Of Buffalo and Butchers: Coupling Traditional Procurement Studies with Taphonomic Analyses to Explore Intensive Wild Animal Processing Patterns at Two Early Iron Age Sites in the Kruger National Park

Located in northeastern South Africa in the Kruger National Park, the wild-dominated faunal assemblages at Le6 and Le7 allow for a site-level examination of the treatment of wild species within the highly variable spectra of Early Iron Age animal use. Looking at hunting beyond pure subsistence choices, this paper couples traditional morphological analysis with taphonomic analysis and theoretical frameworks of intensification to ask new socially focussed zooarchaeological questions of these assemblages. Through this, both the procurement and processing methods utilized at Le6 and Le7 are identified and the significance of these choices is discussed. In so doing, the paper addresses possible specialization in both the hunting and the processing of large wild mammals. The socio-economic implications and potential drivers of these faunal choices are then considered within the broader context of the southern African Early Iron Age, and a potentially new faunal use strategy and site type are introduced.     

The Current Status of the Kenya Capsian

East Africa is home to a rich array of stone-tool traditions that span human prehistory. It is unsurprising, therefore, that the region attracted pioneer prehistorians in the early twentieth century, including L. S. B. Leakey, E. J. Wayland and T. P. O’Brien, who created the first cultural framework for East African prehistory during the 1930s. Although aspects of this framework remain relevant today, others have become misunderstood relics of an old classification system that hinders current research. This is particularly evident in the classification of a Later Stone Age (LSA) culture – the Kenya (East African) Aurignacian, later known as Kenya (East African) Capsian. Although this cultural entity was redressed during the 1970s and 1980s and redefined as the Eburran industry, there is still mystique surrounding the current status of the Kenya Capsian, its original scope and definition, the relationship with the Eburran and its position within a modern understanding of the East African LSA. This is largely due to paradigmatic shifts in researcher attitudes, leading to the use of the Eburran as a false proxy. It is necessary now to completely remove the term Kenya Capsian as an indication of similarity among the different LSA technologies. However, there also needs to be less emphasis on the importance of the Eburran and recognition that it is just one example of a multitude of diverse localised LSA industries. This will open the way for future research into the LSA and facilitate our greater understanding of recent prehistory in East Africa.     

Re-evaluating the Neolithic: The Impact and the Consolidation of Farming Practices in the Cantabrian Region (Northern Spain)

Research projects undertaken in the Cantabrian region since 1980 have produced new, high-quality information about the neolithisation process(es) in this area. It is now necessary to review this archaeological information and test the main hypotheses put forward to explain it. This paper presents an update on the archaeological evidence (sites, chronological dates, archaeozoological, archaeobotanical and technological information) for the early Neolithic in the Cantabrian region. It summarizes recent research on neolithisation in the region, and assesses the impact of this process during the early Neolithic, and its later consolidation. Although the available information is still incomplete, it is now possible to identify the focal point of the introduction of elements characteristic of the Neolithic way of life in the region. Current evidence suggests that it is in the eastern sector, where the earliest arrival of domesticates and new technologies such as pottery has been attested. The existence of continuities—such as sustained reliance on hunting and gathering and the coexistence of old and new funerary rites—suggests the persistence of native populations, which gradually participated in the neolithisation process after an ‘availability phase’.     

Broca’s Aphemia: The Tortuous Story of a Nonaphasic Nonparalytic Disorder of Speech

Broca coined the neologism “aphemia” to describe a syndrome consisting of a loss of the ability to speak without impairment of language and paralysis of the faciolingual territories in actions unrelated to speech, such as protruding the tongue or pursing the lips. Upon examining the brains of patients with aphemia, Broca concluded that the minimum possible lesion responsible for aphemia localized to the posterior left inferior frontal gyrus and lower portion of the middle frontal gyrus. A review of Broca’s writings led us to conclude that (a) Broca localized speech, not language, to the left hemisphere, (b) Broca’s aphemia is a form of apraxia, (c) Broca’s aphemia is not, therefore, a terminological forerunner of aphasia, and (d) Broca was an outspoken equipotentialist concerning the cerebral localization of language. Broca’s claim about the role of the left hemisphere in the organization of speech places him as the legitimate forebear of the two most outstanding achievements of Liepmann’s work, namely, the concepts of apraxia and of a left hemisphere specialization for action.     

‘Mucho malo for fascisti’: Languages and Transnational Soldiers in the Spanish Civil War

This article explores the linguistic experiences of transnational soldiers, using the Spanish Civil War as a case study. It argues that communication difficulties provoked by linguistic diversity within the Republican war effort and particularly within the International Brigades, caused the high command to move from a utopian, internationalist policy to a more pragmatic approach. The article evaluates the role played by language intermediaries in this evolving policy and in the wider Republican war effort. Finally, it argues that soldiers grassroots experiences of language contact forged new linguistic forms which underlined a strong sense of shared purpose and identity.