Petrodatabase: an on-line database for thin section ceramic petrography

This paper presents an on-line database for the petrographic analysis of pottery and other ceramic artefacts (www.petrodatabase.com). It outlines how the system can be used by the archaeological community and anticipates its potential for greater comparability in thin section ceramic petrography.     

Kana Tamata or Feasts of Men: An Interdisciplinary Approach for Identifying Cannibalism in Prehistoric Fiji

By integrating osteological, taphonomic, archaeological and stable isotopic data, we test for cannibalism in the Lau Group, Fiji and discuss the potential underlying cause(s) and context(s) of this behaviour. First, we compare taphonomic and element representations of human skeletal material from two contexts in Fiji, examining human bone fragments from archaeological sites, including middens and burials in the Lau Island Group. Fourteen sites produced human remains. Only two of those sites included distinct human burial contexts, but in the remaining 12 sites, the human bone was recovered from middens or contexts where midden was mixed with possible secondary burials. A total of 262 number of identified specimens per species, representing an estimated 15 minimum number of individuals make up the Lau human assemblage. Second, we analysed bones contained in 20 individual human burials from four different sites that are housed at the Fiji Museum for comparative purposes. Third, we examine previously published stable isotopic (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N) analysis of bone collagen to gauge protein consumption of likely cannibalised humans in midden contexts and potential cannibals from primary burials. We model a cannibalistic diet category within the context of isotopically measured Pacific Islands food groups and apply an isotopic mixing model to gauge plausible dietary contributions from six sources including human flesh. Isotopic mixing models of the Lauan samples illustrate a high diversity in reconstructed diets. The percent contribution of human flesh is low for all individual Lauans. We conclude that mortuary rituals evidenced by sharp‐force trauma may suggest non‐nutritive and non‐violent practices that may have included the consumption of small amounts of human flesh. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Australia And China: understanding the reality check*

Between 2016 and 2018, Australia’s perceptions of China underwent a significant reality check, with global implications. Australia has been a first mover in pushing back against Chinese foreign interference, including via new foreign influence and interference laws. The recalibration of Australia-China relations, and the events and policy debate that proceeded it, is instructive for other countries seeking to respond to the more assertive and coercive elements of Chinese foreign policy. This article sets out the drivers of Australia's reality check, presents a chronology of key events, and examines how Canberra can now move relations with Beijing forward under the conditions of the new normal that has been established.     

Book reviews

This paper focuses on cultural reproduction in arts festival settings. It begins by conceptualizing festival settings as places whose characters derive from a combination of both internally derived traits and a diverse series of interactions with other places. Drawing on case study research conducted in an arts festival setting in Galway in the Republic of Ireland, the discussion identifies how elements indigenous to the place connect and engage with external forces. The study found the process of interacting with other places to be complex, involving much negotiation and adaptation as locales became contexts for re-working an array of often conflicting ideals and influences. The paper concludes that while inevitable difficulties are faced as festivals negotiate the potentially standardizing forces of homogenization, it is only through continuous interaction with other places that local contexts realize their full potential.     

Monitoring and Mitigation Works in Unsaturated Archaeological Deposits

Monitoring of the archaeological deposits at the World Heritage Site Bryggen in Bergen has been ongoing since 2001. In latter years a large-scale project of mitigation works has been carried out, resulting in the creation of a water-management system aimed at raising groundwater-levels and increasing soil moisture content in areas with poor preservation conditions. Oxygen is a key parameter in the decay of archaeological material in the unsaturated zone, and the monitoring at Bryggen includes in situ monitoring of oxygen concentrations and comparison to soil moisture content, temperature, groundwater-level, precipitation and soil reactivity. This is used to document where and when decay takes place and to estimate “how wet is wet enough” in order to reduce the oxygen diffusion and the decay rate to an acceptable level. The results show that even small changes in the soil moisture can have a large impact on the oxygen dynamics in the ground.