The Suitability of 3D Data: 3D Digitisation of Human Remains

The use of 3D data in the analysis of skeletal and fossil materials has conveyed numerous advantages in many fields; however, as the availability and use of 3D scanning equipment are rapidly increasing, it is important for researchers to consider whether these methods are suitable for the proposed study. The issue of suitability has been largely overlooked in previous research; for instance, casts and reconstruction methods are frequently used to increase sample sizes, without sufficient assessment of the effect, this may have on the accuracy and reliability of results. Furthermore, the reliability of geometric morphometric methods and the implications of virtual curation have not received sufficient consideration. This paper discusses the suitability of 3D research with regard to the accuracy, reliability, and accessibility of methods and materials, as well as the effects of the current learning environment. Areas where future work will progress 3D research are proposed.     

The Ethical Challenge of Digital Bioarchaeological Data

Introduction to the Special Issue: Digital Bioarchaeology: New Dimensions, New Methods, New Ethics.     

Subsistence Digging in Iran’s Archeology and the Cultural Heritage

Subsistence digging is an action taken by people living a region to find antiquities in order to sell them and use resulting proceeds as a means of living. Subsistence digging is the main source of recent excavated cultural materials supplied to the market. The term is tied to the economy and plays an important socioeconomic role in many countries particularly in developing countries throughout the world by solving the starvation problem. Despite of the frequency of digging activities, they have not been investigated and even are not known in Iran so far. To find out the possible reasons behind digging activities and the neglect of the relevant authorities and agencies, this study explores subsistence digging and distinguishes it from looting, a term that is frequently referred to as the looting of cultural heritage in Iran.     

To Salt or Not to Salt: A Review of Evidence for Processed Marine Products and Local Traditions in the Aegean Through Time

This article addresses the question of the production of locally processed and imported marine products in the Aegean through time, utilising zooarchaeological evidence combined with various other records when available. What is clear from this overview is that Aegean populations were familiar with processing techniques from as early as the Mesolithic period. Despite evidence for more intensive exploitation and preservation of marine resources at specific times and in specific areas, aimed at maximising the returns from seasonally abundant catches, in general preserved marine products seem to have been of limited significance to Aegean communities and they probably never constituted a significant part of the Aegean diet.     

Fish Processing in the Mediterranean: Varying Traditions,Technologies and Scales of Production with Particular Reference to the Eastern Mediterranean

Research into the processing of marine resources along the Mediterranean coasts in antiquity reveals an uneven picture. The archaeological evidence for the systematic processing of fish and seafood in the western part is abundant and varied. Here, the production of salted fish and fish sauces seems to have been an important factor contributing to economic growth in many locations. In the eastern part of the Mediterranean, however, archaeological evidence for the processing of marine resources is much less common and is often indirect. Large-scale processing plants are virtually absent from the archaeological record and there are few studies of the remains of fish and shellfish or of other material evidence relating to fish preservation and commerce. Yet written evidence on the subject abounds, but places heavy emphasis on consumption and commerce rather than production. This paper describes the evidence and explores possible reasons for this imbalanced representation in an attempt to assess the actual importance of the processing of marine resources across the whole Mediterranean region. Issues discussed are the shifting emphasis on fish processing across space and through time, archaeological research agendas and methodologies, resource availability and abundance and, finally, issues of scale and visibility.     

Institutions and Falsified Culture in the Novel Evening Act by Croatian Writer Pavao Pavličić

`In one area of his prose work, the Croatian writer Pavao Pavli?i? belongs to a group of writers in the 1970s who used a fantastic narrative model and thematized irrational parallel worlds as opposed to a realist model of narration. Pavli?i?’s novel Evening Act (published as Ve?ernji akt in 1981) has a realistic beginning, but it slips into fantastic narration when the main character, a young man called Mihovil, discovers his ability to falsify documents and works of art. At the same time, he is capable of recognizing falsified art works and documents that are accepted as an integral part of social, cultural, and historical memory. When this ability becomes dangerous, Mihovil falsifies his own body to escape from his unbearable reality. This paper will analyse the function of the fantastic model in Pavli?i?’s novel as a postmodern play with traditions of Croatian and world literature and culture. The ludic layer of the novel has a highly symbolic value: it draws attention to the relationship of cultural institutions and society to the authenticity of art works, the role of art, and ways of preserving (or destroying) cultural memory.     

