Bone survival: The effects of sedimentary abrasion and trampling on fresh and cooked bone

It is commonly assumed that, at least when considering similar sized animals, the bones from all taxa stand an equal chance of preservation. This paper summarizes one aspect of a larger study undertaken in order to assess whether this assumption is true, based on the results of experiments and observations into the effects of a range of pre-depositional processes. The rates of bone destruction by sedimentary abrasion and by trampling are determined for small mammal, fish and frog bones. Patterns of bone loss and fragmentation are examined both between species and within the skeleton, for fresh and boiled bone. It is shown that there is considerable interspecies variation in the ability of bones to withstand these physical forces. Frog bone proved particularly resistant, while within the fish, bone from the Gadidae was less resilient than might be expected, given its predominance in British Medieval archaeological sites and coastal sites of all periods. Within the skeleton, bone shape appears to be a very important determinant of relative survival. Boiling dramatically reduces bone's resistence to destruction. The physical properties of fresh, boiled and burnt bone are compared mechanically, and the dramatic loss of strength induced by heating is demonstrated. The often voiced assumption that fish bone is more prone to destruction than mammal bone is shown to have some validity. The results add more evidence to support the view that comparison of species abundance by fragment counts may not always be appropriate, and that interpretation of skeletal element frequencies should be approached with caution.     

The Ethnoarchaeology of Juvenile Foragers: Shellfishing Strategies among Meriam Children

Recognizing children's contribution to the archaeological record may be crucial for our ideas about the role of children in human evolution. Despite this, analyses of children's activities and how they might shape archaeological patterns are almost entirely absent from discussions about site formation processes. This may in turn result from the assumption that children are either inconsequential in their foraging activities or that identifying children's activities archaeologically will be difficult if not impossible. This challenge drew our attention toward children's intertidal gathering among the Meriam of the Eastern Torres Strait as a possible agent of patterned and predictable variability in shell middens. We present an analysis of differences between the prey choice and field processing strategies of children and adults and explore an hypothesis for predicting their archaeological effects on faunal assemblage variability.     

Role playing: a feminist-geopolitical analysis of the everyday workings of the Mexican state

Participatory methods are increasingly important to geographical research of ‘the everyday,’ yet their viability as a means to understand on-the-ground geopolitical processes has been less explored. This article contributes to the growing body of literature on participatory research in geography and feminist geopolitics by arguing for the use of a specific participatory tool – role play. We present an example of our employment of the technique in a case study on using the method during research with Central American immigrants living in the Mexico–Guatemala border city of Tapachula, Mexico. In doing so, we provide an in-depth examination of the implementation of role play, demonstrating its usefulness in revealing immigrant women's daily experiences with low- to mid-level state actors as they seek to avail themselves of their rights. We conclude that role play is particularly well suited to revealing these experiences due to its encouragement of creativity, embodiment through performance and facilitation of in-depth discussion of difficult subject matter.     

Being Toured While Digging Tourism: Excavating the Familiar at Chicago’s 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition

Chicago’s Jackson Park witnessed intense and sustained tourism during the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Recent archaeological survey and excavation produced information about the tourist experience of the Fair in a somewhat familiar artifactural form. The dig drew local tourists whose appetites for the Exposition were whetted by a bestselling book. At the heart of these multiple touristic consumptions in, and of, Jackson Park lies the central issue—the way that tourists create themselves as modern subjects through the practice of tourism and how this process can be both helped and hindered by the presence of familiar objects.     

The Significance of Social Gestures and Technologies of Embellishment in Paleolithic Portable Art

This paper analyzes the gestures and technologies used to make Paleolithic portable art. Contextualized within the theoretical schools of the anthropology of technology and using the chaîne opératoire methodology, the approach advanced here quantifies the relationships between technology, society, and aesthetics in the production of Paleolithic art. Focusing on Pavlovian art, dating to between 28,000 and 24,000 radiocarbon years BP, this paper assesses the suite of art production technologies, particularly those used when modifying and decorating ivory, and traces the relationship between decorative techniques and other characteristics of art. These analyses offer insight into Pavlovian art traditions and the emergence of innovative techniques in Paleolithic societies.     

Can a preservationist ideology halt the process of creative destruction? Evidence from Salt Spring Island,British Columbia

For more than 50 years, rural municipalities across the developed world have struggled to redefine themselves in the face of declining primary sector employment. In some places, this struggle has led to the creation of landscapes that provide heritage‐seekers with tangible commodities and intangible experiences reflecting a by‐gone past. Recent research suggests that these post‐productivist heritage‐scapes may evolve into leisure‐scapes of mass consumption, if profit or economic growth are the key motives underlying development ( Mitchell and Vanderwerf 2010 ). This article questions whether a dominant ideology of preservation can prevent this scenario. We studied Salt Spring Island, British Columbia: (i) to determine if the island displays the characteristics of a heritage‐scape, (ii) to discover if a preservationist ideology has contributed to its current state, and (iii) to ponder if this state can be maintained, in light of recent regional and provincial discourse. Our analysis reveals that the creation, and maintenance, of this heritage‐scape has been guided largely by public discourse underlain by a preservationist ideology. This prolonged state, however, may be drawing to an end. Recent provincial directives to double tourist revenues suggest that local (and regional) discourse soon may be overshadowed by the province's mandate to promote economic growth. The response of local stakeholders will ultimately dictate the Island's ability to maintain its present state as a post‐productivist heritage‐scape.