New Fathoms in Scientific Exploration: The DeepWrecks Project

Modern technology lends itself to holistic exploration and widely accessible outreach. New technology allows scientists studying our planet either from space or deep under the seas, to explore and reveal both natural and cultural resources that have previously escaped our scrutiny. However, the use of these new technologies is expensive and often the exclusive tool of industrial research. Yet, these new technologies can lead the way to greater collaboration, better science and more public access. In 2003 and 2004, a landmark project, combining government agencies, industrial technology and outreach set new standards in collaborative scientific exploration. The project focused on six shipwrecks at depth in the Gulf of Mexico. The questions posed by the project illuminate how science and industry can collaborate to produce remarkable results. The papers presented in this issue form a model for deepwater exploration.     

Archaeology of the Border Fort Achiras,Córdoba (1832–1869)

During the nineteenth century, the existence of a southern border in the Córdoba province resulted from a complex situation where an expanding national state was inserted into a global economic system and into an environment occupied by various Indian groups. This situation created a mixed society on the borderlands. The military line was defended by forts, with one of them being the Achiras Fort (1832–1869). The fort was situated at the end of the mountain range of Comechingones. This paper considers the archaeological investigation of this fort. The most important and consistent part of the archaeological record is the Command. The Command was formed by two rooms. This work also presents the results of the excavations into the fort and describes the archaeological remains found. Finally, a general model for archaeology in the South Córdoba Border is presented.     

Beneath the Rising Sun: “Frenchness” and the Archaeology of Desire

This article takes the case of “rouge pot” fragments found in an archaeological context in New Orleans’ French Quarter associated with the circa 1822 Rising Sun Hotel and investigates the discourses and desires that shape our interpretations of artifacts. We argue that archaeological, historiographic, and public desires overlap and inform one another in a complex web of relations. In New Orleans, the particular web into which the archaeology of cosmetic jars and hotel sites can fall is spun by the ways in which the former French colonial capital is sexualized in both textbooks and folk songs.     

Looking over the Archaeologists’ Shoulders: Web-based Public Outreach in the Deep Wrecks Project

This article presents a case study of how the PAST Foundation partnered with other agencies and organizations to develop a successful public outreach website focusing on the Gulf of Mexico “Deep Wrecks” project in the late summer of 2004.     

Animate Objects: Shell Trumpets and Ritual Networks in the Greater Southwest

For over a millennium, shell trumpets have been an important part of Southwestern US ritual practice. We investigate the distribution of Southwestern shell trumpets, arguing that they are objects that are accorded animacy and can be used to track the history of different social networks. Using ethnohistoric and ethnographic documentation, at least two traditions of historically linked ritual practices are identified: one associated with serpent iconography and the other with curing, warfare, and sorcery. These two traditions represent enduring dispositions that link various regions of the Southwest through the introduction and adoption of ritual practices associated with migration and the transformation of late prehistoric societies.     

A Science Journalist’s Perspective

A critique of papers in the session on Archaeology and War.

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Résumé  Une critique d’articles concernant la session portant sur l’archéologie et la guerre.

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Resumen  Una crítica sobre los trabajos de la jornada sobre arqueología y guerra.

     

Heritage Management and Interpretation: Challenges to Heritage Site-Based Values,Reflections from the Heritage Site of Umm Qais,Jordan

The management of archaeological heritage is complex and problematic for site identity and local culture. Inattention to the array of values of heritage sites leads to the supremacy of a number of them and provides a controversy story of the archaeological site in question. Any heritage management and interpretation effort should correctly identify the different values of the site. Indeed, there is a need to manage and interpret the sites in a way to address the connection between the sites-based values and the associated and surrounding features. In current heritage management practice, values and values-based management are considered to be one of the most important approaches for the management of archaeological heritage. This study aims to understand how the values of the archaeological site of Umm Qais in northern Jordan can be adequately managed as both a natural and cultural landscape. At issue are conflicting views over the different values, their meaning and their uses by the different stakeholders. This research focuses on the ways in which these values are managed and interpreted to the public and whether it is done properly and in a fair manner. The fieldwork study led to a more complex understanding of how conflicting perceptions of values of Umm Qais as a national heritage site by the different stakeholders have affected implementation of management and interpretation projects. The results presented here indicate that the heritage management approach from the case study of Umm Qais focuses specifically on values associated with the physical archaeological aspect of the site, while those associated with the historic neighborhood of the site are neglected. The interpretation of the site has frequently focused on certain aspects of values at the expense of others. Information and insights gained from this study and specific suggestions for changing approaches are considered with regard to potential impacts on the management of the archaeological site and with regard to the public in general.     

Network Analysis and Entanglement

This article explores the extent to which formal network analysis can be used to study aspects of entanglement, the latter referring to the collective sets of dependencies between humans and things. The data used were derived from the Neolithic sites of Boncuklu and Çatalhöyük in central Turkey. The first part of the analysis involves using formal network methods to chart the changing interactions between humans and things at these sites through time. The values of betweenness and centrality vary through time in ways that illuminate the known transformations at the site as, for example, domestic cattle are introduced. The ego networks for houses across four time periods at the two sites are also patterned in ways that contribute to an understanding of social and economic trends. In a second set of analyses, formal network methods are applied to intersecting operational chains, or chainworks. Finally, the dependencies between humans and things are evaluated by exploring the costs and benefits of particular material choices relative to larger entanglements. In conclusion, it is argued that three types of entanglement can be represented and explored using methods taken from the network sciences. The first type concerns the large number of relations that surround any particular human or thing. The second concerns the ways in which entanglements are organized. The third type of entanglement concerns the dialectic between dependence (potential through reliance) and dependency (constraint through reliance).