 2006, Mexico ratified the Convention. This article highlights Mexico’s adoption of the 2001 UNESCO Convention as a case study, to stimulate all countries to ratify the convention and to cooperate in protecting the world’s UCH.     

United States: Responses to the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage

While the US is not a signatory to the 2001 UNESCO Convention, much progress has been made by US agencies to implement its Rules and principles. The US signed an Agreement on Titanic with Rules that are nearly identical to the UNESCO Convention. US agencies have also expressed support for the Rules and their implementation into their programs. This paper identifies these positive actions as well as the two primary concerns that have prevented the US from signing the Convention to date: (1) “creeping coastal State jurisdiction” and (2) treatment of sunken state vessels.     

四、五世纪东亚世界的形成与东晋南朝——以中国史料为中心

Adopting the historical periodization and the “ethnic awakening” theory of Konan Naito, this essay discusses the early formation of East Asian states such as Koguryō, Paekche, Silla and Wa during the 4^th and 5^th centuries, as well as the political order within the East Asian society shaped by the enfeoffment of the Eastern Jin and the Southern dynasties by using Chinese sources. It argues that the cultural influences of the Qin and Han dynasties promoted the ethnic awakening of East Asian peoples, and during the turmoil periods of the Wei, the Jin, and the Division Era these ethnic groups leaped rapidly in their roads of state-formation. The enfeoffment system of the Eastern Jin played significant role in this process, and therefore set up the basic structure of the international relationship in early modern East Asia.     

明清的资讯传播、社会想像与公众社会

The flourishing development of media during the Ming and Qing eras affected the building of new methods of interpersonal interactions between an individual and society as well as between the people themselves. By virtue of media like Dibao 邸报 (court liaison reports), drama or novels, interpersonal interactions could reach beyond space and object restrictions. These media could thus rapidly spread particular or individual news to the general public, making those who were absent from the scene feel as if they were “experiencing” it, and at the same time allowing them to “participate in” social affairs beyond their knowledge. In this way, mass media surpassed the individual living sphere, ultimately forming a “public sphere.” Under the influence of these media, each individual could join this “public sphere” and be connected with the imagined “general public.” That is to say, mass media created an “imagined society.” In addition to a personal limited “real world,” there was an immense “fictitious world” for everyone to take part in and experience. Accordingly, interactions between people developed into interactions between each individual and the abstract society, which could cut across space limitations, and establish an immense “public society.”     

明清边疆社会的习俗互化——以海南女性生活为例

From the Qin and Han periods to the Qing Dynasty, there was a constant flow of people from China’s mainland to Hainan Island. These immigrants and indigenous people developed Hainan together. Particularly in the Ming and Qing dynasties, they adopted customs from each other. By tracing the changes of women’s lives in Hainan during this period, this paper studies how different ethnic customs influenced each other.     

Soil chemical signatures of a historic sod house: activity area analysis of an arctic semisubterranean structure on Nelson Island,Alaska

On Nelson Island in western Alaska, some Yup’ik inhabitants built and inhabited semisubterranean houses until the early 1960s. This affords a unique opportunity to examine known activity areas of ethnoarchaeological soils using multielement chemical characterization of soils. These data can then be compared to archaeological investigations, allowing a nuanced and sophisticated understanding of the activities performed in the past. Here, we present elemental concentration data from soil extracts, generated with a quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer, of the following elements in the soil extract recorded in parts per billion: sodium (Na), magnesium (Mg), aluminum (Al), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), titanium (Ti), chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), arsenic (As), strontium (Sr), barium (Ba), lead (Pb), and uranium (U). When compared to an offsite area, the sod house samples were enriched in phosphorus and magnesium, and specific areas within the sod house exhibited different signatures related to different activities, including the incorporation of wood ash and waste into the soil.     

Fruit and seed biomineralization and its effect on preservation

Mineralised fruits and seeds are frequently found in archaeological sediments but their chemical nature has not been often examined. The nature and the origin of these archaeobotanical remains have to be investigated to understand their taphonomic history. Fruits or seeds can be mineralised not only by replacement mineralisation but also by biomineralisation during the plant life. The mineral components of three fossil fruits sampled on the Pleistocene site of Dmanisi were analysed and compared with their modern analogues. Analyses were carried out by means of an environmental scanning electron microscope, equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray device and by means of a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer. Biogenic carbonates and/or biogenic silica were identified in the fossil and modern fruits of some taxa. Comparison between fossil and modern specimens has shown that molecular reorganisation occurred in carbonate and in biogenic silica during fossilisation, through diagenetic processes. The resulting stable mineral structures confer an exceptional preservation to fruits in sediments. Taking into account these taphonomic specificities (transformation and differential preservation), the chronological and palaeoenvironmental aspects of the mineralised fruits are discussed.     

A Fisk patent metallic burial case from Western Missouri: an interdisciplinary and comprehensive effort to reconstruct the history of an early settler of Lexington,Missouri

In 2006 a cast-iron coffin was discovered in an unmarked burial plot in Lexington, Missouri. A multifaceted investigation was conducted to provide historical documentation and possible identification of the individual. The coffin is an early Fisk Patent Metallic Burial Case. Osteological analyses indicate that the skeletal remains belong to a 20 to 30 year old white female who consistently ate an omnivorous diet with significant amounts of C4 plants or seafood. Rib morphology and her burial garments suggest she frequently wore restrictive clothing. No gross skeletal pathological lesions or trauma were observed except for a patch of reactive bone and an atypical pattern of bone remodeling on the visceral surface of the sixth rib. Subsequent bacterial DNA analysis of the ribs and sternum indicate the presence of tuberculosis infection. Although not conclusive, multiple lines of evidence are consistent with the skeletal remains representing Elizabeth (Triplett) Stewart who died in 1854 of pulmonary tuberculosis. This multidisciplinary research significantly contributes to the local history of Lexington, Missouri and provides a likely identification of the deceased individual for the Stewart Family.