LE GARDIEN DU TOMBEAU: FURTHER REFLECTIONS ON THE INITIAL NEOLITHIC

Summary. The unique carving of an armed human figure on a capstone in the Déhus passage grave, Guernsey, has been known for some 70 years but has hitherto eluded parallels and explanation. With the stimulus of recent researches in Brittany, it is now possible to suggest that here too is an example oficonoclasm and incorporation associated with the inception of the Neolithic and the formative stages of megalithic traditions.     

The Geography of the Anthropocene in New Zealand: Differential River Catchment Response to Human Impact

New Zealand provides a useful environment to test the notion that the Anthropocene is a new geological epoch. There are two well‐dated anthropogenic impact ‘events’: Polynesian settlement c. AD 1280, and European colonisation c. AD 1800. Little attention, however, has been given to regional catchment response to these, although it has been assumed that both Polynesian and European farming and land use management practices significantly increased erosion rates across most of New Zealand. This paper addresses the nature and timing of human impacts on river systems using meta‐analysis of a recently compiled nationwide database of radiocarbon‐dated fluvial deposits. This shows highly variable human impacts on erosion and sedimentation in river systems, which are often difficult to separate from naturally driven river activity. Catchment‐scale data with high resolution dating control record clearer evidence of human disturbance. In Northland, anthropogenic alluviation is recorded from c. AD 1300 linked to early Polynesian settlement, enhanced further in the late 19th and 20th centuries by European land clearance, when sedimentation rates exceeded 25 mm year^?1. This study demonstrates significant geographical variability in the timing of human impact on river dynamics in New Zealand, despite two synchronous phases of human settlement, and highlights the difficulty of formally designating a simple and single ‘Anthropocene Epoch/Age’.     

Ethnic Emancipation and Urban Land Claims: Disenfranchisement of the Ga of Accra,Ghana

Several Sub‐Saharan African countries have experienced an upsurge of land claims by various ethnic groups whose lands were acquired by both the colonial and the post‐colonial State through compulsory acquisition. Ethnicity has been used as the basis of emancipating some ethnic groups from perceived disenfranchisement and impoverishment caused by the State acquiring their land. In some cases such land claims result in violence that threatens the social fabric of these countries. An urban example of such a land claim has been made by the GaDangme Council (GDC) in Ghana. This paper assesses the land claim by GDC and argues that its claim of disenfranchisement is more a perception than reality. The paper also investigates why GDC perceives the Ga ethnic group as impoverished and disenfranchised. It concludes by providing structural and pragmatic ways for solving problems centred on Ga land acquisition by the State. Resolving the Ga case may provide lessons for other countries experiencing similar problems.     

‘Would I were in an alehouse in London!’: a finds assemblage sealed by the Great Fire from Rood Lane,City of London

During the development project at 20 Fenchurch Street in the City of London, archaeological excavations were undertaken adjacent to Rood Lane. This uncovered part of a 16th- to mid 17th-century brick built cellar which had collapsed sealing in situ pottery, glass, clay tobacco pipes and a stove tile, an event interpreted as the result of the Great Fire of London in 1666. The composition of this artefact assemblage suggests it was derived from a property used to providing large-scale entertainment, with a high proportion of the material associated with drinking. This article situates this group within the context of other similarly dated victualling establishments from the City of London.     

Saynes Mill: excavation of a tide mill on the River Lea,London

Excavations at 150 Stratford High Street, London E15, found evidence for Saynes Mill, a tide powered grain mill of medieval origin, converted in 1745–62 into a pumping station for the West Ham Water Company with an engine installed by John Smeaton. The large-scale reconstruction meant that there was limited survival of earlier buildings, but many later structures survived almost intact and stretches of the quays that flanked the Waterworks River were also recorded. The excavated remains of both the buildings and revetments spanned the period from the late 15th to the late 19th centuries.