An integrated approach to reconstructing primary activities from pit deposits: iron smithing and other activities at Tel Dor under Neo-Assyrian domination

Secondary pit deposits in historical occupations of Near Eastern mounds are usually regarded as uninteresting and are seldom analyzed. We used an integrated approach to study all the artifacts as well as the sediments in a pit at Tel Dor, on Israel's Carmel coast, dating to the 7th c. BCE – a period when the site served as an Assyrian administrative center. This pit was unusually large, had a peculiar ceramic assemblage, and many macroscopic metallurgical wastes. A detailed excavation and analysis revealed that the pit served intermittently as a waste disposal site for an iron smithy and for pottery that was presumably involved in maritime trading. On two occasions the area was also used for animal penning. Despite the obvious importance of the iron industry to the Neo-Assyrian Empire, actual workshops are rare in its archaeological record. Hence the new information regarding an Iron Age iron smithy in the southern Levant contributes to the study of this industry, and also to the history of Dor in this period.     

Ethnoarchaeological study of phytolith assemblages from an agro-pastoral village in Northern Greece (Sarakini): development and application of a Phytolith Difference Index

Phytolith assemblages are analysed in an ethnographic agro-pastoral community in Northern Greece. A new method for analyzing the data, combined with the concentrations of phytoliths per gram sediment, helps to differentiate diverse uses of space in the village. The Phytolith Difference Index (PDI) contrasts the phytolith assemblages in sediment samples from the region around the village least affected by human activities with those in the village and its immediate surroundings. The PDI reveals that many of the samples are dominated by the input of the stalks of the domestic cereal, rye, which is used for food, animal fodder and roof thatching. The PDI also differentiates between dung from mules or donkeys with dung from free ranging cows and goats. Activity areas analysed include storage areas, stabling areas, animal enclosures, floors from living areas that were repeatedly swept, hearths and open areas between structures. The combined use of the PDI, together with phytolith concentrations and phytolith morphotype analyses, may prove to be useful for deciphering activity areas in archaeological sites of not only agro-pastoralists, but also pastoralists and hunter–gatherers.     

Hair today,gone tomorrow: Analysing potential mercury exposure in 19th-century New Zealand gold miners using Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry

Toxic metal or element exposure has the potential to cause significant negative health effects in human populations. During the goldrushes of the colonial period, mercury amalgamation was one of the most common methods of extracting gold from alluvial deposits or crushed ore, and exposure to mercury was an occupational health hazard. In this study we examine mercury exposure in mining populations from New Zealand’s first major goldrush, which began in Central Otago in 1861. We explore mercury toxicity through laser ablation inductively coupled mass spectrometric analysis of archaeological hair and sediment samples associated with the Tuapeka goldfields. Our analysis highlights ubiquitous low-level mercury exposure on the goldfields, as well as one individual with such high mercury concentrations in their hair that we suspect direct mercury intake, perhaps medicinally, rather than from environmental contamination.     

Record-Making,Research, and Removal: Mitigating Impacts on Rock Art in a CRM Context in Southern Africa—the Case of the Metolong Dam,Lesotho

African Archaeological Review - This paper reports on the steps taken to mitigate the impact of the Metolong Dam (Lesotho) on the rock art present within the catchment of its associated reservoir....     

Book reviews

James L. Peacock. Muslim Puritans: reformist psychology in Southeast Asian Islam. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1978. xii, 276 pp.

W. F. Schneeberger. Contributions to the ethnology of central northeast Borneo. Berne: University of Berne. Institute of Ethnology, 1979. 143 pp. (Studia Ethnologica Bernensia, 2.)

Mubin Sheppard. Taman budiman: memoirs of an unorthodox civil servant. Kuala Lumpur: Heinemann Educational Books Limited, 1979. ix, 278pp. £4.50.     

Book reviews

THE CAUSES OF WAR. Geoffrey Blainey. Macmillan, London, 1973. 333–14199–7. 278 pp. $9.50.

