Iron Age farmers in southwestern Zambia: some aspects of spatial organization

Examination of the spatial organization of prehistoric farming hamlets in southwestern Zambia permits certain suggestions about the structure of prehistoric economic and social practice. Slash-and-burn agriculture facilitated the movement of farmers into favoured microenvironments. Its extensive land requirements regulated population growth and encouraged territorial expansion. After the ninth century AD, a cyclical use of agricultural opportunities was instituted. Through this time, social constraints concentrated the dispersed population within single microenvironments. Subsequent adaptation to the simultaneous use of diverse microenvironments was supported by the expansion of herding activities and the role of cattle in maintaining socio-political prestige.

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Résumé L'étude de l'organisation spatiale des hameaux agricoles préhistoriques du Sud-Ouest de la Zambie nous permet d'avancer certaines suggestions au sujet de la structure des pratiques économiques et sociales pendant la préhistoire. La culture sur brûlis de forêt a facilité la déplacement des agriculteurs vers des microenvironnements Préférés—et comme ces défrichements utilisaient beaucoup de terrain, ils ont réglé la croissance démographique, et ont encouragé l'expansion territoriale. Après le neuvième siècle après J.C., une utilisation cyclique des possibilités agricoles s'est établie. Pendant cette période des contraintes sociales ont concentré la population dispersée dans des microenvironnements particuliers. L'adaptation plus tard à l'utilisation simultanée de microenvironnements divers était soutenue par l'expansion de l'élevage et par le rôle du bétail dans le maintien du prestige socio-politique.

     

Stable Isotope Analysis Reveals Variations in Human Diet at the Poundbury Camp Cemetery Site

Stable isotope analysis was undertaken on 48 individuals from Iron Age, Roman and Post-Roman periods of the Poundbury Camp Cemetery, Dorchester, England. Variations in diet, reflected by the stable isotope values, were observed between individuals from the different time periods. Differences in diet within the Late Roman period were particularly interesting, as we found that the isotope values could be related to burial type. We also found evidence of possible immigrants at Poundbury; individuals that may have come to the site from a warmer climate.     

Transurban interconnectivities: an essay on the interpretation of the revolutions of 1848

This essay discusses the interpretation of the revolutionary situations of 1848 in light of recent debates on interconnectivity in history. The concept of transurban interconnectivities is proposed as the most precise concept to capture the nature of interconnectivity in 1848. It is argued that political models circulating on a European scale at the time provided the ‘knowledge resources’ that were appropriated by urban political activists across Europe. These circulating resources were appropriated by political activists as means of political mobilisation in their particular local urban context. It is argued that circulating political communication accounts for similarities with respect to political agenda, organisational form and political repertoire evident in urban settings across Europe. This argument is supported by a series of examples of local organisation and local appropriations of liberalism, radicalism and nationalism in 1848. In the concluding paragraph, the limitations of the notion of urban–rural interconnectivity are discussed in order to clarify the nature of transurban interconnectivity.     

Freud's impact on aphasiology ‐ aphasiology's impact on Freud*

Abstract

In 1891, Sigmund Freud published a book on aphasia. Although Freud's contribution to aphasiology could have been important in retrospect, it was hardly acknowledged for three quarters of a century. It may have had an impact on psychoanalytic theory, but this was not acknowledged by Freud. If there are neurological roots in psychoanalysis, they are buried by paradigmatic shifts in Freud's theory.     

Recent carbon isotope research and its implications for African archaeology

A number of new developments in the carbon isotope field are reviewed, some of these having immediate and others potential application to African archaeology. Mass spectrometric analysis of¹³C/¹²C ratios in human and animal bone collagen makes it possible to reconstruct prehistoric foodwebs and to draw conclusions about dietary adaptations. Alternatively, where dietary behaviour is known, analysis of the bone of certain animal species allows for reconstruction of past environments. Ratio mass spectrometers are widely available in research institutions, and provided that the proper techniques for sample preparation are followed, this method of analysis should be of immediate use to most Africanists. It is already making an impact on African archaeology. The development of accelerator-based or high energy mass spectrometry (HEMS) radiocarbon dating provides the potential for extending the method back to 100,000 years, particularly in the case of bone samples. Practical applications, however, are still a few years off. In the immediate future HEMS dating is likely to be applied to small samples of ages less than 50,000 years. In competition with HEMS is the use of mini-counters for conventional radiocarbon dating of small samples. This procedure is available in a few laboratories with more under development. Dating of small samples has potential applications in many areas, specifically in the direct age measurement of critical specimens as opposed to the dating of associated materials.     

Lithostratigraphy of Border Cave, KwaZulu, South Africa: a Middle Stone Age sequence beginning c. 195,000 b.p.

Border Cave is well-known for its Middle Stone Age (MSA) sequence and associated hominids, as well as for the earliest demonstrable Later Stone Age (LSA) (c. 38,000 b.p.) strata in southern Africa. Detailed lithostratigraphic and sedimentological study permits identification of 8 Pleistocene sedimentary cycles, including 6 major cold phases and 2 intervening weathering horizons. The 2 youngest cold phases are associated with the LSA and have 8 ¹⁴C dates 38,600-13,300 b.p. By gauging sedimentation rates in finer and coarser sediments, duration of sedimentary breaks, and allowing for differential compaction, the excellent radiocarbon framework provided by 28 available ¹⁴C dates can be extrapolated to the 6 cold intervals and 2 palaeosols that are older than 50,000 b.p. These clearly span oxygenisotope stages 4, 5 and 6, placing the base of the MSA deposits at c. 195,000 b.p., Homo sapiens sapiens at c. 90,000–115,000 b.p. and the sophisticated, microlithic “Howieson's Poort” industry at 95,000 b.p. These results require radical reassessment of the age and nature of the MSA complex and of the earliest evolution of anatomically-modern people.