World War II Underwater Cultural Heritage Sites in Truk Lagoon: Considering a Case for World Heritage Listing

This paper explores a number of issues in regard to the world heritage listing of the World War II underwater cultural heritage sites located in Truk Lagoon. The destruction of the Japanese Naval Base at Truk was an important event in the American strategy to end World War II and it had a profound effect on the indigenous inhabitants. Divers from all over the world visit Truk Lagoon to dive the 50 shipwrecks and numerous aircraft. The paper investigates the significance of the sites in accordance with the criteria for world heritage listing, and in context with Pacific Island Nations requirements.
© 2004 The Nautical Archaeology Society     

Sickle blade life-history and the transition to agriculture: an early Neolithic case study from Southwest Asia

In Southwest Asia, sickle blades first appear early in the sequence of the transition to agriculture. In the past, detailed qualitative research on silica bearing blade stone tools focus on the characterization of use-wear traces such as polish types and accrual rates. In this paper we approach the study of sickle blades slightly different, choosing to examine tool life-history by developing a method to quantitatively estimate harvesting intensity. The method centers on an experiment of cutting cereal stalks and measuring stone blade edge thickness under a scanning electron microscope as a proxy for cutting time. We end with regressing the experimental results to provide an estimation of how intensively archaeological sickle blades recovered from the site of Dhra’, Jordan were used for harvesting. The results, while preliminary, enable an initial interpretation of sickle blades as important tools with long use-life histories during the early Neolithic in the Southern Levant.