The 2008 Maritime Heritage Assessment Survey along the Karpaz Peninsula,Cyprus

Since the arrival of Turkish military forces on the island of Cyprus in 1974, archaeological activity below the water in northern Cyprus has been virtually non‐existent. In August 2008, however, an international team conducted an underwater survey in this disputed region to document and assess the variety of maritime cultural heritage present along part of the coastline. This paper discusses the team's survey methods and goals, the discoveries, ranging in date from the 6th century BC to the 14th century AD, and plans for work in 2009. © 2009 The Author     

Remembering an Industrial Landscape

Abandoned industrial factories and decaying communities have become a common sight in many places throughout the western world. Since the beginning of the postindustrial age communities have needed to make decisions about how to deal with these industrial landscapes. The celebration and interpretation of these places become important in a region's heritage. The struggle between labor and capital to control the meaning of the past is ongoing. Often, when under the control of government agencies, the story of labor is overshadowed by the benefits of industrial and engineering feats. Working-class histories, which are readily available for public interpretation, are omitted or downplayed in an industrial site's official memory.Virginius Island, located in Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, is one example where a working-class history is available for public interpretation, although the park continues to promote industrial heritage over working-class heritage. While archaeological investigations over the past several decades on the island have mainly focused on recovering signatures of its industry, recent work has explored the lives of the workers and their families who toiled in this industrial community. The latest effort to stabilize above-ground ruins that continues into the early twenty-first century has concentrated exclusively on the industrial sites. The interpretation of the island and the development of trails have made many of the industrial ruins accessible to the public. Today the National Park Service spends considerable time protecting, stabilizing, and interpreting the industrial sites on the park's landscape. It is obvious that the histories fading from the official memory are those that belong to the craft-oriented and working-class community.     

Beyond the grave: variability in Neolithic diets in Southern Germany?

Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses were undertaken on human and faunal remains from two Neolithic sites in Southern Germany; the LBK settlement at Herxheim and the middle Neolithic cemetery at Trebur. Stable isotope data were used to reconstruct the diets of individuals buried at these sites and to look at dietary variation between groups classified by their sex, age, grave goods and cultural affiliation. Overall there was surprisingly little variation in the diet between the groups, as described by the stable isotope analysis, despite significant differences in the composition of grave goods. Also surprising, considering the archaeological evidence for extensive grain cultivation in this region during the Neolithic, was that the majority of individuals had δ¹⁵N values consistent with the consumption of significant amounts of animal protein.     

Supporting food security for Indigenous families through the restoration of Indigenous foodways

Indigenous families are overrepresented among those within Canada who experience food insecurity. Studies have largely focused on northern populations, with less attention paid to southern and urban communities, including the social, cultural, and geographic processes that challenge food security. In this study, we present findings from a decade‐long community‐based study with the Southwest Ontario Aboriginal Health Access Centre (London, Ontario) to examine family perspectives related to the social determinants of food security. These topics were explored through qualitative interviews (n = 25) and focus groups (n = 2) with First Nation mothers with young children from the city of London, and a nearby reserve community. Interviewees from both geographies identified a number of socio‐economic challenges including household income and transportation. However, some interviewees also shed light on barriers to healthy eating unique to these Indigenous contexts including access issues such as a lack of grocery stores on‐reserve; loss of knowledge related to the utilization of traditional foods; and the erosion of community, familial, and social supports. Resolving these unique determinants of food security for urban and reserve‐based First Nation families will require a range of economic and culturally specific interventions, particularly those that support development and uptake of Indigenous foodways.     

New life in Japan's ‘endingness’ business

The Japanese deathcare and Buddhist goods industry is a growing field, emerging out of radical shifts in the socio-economic conditions of everyday life: smaller households, an ageing population and more irregular employment/lifestyle patterns. Based on fieldwork, this article reports tectonic ruptures within Japan’s household-based mortuary system and Buddhist practice. It takes readers to ENDEX, the premier convention for Japan’s ‘ending industry’, where new ‘life’ emerges from the falling away of older death rites that get remixed and remade into newer experimental practices, businesses and business subjectivities. Examples range from high-tech gravestones and drones to competitions for the ‘Hottest Priest’ and best encoffiner. This article engages with these new necro-technologies and asks why the old deathcare system is falling apart. What are the socio-material effects of its unravelling? And what does the futurity of necro-praxis look like in Japan (and elsewhere) when the existential fabric of mortality may be torn apart?