Approaches to Interpreting Mesolithic Mobility and Settlement in Britain and Ireland

The Mesolithic communities of northwest Europe have generally been considered inherently mobile, and all the material evidence associated with them has been interpreted accordingly. This has resulted in entrenched, theoretically polemical and largely hypothetical mobility models, focusing on seasonal rounds and extraction activities. However, recent reanalyses of the ethnographic sources, and discoveries of both substantial and ephemeral Mesolithic structures, as well as new data from recent innovative lithic and scientific analyses (including DNA, isotope research on human remains, and geochemical analyses of lithic artefacts), have forced us to rethink the rather static models of Mesolithic mobility strategies. This paper, examining Mesolithic hunter-gatherer mobility and settlement models from Britain and Ireland, is part of that reassessment. In particular, it assesses the impact of the multiple lines of consilience on our understanding of Mesolithic habitation of landscapes. These include the archaeological evidence and the efficacy of recent theoretical and methodological approaches that have been employed to interpret it.     

Eurasian Steppe Chariots and Social Complexity During the Bronze Age

This paper aims to examine some societal principles that underlie the development of horse-drawn chariots in Inner Eurasia during the Middle and Late Bronze Age (cal. 2050–1750 BC). Analysis is based on an evaluation and re-examination of the archaeological evidence for horse-drawn chariots, and the social constructs they entail. Chariots were developed in the zone of the Northern Eurasian steppes before c. 2000 BC in the context of complex but stateless societies. Because chariots depend on a set of developed skills, valuable resources, and complicated technologies, which involve several outstanding improvements to previously known solutions, they require specific conditions for their development and maintenance in social life. Most fundamentally, they require a group of people with an interest in this complex technology: a class of military elites characterized by aggrandizing behavior. The competition between collectives of military elites for resources, power and prestige brought into life the earliest chariot complex in the world.     

The role of zoning in the strategic planning of protected areas: lessons learnt from EU countries and Serbia

This paper aims to highlight the problems and possibilities for improving the nature protection zoning of protected areas (PA) in spatial planning. It analyses and compares the systems of spatial planning and the legal basis for protecting nature in PAs in selected EU countries and Serbia. It investigates and compares the role of nature protection zoning and the practice of spatial planning for selected European countries. The case study of a national park in each of the selected countries is used to analyse the nature protection zoning and its role in the coordination of spatial planning for PAs and their surroundings. The initial hypothesis is tested and confirmed that, regardless of differences in the planning systems of the selected European countries, the models of nature protection zoning established for PAs are defining for the coordination of planning instruments in achieving the protection and sustainable development of PAs. The lessons learnt concern the identification of similarities and differences in approaches to nature protection zoning, and their relationship with the spatial planning for PAs in six European countries. Based on these lessons and existing research, recommendations are given for improving the legal basis for the nature protection zoning and spatial planning of PAs in Serbia.     

Rock Art Between Preservation,Research and Sustainable Development—a Perspective from Southern Ethiopia

This paper focuses on southern Ethiopia, along the outer rim of the Rift Valley and not far from the Kenyan border, in an area forming part of a larger region known as a cradle of humankind. However, it also hosts a diverse Holocene rock art heritage, which is still underestimated and underdocumented. Paintings and engravings are widespread in the region, both in rock shelters and open-air sites, often located in remote areas currently inhabited by communities belonging to different ethnic groups. The aim of this paper is to present the first results of a new project in the area around Yabelo, within the broader framework of rock art research in East Africa, integrating archaeological research, preservation and heritage management with a relevant involvement of local communities. The outstanding cultural importance of these contexts offers new prospects for both scholarly research and sustainable development. The recording and study of the artworks is underway, using digital technologies that guarantee a high standard of accuracy of the documentation and non-invasive recording methods. This provides important insights for reconstructing cultural dynamics in the area between the final Pleistocene and onset of the Holocene. Moreover, the focus on rock art makes it possible to enhance local knowledge, increasing the awareness of local communities, with a significant impact on the preservation of this fragile heritage and the development of local, sustainable tourism projects. Differently from other archaeological features, rock art can have a more immediate attractiveness for contemporary observers, in terms of the apparent immediacy of the images and their emotional impact, raising awareness of cultural heritage and fostering major involvement in its preservation.