The Ballgame,Termination Ritual,and the Transformation of Classic Period Authority in the Mesoamerican Southern Gulf Lowlands

In the Gulf lowlands, Late Classic fluctuations were concomitant with the increasing importance of the Classic Veracruz style complex. A characteristic feature of the style was ballgame imagery on ballcourt panels, molded ceramics, and paraphernalia such as yokes, hachas, and palmas, as well as courts, markers, and stelae. Components of the Classic Veracruz style have been documented for the Gulf lowlands and adjoining regions of Mesoamerica. Few examples, however, derive from stratigraphic excavations of in situ deposits. We document the discovery, excavation, and initial interpretation of a monument-yoke-offering complex at Matacanela, located in the south-central Tuxtla Mountains. We present suggestive evidence for associated decapitation ritual. We conclude by assessing these data and generating hypotheses regarding the transitioning of authority. We situate the Matacanela complex within regional demographic, political, and economic transformations that occurred throughout the Classic period (ca. a.d. 300–800/1000), culminating in disruptions that may have been contentious.     

How Theological is Political Theology? The Case of Twentieth-Century American Protestantism

ABSTRACT

How theological is political theology? Twentieth century American Protestantism illustrates that the answer depends on more than the extent to which a political theology is theological. For example, Walter Rauschenbusch and subsequent emancipatory political theologians understand theology's political significance very differently than John Howard Yoder and other political theologians influenced by the Radical Reformation. Nevertheless, both groups conceive the Christian gospel as a politics and so concur that Christian theology is essentially political. By contrast, Reinhold Niebuhr interpreted the gospel as disclosure of God's mercy and therefore denied that Christian theology is primarily a politics--for society or the church. Hence, although all three of these political theologies are thoroughly theological, they are not political in the same manner or for the same reasons. Accordingly, in addition to quantitative considerations, ascertaining theology's place in political theology involves discerning how a political theology is theological and why a theology is political.     

Catherine II: The Stimulation of Literature by Royal Decree

The present reflection seeks to establish the chronotope as an operating unit in the act of reading inasmuch as it strives to reconstruct the coherence of the novel's universe and to uncover the essence of things. Of the equal value is the Bakhtinian principle of dialogism, which proves propitious in rendering explicit the connections between different chronotopical units.     

‘The Social’ and Beyond: Introducing Actor-Network Theory

In recent years, it has been suggested (e.g. TAG 2002, 2006; IKUWA3 2008) that it is necessary for the discipline to move beyond the study of ships and boats towards the ‘wider social contexts’ of seafaring and maritime activity. This paper investigates the contours of ‘social’ as an object of study. Two questions are asked: (1) how is this object defined within sociology, classical and contemporary social theory, and archaeology; and (2) what is the status of nonhumans, physical-material things, artefacts, plants, animals, etc.? After taking a look at several different theories, it is argued that it is not necessary for us to move beyond ships and boats. Instead, an alternative approach is offered, one that allows us to move beyond the restrictive ontology of the social.     

Heavy Metals in Sediments of the Upper Hawkesbury‐Nepean River

There is little published information on heavy metals in surficial sediments of the upper Hawkesbury‐Nepean River in central New South Wales, Australia. In the current investigation, the fine fraction (<62.5 µm) of 90 sediment samples taken from this section of the river was analysed by flame‐Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy for nine heavy metals (Ag, Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu Co, Fe, Ni and Mn) to determine background and enrichment. Sediment in the upper Hawkesbury‐Nepean River is not heavily polluted by heavy metals. Maximum enrichment over background for Ni and Ag, Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu and Mn is 3x, 5.7x, 6x, 6.7x, 12x and 13.6x, respectively. Mean heavy metal concentrations for this, the upper section of the river, are about half the mean values for the Hawkesbury River between Windsor and Broken Bay in the lower, estuarine section of the river. The highest Cu, Pb and Zn concentrations (214, 108 and 334 mg kg^?1, respectively) occur in surficial sediments in Peachtree Creek at Penrith and the Nepean River near Jacksons Lane, Castlereagh. These metal concentrations are possibly associated with industrial activity at Penrith. Two of the six sewage treatment plants on the upper Hawkesbury‐Nepean River are associated with high metal concentrations (Cu, Zn, Fe and Mn) in sediments, that is, the West Camden and Penrith sewage treatment plants. Other possible sources of heavy metals are coal mining and washing which occurs at several places in the upper catchment. The highest Cd, Co and Fe concentrations (1.7, 27.6 mg kg^?1 and 4.81%, respectively) were found in sediments 400 m downstream of the Nepean Dam and the highest concentrations of Ni and Mn (54 and 790 mg kg^?1, respectively) were located in sediment from the Nepean River at Moresby Hill Road Bridge, near Robertson and at the Avon Dam Road Bridge. The source of these metals is unknown.     

In Search of the Social: Steamboats, Square Wheels, Reindeer and Other Things

This paper examines the concept of the ‘social,’ particularly from an archaeological perspective, and explores how it relates to the ways in which we seek to understand the processes of technological innovation and change. It is demonstrated that the concept ‘social’ is far from well defined and that enquiry is bedevilled by artificial polarization between subject-centred approaches and object-centred particularism. Through the medium of early United States steamboat technology a different approach is forged through the melding of people and things with the idea of viewing artefacts as active social actors along with people. Ultimately, it is argued that maritime archaeologists should be more bullish in their approaches to material things—instead of adopting social theories ‘wholesale,’ we should insist that they include the things we study: boats, material objects, people, artefacts, landscapes and animals.