The Prehistoric Development of Clothing: Archaeological Implications of a Thermal Model

This paper presents a thermal model for the prehistoric origin and development of clothing. A distinction is drawn between simple and complex forms of clothing, with broad implications for the interpretation of paleolithic technological transitions and the emergence of modern human behavior. Physiological principles and paleoenvironmental data are harnessed to identify conditions requiring simple, loosely draped garments and the more challenging conditions that demanded additional protection in the form of complex garment assemblages. No actual clothing survives from the Pleistocene, yet the archaeological record yields evidence for technological and other correlates of clothing—more evidence than is generally supposed. Major innovations and trends in the distributions and relative frequencies of lithic and other tool forms may reflect the changing need for portable insulation in the context of fluctuating ice age climates. Moreover, the nonthermal repercussions of complex clothing can be connected with archaeological signatures of modern human behavior, notably adornment. Alternative models are less parsimonious in accounting for the geographical and temporal variability of prominent technological and other behavioral patterns in association with environmental change.     

Sanctioned Inequity and Accessibility Issues in the Grey Literature in the United States

The “grey literature problem” is a common phrase because technical reports produced by the majority of practitioners are perceived to be inaccessible, not peer-reviewed, and of low quality. These issues, however, are as much cultural as they are about indexing and databases, review procedures, and content. Unconventional, non-university-based publication venues and alternative forms of literature constitute an opportunity for bringing fresh ideas and new perspectives to the discipline, for reporting state-of-the-art research, and engaging a wider pool of participants. Nontraditional publication venues have a range of benefits including speedy distribution, presentation of abundant amounts of data, inclusion of in-depth analyses, consideration of a range of methodological and theoretical issues using sizable datasets, often rigorous multi-tiered peer review, and avoidance of many of the stifling political hurdles and time delays of traditional publishing. Honest pursuit of knowledge and effective communication begin with citation of this alternative form of publication, objective assessment of its content absent a double standard, and acknowledgement of the scholars who produce it.     

United States: Responses to the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage

While the US is not a signatory to the 2001 UNESCO Convention, much progress has been made by US agencies to implement its Rules and principles. The US signed an Agreement on Titanic with Rules that are nearly identical to the UNESCO Convention. US agencies have also expressed support for the Rules and their implementation into their programs. This paper identifies these positive actions as well as the two primary concerns that have prevented the US from signing the Convention to date: (1) “creeping coastal State jurisdiction” and (2) treatment of sunken state vessels.     

Identifying Domination and Resistance Through the Spatial Organization of Poonindie Mission,South Australia

One of the spaces where the interactions between Indigenous and non-Indigenous groups during the period of contact and cross-cultural interaction took place around the world, was at missions. In Australia, missions were founded, rearranged and closed down over a period of time in which the attitudes of Indigenous and non-Indigenous groups and official Government policy towards contact relationships were continually changing. By analyzing the use of these contested spaces at Australian Missions by both groups, archaeologists can begin to understand how the new relationships between these groups were negotiated, contested and played out over time. This paper analyses the use of space, using the theoretical frameworks of the archaeologies of capitalism, at Poonindie Mission in South Australia, which was established by the Anglican Church with support from the colonial government and operated between 1850 and 1896.     

Foreword to the Jamaica Issue of the WAC Journal <Emphasis Type="Italic">Archaeologies</Emphasis>

Ainsley Henriques, who was the Conference Chair of WAC Inter-Congress in Jamaica in May 2007, commends the publication of the papers presented at the WAC Inter-Congress in the present special issue of the journal Archaeologies.     

A Possible Witness to the Sixth Century Slavic Invasion of Greece from the Stadium Tunnel at Ancient Nemea

Human remains recovered from the stadium tunnel at Ancient Nemea offer a window into one life in the time of the sixth-century CE Slavic invasion of the Greek Peloponessos. The remains likely represent a middle-aged male and show a cranial injury similar to conflict-related wounds seen in some medieval skeletal populations. The wound is well-healed and was inflicted some time before death. Lesions elsewhere on the skeleton reflect an active life involving hard physical work. This man’s injury and the unique find context of his remains may reflect the unsettled conditions of late sixthcentury Greece.     

四、五世纪东亚世界的形成与东晋南朝——以中国史料为中心

Adopting the historical periodization and the “ethnic awakening” theory of Konan Naito, this essay discusses the early formation of East Asian states such as Koguryō, Paekche, Silla and Wa during the 4^th and 5^th centuries, as well as the political order within the East Asian society shaped by the enfeoffment of the Eastern Jin and the Southern dynasties by using Chinese sources. It argues that the cultural influences of the Qin and Han dynasties promoted the ethnic awakening of East Asian peoples, and during the turmoil periods of the Wei, the Jin, and the Division Era these ethnic groups leaped rapidly in their roads of state-formation. The enfeoffment system of the Eastern Jin played significant role in this process, and therefore set up the basic structure of the international relationship in early modern East Asia.     

When a Local Legend Is (Mis)Appropriated in the Interpretation of an Archaeological Site

Context permitting, should public archaeologists allow “archaeologically incorrect” accounts of the past? In this paper I discuss this question through a case study based on the experience of myself and my colleagues at the excavation of the Villa of Augustus in Somma Vesuviana, Italy. In 2003 and 2004, we became aware that some visitors to the excavation interpreted the site by reference to a legend of the tunnel of Queen Giovanna, which had existed in Somma Vesuviana over the centuries. Although initially interested in this phenomenon, we soon realised that we needed to make certain judgements as to how to respond to local people asking whether the tunnel had been discovered in the excavation. We presented two different ways of interpreting the site, one based on archaeology and the other on the legend, and both as equally meaningful, while at the same time stressing what we as archaeologists believed, based on what we had found. In this process we decided to adhere to the principles of archaeology, even in embracing the multivocality of material remains.     

Fruit and seed biomineralization and its effect on preservation

Mineralised fruits and seeds are frequently found in archaeological sediments but their chemical nature has not been often examined. The nature and the origin of these archaeobotanical remains have to be investigated to understand their taphonomic history. Fruits or seeds can be mineralised not only by replacement mineralisation but also by biomineralisation during the plant life. The mineral components of three fossil fruits sampled on the Pleistocene site of Dmanisi were analysed and compared with their modern analogues. Analyses were carried out by means of an environmental scanning electron microscope, equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray device and by means of a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer. Biogenic carbonates and/or biogenic silica were identified in the fossil and modern fruits of some taxa. Comparison between fossil and modern specimens has shown that molecular reorganisation occurred in carbonate and in biogenic silica during fossilisation, through diagenetic processes. The resulting stable mineral structures confer an exceptional preservation to fruits in sediments. Taking into account these taphonomic specificities (transformation and differential preservation), the chronological and palaeoenvironmental aspects of the mineralised fruits are discussed.     

Regional Survey and the Boom-and-bust Countryside: Re-reading the Archaeological Evidence for Episodic Abandonment in the Late Roman Corinthia

This paper reexamines the archaeological evidence for three episodes of rural abandonment and resettlement in the countrysides of Late Roman Greece (200–700 CE): an abandoned Late Hellenistic-Early Roman countryside (second century BCE to third century CE), a decline in the third to early fourth centuries CE, and the Dark Age beginning in the seventh century CE. The first and third episodes of abandonment, especially, have sharply defined Late Antiquity (250–700 CE) as a healthy period of new rural settlement and economic resurgence, and the entire pattern has been described in the terms of “boom-and-bust” demographic and economic cycles. Closer readings of the archaeological data can contribute to more sensitive pictures of continuity and change in settlement and connectivity in the late antique Corinthian countryside and other regions in Greece.