THE BASES OF INTERNATIONAL ORDER. Alan James (ed.) Oxford U.P., London, 1973. 0–19–215801–5. 218 pp. $10.10.

THE ABERYSTWYTH PAPERS: INTERNATIONAL POLITICS 1919–69. Brian Porter (ed.). Oxford University Press, London, 1972. 019 2151932. 390 pp. $17.10.

THE STUDY OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS: ESSAYS IN HONOUR OF KENNETH YOUNGER. Roger Morgan fed.). Oxford University Press, London, 1972. 019 214989X. 309 pp. $15.60.

FOREIGN POLICY FOR AUSTRALIA: CHOICES FOR THE SEVENTIES. Australian Institute of Political Science (Proceedings of the 39th Summer School). Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1973. 198 pp. $3.50.

IN THE SPIRIT OF THE RED BANTENG: INDONESIAN COMMUNISTS BETWEEN MOSCOW AND PEKING 1959–65. Antonie C. A. Dake. Mouton & Co., The Hague, 1973. 73–75520. 479 pp.

CANADA'S MARITIME FORCES. C. S. Gray. Wellesley Paper 1, Canadian Institute of International Affairs, Toronto, 1973. 79 pp. $2.00.

CANADIAN MILITARY PROFESSIONAL: THE SEARCH FOR IDENTITY. R. B. Byers and C. S. Gray (eds.). Wellesley Paper 2, Canadian Institute of International Affairs, Toronto, 1973, 84 pp. $2.00.

DEFENCE PERSPECTIVES. Ken Keith (ed.). Price Milburn, Wellington, for the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, 1972. 133 pp. 0–70 55367–4. $NZ2.00.

KOREA AND MANCHURIA BETWEEN RUSSIA AND JAPAN, 1895–1904: THE OBSERVATIONS OF SIR ERNEST SATOW, BRITISH MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY TO JAPAN (1895–1900) AND CHINA (1900–1906). Selected and Edited with a Historical Introduction by George Alexander Lensen. Sophia. University Tokyo in cooperation with The Diplomatic Press, Tallahassee, Florida, 1968. 296 pp. $US12.50.

JAPANESE FOREIGN POLICY ON THE EVE OF THE PACIFIC WAR: A SOVIET VIEW. Leonid N. Kutakov. Edited with a Foreword by George Alexander Lensen. The Diplomatic Press, Tallahassee, Florida, 1972. 241 pp. $US15.00.

PORTRAITS OF THAI POLITICS. Jayanta Kumar Ray. Orient Longman, New Delhi, 1972. 225 pp. RS. 20.

HET EKONOMISCH BELEID IN NEDERLANDSCH‐INDIE, CAPITA SELECTA (Economic Policy in the Netherlands Indies, Selected Subjects), Part I. P. Creutzberg (ed.). Publication No. 5 of the ‘Committee for the Publication of Primary Sources Concerning the History of the Netherlands‐Indies 1900–1942’, Wolters‐Noordhoff, Groningen, The Netherlands, 1972. 756 pp.

MODERNIZATION IN EAST MALAYSIA 1960–1970. James P. Ongkili. Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur, 1972. 123 pp. $4.80.

FOCUS ON WEST BENGAL. Shiresh Bhattacharyya (ed.). Samatat Prakashau, Calcutta, 1972. 207 pp. Deluxe Rs. 30.00, Popular Rs. 20.00.     

Presidential Leadership of Congressional Civil Rights Voting: The Cases of Eisenhower and Johnson

Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lyndon B. Johnson presented dramatically contrasting styles of leadership in their relationships with Congress. Yet each was successful in securing passage of monumental civil rights legislation in very different political environments. Focusing on the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, we show that both Eisenhower and Johnson attracted support from the opposition party's faction at the far end of the ideological spectrum while retaining support from his own party's dominant faction. The analysis suggests that it is not the president's leadership style alone that produces legislative results, but a proper mixture of leadership style and the political environment.