Materialities of Nostalgia at the Old Homestead

This paper reflects on processes of memory- and history-making at the Elihu Akin House, a historic site in a New England coastal village. Since the late 18th century, the house has been a place of dwelling and deliberate recollection. Recent archaeological excavations, a 1922 silent movie, and an Akin son’s 1778 letter represent multiple media, periods, and perspectives, for which the house serves as a touchstone. These three occasions comprise an archive of nostalgia. Remembrance is repeatedly filtered through and entangled with in-process experiences. The material and emotional are mutually constituted as the house is reinvested with significance. Understanding these processes has implications as the site is developed into a heritage center striving to present not only local and regional history, but also the methods and challenges of heritage management.     

Alkaline cooking and stable isotope tissue-diet spacing in swine: archaeological implications

In this study we examine the effects of alkaline cooking on carbon and oxygen stable isotopic ratios of mineralized tissues from nine pigs raised on monotonous mixed C3/C4 vegetarian diets. Two sources of collagen (humerus and mandible) and two sources of apatite (humerus and enamel) were analyzed. Within each diet group, humerus and mandible collagens were found to record equivalent δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O ratios; however, enamel apatite was found to be enriched over bone apatite by 2.3‰ in carbon and 1.7‰ in oxygen. Alkaline cooking was found to slightly, but significantly increase the Δ¹³C_{collagen-diet} and Δ¹⁸O_{collagen-diet} of bone collagen. A similar trend towards enrichment was observed in bone and enamel Δ¹³C_apatite-diet and Δ¹⁸O _apatite-diet, but the differences were not significant. Observed isotopic shifts were consistent with increased nutrient utilization of the alkaline-cooked maize as compared to raw maize. In addition, a reexamination of the relationship between diet and tissue carbon isotopic values suggests that species and alimentary type should be considered when interpreting ancient diets.     

The magic of early medieval ritual

Whether, and how, we ought to study early medieval rituals has been much debated recently, including in the pages of this journal by Geoffrey Koziol and Philippe Buc. This paper is intended as a contribution to this debate, and argues that rituals' written or spoken interpretations are not a simple rendering of the ritualized actions' 'meanings' in words and must therefore be analysed separately, not conflated with the possible effects of performance. Ritualized acts thus had two loci: the short-term experience of the embodied performance, and the long-term struggle over interpretation in speech and writing, both of which need to be explored with appropriate methodologies. Whilst the textuality of our sources thus needs to be taken seriously, it is proposed that we can also say something about the possible or even probable characteristics of early medieval ritualized acts as the medium of bodily postures and gestures used for demonstrative public interations between power holders.     

Editorial

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Auf den Spuren einer Wachstumsbranche

Zusammenfassung Immer mehr Geographinnen und Geographen sind in der Consultingbranche t?tig. Dipl.-Geogr. Dr. Manfred Miosga ist auf diesem Markt seit einigen Jahren selbstst?ndig. Zusammen mit seinem Kollegen und Firmengründer Wolfgang Grubwinkler ist er Vorstand der „IDENTIT?T und IMAGE Coaching AG“ mit Sitz im niederbayrischen Eggenfelden. Die Firma hat seit 2001 die Betriebsform einer kleinen Aktiengesellschaft; im Aufsichtsrat führt Prof. Dr. Günter Heinritz von der Technischen Universit?t München den Vorsitz. Das Unternehmen besch?ftigt sieben Mitarbeiter, au?erdem bietet es gelegentlich Praktikumspl?tze. Dr. Manfred Miosga sprach mit Dipl.-Geogr. Ute Christina Bauer über seine eigenen beruflichen Erfahrungen und die Chancen von Geographinnen und Geographen in der Beraterbranche.     

„Geo“ erlebbar machen

Zusammenfassung  Geoparks sind ausgewiesene R?ume, in denen die Bedeutung geologischer und geomorphologischer Prozesse für die Gestalt der Erdoberfl?che, für die Verteilung natürlicher Ressourcen, aber auch für die Landnutzung sowie die Wirtschafts- und Kulturgeschichte bewusst und erlebbar gemacht wird. Für Deutschland hat es die GeoUnion übernommen, sogenannte Nationale GeoParks zu begutachten und zu zertifizieren. Mit der Geologin Dr. Ulrike Mattig, Vorsitzende der Expertengruppe für Nationale GeoParks Deutschland, sprach Dipl.-Geogr. Ute Christina Bauer über das Geopark-Konzept und seine Umsetzung.     

Production Skill and Paleoindian Workgroup Organization in the Medicine Creek Drainage,Southwestern Nebraska

Extremely skillful stoneworking is widely cited as an important characteristic of the Paleoindian period in North America. This paper considers differences in finished and unfinished projectile points and bifaces from two Paleoindian sites in the Medicine Creek drainage of southwestern Nebraska with this in mind, arguing that these differences reflect significant differences in the overall level of skill of the stoneworkers who used these sites. Recognizing variability in Paleoindian flintknapping skill has implications for the organization of landuse in the Medicine Creek region and for our understanding of the archaeology of the Paleoindian period in general.     

Archaeology Unfolding: Diversity and the Loss of Isolation

Summary.   British historical archaeology has seen new theoretical engagement in recent years. A diverse and distinctive body of theory has developed in this increasingly vibrant and international area of study, testing disciplinary boundaries, especially with history, social anthropology and material culture studies.
This paper takes stock of three distinct processes within the new historical archaeology: the birth of material history, the loss of antiquity, and the loss of isolation. The implications of these processes for the wider discipline are explored with reference to landscape archaeology, using the example of the Ironbridge Gorge, Shropshire. In a consideration of future directions, it is argued that historical archaeology provides particular insights to the need across the discipline for archaeology to respond with self-confidence to complexity by drawing out and celebrating diversity in theory and practice.     

Dueling Decisions

In a government of divided powers, the respective roles of the president and Congress in determining American foreign policy often are disputed. Rival Supreme Court decisions on this matter, U.S. v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corporation (1936), and Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952), were resurrected and argued with renewed vigor following the Iran-contra affair. Despite attempts by the defenders of each decision to discredit or reinterpret the rival case, both decisions stand as reasonable, if incompatible, interpretations of constitutional meaning.