The Placing of Early Bronze Age Metalwork Deposits: New Evidence from Scotland

This paper considers the earliest metalwork hoards in Scotland, most of which have been found at conspicuous points in the landscape. The treatment of individual objects suggests that they had been carefully selected before they were deposited. Fieldwork, combined with computer reconstruction, shows that half the collections with adequate provenances come from places with direct views of the rising and setting sun at the solstices. The main emphasis seems to have been on midwinter.     

Bayesian Areal Wombling for Geographical Boundary Analysis

In the analysis of spatially referenced data, interest often focuses not on prediction of the spatially indexed variable itself, but on boundary analysis , that is, the determination of boundaries on the map that separate areas of higher and lower values. Existing boundary analysis methods are sometimes generically referred to as wombling , after a foundational article by Womble (1951). When data are available at point level (e.g., exact latitude and longitude of disease cases), such boundaries are most naturally obtained by locating the points of steepest ascent or descent on the fitted spatial surface (Banerjee, Gelfand, and Sirmans 2003). In this article, we propose related methods for areal data (i.e., data which consist only of sums or averages over geopolitical regions). Such methods are valuable in determining boundaries for data sets that, perhaps due to confidentiality concerns, are available only in ecological (aggregated) format, or are only collected this way (e.g., delivery of health-care or cost information). After a brief review of existing algorithmic techniques (including that implemented in the commercial software BoundarySeer), we propose a fully model-based framework for areal wombling, using Bayesian hierarchical models with posterior summaries computed using Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. We explore the suitability of various existing hierarchical and spatial software packages (notably S-plus and WinBUGS) to the task, and show the approach's superiority over existing nonstochastic alternatives, both in terms of utility and average mean square error behavior. We also illustrate our methods (as well as the solution of advanced modeling issues such as simultaneous inference) using colorectal cancer late detection data collected at the county level in the state of Minnesota.     

Drowned Memories: The Submerged Places of the Winnemem Wintu

This article is a brief overview of an instance where landscape inundation has disconnected culture from place. The Winnemem Wintu, a Native American tribe in Northern California, had most of their ancestral landscape along the McCloud River submerged by the construction of Shasta Dam just after World War II. The tribe’s remaining traditional cultural properties are under continual threat of loss and/or destruction, leaving the tribe’s ability to practice traditional ceremonies crippled by legal battles and fights against the continual assertion of United States hegemonic power over tribal cultural identity. As part of archaeological research on these submerged places, the tribe’s spiritual leader, Caleen Sisk-Franco, and Tribal Headman, Mark Franco, spoke with the author about these threats and how their culture must adapt to meet them.     

Approximating the Face of ‘Aunty’: A Question of Likeness

This paper describes two approaches to the facial approximation of three individuals from the Wairau Bar burial site (New Zealand). Two individuals were approximated working in direct reference to the remains and incorporated manual drafting. The third individual, ‘Aunty’ (the respectful title given by the iwi Rangitane elders) was approximated from CT scans and using computer graphics. The computer graphic approach enabled a greater level of precision in the application of the research and recommendations that inform a facial approximation, and facilitated collaboration with appropriate expertise. The computer-graphic approach, however, also resulted in a more photographic facial appearance, which can imply a greater level of knowledge about hard/soft tissue relationships than is currently available.     

Edward Gibbon and the Roman Empire

MARTIN GILBERT. Second World War. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1989. Pp. xix, 846.

BARRIE and FRANCIS PITT. The Chronological Atlas of World War II. London: Macmillan, 1989. Pp. xi, 178.

CORRELLI BARNETT, ed. Hitler's Generals. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1989. Pp. xix, 497.

GEOFFREY ROBERTS. The Unholy Alliance: Stalin's Pact with Hitler. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1989. Pp. xviii, 296.

VICTOR SUVOROV. Icebreaker: Who Started the Second World War?, trans. Thomas B. Beattie. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1990. Pp. xvii, 364.

ROY DOUGLAS. The World War 1939–1943: The Cartoonists' Vision. London and New York: Routledge, 1990. Pp. xii, 300.

PAUL FUSSELL. Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. Pp. x, 330.     

New models of North West European Holocene palaeogeography and inundation

This paper presents new 500 year interval palaeogeographic models for Britain, Ireland and the North West French coast from 11000 cal. BP to present. These models are used to calculate the varying rates of inundation for different geographical zones over the study period. This allows for consideration of the differential impact that Holocene sea-level rise had across space and time, and on past societies. In turn, consideration of the limitations of the models helps to foreground profitable areas for future research.