Water, technology, and the courtroom: negotiating reclamation policy in territorial New Mexico

Historical investigation of arid landscapes and communities in the American West has long focused on the pivotal influence of federal reclamation policy, typically characterizing its implementation as the application of scientific and technological methods to a variety of water resource management issues. This paper departs from traditional views of reclamation by highlighting the highly variable and contingent ways in which new science-based forms of water management were proposed and negotiated in specific local places with particular cultural, legal, and historical geographies. Drawing theoretically from literature on the ‘geography of science,’ the paper probes the ways in which authority for a scientific approach to water management was created, negotiated, and expressed in local and regional contexts in the Territory of New Mexico, where authoritative systems of practical resource use and administration had been in long use before the U.S. government initiated its federal water reclamation program in 1902. Specifically, the paper examines two disputes entered and argued in front of northern New Mexico’s Rio Arriba District Dourt between 1903 and 1905. By departing from the geographical and scalar perspectives typically applied to environmental histories of the West and its reclamation landscapes, this ‘microgeographical’ approach promises a fresh perspective that emphasizes the highly contingent ways in which science-based water policy was implemented in multiple and complex environments.     

A Rich Bell Beaker Burial from Wellington Quarry, Marden, Herefordshire

An intact Bell Beaker grave was discovered in February 1996 at Wellington Quarry, Marden, Herefordshire. The unmarked flat grave had no signs of a ditch or barrow, but may have been timber lined. It contained a tanged copper knife, a shale wristguard fragment, four barbed and tanged arrowheads, three arrowhead blanks, three flint knives, two triangular points or small daggers and four flint flakes. The adult male inhumation was accompanied by a complete, Maritime (AOO) Bell Beaker and may be dated to 2750–2500 BC (Late Neolithic). It belongs to Case's Group D. A notable feature of the grave goods is their different states of wear and completeness, varying from pristine to old, and including a fragment of a wristguard.     

Reviews of books

Historical Archaeology -     

Ancient ‘Black’ Decorative Stones and the Ephesian Origin of Sculptural bigio antico

Isotopic, EPR and petrographic studies aimed at establishing the provenance of sculptural bigio antico are reported, including 18 possible quarry sites and 21 ancient sculptures. The results demonstrate that the Belevi quarry, north‐east of Ephesos, above the more famous white marble quarry, was the major source of this marble. Nineteen artefacts belong to Belevi, whereas the precise origin of the remaining two is unknown, but must probably be found within the same area. The peculiar distribution of δ¹³C values both for Belevi and artefacts was crucial for inferring the correct provenance, subsequently confirmed by additional analytical and petrographic data.     

The Late Upper Palaeolithic Occupation of the Moroccan Northwest Maghreb During the Last Glacial Maximum

New work at Kehf el Hammar Cave provides the first well-dated palaeoenvironmental sequence for the Late Upper Palaeolithic in this region of the northwest Maghreb. The archaeological layers are dated via a combination of AMS radiocarbon and luminescence dating methods. The sequence contains charcoal-rich occupation layers with faunal, human and lithic finds. Local vegetational patterns are reconstructed on the basis of preliminary analysis of the charcoal evidence. Using standard calibration curves the AMS radiocarbon dates are compared with proxy evidence for climatic change from sea core records in the Alborán Sea. These appear to show that the Late Upper Palaeolithic occupation of the region coincides closely with Heinrich Event 1, a period marked by intense aridification and dating to ca. 16,700–17,250 calendar years ago.Les nouvelles recherches dans la grotte de Kehf el Hammar ont permis d’obtenir la première séquence paléoenevironnementale bien datée du Paléolithique supérieur tardif au Nord Ouest du Maghreb. En effet, les niveaux archéologiques ont été datés par le radiocarbone par accélérateur (AMS) et des méthodes radiométriques basées sur la luminescence. En revanche, les paléoenvironnements végétaux ont été partiellement reconstitués à base des premières analyses des charbons de bois. Les dates AMS calibrées ont été comparées aux données climatiques issues des carottes marines dans la mer Alborán. Ainsi, les occupations humaines du Paléolithique supérieur tardif dans la région ont sensiblement coïncidé avec l’événement climatique Heinrich 1. Celui-ci correspond à une période qui a été marquée par une aridification intense entre 16.700 et 17.250 ans (cal.).