USS <Emphasis Type="Italic">Independence’s</Emphasis> Aircraft

Submerged aircraft are a newly emerging area of study in underwater archaeology. In August 2016, a multidisciplinary team conducted the first archaeological survey of the deep water (829 m) wreck of the ex-USS Independence (CVL22), a WWII era light carrier scuttled off San Francisco after its use as an atomic bomb test target and subsequently as a floating radiological laboratory and training facility. Using the remotely operated vehicles Argus and Hercules, the expedition documented and studied Independence including assessment of a sonar target thought to be an aircraft resting inside the sunken carrier’s forward elevator pit. The survey confirmed the presence of a plane, but previous assumptions as to the type and identity of this aircraft, based on archival records, proved erroneous. As well, the remains of a second, and possibly a third, aircraft were also encountered during the 2016 survey. These artifacts, through their context, both as naval warplanes on an aircraft carrier, and as test articles for seaborne nuclear weapons development, more precisely fit within the parameters of maritime archaeology. They join other archaeological evidence at the Independence site that helps define its significance within the context of World War II and the Cold War.     

The Baelo Claudia Paradigm: The Exploitation of Marine Resources in Roman Cetariae

The Roman city of Baelo Claudia (Baetica, Hispania) is one of the best known halieutic sites of the Mare Nostrum, dating from between the 2nd century BC and the 5th century AD. Recent archaeological investigations have included the discovery, excavation and interdisciplinary study of two new fish-salting factories (so-called “Conjuntos Industriales” XI and XII), providing valuable new information on the exploitation of marine resources. This paper provides the first synthesis of all of the available archaeological evidence for the first three phases of the fishing-product cycle (marine resources/fishing equipment/processing facilities and food products) at this unique site on the Strait of Gibraltar.     

Organization of ceramic production at a fortified Early Bronze Age settlement in Moravia (Czech Republic) inferred from minimally destructive archaeometry

This paper explores how pottery production was organized at fortified sites of central Europe at the end of the Early Bronze Age. The organization of pottery production in terms of ethnography-based models was inferred jointly by non-destructive multi-elemental analysis, micropetrography and powder X-ray diffraction. This minimally destructive approach was used to explore the mode of pottery production at the fortified central site Blu?ina (Moravia, Czech Republic). Archaeometry-based indirect evidence indicates that tableware of a specific shape was produced using a specific technology at the site or in its close vicinity and that coarse ware was brought to the site from elsewhere. The results obtained were complexly evaluated and compared with ethnography-based categorizations to reveal the features of production organization of the Early Bronze Age pottery. Multidimensional analysis classified the production as intensified household labour and work of individual retainers, or nucleated corvée, depending on its scale and intensity.     

The shrinkage cracks and the diameter of the log: a experimental approach toward fuel management by Patagonian hunter-gatherer (Paredón Lanfré site. Río Negro Province,Argentin)

The anthracological study of Paredón Lanfré (Patagonia, Argentina) highlights the presence of radial cracks with a marked difference between the percentage of affected coniferous charcoal (Fitzroya cupressoides and Austrocedrus chilensis) compared to the angiosperms (e.g., Nothofagus antarctica and Nothofagus dombeyi). The aim of this work was to obtain experimental comparison data from two Patagonian conifers to understand the prehistoric combustion behavior of the region. These results showed a discrepancy between the average of shrinkage cracks made with green wood fires and those with dry wood fires. The study of the caliber of charcoal recovered from Paredón Lanfré showed significant differences between the samples of F. cupressoides and A. chilensis. The calculation of correlation between size and shrinkage cracks suggests for both species that the size is not related to the number of registered shrinkage cracks in charcoal studied. Therefore, the gauge would not be a variable which could influence the presence of shrinkage cracks in the charcoal. Consequently, the difference of average shrinkage cracks between the two specimens may result from another variable that remains to be identified.     

Experimental Design and Experimental Inference in Stone Artifact Archaeology

Lithic researchers rely heavily on experimentation to infer past behaviors and activities based on stone artifacts. This paper explores the analogical nature of archaeological inference and the relationship between experimental design and inference validity in stone artifact experimentation. We show that actualistic flintknapping lacks vital aspects of scientific experimentation, and thus has inherent inferential issues of analogical adequacy and confidence. It is argued that a greater emphasis on hypothesis construction and variable control is needed in order to establish sound referential linkages upon which constructive analogic inferences about the past can be built.     

A Comprised Archaeological History of Taiwan through the Long-Term Record of Heping Dao,Keelung

We present the results of six years of archaeological work carried out in Heping Dao, Keelung, northern Taiwan. The site has revealed a rich archaeological record spanning a sequence that comprehends most of the history of Taiwan, including the most salient historical landmarks in it. The study of this long-term sequence of habitation in Heping Dao throughout prehistory to current times, allows us to attempt a historical archaeology of the longue duree of the place that in turn enables the establishment of comparisons between periods and raising of specific questions, among them: the general understanding of cultural transformation along the Neolithic and the Iron Age, and in turn the transition Iron Age/Aboriginal historic times in Taiwan, which in our view has to be observed as a history of continuity rather than of interruptions; the recognition of the Chinese presence in Taiwan in the pre-European period; the implantation of the European colony and its effects on the local populations; the differing material remains and impacts caused by the presence of pre-European Chinese and the Qing occupation; and the potential for a comparison between the European and the Japanese colonial projects as seen in the material record.     

Prioritising Heritage Resources in a Time of Loss: Sea Level Rise and Archaeological Resources of the Middle Atlantic Region,US

ABSTRACT

The US Middle Atlantic region, known for its rich archaeological record and diverse topographic settings, is experiencing a range of climate change impacts, most notably: sea level rise and coastal erosion in its tidal zones. Documented palaeostratigraphic and palynological studies throughout the region provide a record of late Pleistocene/Holocene environmental response to changing climate, confirming observations from other disciplines that the magnitude of modern impacts exceeds past temporal and spatial patterns. The corresponding impact on archaeological resources is great, requiring a renewed effort to document threatened sites while also working with local and state governments to develop mitigation strategies. The Middle Atlantic Archaeological Conference (MAAC) created the Sea Level Rise and Storm Surge Committee to promote regional partnerships in site impact assessment and mitigation strategies. The network highlights the predicament of archaeology in this time of climate change: accelerated research and discovery in the face of catastrophic loss.