Unraveling a Neanderthal palimpsest from a zooarcheological and taphonomic perspective

Practically all archeological assemblages are palimpsests. In spite of the high temporal resolution of Abric Romaní site, level O, dated to around 55 ka, is not an exception. This paper focuses on a zooarcheological and taphonomic analysis of this level, paying special attention to spatial and temporal approaches. The main goal is to unravel the palimpsest at the finest possible level by using different methods and techniques, such as archeostratigraphy, anatomical and taxonomical identification, taphonomic analysis, faunal refits and tooth wear analysis. The results obtained are compared to ethnoarcheological data so as to interpret site structure. In addition, activities carried out over different time spans (from individual episodes to long-term behaviors) are detected, and their spatial extent is explored, allowing to do inferences on settlement dynamics. This leads us to discuss the temporal and spatial scales over which Neanderthals carried out different activities within the site, and how they can be studied through the archeological record.     

When palynology meets classical archaeology: the Roman and medieval landscapes at the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Villa del Casale di Piazza Armerina</Emphasis>, UNESCO site in Sicily

Palynological researches have been carried out in the framework of cooperative projects with local and national institutions at the Villa Romana del Casale of Piazza Armerina, a small town in central Sicily. The site was studied within a multidisciplinary geo-bio-archaeological set of studies aiming at understanding the economy and environment at a local scale. Analyses allowed us to reconstruct the natural vs cultural landscape dynamics from Roman to medieval periods. On the basis of 85 samples, pollen diagrams show that the site has been built in a low forest cover area, with signs of both natural/semi-natural cover and complex anthropogenic activities. These activities include cereal fields and pastures. There is evidence of ornamental (e.g. Platanus, Buxus) and fruit trees (above all Olea, and also, e.g. Corylus, Prunus and Juglans). The research also includes a detailed study about the finding of Vitis pollen grains in the Roman site. In the subsequent phases, pollen shows again an open, fairly treeless, landscape with Mediterranean and hilly vegetation. Anthropogenic signs are evident in the form of groves and orchards. Our data bring evidence and details about the intense land exploitation that had contributed to transform the environment of central Sicily during the Middle and Late Holocene. Data demonstrate that archaeopalynology may be fruitfully regarded as a tool to understand the current landscape structure.     

Archeometric characterization of prehistoric grindstones from Milazzo Bronze Age settlement (Sicily,Italy)

The results of a petrographic and geochemical study carried out on archeological grindstones allow to provide new constraints on protohistoric commercial exchanges over the Mediterranean area. Eleven grindstones, discovered in an archeological site located in Milazzo (Messina, Sicily) and dated from the Early Bronze Age, have been investigated by geochemical and petrographic techniques. The raw materials are mainly volcanic rocks characterized by calc-alkaline and K-alkaline affinities with volcanic arc geochemical signature. Only one sample, made of basalt belonging to the Na-alkaline series, shows an intraplate signature. The comparison with the available literature data for similar rocks allowed constraining the volcanic origin of the exploited lavas. While the intraplate-type raw material came from Mt. Etna Volcano (Sicily), the arc-type volcanic rocks are mostly trachyandesites, basaltic andesites, and one rhyolite. Although most of them come from the Aeolian Arc, a provenance of some samples from the Aegean Arc cannot be excluded. This last region could represent the most probable provenance area for the rhyolite sample.     

A Shield Loaded with History: Encounters,Objects and Exhibitions

This article discusses an Aboriginal shield in the British Museum which is widely believed to have been used in the first encounter between Lieutenant James Cook's expedition and the Gweagal people at Botany Bay in late April 1770. It traces the ways in which the shield became ‘Cook-related’, and increasingly represented and exhibited in that way. In the wake of its exhibition at the National Museum of Australia in late 2015 and early 2016, the shield gained further public prominence and has become enmeshed within a wider politics of reconciliation. A recent request from the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council to the British Museum to review knowledge about the shield has contributed to a reappraisal of claims about its connection to Cook's 1770 expedition. Preliminary findings of this review are presented. In the process, the article addresses larger questions concerning the politics surrounding the interpretation of the shield as a historically ‘loaded’ object.     

A continuing agenda for gender: the role of the IGU Commission on gender and geography

In examining the development of the International Geographical Union’s (IGU) Commission on Gender and Geography over the last three decades, we first highlight the advances made to establish visibility for gender studies within the IGU and create structures for more inclusive feminist geographies across national, disciplinary and other borders. Given that many of the early and most widely-known advances were largely within Anglophone contexts, we then discuss the ongoing challenges and possibilities for advancement faced by feminist geographers who teach, research, and write on gender in other locations. While some of these challenges (such as a continued lack of recognition for gender studies, paternalistic hierarchies, and specific government regimes) are country-specific, others are related to broader issues of neoliberalism and corporatization, and inequities in academic publishing. Clearly, continued efforts are needed to strengthen the agenda for gender to promote more inclusive histories, practices and processes of gender/feminist geography in research, teaching and application in the international arena.     

Regional Polycentrism in a Mountainous Territory: The Case of Covilhã (Portugal) and Alpine Cities

The Portuguese mountain city of Covilhã possesses a singular industrial tradition. Today, many of the urban interventions undertaken result in an urban space and landscape disconnected from the mountains. Alpine mountain cities emerge as emblematic, given the representativeness the Alps assume within the context of European mountains. In the Alpine region, the polycentric system of cities condenses the characteristics associated with the topographical particularities and singular types of inter-municipal and cross-border relationships, where the economic changes and regional policies can be observed with greater clarity due to their specificity. In general terms, the quality of life, based on the landscape values, the identification of the citizens with their territory, and on the territorial planning at different scales, emerges as being linked to the construction of a brand identity based on sustainable urban development. It is in this sphere that the study of Alpine cases can inspire good practices to be applied in the Portuguese territory of the Beira Interior, namely in the medium-sized cities and in the synergies between them and the natural spaces. Thus Covilhã finds itself in an advantageous position to use its situation to construct a city brand in harmony with the mountain territory.