Beyond dots with dates: A landscape approach to the Sohar hinterlands

Landscape archaeology, as a type of research based on a systemic surface survey and that results in quantifiable datasets of high quality, has started to be practiced in southeastern Arabia only in recent years. In this paper, I will briefly review the short history of landscape archaeology in the area and its relevance. I will then present the approach and methods used in the Wadi al Jizzi Archaeological Project and discuss some of the results obtained to discuss both the potential and problems of the data that the project generated. In particular, I will focus on ephemeral sites and assemblages, data quality and data representativity.     

Survey,Shovel Probes,and Population Estimates: Studying Regional Demography in the Intermediate Area Using Subsurface Sherd Deposits

Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory - Shovel probes are a common form of archaeological data collection in densely vegetated landscapes. They were once the subject of critical analyses that...     

Breaking into the conversation: cultural value and the role of the South African National Arts Festival from apartheid to democracy

The paper examines the value of the South African National Arts Festival (NAF) in the transition to democracy using theories of cultural capital. NAF history from 1974 to 2004 is used to argue that the Festival provided an important arena for the expression of political resistance in the 1980s and, to some degree, continues to do so today. It is concluded that an important part of the value of the arts is their ability to provide a forum for debating the goals and values of society and that individualistic utility theory is not always successful in measuring such social value.     

UNIQUE PRE‐ROMANESQUE MURALS IN KOSTOĽANY POD TRÍBEČOM,SLOVAKIA: THE PAINTING TECHNIQUE AND CAUSES OF DAMAGE

Pre‐Romanesque murals at Kosto?any pod Tríbe?om, Slovakia, have been investigated by portable X‐ray fluorescence and by microanalytical methods to identify painting materials (pigments and binders), and to explain the degradation of colours. Today, missing green and blue shades have been reconstructed according to residual concentrations of Cu, which correspond to copper chlorides—products of salt corrosion of the copper carbonates azurite and/or malachite, accelerated by micro‐organisms. As confirmed by powder X‐ray microdiffraction, original minium (Pb₃O₄) has been transformed to brown–black plattnerite (PbO₂). In increased humidity, even insoluble pigments are washing down from the walls and the intensity of colours further diminishes.     

WHITE,VEINED MARBLE FROM ROMAN AMMAIA (PORTUGAL): PROVENANCE AND USE

A multimethod approach using petrography and strontium (Sr) isotopic analysis was applied to determine the geological source of 17 marble artefacts from the Roman town of Ammaia (Portugal). All samples are calcitic, with dolomite, quartz and muscovite as accessory minerals. The marbles are characteristically medium‐grained with a maximum grain size (MGS) between 0.98 mm and 1.82 mm, have a heteroblastic texture, and have curved to embayed calcite grain boundaries. ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values of marble leachates range from 0.708488 to 0.708639. Comparison with Hispanic and Mediterranean marbles suggests the Estremoz Anticline as the most likely source for the Ammaia marble, especially for architectural marble. This hypothesis is supported by the geographical proximity of the Estremoz marble district and the long and expensive overland transport required for other marbles to reach Ammaia.     

Books received

FOLKLORE STUDIES IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: PROCEEDINGS OF THE CENTENARY CONFERENCE OF THE FOLKLORE SOCIETY. Ed. VENETIA J. NEWALL. D. S. Brewer, 1980. Pp. 463, ill. £35.00. Reviewed by Jacqueline Simpson.

NINE LIVES: CATS IN FOLKLORE. By KATHARINE M. BRIGGS. Routledge and Kegan Paul. London and Henley, 1980. Pp. 222. ill. £7.95. Alicia C. Percival.

THE FOLKLORE OF STAFFORDSHIRE. By JON RAVEN. Batsford, London. 1978. Pp. 222. £4.95. Reviewed by Derek Froome.

A GUIDEBOOK TO ARTHURIAN BRITAIN. By GEOFFREY ASHE. Longman, 1980. £7.50. Reviewed by Richard Barber.

ÖSTERREICHS MÄRCHENSCHATZ by KARL HAIDING. Vienna 1980 (Kremayr &; Scheriau) 448 pp. ill. Reviewed by Ruth Michaelis-Jena.

PRIMITIVE RELIGION AND HEALING: A STUDY OF FOLK-MEDICINE IN NORTH EAST BRAZIL. By PAUL V. A. WILLIAMS. Brewer. Cambridge 1979. 212 pp. £12.00. Reviewed by Douglas Gifford.

ITALIAN FOLKTALES. Selected and retold by ITALO CALVINO. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. New York and London, 1980. Pp. 763. Reviewed by Neil Philip.

TOCHER: TALES, SONGS, TRADITIONS 33. School of Scottish Studies, Edinburgh, 1979. Pp. 71 £0.50. Reviewed by Neil Philip.

DER UNBEKANNTE BRUDER GRIMM. Edited by GERD HOFFMANN &; HEINZ RÖLLEKE. Düsseldorf (Verlag Eugen Diederichs) 1979. Pp. 144. 2 plates and 3 facsimiles. Reviewed by Ellen Ettlinger.

DAS ALTE VOLKSSCHAUSPIEL DES BURGENLANDES. By LEOPOLD SCHMIDT. Theatergeschichte Österreichs vol. viii. Burgenland 1. Vienna (Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften) 1980. Pp. 358. 6 maps, 15 plates (1 coloured). ZUNFTZEICHEN; ZEUGNISSE ALTER HANDWERKSKUNST. Salzburg (Residenz Verlag) 1973. Pp. 160, 54 plates (48coloured). Reviewed by Ellen Ettlinger.     

A. L. Lloyd and Reynardine: authenticity and authorship in the afterlife of a British broadside ballad

This paper presents new evidence concerning the broadside ballad “Reynardine,” which became popular in the British folksong revival movement of the 1960s and 1970s. It argues that the revival versions of this ballad were not products of the folk tradition, but rather descendants of a text authored by A. L. Lloyd, who was both a singer and a folksong scholar. The paper goes on to suggest reasons why Lloyd might have authored the ballad, and reasons why he might have concealed that authorship, placing its evidence and observations in the context of folkloristic concerns about authenticity and authorship, folklore and fakelore.