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.     

From <Emphasis Type="Italic">Grand Dérangement</Emphasis> to Acadiana: History and Identity in the Landscape of South Louisiana

Acadian expulsion from Nova Scotia and subsequent settlement in south Louisiana during the late eighteenth century have inspired numerous studies since the 1970s concerning their history, cultural practices, and ethnic identity. The transformative landscape of south Louisiana is the milieu where actions, experiences, and perception interconnect with collective memory and historical consciousness in the production of Cajun identity. The resulting historical narratives and commemorations constitute a heritage landscape known as Acadiana, where monuments, memorials, historic sites, and parks reaffirm and reproduce this identity. An historical archaeology of Acadiana, including a recent investigation of the Amand Broussard homesite, offers a unique opportunity for cultural analysis and historical critique.     

Archaeological Research in Conflict Areas: Practice and Responsibilities

This paper discusses the relationships between ethics and archaeological fieldwork. It represents the author’s reflections on her own archaeological work in an area, Lebanon, which has in recent times been wracked by considerable violence. The stimulus for the paper came mainly from the question posed by the session organizers and editors of this issue: what would constitute ethical archaeological practice, especially in situations of war and violence but also in cultural contexts in which different approaches to understanding and valuing historical knowledge predominate than those typically held by archaeologists. Two concrete examples from my own fieldwork in Beirut and Kamid el-Loz make clear how the scientific interests of historical-archaeological research and those of people who live in the research area can be reconciled despite specific instances in which they diverge.     

From Ethnogenesis to Ethnic Segmentation in the Wabash Valley: Constructing Identity and Houses in Great Lakes Fur Trade Society

This study asks the question, “What happens when the colonizers become the colonized?” It examines the social, cultural and political-economic transformations that took place as first the British and then the Americans wrested control of Great Lakes fur trade from the French and their Native American allies. One result was the ethnic segmentation of the fur trade labor market, which attempted to relegate Canadiens to the role of fur trade laborers. In response Canadien traders constructed homes and identities that were constitutive of both their fur trade society heritage and their political-economic position.     

Threads: Collecting Cloth in the North American French Colonies

Trade of European-produced cloth and clothing enabled indigenous and non-indigenous inhabitants of colonial New France to rethink the “hand-woven”, impacting how self could be presented through dress. At the same time, objects were being collected in New France for cabinets of curiosities and museums. These different collections resonated in different ways through history, subsequently influencing modern understandings of colonial cloth and clothing. This paper examines colonial experiences of cloth by looking at archaeological remnants of cloth and cloth production as compared to how indigenous and non-indigenous colonial peoples were and are being represented by cloth and clothing in museum collections.