The Holocene Archaeological Sequence of Shum Laka Rock Shelter (Grassfields, Western Cameroon)

Until recently the Grassfields (western Cameroon), cradle of the Bantu languages, were an unknown zone from the archaeological point of view. The excavations of Shum Laka rock shelter by de Maret and his team brought the most complete sequence in West Africa, spanning the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene. After 20 millennia of microlithic tradition (Late Stone Age), a new culture, with macrolithic tools, polishing and pottery (Stone to Metal Age), slowly developed ca. 7000 B.P. onwards. From this early period on, forest hunting was associated with the exploitation of Canarium schweinfurthii. Around 4000 B.P., an industry with waisted axes, blades, and pottery had emerged. With a striking technological continuity, this culture survived throughout the Iron Age. Increasing importance and diversity of trees exploited through the Stone to Metal Age and the Iron Age suggests arboriculture. Regional comparisons show that, between 5000 and 2500 B.P., an original culture developed in the Grassfields and the Cross River basin.Jusqu'à récemment, les Grassfields (Cameroun occidental), berceau des langues bantoues, étaient inconnus d'un point de vue archéologique. Les fouilles de l'abri de Shum Laka par de Maret et son équipe permirent d'établir la plus complète séquence d'Afrique occidentale, embrassant la fin du Pléistocène et l'Holocène. Après 20,000 millénaires de traditions microlithiques (Age de la Pierre Récent), une nouvelle culture, caractérisée par l'apparition d'outils macrolithiques, de polissage et de poterie (Age de la Pierre au Métal), se développe lentement à partir de 7000 B.P. Dès le début, la chasse en forêt est associée à l'exploitation de Canarium schweinfurthii. Vers 4000 B.P. une industrie avec haches à gorge, lames et poterie a émergé. Dans une continuité technologique surprenante, cette culture survivra à l'Age du Fer. L'arboriculture est suggérée par l'importance et la diversification des arbres exploités durant l'Age de la Pierre au Métal et l'Age du Fer. Des comparaisons régionales montrent que, entre 5000 et 2500 B.P., une culture originale se développe dans les Grassfields et le bassin de la Cross River.     

Gender and environmental struggles: voices from Adivasi Garo community in Bangladesh

Based on an ethnographic field investigation conducted on the matrilineal–matrilocal Garo community of Bangladesh, this article provides a historical account of local environmental struggles to draw attention to the interconnections between gender, environment and sustainable resource management. From a feminist political ecology perspective, the article argues that interacting with traditional culture, forest ecology and changing processes of centric resource governance, gender remains a salient variable in environmental issues. Local contexts of gender dynamics help configuring local people's mode of participation in environmental struggles as well as being the consequence of those struggles. Findings suggest that Garo women and men have sustained gender specific roles and interests through their struggles to ensure control over forest lands and tree resources. Furthermore, they have developed a class-based relationship with forest ecology which must be acknowledged in forest policies.     

Harmony and Melody in Discourse on European Cohesion

From a corpus constituted by the five Cohesion Reports written by the European Commission, the article, using the methods of textual analysis, highlights the production of a European discourse on the territories participating to a process of institutionalization. Thus, starting from various authors analyses who validate the idea of institutionalization, the authors propose here to further explore this idea, using a method based on a lexical analysis software. The aim is then, on the one hand, to assess the extent to which the discourse of the Commission has elements of stability to justify the idea of institutionalization or, in the other hand, the elements of change over time that could compromise the very idea of institutionalization. The authors present the following results: the Commission discourse has important features of stability. Nevertheless, beyond this finding, there are changes at work. Their expression is rendered possible by the polysemy of the notions mobilized, and they are driven partly by a “rational” representation, but above all by the interplay of the succession of tensions and mind-shaping contexts in the construction of Europe.     

A new protocol for radiocarbon dating of hair and keratin type samples—application to an Andean mummy from the National Museum of Natural History in Paris

The protocol of preparation of keratinized samples (e.g. hair, furs …) for radiocarbon dating that we have developed is based on the selective extraction of keratin from the bulk part of the shaft (cortex). The aim of this method is to eliminate the cuticle which could contain exogenous carbon from external contaminations. The total treatment takes place as follows: a washing/dry cleaning, a soft treatment with diluted acidic and basic solutions (acid/alkali/acid method) similar to the protocol used for vegetal samples, extraction of keratin by reduction using dithiothreitol and precipitation with sodium deoxycholate and trichloroacetic acid. This method was applied on a hair sample from an Andean mummy, conserved in the collections of the Anthropology Laboratory of the National Museum of Natural History (Musée de l’Homme) in Paris, France. The results of two runs reveal that the mummy is dated to a period between the eleventh century and the first half of the twelfth century. It therefore belongs to the Late Intermediate period (900–1450?ad). The combination of historical research, the study of the body by computed tomography and the analysis of mineral deposits on the surface of the body provides clues to identify the geographical origin of the mummy. These investigations led to determine that the mummy comes from the region of Tarapacá in Chile and belongs to the cultural complex Pica-Tarapacá.     

