Regional Demographic Dynamics in the Neolithic Transition in Iberia: Results from Summed Calibrated Date Analysis

This paper assesses long-term trends in human activity across the Iberian Peninsula associated with the spread of agriculture. In order to improve our understanding of regional trajectories within the two-way and multiple-velocity model proposed by Isern et al. (Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 21:447–460, 2014), we consider summed calibrated radiocarbon dates of a large audited dataset from across Iberia. To assess the role of different analytical units, two alternative peninsular divisions at different spatial resolutions were used: one, with three generalized study areas, and the second, with eight biogeographic regions. This comparison of spatio-temporal variability provides a more in-depth inter-regional reading of the Neolithic transition in Iberia than more generalized approaches. The southwest, Mediterranean coasts and interior portions of Iberia all showed significant demographic expansion with the onset of the Neolithic, as observed across Western Europe. By contrast, northern Iberia featured a close adherence to a null model of exponential growth and a longer continuation of hunter-gatherer strategies.     

Matter,Places, and Persons in Cahokian Depositional Acts

Artifact caching, soil layering, and other intentional depositional practices—archaeologically defined “ritual deposits” of the past—are especially prevalent during the Mississippian period. Employing a perspective of relational ontology, however, we interrogate the validity of a past partitioned into religious, political, and daily spheres. Rather, this perspective emphasizes the multi-experiential and multi-dimensional aspects of social life. Meaning, intentional depositional acts can no longer be usefully described as simply “sacred” or “ritual” practices. Rather, these deposits should be explored as experiences tied to multiple layers of social life, investigating the relationships constructed through such deposits between humans, nonhuman agents, and the landscape.     

Review: Rusticle Formation on the <Emphasis Type="Italic">RMS Titanic</Emphasis> and the Potential Influence of Oceanography

Meter length iron-rich rusticles on the RMS Titanic contain bacteria that reportedly mobilize iron from the ship structure at a rate that will reduce the wreck to rust in decades. Other sunken ships, such as the World War II shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) are also similarly covered. However, at the GOM sites, rusticles are only centimeters in length. Minimal differences in water temperature (a few °C) between the two sites and comparable exposure times from wreckage to discovery cannot rationalize the extreme differences in rusticle length. One possible explanation for the observed difference in rusticle size is the differing amounts of dissolved or colloidal iron at the two locations.     

Constructing America from the Sea: Maritime Archaeology Research,International Cooperation and Best Practices in the Underwater Cultural Heritage of Latin America

This article introduces this special issue of the Journal of Maritime Archaeology by giving a brief introduction to the current situation of the practice of maritime archaeology in Latin America, as well as reviewing the main challenges that the discipline faces here. An assessment of existing regional cooperation, the presence of maritime archaeology within the international community and its importance to develop new theoretical and methodological perspectives that advance access to knowledge is made. Finally, the article focuses on some of the current work carried out in Latin America.     

Regional Maritime Contexts and the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Maritorium</Emphasis>: A Latin American Perspective on Archaeological Land and Sea Integration

In the field of maritime archaeology, the use of maritime, coastal, riverine, and lacustrine spaces by past societies has been perceived in different and changing viewpoints. These perspectives have flourished in dynamic and varying ways in many countries, and under different theoretical constructs. If in the 1970s the subject was perhaps not recognized as a central research subject by much of our community, it is now not only accepted but it has become a robust area of interest in maritime research. Two concepts in Latin America have been accepted that have had widespread application and influence, namely the regional maritime context and the maritorio. The points of contact between both are so intense that it is possible to speak about a single alternative with two possible names. In this article, their origins, applications, and theoretical influences are presented in a way that unifies these two concepts into a single approach (the maritorium), and examines how these ideas have been applied to research carried out in Mexico, Chile, and Uruguay. These applications are wide ranging, as they include the interconnected complexity between land and sea as used and inhabited by past societies. They have been applied in the study of ship traps, whole fleets, sites of maritime conflict and warfare, exploration activities, and ethnographic research. These will also be presented in light of other concepts of similar interest in the international sphere, such as the widespread concept of the Maritime Cultural Landscape, and also in view of other theoretical frameworks coming from the wider sphere of the profession, such as Landscape Archaeology and Phenomenological Archaeology.     

Archaeology as State Heritage Crime

North American archaeology is evaluated in light of state and heritage crime theory. When analyzed with preexisting typologies, the practice is shown to meet the threshold for state-sanctioned heritage crime. This study also demonstrates how current models of heritage crime do not adequately account for (1) the pivotal role states and state-sanctioned heritage experts play in committing heritage crime and (2) the implications of heritage crime for living descendant communities, not just physical artifacts and buildings. Typically thought of as crime against the state, seeing a state heritage regime as organized heritage crime opens the door to a host of theoretical and practical possibilities, including legal remedies for affected communities. Despite these opportunities, major impediments to meaningful change exist.     

Archaeology and the Late Modern State: Introduction to the Special Issue

While archaeologists have always shown great interest in the rise and fall of premodern states, they perennially show little interest in their own. This is particularly troubling because the state is the nexus of power in archaeology. In practice, virtually all archaeology is state archaeology, imbued with and emboldened by state power. It is in this light that contributors to this Special Issue of Archaeologies grapple with the archaeology–state nexus, addressing such timely issues as colonialism, capitalism, and cultural resource or heritage management (CRM/CHM). We outline here the archaeology–state nexus concept and introduce the Special Issue.     

Ethno-archaeology of the Meitei’s of Thongjao Village: A Pottery Making Village of Manipur,North-East India

An ethno-archaeological study of the people of Thongjao village considered to be one of the ancient pottery makers in Manipur provided a detailed account of the techniques and procedures of pottery making. The present study attempts to bridge the gap between the present ethnographic account and past archaeological account in respect of the ceramics of Manipur by drawing similarities between the Thongjao village and prehistoric ceramics of Manipur on the one hand and by making analogical interpretations of the latter on the basis of parallelism that exists between the two on the other. This study also highlighted the use of raw materials and their techniques used in making pottery and their prehistoric similarities in respect of their composition. The paper studies the different types of pottery found in this village and also reveals the socio-cultural association of the people, changes and continuity.     

Late-Occurring Handaxes in Korea: Their Homogeneity and Variability

Bifacially worked tools, which are formally categorized as handaxes, are increasingly found in Korea (present-day South Korea). By reviewing recently updated literature, this paper argues that Korean handaxes are unlikely to be true Acheulean handaxes from west of the Movius Line (ML), only partly sharing morphological affinities. A growing body of archaeological data in Korea provides an opportunity for a close examination of the enduring questions, although it does not offer straightforward answers. Korean handaxes show juxtaposed features; variables do not consistently match the pro and cons of affinity of the handaxes from west of the ML. The partial overlap of shapes with the specimens from the neighboring region and from west of the ML is not evidence for cultural transmission of tradition; therefore, the historical lineage across time and space ought to be reconsidered.