Behavioral Ecology and Archaeology

Behavioral ecology is the study of adaptive behavior in relation to social and environmental circumstances. Analysts working from this perspective hold that the reproductive strategies and decision-making capacities of all living organisms—including humans—are shaped by natural selection. Archaeologists have been using this proposition in the study of past human behavior for more than 30 years. Significant insights on variation in prehistoric human subsistence, life history, social organization, and their respective fossil and archaeological consequences have been among the more important results.     

An inter-site comparison of enamel hypoplasia in bison: implications for paleoecology and modeling Late Plains Archaic subsistence

Bison bison mandibular molars from the Late Plains Archaic kill/butchery sites of Buffalo Creek (Wyoming) and Kaplan-Hoover (Colorado) exhibit significant frequencies of dental enamel hypoplasia (DEH), a defect believed to reflect information about physiological status of individual animals. This study provides a methodology to estimate the ontogenetic and seasonal timing of DEH formation in bison dentition. Integration of these estimates with data from bison life history and grassland ecology allows inferences on age- and season-specific factors exacerbating periodic physiological declines that were recorded in the form of enamel hypoplasias. Differences between assemblages indicate regional variability in grassland conditions, with data from Buffalo Creek pointing to recurrent drought that reduced forage capacity and contributed to physiological stress in bison over two consecutive years. Seasons of physiological stress reflected in the DEH correspond to each of the three kill events at the locality, suggesting that predictability of bison behavior in this location was a critical factor in influencing the seasonal timing and location of repeated hunting episodes. Unlike Buffalo Creek, timings of stress episodes are not consistent with season of death in the Kaplan-Hoover bison assemblage, suggesting that favorable grassland conditions were the primary factor influencing timing of this large single-kill event in order to provision for the upcoming winter. DEH analysis represents a developing approach in the construction of models addressing key aspects of local grassland and bison ecology as well as offers unique insights into the hunting strategies and subsistence decisions of Late Plains Archaic foragers.     

Joining the Evangelical Club: The Movement of the Wesleyan‐Holiness Churches in Australia Along the Church‐Sect Continuum

A number of North American Wesleyan‐Holiness denominations emerged in Australia, beginning in the years following the Second World War. Some of these churches moved from being despised and marginalized sects to established denominations while others remained small and isolated, experiencing little growth. Their story demonstrates that movement along the church‐sect continuum is by no means a smooth and inevitable one. Random processes may lower or raise religious tension within the group thus affecting its movement along the continuum. The strict behavioural standards in Wesleyan‐Holiness churches have gradually been lowered and the distinctive beliefs of these groups have been eroded. Wesleyan‐Holiness churches in Australia have grown primarily through “switchers” from other denominations more than from new convert growth, so that they have become more generically “Evangelical” and less distinctively “Holiness” in their beliefs and practices.     

THE SECTILIA PANELS OF FARAGOLA (ASCOLI SATRIANO,SOUTHERN ITALY): A MULTI‐ANALYTICAL STUDY OF THE RED,ORANGE AND YELLOW GLASS SLABS*

SEM–EDS, EMPA, ICP–MS and ICP–OES were applied to the study of three sectilia panels made of red, orange and yellow glass slabs. In order to determine the chemical state of Cu, XAS was also performed. The results indicate that, with the exception of the red samples, all slabs were made by mixing a siliceous sand with natron. The red slabs show significant compositional differences with respect to K₂O and MgO contents, probably linked to the use of plant ashes as a source of alkali. The red, orange and yellow slabs are coloured by metallic copper, cuprite and Pb antimonates, respectively. The comparison between the chemical composition of the Faragola samples and several glass reference groups did not provide conclusive evidence of provenance.     

Norman crusaders in the Catalan reconquest: Robert Burdet and the principality of Tarragona, 1129-55

A Norman adventurer, Robert Burdet, while participating in the Reconquista, established a short-lived crusader principality at Tarragona. This Norman gained fame after 1114, first serving Alfonso I el Batallador (‘The Warrior’) of Aragón in the wars against the Banu Hūd of Zaragoza; thereafter he was contracted by Archbishop Oleguer Bonestruga of Tarragona, the primate of northeastern Spain after 1118 and a papal legate after 1123, to assume in 1129 the secular lordship of Tarragona which had been constituted by the comital house of Barcelona as a papal fief and ecclesiastical principality. After this prelate's death in 1137, the Norman held this frontier and attempted to found an autonomous crusader state, but in 1146 the new archbishop, Bernard Tort, began to re-impose ecclesiastical control over Tarragona. At the same time, the house of Barcelona inherited the royal title from Aragón, thus forming the crown of Aragón by merging the former kingdom with the Catalan counties and reviving the crusade against Muslim Lérida and Tortosa which fell in 1148 and 1149. The archbishop and count moved against the Normans to integrate their principality into the new Aragó-Catalan federation. Prince Robert lost much of his power before his death in 1155, and his heirs were reduced to vassalage to Barcelona and subservience to their ecclesiastical lord, the archbishop of Tarragona. Civil war broke out after 1155 and the expulsion of the Normans by 1177 brought their principality to an end.     

‘Islands within Islands?’ The Maldivian resort,between segregation and integration

Abstract

The Maldives resort islands are a type of tourist enclave subject to a dual form of borderization. The islands have an external border that coincides with each island’s coastline and with the limits of the private property of the resort; this border regulates the movement of tourists and locals. The islands also have an internal border that separates the outer edge of the island from the inner edge. The outer edge, which is supposed to represent the perfect landscape of the ‘tropical island,’ houses all of the tourist facilities, while the interior contains the structures dedicated to the metabolic activities of the resort. The frontline staff members and the tourists share the ‘dreamscape’ of the outer edge, whereas the maintenance workers live in the secluded space inside the island, where they are typically hidden from the sight of tourists by high walls, and their movement is usually restricted from staff designated areas to their location of work. For maintenance workers, these spaces, necessarily limited due to the small size of the coral islands, risk becoming ‘islands within islands.’ Recently, the Maldivian government has begun to promote projects and initiatives in support of territorial integration between the resorts and communities of neighboring islands. Thus, the outer limits of the resort islands are, today, more porous. Their internal borders, in contrast, remain very difficult to cross.