Sailing virtual canoes across Oceania: revisiting island accessibility

Understanding sailing conditions is a basic requirement for understanding the two periods of settlement of the distant islands of Oceania, initially from the Bismarck Islands off New Guinea as far as Samoa and later from Samoa throughout East Polynesia. The question of a “navigational threshold” between these two worlds is the focus of this paper. A computer simulation is presented that quantifies the difficulty of sailing virtual canoes in the differing wind conditions in both areas. The model demonstrates substantial differences in ease of voyaging up to and beyond Samoa. That this measure is so markedly different between these two worlds gives support for the hypothesised pause between the discovery and settlement of islands West and East of Samoa.     

The Cultural Project: Formal Chronological Modelling of the Early and Middle Neolithic Sequence in Lower Alsace

Starting from questions about the nature of cultural diversity, this paper examines the pace and tempo of change and the relative importance of continuity and discontinuity. To unravel the cultural project of the past, we apply chronological modelling of radiocarbon dates within a Bayesian statistical framework, to interrogate the Neolithic cultural sequence in Lower Alsace, in the upper Rhine valley, in broad terms from the later sixth to the end of the fifth millennium cal BC. Detailed formal estimates are provided for the long succession of cultural groups, from the early Neolithic Linear Pottery culture (LBK) to the Bischheim Occidental du Rhin Supérieur (BORS) groups at the end of the Middle Neolithic, using seriation and typology of pottery as the starting point in modelling. The rate of ceramic change, as well as frequent shifts in the nature, location and density of settlements, are documented in detail, down to lifetime and generational timescales. This reveals a Neolithic world in Lower Alsace busy with comings and goings, tinkerings and adjustments, and relocations and realignments. A significant hiatus is identified between the end of the LBK and the start of the Hinkelstein group, in the early part of the fifth millennium cal BC. On the basis of modelling of existing dates for other parts of the Rhineland, this appears to be a wider phenomenon, and possible explanations are discussed; full reoccupation of the landscape is only seen in the Grossgartach phase. Radical shifts are also proposed at the end of the Middle Neolithic.     

Bruit aérien et équité environnementale dans les quatre plus grandes métropoles canadiennes

Previous environmental equity studies have examined the spatial distribution of aircraft noise across cities. Their findings show that, in several cities, visible minorities and low-income populations are most affected by aircraft noise. In contrast, one study concludes that well-off populations are the most affected. These contradictory findings support the use of a comparative approach for several cities. The aim of this study is twofold. First, we want to identify if there are groups in the population that are in a situation of inequity to aircraft noise exposure in Toronto, Montréal, Vancouver, and Calgary. Then, we want to check if the exposure to the aircraft noise of the different groups varies significantly from one metropolis to another. We use the recommended noise exposure contour maps in Canada: the Noise Exposure Forecasts. Next, four variables are extracted from the 2016 Statistics Canada census at a fine-scale level (dissemination areas): that is, the percentages of low-income, visible minorities, 0- to 15-year-old, and 65-year-old and over populations. The results of a mixed effects logistic regression model show that environmental inequities in terms of exposure to aircraft noise for the four population groups are not consistent from city to city.     

Sharks in the lagoon? Fishing exploitation at the Neolithic site of Suwayh 1 (Ash Sharqiyah region,Arabian Sea,Sultanate of Oman)

The study of the fish bones from the Neolithic shell midden of Suwayh 1, excavated in the 2000s, identified a total of 1060 identifiable fish bones, from 23 families, 33 genera and 28 different species. Radiocarbon dating demonstrates that the sites date to the early 6th to mid 5th millennium BC. The results follow an eight-phase chronology highlighted by an earlier malacological study. The most important taxa were the Carcharhinidae (requiem shark), Rhinopteridae (cownose rays), Sparoidea (Sparidae and Lethrinidae: sea breams and emperors) and Ariidae (sea catfishes). The results of the fish study show that the Suwayh lagoon must have gradually opened up to the sea and been populated with mangroves. The unique presence of so many sharks at this site seems to indicate that the inhabitants had a special interest in shark fishing and that their location was ideal for this specialised activity. Two types of fishing nets and hooks have been discovered, which require the use of different fishing techniques.     

Film-viewing in Turkish and Moroccan diasporic families: a gender and place perspective

This article explores the relation between gender identities and spatial aspects of audience reception by means of a case study on film-viewing in the Turkish and Moroccan diasporic communities in the Belgian city of Antwerp. Drawing on feminist and gender approaches to audience reception on the one hand, and research into the spatial dynamics underlying audience reception on the other, we look at film-viewing as a socially and spatially meaningful practice that is relevant for the understanding of gender identities in diasporic families. This article is based on the results of a four-year project on diasporic film cultures in Antwerp that investigated how film-viewing practices relate to social and cultural dynamics within the Turkish and Moroccan communities. The data that are discussed include participant observations, in-depth interviews and group interviews with a varied sample of people with Turkish and Moroccan backgrounds. The results show that although film-viewing, especially in the public space of the film theatre, can be mobilized by women as an emancipating social practice, gendered power structures often prevail. Also in the domestic contexts, a more traditional gender division is articulated by the respondent concerning family viewing. We conclude that the space of the film theatre and film-going serve the continuity and stability of gendered family relations, rather than subverting them.