Isotopic anthropology of rural German medieval diet: intra- and inter-population variability

This study investigates the diet of an eleventh century CE parish community located in northwestern Germany. We assessed the isotopic compositions of human (n = 24) and faunal (n = 17) bone collagen (δ ¹³C_col, δ ¹⁵N_col) and human structural carbonate (δ ¹³C_sc) using skeletal material recovered from the Dalheim cemetery. Traditional interpretation of the isotopic data indicates that Dalheim residents likely relied on a C₃ plant-based diet and consumed some terrestrial animal products without evidence of marine resource input in the diet. Bivariate and multivariate models used as an additional means to assess diet indicate minor consumption of C₄ plant foods in this community. The multivariate-isotope model identified regional similarities and differences in C₄ plant/marine food consumption and in dietary protein sources by comparing data from Dalheim with those of other medieval sites from the published literature. We did not observe sex differences in this population but differences in δ ¹⁵N_col suggest that juveniles consumed the lowest trophic level protein.     

ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE SEARCH FOR HOMERIC ITHACA: THE CASE OF MYCENAEAN KEPHALONIA

This short article on a large subject is presented as a tribute to Klavs Randsborg, because of his involvement in the 1990s with the archaeology of Kephalonia at the time of the resurgence of the debate over the identification of the island with Homeric Ithaca, to which he himself contributed some thoughts. It briefly traces the history of the controversy about the Homeric geography and topography from its origins and discusses the evidence that has made Kephalonia a contender for the homeland of Odysseus. The intention is not to offer yet another hypothesis about the location of Homeric Ithaca, but to consider and question the role of archaeology in the debate, in view of the high expectations of Homeric realists.     

Cosmic negotiations: Cahokian religion and Ramey Incised pottery in the northern hinterland

Cahokia’s cultural influence altered patterns of social organization throughout the Midwest, and this complex historical process warrants further interregional research. Ramey Incised jars were cosmograms through which Cahokians attempted to frame relationships among different social groups and the broader cosmos. The exchange, and subsequent emulation, of these ritually charged vessels provided opportunities for hinterland groups to do the same. But did hinterland Mississippian peoples adopt a Cahokian understanding of the cosmos wholesale or reinterpret it based on local understandings and histories? To address this question, this paper examines variation in Ramey Incised iconographic motifs and design fields from the Lower Illinois River valley, Central Illinois River valley, Apple River valley, and the Aztalan site (47JE1). The data are then statistically compared with Emerson’s typology from the American Bottom, highlighting ground-level patterns of material variation which can be used to interpret the ways in which local peoples negotiated the spread of dominant ideologies and religious practices. Analysis of these patterns suggests regional differences in the perceived composition and structure of the cosmos and reveals the power of local worldviews in culture contact scenarios.     

European Values and the Asylum Crisis

This article examines the threat to European liberal democratic values posed by the current asylum crisis. Drawing on a historical analysis of European asylum policies, it examines the origins of the post-Second World War refugee regime and the sources of the current challenge to its liberal universalist premises. The argument discerns two dominant forms of critique of the liberal model in twentieth-century debates on refugee policy: welfare protectionist nationalism, and ethno-centric or racist nationalism. Both of these justifications for restricting asylum have resurfaced in contemporary debates, used by—respectively—centre-left and far right parties. Having considered why these arguments have resurfaced, the article suggests three scenarios for future European responses to the asylum crisis and their implications for liberal universalist values. It argues that the liberal approach can only be sustained through more effective EU burden-sharing and the reorientation of EU external policies to incorporate refugee and migration issues.     

Editorial

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

The failure of parenting and the success of love in Robert McLiam Wilson's Ripley Bogle and Eureka Street

Robert McLiam Wilson has become one of the most influential literary voices to emerge from Northern Ireland since the Troubles began, and he has challenged the understanding of contemporary Irishness. His novels are gritty, acerbic and he constructs images of Belfast that are as startling as they are affectionate. Both Ripley Bogle (1989) and Eureka Street (1996) involve characters from broken families who, in spite of sectarian violence around them, find emotional support from unlikely individuals. Failure of parenting is a persistent motif in McLiam Wilson, but so too is the triumph of love because the protagonists of Ripley Bogle and Eureka Street both turn to unlikely individuals for guidance. Although traditional parenting fails, pseudo-adoptive parents mollify both Ripley Bogle and Jake Jackson by granting them support and love.