A STUDY OF GLASS BEADS FROM THE HALLSTATT C–D FROM SOUTHWESTERN POLAND: IMPLICATIONS FOR GLASS TECHNOLOGY AND PROVENANCE*

Eighty‐one samples taken from 68 glass beads found in southwestern Poland on sites of the Lusatian culture from the Hallstatt C and Hallstatt D subphases were analysed by EPMA. A subsample of 18 of these were additionally subjected to analysis by means of LA–ICP–MS in order to validate the results obtained by EPMA. Some glass was made using mineral soda and some using plant ash rich in sodium. Both high‐magnesium soda–lime glass (HMG) and low‐magnesium soda–lime glass (LMG) were identified. A large number of samples are characterized by low MgO content and medium K₂O content (LMMK glass), combined with low concentrations of CaO and high Fe₂O₃ and Al₂O₃. All the LMMK glass contains numerous silica crystals and inclusions composed of a number of elements (most frequently Cu, Co, Sb, As, Ag, Ni and Fe). The LMMK glass was presumably made in Europe during the Hallstatt C.     

Revamping community‐based conservation through participatory research

Community‐based conservation is experiencing a crisis of identity and purpose as a result of a disappointing track record and unresolved deficiencies. The latter include over‐simplified assumptions and misconceptions of “community,” the imposition of externally designed and driven projects at the community level, a focus on conservation outcomes at the expense of community empowerment and social justice, and limited attention to participatory processes. New approaches are urgently needed to address these weaknesses and to counter a rising trend towards environmental protectionism and a preference for conservation approaches at an eco‐regional scale that threaten the interests of local and Indigenous communities. We propose that three core principles of community‐based participatory research (CBPR)—(1) community‐defined research agenda; (2) collaborative research process; and (3) meaningful research outcomes—hold much promise. Drawing on the experience of a research partnership involving the James Bay Cree community of Wemindji, northern Quebec, and academic researchers from four Canadian universities, we document the process of applying these principles to a community‐based conservation project that uses protected areas as a political strategy to redefine relations with governments in terms of a shared responsibility to care for land and sea. We suggest that basic assumptions of CBPR, including collaborative, equitable partnerships in all phases of the research, promotion of co‐learning and capacity building among all partners, emphasis on local relevance, and commitment to long‐term engagement, can provide the basis for a revamped phase of community‐based conservation that supports environmental protection while strengthening local institutions, building capacity, and contributing to cultural survival.     

NON‐DESTRUCTIVE SOURCING OF BRONZE AGE NEAR EASTERN OBSIDIAN ARTEFACTS: REDEVELOPING AND REASSESSING ELECTRON MICROPROBE ANALYSIS FOR OBSIDIAN SOURCING*

Despite predictions in the 1980s that electron microprobe analysis (EMPA) would become a popular technique for obsidian sourcing, few studies have used it with this goal, and most of them are now outdated and unrepresentative of modern EMPA. For example, Merrick and Brown (1984 ) recorded their data on punch cards. Furthermore, these studies destructively prepared artefacts for analysis. The research at hand endeavoured: (1) to establish the modern capabilities of EMPA for obsidian sourcing; and (2) to develop and evaluate procedures for non‐destructive artefact analysis. Issues such as diagenetic effects and compatibility with NAA and XRF data were also investigated.     

“Thrown Like Chaff in the Wind”: Excavation, Memory and the Negotiation of Loss in the Scottish Highlands

Memory has become an important area of research in historical archaeology over the last decade with an increasing focus on retrieving the narratives of subaltern groups and painful memories of conflict, displacement and loss. Drawing on ethnographic research, I explore how archaeological excavation provides an arena for sharing, negotiating and contesting difficult forms of memory associated with the Highland Clearances. I argue that the Clearances involve a kind of “postmemory” revolving around a series of iconic motifs and that this provides a framework for interpretation and action in the present. Coherence is produced not through the “excavation” of silenced narratives, but through social processes of performance, negotiation and “composure,” as people engage in a dialogue with past, present and future.     

Suruktakh-Khaya Sanctuary,Yakutia, Revisited: Tentative Results and Prospects

Since the expeditions led by A.A. Savvin in 1939 and by A.P. Okladnikov in 1941, Suruktakh-Khaya, a key rock art site on the Markha River, Yakutia, was only revisited recently in 2011. The paintings at the site, unlike those at most sites on the Middle Lena, are quite satisfactorily preserved, making it possible to conduct additional studies in August 2011 mostly using digital photography.     

Decorated birch-bark artifacts from Section VI of the Gorbunovsky Peat-Bog*

Decorated birch-bark artifacts, housed at the State Historical Museum, Moscow, are a unique category of finds from Section VI of the Gorbunovsky Peat-Bog. They have no parallels among other peat-bog assemblages of the North Eurasian forest belt. This study addresses the morphology and technology of these artifacts, their archaeological context, and similarities with the Early Bronze Age pottery.     

A Socially Engaged Archaeology: Spatiality and Governance of Asylum Seekers in Ireland

This paper draws on Wobst’s concerns ideas of material culture, style and the implications of contemporary archaeology. In a socially engaged “archaeology of now”, I examine the spatiality and material culture of asylum seekers in Irish society as the Irish State governs and thus engineers their social and physical space. Housed in State-operated accommodation centers around the country, the spatial governance of asylum seekers in Ireland creates a structured, exclusionary transnational landscape of difference. The State thereby controls the movement, social borders, place, identity and social relations of asylum seekers in a newly global Ireland.