Living Mesolithic Time: Narratives,Chronologies and Organic Material Culture

British and Irish Mesolithic studies have long been characterized by a reliance on broad-scale lithic typologies, both to provide chronologies, and in discussion of ‘cultural’ groups. More recently, traditional narrative structures—period definitions of ‘Early’ and ‘Late’, or culture typologies—have been complemented by a host of other evidence. This has included new studies of site stratigraphy, evidence for seasonality, and material culture chaîne opératoire chronologies, which place a greater emphasis on both temporal precision and the lived experiences of Mesolithic peoples. This paper will consider how the study of organic artefacts forces these narrative scales into acute focus, and presents an opportunity to explore the challenges in synthesizing different forms of data. We discuss how the evidence from sites in Ireland and Britain allows for new approaches, and highlight some of the challenges that this evidence presents, not least the perennial issue of moving from site-specific data to broader narratives. While the nature of earlier prehistoric evidence makes this an especially obvious issue for Mesolithic studies, it is one which generally besets archaeology. We suggest that in order to move beyond this in earlier prehistoric studies specifically, we need to make better use of all evidence sources, however seemingly prosaic, including antiquarian collections in museums, and chance and casual finds. Only by including the raft of available data, and recognizing its utility beyond the sum of individual apparently uninspiring parts, can we begin to move from generalizing narratives to more nuanced archaeological understandings of past material worlds.     

The End of the African Mining Enclave? Domestic Marginalization and Labour Fragmentation in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Africa-focused global value chain (GVC) scholars argue that the new mining industry practice of corporate outsourcing invalidates the traditional enclave thesis by providing new opportunities to support domestic firms and stimulate industrialization. However, this literature has clustered around Africa's middle- and high-income countries and its analytical approach abandons the centre–periphery framework within which its earlier antecedents were grounded, while overlooking labour dynamics. Correcting for these limitations, this article explores the GVC literature's claims through a single case study of a gold mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo, representative of a process of foreign-controlled gold sector (re)industrialization underway across a group of 20 low-income African countries. The findings confirm rather than invalidate the original enclave thesis, observing that corporate outsourcing has done little to stimulate broader industrialization while facilitating the arrival and expansion of foreign firm subsidiaries. Meanwhile, the new industry practice has also facilitated the adverse incorporation and fragmentation of Congolese labour, thus weakening the collective strength of workers. The findings demonstrate the value of expanding the conventional GVC framework to incorporate a consideration of peripherality and the capitalist labour process, and demonstrate the need for state intervention via pro-labour and industrial policy.     

Mistranslations of Josephus and the expansion of public charity in late antiquity

Three Latin mistranslations of Josephus' Jewish War I.61 between the fourth and the seventh centuries ce reflect the expansion of a series of charitable institutions, called xenodocheia and nosokomeia, around the Mediterranean in late antiquity and the early medieval period. In the late fourth century, authors known as pseudo‐Rufinus and pseudo‐Hegesippus independently mistranslated Josephus' report that the Hasmonean ruler John Hyrcanus hired mercenary troops at the conclusion of a Seleucid siege of Jerusalem. In their confusion, these authors both interpreted this as a charitable action and pseudo‐Hegesippus anachronistically imported the xenodocheion into the Hellenistic period. In the early seventh century Isidore of Seville expanded upon pseudo‐Hegesippus' mistake to transform the hiring of mercenaries into the genesis of both the xenodocheion and the nosokomeion. Isidore's inclusion of these institutions in his Etymologiae indicated their ubiquity and popularity by the seventh century, while for later writers his work canonized the mistaken origin.     

“Under the Blood” at Azusa Street: Exodus Typology at the Heart of Pentecostal Origins

This article intends to analyse the spirituality of the Azusa Street Mission with a view to achieving two things. Firstly, I will draw attention to an emphasis that seems almost wholly ignored in studies of early Pentecostalism: the blood of Jesus. Secondly, while drawing attention to the considerable prominence of this Christological‐soteriological motif within the discourse of Azusa Street, I will seek to find a context for it that might help to explain it. This context will be explored in biblical, spiritual, and racial terms.