Where to Next?: Garden Site Selection in the Papua New Guinea Highlands

The Wola speakers of the Southern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea are nominally shifting cultivators. The question asked here is how do they decide, when they periodically abandon gardens, where to establish new ones. The answer is framed in terms of an investigation of knowledge largely in action rather than as discourse. Several factors are postulated as influencing site selection, among them distance to location, ease of enclosing it, site topography (including aspect, slope and altitude), its vegetation cover, and finally social considerations that might inform gardeners' choices. It includes a critique of materialistic assumptions in respect of social status and access to productive resources. It is noteworthy that these decisions are made in a context where there is currently no pressure on arable land resources, the region having large forested reserves. A review of data collected from a sample of gardens in the Wage valley (presented in terms of both numbers of gardens and their areas), suggests that farmers skillfully draw on their experiential knowledge in balancing consideration of various factors, none necessarily predominating in their decision making.     

The Norman invasion of Gwent: a reassessment

Shortly after the Norman conquest of England, William fitz Osbern was created earl of Hereford. Most historians suggest he overran all Gwent east of the Usk before his return to the continent in 1071. This article will argue that his occupation of Gwent was more limited and was possibly confined to the territories claimed by Harold Godwinson, once earl of Hereford, before his death at Hastings. Instead, the accession of William Rufus in 1087 is seen as the context for a new aggressive policy towards South Wales. In the next fifteen years, Gwent and its neighbouring kingdoms of Morgannwg and Bucheiniog were overrun by William's marcher lords.     

Estimating parent population of pottery vessels from a sample of fragments: a case study from inter-tidal surface collections,Roviana Lagoon,Solomon Islands

Archaeologists frequently interpret the duration and type of prehistoric occupation at a location/site from the relative abundance of prehistoric materials (accumulations research). Taphonomic factors have the potential to alter substantially the archaeological record leading to inaccurate assumptions about the nature of prehistoric settlement. Where vessel families of potsherds can be established, we provide a general method to estimate the parent population from which the sample of sherds derives, through analysis of vessel completeness of the sample. This provides a basis for archaeological interpretation of the scale of discard represented at a location. The approach used has broad applicability to many archaeological settings where behavioural inferences are made from poorly preserved ceramic samples. Statistical analysis of a ceramic assemblage from Roviana Lagoon stilt villages indicates that most of the ceramic assemblage has been destroyed over time. An unexpectedly severe taphonomic regime is inferred for this relatively sheltered landlocked lagoon setting. Rather than marking an ephemeral occupation, estimating a parent ceramic population indicates instead that early stilt village sites in the Solomon Islands region were probably permanently occupied for several centuries. Results also suggest that the relative absence of recorded Lapita sites in the main Solomon Islands, and possibly elsewhere in Near Oceania may be a result of a harsh taphonomic regime for the remains of stilt village occupation.