Atlantic salmon, archaeology and climate change in New England

A paucity of archaeological remains of Atlantic salmon in Northeast North America has been cited as evidence that the species may have been present in the region only during and after the Little Ice Age (ca. 1450–1850 AD), one of coldest periods of the Holocene. However, significant problems of preservation, recovery and identification remain. Here, improved methods of identification use vertebra structure to distinguish salmon from trout, and strontium/calcium ratios to differentiate sea-run from landlocked salmon. In addition to the Little Ice Age, Atlantic salmon is identified in tightly dated contexts at 7000–6500 and 3500–3000 calendar years BP, during climate periods that were comparatively warm and wet.     

Boat-based foraging and discontinuous prehistoric red abalone exploitation along the California coast

Temporally and spatially discontinuous pulses of heavy prehistoric exploitation of red abalone (Haliotis rufescens) have been documented along the southern and central California coast. This article examines the very late (post-950 cal BP) appearance of numerous red abalone processing sites on the Monterey Peninsula in central California. We test three prominent explanations offered for the sudden onset of red abalone processing sites: trophic cascades resulting from human predation on sea otters, logistical foraging by inland residents, and changes in sea surface temperature. A trophic cascade appears to have occurred but does not fully explain the nature or timing of the phenomenon in the region.     

Sharing the colonial burden: Treaty‐making and reconciliation in Hul’qumi’num territory

This article explores different understandings of reconciliation within the context of modern treaty making in British Columbia, focusing on the role of the BC treaty process in resolving the longstanding dispute between Aboriginal Peoples and the Crown over rights to land. Although the treaty process was created to reconcile competing interests in the land, Crown and Aboriginal negotiators often have contradictory understandings of how this reconciliation is to take place. Drawing on a case study of the Hul’qumi’num Peoples, a group of Coast Salish First Nations, I examine how different understandings and approaches to reconciliation impede progress at the treaty table. I conclude that progress towards treaty and reconciliation in this case will require coming to terms with the Hul’qumi’num territory's colonial history and geography, something that the current treaty process actively avoids, plus the crafting of a treaty agreement that allows for a more equal sharing of the burden that colonialism has created in this place. More particularly, meaningful reconciliation will require a fuller recognition of Aboriginal title and rights across the breadth of the territory and a commitment to meaningful compensation of Hul’qumi’num Peoples for the wrongful taking of their lands.     

The growth of an urban landscape: recent research in early medieval Norwich

In 1977, Alan Carter published an appraisal of the early development of Norwich in which he not only reviewed previous assessments of the city's growth but also set out models for testing by a range of archaeological and historical methodologies. Thirty years later, considerable research in Norwich has deepened understanding of pre‐Conquest occupation, identifying more closely the probable development pattern and enabling a re‐assessment and expansion of Carter's ideas. This paper reviews that research, seeking to determine both the character of the urban landscape by 1066 and its likely economic and social diversity, while proposing future research areas.     

Multiple assessments of local properties,production, and performance in metal objects: an experimental case study from Petra,Jordan

This object-specific case study focuses on cupreous artifacts excavated from the Great Temple complex of Petra, Jordan to demonstrate how the use of compositional X-ray analyses alongside two experimental applications (ImageJ software and nanoindentation) have the potential to generate different and otherwise unobtainable information about archaeological metals. The study highlights the value of using multiple techniques as a means of resolving the ambiguities that tend to arise from interpretations of single-sited measurements on objects and from single-instrumental analyses during studies of production processes and consequent material performance. Employing different techniques on multiple localities within a sample permits the gathering of precise information about the behavior of and interrelationships between variables that affect the objects’ fabrication and use, particularly composition, structure, and hardness properties. The resulting data are interpreted in association with contextual archaeological information from Petra to consider the use-life and potential significance of these objects.     

Riot and Respectability: The Shifting Terrain of Class Language and Status in Baltimore during the Great Strike of 1877

This essay focuses on people negotiating class boundaries and identities in Baltimore through the revealing prism of the riot that occurred there during the Great Strike of 1877, in order to understand the multiple meanings of class for urban Americans after the Civil War. While working-class consciousness motivated some to support the railroad strikers, the riot illuminates how other participants were situated astride and moved across porous class boundaries, and how vague languages of class lacked the accuracy to describe the social landscape of the Gilded Age. The shifting terrain of class language and status allowed Baltimoreans to contest and shape the meaning of terms like ‘respectability’ by, for instance, wearing ready-made clothing. Yet these unstable categories placed others in uncomfortable positions between working and elite classes in society and between crowd and militia on the streets, threatening their well-being and the ideological fabric of a nation enamored of the virtuous producer-citizen.