HOBY — AN EXCEPTIONAL EARLY ROMAN IRON AGE SITE IN THE WESTERN BALTIC REGION

Hoby on the island of Lolland in the western part of the Baltic Sea is strategically located in a coastal landscape offering abundant resources. In 1920, one of the most richly furnished so‐called “Lübsow type” graves dating to the first century AD was discovered at Hoby. The settlement associated with the grave was recognised in 1999. Excavations of the settlement between 2001 and 2016 have confirmed the central role of Hoby in the Iron Age society. The research has focused on the Iron Age population and the infrastructure on Lolland. The Iron Age open cultural landscape encompassed numerous settlements, richly furnished burials and fortifications, and has produced unique metal finds. The article presents a summary of investigation results.     

Intensive hunting during the Iron Age of Southern Africa

Domestic faunal samples from farming sites from southern Africa dating from the Early (～AD 200–900) and Middle (～AD 900–1300) Iron Ages with large faunal samples are typically dominated by sheep/goats (both number of identified specimens and minimum number of individuals for large samples). However, four exceptions to this general pattern from these time periods are Bosutswe, Nqoma (both in Botswana), KwaGandaganda and Mamba (both in KwaZulu-Natal). At these sites, cattle outnumber sheep/goats, which have previously been measured using a Cattle Index. Intensive hunting is investigated at one of these sites, Bosutswe. Using various lines of evidence, including measuring high- vs. low-ranked prey, economic activities, as well as grease extraction and ageing from the most common taxon, plains zebra (Equus quagga), it is suggested that resource depression of wild game likely occurred. This would fit the expectation, based on human behavioural ecology, that as high-ranked game resource diminished over time, more emphasis was placed on cattle herding. The greater emphasis could have influenced descent patterns of people at Bosutswe. By the Late Iron Age (～AD 1300–1820s), cattle dominate most faunal assemblages in southern Africa with large sample sizes, and ethnographic and historical information confirm the central role these animals played in the social, political and economic lives of these farmers.     

The International Building Exhibition (IBA) Emscher Park,Germany: A Model for Sustainable Restructuring?

The International Building Exhibition (IBA), Emscher Park was a 10 year programme of the Land Northrhine-Westfalia, Germany, between 1989 and 1999. It was designed to initiate restructuring in the part of the Ruhr region, the Emscher, which has been suffering the most from economic, environmental and social decline for many decades. One of the Exhibition's principle features was that restructuring should take an holistic view rather than simply trying to attract inward investment and jobs. As a result the programme was based around a huge 80 km long landscape park. This report aims to introduce and critically assess the IBA, in relation to the principles of sustainability with some thoughts for the future. It begins by outlining what sustainability means for the Ruhr and Emscher regions, moving on to describe the unique nature of the Exhibition. It then considers whether or not the initiative adheres to sustainability principles and discusses the successes and failures. The report ends with a brief look at what can be learned from the exhibition, both within the region and outside.     

Migration and mobility at the Late Lapita site of Reber–Rakival (SAC), Watom Island using isotope and trace element analysis: a new insight into Lapita interaction in the Bismarck Archipelago

This paper uses strontium isotope (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr), oxygen isotope (δ¹⁸O) and Ba/Sr trace element data in archaeological tooth enamel samples to investigate migration and mobility at the Late Lapita site of SAC, Watom Island in the Bismarck Archipelago. Previous archaeological models have identified Lapita mobility at a community level using obsidian distribution patterns and changes in ceramic design, whereas isotope and trace element data can potentially reconstruct prehistoric mobility on an individual level. Human and pig teeth were sampled from SAC and a selection of human teeth were included from the Late–Post Lapita site of Lifafaesing, Tanga Islands as a geographic/geological comparison.The results indicate that there is a large amount of isotopic variation in the Bismarck Archipelago which is useful for identifying non-local individuals and possibly determining their origins. One human individual and several pigs were suggested as coming from elsewhere in the region. Three potentially separate locations were identified for the non-local pigs. It is argued, using the data from SAC, that Late Lapita communities in the Bismarck Archipelago were more mobile than previously assumed. The potential for identifying individual migrants in a Lapita context are discussed in terms of assessing the more subtle aspects of Lapita society in the Southwest Pacific Islands.     

Islets through Time: The Definition, Dating and Distribution of Scottish Crannogs

Scottish crannogs or lake dwellings are considered to be structurally varied sites with an extremely wide distribution, used from the neolithic up until at least the 17th century AD. As a result assumptions about the dating and form of individual sites are considered impossible without excavation. This paper demonstrates that the current classifications lack utility and that the long chronology view is misleading. It is suggested that there is a far more subtle spectrum of identifiably distinct monuments which can be arranged into types, and that these types have, on the basis of the current radiocarbon evidence, a chronological significance.     

Making connections: a fresh analysis of an early neolithic pit and its contents

Outlined here is a new and detailed assessment of two Early Neolithic pits discovered in 1933 by Dr. E.C. Curwen on New Barn Down, Worthing. Newly obtained radiocarbon dates that place the pits between 4000–3800 BC make them amongst the earliest Neolithic features in Sussex and southern England. It is proposed that the pits (collectively known as Pit X) display connections not only to the nearby flint mines, but also to the immediate coastal zone and to wider England. The examination illuminates the practices of an Early Neolithic community, who were not only extracting flint from the nearby mines, but also familiar with new forms of material culture and social customs.