A Multi‐disciplinary Approach to the Archaeological Investigation of a Bedrock‐Dominated Shallow‐Marine Landscape: an example from the Bay of Firth,Orkney, UK

Investigation of shallow‐marine environments for submerged prehistoric archaeology can be hampered in many localities by extensive bedrock exposure and thus limited preservation potential. Using the concept of ‘seamless archaeology’ where land‐based archaeology is integrated across the intertidal zone through to the offshore, a multi‐disciplinary approach is essential. This approach taken in the Bay of Firth, Orkney uses geophysics, historical archive and ethno‐archaeology, coastal geomorphology, palaeo‐environmental analyses and sea‐level science, and allows a clearer understanding of the landscape in which prehistoric settlers lived. While acknowledging the limitations of the preserved environment, we are successful in identifying areas of archaeological potential on the sea‐bed for both upstanding structural elements as well as sediment preservation that contains evidence for human occupation. This has wider implications beyond Orkney's World Heritage sites to provide a blueprint for similar studies elsewhere in the coastal zone. © 2012 The Authors     

The nature of the times deceas'd

The essay reflects on the nature of time as a cultural function, especially in the light of the ‘heritage industry’ of the 1980s. In trying to identify the nature of some changes in relationships between pasts and present in the 1990s, the author suggests the concept of ‘post‐heritage’, defines it, and glances at its applicability to 1994.     

Beyond Hollywood: Enhancing Heritage with the ‘Orphan’ Film

Global discussions relating to heritage preservation, with their traditional focus upon architecture, archaeological sites, and landscape, often overlook and, at times, even devalue the role of the moving image. The last century witnessed the emergence and development of moving image preservation practice, which largely remains a separate vocation with a unique agenda and approach. With a case study of historical conservation and presentation in San Antonio, Texas, this paper argues for greater dialogue and collaboration between moving image archivists and traditional heritage preservation practitioners. Creative use of archival media offers unparalleled opportunities to illustrate and explore the development and historical trajectory of heritage sites, the visitors to them and, most importantly, the local communities that participate in and facilitate the evolution of this heritage.     

‘Each fantasy chosen begin’: the music of The Divine Comedy

This article considers the cultural and social context for the music of the Northern Irish band The Divine Comedy. It focuses on three mid-1990s albums – Liberation (1993), Promenade (1994) and Casanova (1996) – and debates the significance of this performance of alternative Ulster masculinity during the peace process. It will detail the lyrical obsession with a very particular type of imagined Anglo-Irishness during the first two of these albums, and then consider the complicated uses of the ‘Britpop’ genre in Casanova. This music is baroque, literary and written by an Anglican bishop's son, Neil Hannon, who grew up in Enniskillen during the Troubles. It will consider how Hannon cobbles together an acceptable identity through the use of literary pretentiousness and a carefully crafted pop persona.     

La trame de la logique floue et l'usure du temps

Sans résumé à propos de: ClaudeRosental,La Trame de l'évidence. Sociologie de la démonstration en logique, Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 2003, 15×22, 367 p., index (Sciences, modernités, philosophies).     

An African origin for African cattle? — some archaeological evidence

Instead of the usual assumption that the Sanga cattle of Africa arose from the crossing of taurine cattle (Bos taurus) from North Africa or the Middle East with humped cattle (Bos indicus) originating in the Indian sub-continent, it is argued that they are of ancient autochthonous origin and have come to be mixed with taurine and humped cattle probably only in the last few hundred years, which is why they share a mosaic of characters with the other two taxa. Much more work needs to be done on the osteology of Sangas and of cattle remains from archaeological sites in Africa, but if this model proves to be correct African cattle should be regarded as a taxon of equal status toBos taurus andBos indicus.

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Résumé Au lieu de l'hypothèse habituelle selon laquelle le bétail Sanga africain provient du croisement du bétail taurin (Box taurus) d'Afrque du Nord ou du Moyen Orient avec le bétail à bosse (Bos indicus) dont l'origine est le sous-continent indien, nous pensons que ce bétail a une origine autochtone ancienne et que les croisements avec les bétails taurins et à bossus n'ont probablement eu lieu que durant les quelques dernières centaines d'années, ce qui explique pourquoi ils partagent une mosaïque de caractères avec les deux autres taxa. De nombreuses recherches restent à faire sur l'ostéologie des Sanga ainsi que sur les restes de bétail des sites archéologiques africains, mais si ce modèle s'avère correct, le bétail africain devra être regardé comme un taxon équivalent à celui deBos taurus etBos indicus.