Sequential Incisions on a Cave Bear Bone from the Middle Paleolithic of Pešturina Cave,Serbia

We present the detailed analysis of a cervical vertebra from a cave bear, found at Pe?turina cave, Serbia, in a Mousterian archaeological level dated by radiocarbon at 43.5–44.6 kyr cal BP, and by ESR to between 93.5 and 102.5 kyr BP. Identified as a portion of the cranial articular facet, the fragment displays ten subparallel grooves. The microscopic study of these grooves and other surface modification present on the bone fragment, conducted with multifocus optical and confocal microscopes and complemented by a taphonomic analysis of the associated faunal assemblage, supports the hypothesis that the incisions were made by humans. Results are used to critically examine ambiguities implicit in the analysis and interpretation of early engravings, a category of material culture that has been playing a key role in the identification of early instances of symbolically mediated behavior.     

Historicizing the present: Brussels attacks and heritagization of spontaneous memorials

This research article traces the process of transition from spontaneous to ‘official’ memorialisation of the 2016 Brussels terrorist attack by questioning which factors trigger the heritagization process of spontaneous memorials and their contents. With a view to critically assess the significance of heritage values in relation to terrorism, this article scrutinises how these values are grasped, narrated and articulated by the local authorities, government and archival institutions in the preservation, conservation and heritagization of spontaneous memorials. There is an emphasis on the two facets of heritagization: how meanings attached to a memorial and its objects are created and expressed by the community of bereavement, and how the transformation of places, practices, objects into diverse forms of ‘heritage’ evolves. This article brings a new perspective on the heritagization of spontaneous memorials, seen as important in determining how a traumatic event such is a terrorist attack will settle in the collective memory on the long term, by becoming historicized.     

Women’s everyday spirituality in Diamond Way Buddhism: an auto-photographic study

The Western world is experiencing increasing popularity of new religious movements whose adherents tend to spirituality, a subjective, personal form of religion. These spiritual forms shape the spaces of everyday life, their meanings, perceptions, and experiences, which is starting to be reflected in new geographies of religion. In Czechia, one of the most rapidly growing new religious movements is Diamond Way Buddhism. This contribution focuses on how Diamond Way spirituality is lived and experienced in space. The paper explores this phenomenon using the method of auto-photography. We asked six women to photograph places important to them in their daily lives and interpret their spiritual meaning. This method allows exploration of women’s spirituality in the everyday spaces where it is perceived and experienced, such as kitchens, buses, or natural sites. The results show that women have a specific way of experiencing Buddhism in seemingly secular space which they describe through feminine characteristics of transcendence. Everyday spaces become spiritual through the subjects’ emotional and continual experiencing of Buddhism, while the officially sacred space of a Buddhist center is incorporated into everyday life activities of women. The division between sacred and secular spaces often described by scholars is therefore challenged.     

The analysis of two historic fired artificial stonewares: Coade stone (18th–19th centuries) and a recent discovery from Oxnead Hall,Norfolk (16th–17th centuries)

Coade stone has played a significant role in architectural and ornamental design since its inception in the early 18th century. It is well known that earlier, experimental, architectural stoneware products existed, but few of these have been studied in detail scientifically, and only one major analytical study of Coade stone has appeared in the literature. This paper presents a new spectroscopic analysis of Coade stone along with that of a newly discovered sample from Oxnead Hall in Norfolk where it known that Sir Clement Paston experimented with artificial stone in the late 16th century. The results demonstrate that it is possible to differentiate between the two variants on the basis of both the raw materials used and the different phases formed in their production processes.     

Die Seele auf der Bühne der Justiz. Die Entstehung der Kriminalpsychologie im 19. Jahrhundert und ihre interdisziplinäre Erforschung

The mind on the stage of justice: The formation of criminal psychology in the 19th century and its interdisciplinary research. – Criminal psychology emerges at the end of the 18th century as a new academic discipline in lectures and publications. It has recently been investigated by a considerable number of contributions from researchers of different academic backgrounds. In many respects criminal psychology can be seen as a predecessor of criminology. Its subject is the analysis of the origins of crime and its causes and determinants in the human mind. Criminal psychology embraced at that time philosophical, medical, legal and biological aspects. The latter increase in importance in the second half of the 19th century. The conditions of individual responsibility were generally codified in penal law, but had to be individually investigated in crucial cases through expertise in court. There a conflict emerged between medical experts and judges about their ability and competence to decide. At the end of the 19th century criminal psychology is used to fulfil the needs and interests of a criminal law which understands itself as increasingly utilitarian. Force and new instruments of treatment of offenders were legitimized by scientists who were very optimistic about their own epistemological abilities.     

The Denbigh Project: excavation of a Civil War blockade-runner, J. Barto Arnold III

The blockade-runner Denbigh , one of the most successful and famous of the American Civil War, was located and recorded near Galveston in December, 1997. The site, 41GV143, was identified during a reconnaissance by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, Texas A&M University. The 182-ft (55.5 m)-long, iron hulled, 258-ton displacement side-wheeler was built in 1860 by Laird, Sons & Co. of Birkenhead as a coastal paddle steamer and, when new, was considered a crack ship with all the latest features of design and technology.
This paper covers the 2000 excavation phase of an underwater archaeology project to investigate the Denbigh . It is the third in a series of preliminary progress reports. The report also provides updated findings on the ship's history.     

Nationalism,liberalism and liberal nationalism in post-war Croatia*

This article analyses ethnic nationalism and liberalism as expressed in the views of Croatians in the aftermath of the 1991–5 war – a war during which ethnic-nationalist rhetoric played a large role. Because the war was part of systemic change in the nation, including the adoption of more democratic and capitalist social formation, we also anticipated economic and political liberalism to be present among a sizeable portion of the population. We provide an analysis of the structural conditions fostering these sentiments, an analysis potentially applicable to a range of societies presently in transition. Based on 1996 survey interviews (N=2,202) conducted throughout Croatia, we show that ethnic nationalism in the Croatian context is more widely shared than is liberalism. The effect of religious fundamentalism, educational attainment and media exposure are as predicted, based on theories of liberalism and nationalism. Wartime experiences and position in the occupational system have a weaker and more mixed influence than hypothesised. Perhaps most importantly, we find that three out of five Croatians embrace both ethnic-national views and views that are distinctly liberal, suggesting that liberal nationalism is now dominant in Croatia. The characteristics of groups holding differing views suggest that recent events and current changes in Croatia bode positively for continued growth of liberal sentiments, but this will not necessarily be at the expense of ethnic nationalism.     

Anthropologists at war?

This guest editorial addresses issues to do with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. An initial statement by one professional association prevaricates on the cause of the war by blaming NATO expansion. Here the story is told of why statements need to be unambiguous in their condemnation of Russia, which is not to say that this makes for ‘NATO anthropologists’ as some have claimed on social media.