Collapsing Commodities or Lavish Offerings? Understanding Massive Metalwork Deposition at Langton Matravers,Dorset During the Bronze Age–Iron Age Transition

The discovery of 373 intact and broken tin‐bronze socketed axes accompanied by 404 fragments in four pits at Langton Matravers collectively represents one of the largest hoards found to date in prehistoric Britain and Ireland. They were very probably never meant to be used as axes as the very high levels of tin they contain would have made them brittle. Many were poorly finished, with the majority still containing their casting cores. The axes are typologically dated to the Llyn Fawr metalwork phase (c.800–600 BC) and span the Bronze Age/Iron Age transition, when the production, circulation and deposition of bronze appear to have been substantially reduced throughout north‐west Europe. By placing the Langton Matravers hoard(s) in a broader metallurgical, material and archaeological context, existing theories for this phenomenon, such as the preference for iron, a collapse in bronze supply, or the sharp devaluation of a social or ritual ‘bronze standard’, are evaluated. It is proposed that the Langton Matravers axes belong to a short phase in the centuries‐long processes underlying the changing roles of bronze and iron.     

From Active Young Explorers to Passive Young Consumers: The Commercialization of Canada's OWL Magazine

This article provides a content analysis of OWL magazine, a popular Canadian children's periodical published initially by a non-profit organization and, after 1997, by a for-profit corporation. Researchers examined issues of OWL from 1982, 1992, and 2002 to assess changes in the magazine in response to commercial ownership. Quantitative and qualitative methodologies were used to show how OWL has shifted from a primarily science and animal-themed magazine to a general interest “consumer” magazine for children with features like video game reviews. This shift from 1982 to 2002 is discussed within larger changes in Canadian children's commercial media and marketing. Canadian and American children's commercial media “boomed” during the 1980s and 1990s, placing additional pressure on OWL to incorporate content that met advertisers' interests and emerging consumerist outlook of Canadian children. We conclude by discussing how this research informs ongoing theoretical debates about the commercialization of childhood.