Refining Woodland Period Chronology and Interactions in Northeastern Missouri: Contributions from the Avenue of the Saints Project

The recently completed Avenue of Saints (AOS) highway project in the Mississippi Valley of northeastern Missouri resulted in the documentation of Woodland period sites ranging from approximately 200 cal BC to AD 1200. This article updates the existing Woodland chronology for this locality based on new information collected during the project. Data pertaining to Early, Middle, and Late Woodland sites are presented. The approximately 1,400-year occupation span provided researchers an opportunity to view diachronic trends in tool manufacture, subsistence economy, and landscape use. Based on regional comparisons of ceramic and lithic technologies and vessel decoration, the Woodland sequence in northeastern Missouri was influenced by population movements originating from east of the Mississippi River and from southern sources in the Salt River valley.     

Patronage,gentility, and “base degree”: Edmund Spenser and Lord Burghley

This essay examines the social asymmetry of Early Modern patronage by focussing on Edmund Spenser’s complex relationship with Lord Burghley. Both were anxious to validate their social credentials, the one as novus homo, and other as novus poeta. Burghley sought to offset criticism of his rise by consolidating a reputation for public service with claims of illustrious ancestry, and scores of dedicators obliged. Spenser was anxious to claim the status of gentleman through talent despite his obscure origins. In appending a dedicatory sonnet to Burghley in the 1590 Faerie Queene he endorses his public image in the hope of reciprocal acknowledgement. Apparently disappointed, he responds in Complaints (1591) by presenting Burghley as a mercenary parvenu, while for the first time claiming kinship to the “ancient” house of the Spencers of Althorp, thereby reversing the social hierarchy but problematizing his own criteria for gentility.     

An iconographic exploration of the “rattlesnake” gorgets of eastern Tennessee

ABSTRACT

Compared to other gorget styles and themes made during the Mississippian period, the so-called rattlesnake gorgets of eastern Tennessee have been found in fairly large numbers. Stylistically, Muller assigned these gorgets to the temporally related Lick Creek and Citico styles, while Crawford’s recent work has argued for substyles within. While their style has been studied extensively, the idea that these gorgets depict rattlesnakes generally has been accepted without further consideration. In this paper, we present the results of a systematic iconographic study of rattlesnake gorgets. Ultimately, we conclude that the image’s original referent is not just a snake but instead is intended to be a model of the cosmos at night.     

The wealthier inhabitants of Croydon in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries

This article examines the wealthier inhabitants of Croydon in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, focusing on differences in wealth, ownership of property and social relationships. Using wills and subsidy lists, four broad categories of people were identified: gentlemen, yeomen, tradesmen and craftsmen and widows. There was no simple gradation of wealth between these groups; although gentlemen were generally among the richest subsidy payers, yeomen and tradesmen could also figure. In terms of social relationships and the ownership of property, there were differences. Gentlemen tended to marry within their own social group, appoint other gentlemen as overseers in their wills and were more likely to own land outside Croydon. The social relationships of yeomen and tradesmen/craftsmen were more focused on the town itself, as were their land purchases. Two groups of individuals can therefore be seen, not one homogenous entity as some scholars have argued.     

Truth-Telling in the Wake of European Contact: Historical Investigation of Aboriginal Skeletal Remains from Normanton

This study heeds the call for a ‘truth-telling’ of injustices carried out on Aboriginal communities during the colonial acquisition of Australia as stated in the Uluru Statement from the Heart 2017. Here, we discuss the lives of eight Indigenous people buried in Normanton in north-west Queensland (QLD) who died and had their remains collected in the late 1890s as scientific specimens. The remains were later repatriated to the community before being further exposed by erosion in 2015. With the consent and participation of local traditional owners—the Gkuthaarn and Kukatj people—this assessment utilised bioarchaeological, historical and anthropological methodologies to gain a better understanding of Indigenous life and health on the Australian colonial frontier. Gkuthaarn and Kukatj people were engaged throughout the investigation, and statements throughout this piece made by them illustrate how bioarchaeology can inform on past injustices in Australia’s history, bringing them into the public consciousness and aiding the transition to reconciliation through ‘truth-telling’.     

Revision of the damsel-dragonfly family Campterophlebiidae (Odonata) from the Early Jurassic of England reveals a new genus and species

Kelly, R.S. & Nel, A., October 2017. Revision of the damsel-dragonfly family Campterophlebiidae (Odonata) from the Early Jurassic of England reveals a new genus and species. Alcheringa 42, 87–93. ISSN 0311-5518.

Historical fossil insect collections from England were re-examined and the taxa revised. Lateophlebia gen. nov. is erected for Liassophlebia anglicanopsis (Zeuner) in Campterophlebiidae. Petrophlebia anglicana Tillyard is confirmed in this family and Archithemis liassina (Strickland) is transferred to this family. Lastly, Archithemis brodiei (Geinitz), Archithemis Handlirsch, and Architemistidae Tillyard (reduced to this sole species) are transferred to the Heterophlebioidea.

Richard Kelly [richard.kelly@bristol.ac.uk], School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, UK; Department of Natural Sciences, National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1JF, UK. André Nel [anel@mnhn.fr], Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité, ISYEB—UMR 7205—CNRS, MNHN, UPMC, EPHE, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, 57 rue Cuvier, CP 50, Entomologie, F-75005, Paris, France.     

Aquatic resources in human diet in the Late Mesolithic in Northern France and Luxembourg: insights from carbon,nitrogen and sulphur isotope ratios

We investigated the contribution of freshwater resources to the diet of seven Late Mesolithic hunter-gatherers (ca. 5300–7000 BC) from Northern France and Luxembourg using stable isotope ratios. In addition to the carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N), we explored the potential of the sulphur isotopic ratios (δ³⁴S) to detect and quantify the proportion of protein derived from aquatic foodstuff. In only two sites, animal remains from an associated settlement were available and subsequently examined to decipher the isotopic differential between terrestrial and freshwater resources. The quantification of their relative contribution was simulated using a Bayesian mixing model. The measurements revealed a significant overlap in δ¹³C values between freshwater and terrestrial resources and a large range of δ¹⁵N values for each food category. The δ³⁴S values of the aquatic and terrestrial animals were clearly distinct at the settlement in the Seine valley, while the results on fish from Belgium demonstrated a possible overlap in δ³⁴S values between freshwater and terrestrial resources. Local freshwater ecosystem likely contributed to ca. 30–40 % of the protein in the diet of the individuals found in the Seine settlement. Out of this context, the isotopic signature and thus contribution of the available aquatic foods was difficult to assess. Another potential source of dietary protein is wild boar. Depending on the local context, collagen δ³⁴S values may contribute to better assessment of the relative contribution of freshwater and terrestrial resources.