An Early Upper Palaeolithic Stone Tool Assemblage from Mughr El-Hamamah,Jordan: An Interim Report

Mughr el-Hamamah (Jordan) Layer B contains an Early Upper Palaeolithic stone tool assemblage dating to around 39–45 kya cal b.p. This assemblage is unusual in that it samples human forager activities around the ecotone between the Transjordanian Plateau and the palaeo-lake (Lake Lisan) that filled much of the Jordan Valley during Late Pleistocene times. This paper describes that assemblage, comparing it to other Levantine Upper Palaeolithic assemblages of equivalent antiquity. The Mughr el-Hamamah Layer B assemblage appears most similar to Early Ahmarian assemblages, but it departs from typical such assemblages in ways that may reflect local conditions’ influence on human activities carried out in and near the cave. Mughr el-Hamamah raises new questions about changes in residential mobility, off-site provisioning and foraging activity, and on-site task diversity in the Early Upper Palaeolithic period.     

A Palaeolithic fishhook made of ivory and the earliest fishhook tradition in Europe

Prehistoric fishhooks have previously been described in northern Europe as being common since the Mesolithic. Here we present a Final Palaeolithic ivory fishhook from the site Wustermark 22 (north-eastern Germany), the raw material of which is about 19,000 years old. Five further fishhooks were discovered in situ at the same site one of which has a calibrated radiocarbon age of about 12,300 years. The tool industries of flint artefacts and bone/antler tools are associated with descendants of the Federmesser-culture and the palynological context indicates a Younger Dryas environment. Wustermark 22 represents the largest collection of Palaeolithic fishhooks so far found at a single European site. A comparison with other sites in Europe, containing Palaeolithic fishhooks suggests that the appearance and development of fishhooks may be associated with a general change in resource availability during the Greenland Interstadial 1 (Bølling/Allerød warming), which is also connected with a change from late Upper Palaeolithic to Final Palaeolithic industries in Northern Central Europe. We conclude that Mesolithic fishhook tradition has its roots in the Final Palaeolithic.     

The geochemical diversity of neogene clay deposits in Crete and its implications for provenance studies of Minoan pottery*

The determination of provenance probably forms the primary role of geochemical analyses in archaeological ceramic studies. In what has comprised a successful field of study, the ultimate basis for such research has been the comparison of pottery compositions with the geochemical diversity displayed by clay deposits within a given study area. Although such studies are now common, the understanding of chemical and mineralogical variability in ceramic raw materials has been somewhat neglected, with the dominance of assumptions rather than the actual analysis of clays. In this paper, a study is presented of Neogene clays in Crete (Greece), a clay type commonly used in ancient and modern pottery production. Sixty‐one samples were taken from 28 locations in the central and eastern parts of the island, to reveal both intra‐ and inter‐deposit variability. In one deposit chosen for multiple sampling, the 14 samples display great variability in the alkali elements, Fe and Co, and to a lesser extent in the REEs. Many of the geographically separate deposits differ from each other in chemical composition, with Eastern Cretan deposits showing higher REE concentrations and higher Th/Sc ratios, whereas Central Cretan deposits of younger geological stages are characterized by a lower Th/U ratio. Mineralogical analysis by XRD is used to explain aspects of the geochemical variability of the clays.     

Another (mud)brick in the wall: scientific analysis of Bronze Age earthen construction materials from East Crete

Mudbricks appear to have been one of the most common building materials used in domestic architecture in Bronze Age Crete. Well-preserved earthen construction materials from the sites of Vasiliki, Makrygialos and Mochlos in East Crete have been examined with regard to their macromorphological characteristics and their mineralogical and chemical composition in order to investigate the nature of the raw materials used, the technology of manufacture and the potential use of specific recipes. The methods applied include a combination of mineralogical and chemical analytical techniques, namely petrography, neutron activation (NAA), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Finally, a range of raw materials from the immediate vicinity of each site were sampled and analyzed in order to compare with the archaeological data and identify potential sources. The analyses suggested that there is a degree of standardization in the recipes and the manufacturing process and that the selection of the raw materials depends on availability.     

Coalition cascades: The politics of tipping points in clean energy transitions

Policy change often involves multiple policy subsystems, as in the case of clean energy transitions. We argue that trans-subsystem policy feedback is a central dynamic in policy change across subsystems. Policy in one subsystem creates benefits/costs and/or learning effects that mobilize actors for policy change in another subsystem, resulting in “coalition cascades” across interdependent subsystems. If coalition cascades lead to the resolution of coordination problems across subsystems, the system reaches a tipping point in policy change. Coalition cascades are thus the transmission belts of trans-subsystem policy feedback. We illustrate our argument in the case of California's clean energy transition. We show how early renewable energy policy spilled over into the subsystems on grid policy—leading to energy storage policy—and on transport policy—resulting in electric vehicle charging policy. The article advances our understanding of the mechanisms underpinning trans-subsystem policy change, offering a model of the politics of tipping points.     

China's Household Registration System under Reform

China's household registration system is the central element in a policy of rapid industrialization with low urbanization. Figures on the non-agricultural population show that the system was initially successful, but less so during the 1980s. As a result, a number of reforms were introduced, which are described in some detail here. The registration system must be viewed as playing three interrelated roles: it is an instrument of development policy, aimed at keeping urban populations small while fostering industrial development; a social institution which rigidly divides Chinese society into a rural and an urban segment; and an instrument of state control, which the state employs to cultivate client groups. This article further argues that the contradiction between the need to adapt the system to changing realities, dictated by its developmental role, and the tenacity of the vested interests inherent in the social institutional role of the system, form a major obstacle to fundamental reform.     

Tableware in the Hellenistic Tradition from the City of Kampyr Tepe in Ancient Bactria (Uzbekistan)

Slipped and unslipped wares from Kampyr Tepe dated to the Hellenistic–Seleucid and Greco‐Bactrian periods stylistically resemble tableware from the Greek tradition. Since two pottery workshops have been recovered at the site, the aim is to shed light on the provenance and the production and consumption patterns of the tableware, as well as on the degree of technological influence from Hellenistic–Mediterranean traditions. The archaeometric characterization, consisting of thin‐section petrography, XRF, XRD and SEM–EDS analysis, was performed on 44 wares and three unfired locally made pondera, which were used as reference local elemental patterns. The study demonstrated the local origin of most of the wares, which were produced using a similar clay paste, following standardized techniques in modelling and firing, while surface treatments appear to be more diversified.