Black-on-red ware in the levant: A neutron activation analysis study

Black-on-red ware was widely used throughout the Eastern Mediterranean between about the 11th and 8th centuries BC. Its origins have been much discussed: its ubiquitous appearance throughout the region could be a result of either several manufacturing regions or a single place of manufacture associated with considerable trading in the ware.In the present study, neutron activation analysis has been carried out for 15 chemical elements in 58 specimens of black-on-red ware from Cyprus (11), Syria (26) and Palestine (21). The analytical results clearly separate the ware into three major groups, corresponding to origins in Palestine, Syria and Cyprus. The hypothesis of a single source of the ware is therefore not tenable. All 14 of the Syrian finds of the single-handled neck ridge juglet are closely grouped with the Cyprus samples, indicating extensive trade in this vessel from Cyprus to Syria. The Palestine samples clearly separate into two sub-groups. Arguments are presented suggesting that this indicates the ware from the two sub-groups was made at different times. The Cyprus group provides tentative evidence of several sites of manufacture on the island.     

Lapita subsistence strategies and food consumption patterns in the community of Teouma (Efate,Vanuatu)

The subsistence strategies of the Lapita populations (3100–2800 BP), the first colonisers of the pristine environments of the islands of Eastern Melanesia and Western Polynesia, have been a matter of ongoing debate for decades. Opinions have ranged between the two extremes of Lapita colonisers being either characterised as highly mobile foragers to fully horticultural communities. To further address the question, this paper presents stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic data obtained from analyses of human and animal collagen samples from the site of Teouma (Efate, Vanuatu) dated to between c. 3000–2500 BP. The isotopic signatures obtained from 28 samples (23 human and 5 animal), interpreted in combination with isotopic information from several coastal and insular environments, suggest a diet primarily made up of terrestrially derived animal protein with lesser contributions from vegetable produce and inshore marine species. Comparisons linking the isotopic data gleaned from the Teouma individuals and Lapita subsistence patterns reconstructed through archaeozoological and archaeobotanical remains support the hypothesis of a mixed economy, that included terrestrial foraging, inshore marine exploitation and a low level of food production for at least some of the earliest Lapita colonists in Vanuatu.     

Wundt, Vygotsky and Bandura: a cultural-historical science of consciousness in three acts

This article looks at three historical efforts to coordinate the scientific study of biological and cultural aspects of human consciousness into a single comprehensive theory of human development that includes the evolution of the human body, cultural evolution and personal development: specifically, the research programs of Wilhelm Wundt, Lev Vygotsky and Albert Bandura. The lack of historical relations between these similar efforts is striking, and suggests that the effort to promote cultural and personal sources of consciousness arises as a natural foil to an overemphasis on the biological basis of consciousness, sometimes associated with biological determinism.