Variability in Eritrea and the Archaeology of the Northern Horn During the First Millennium BC: Subsistence,Ritual, and Gold Production

Around the margins of Asmara, Eritrea, hundreds of sites dating to the early and mid-first millennium BC have been documented. They range from single family dwellings to small and large hamlets, small and large villages, and small towns. We call these Ancient Ona sites, using the Tigrinya term for ruin. Our findings testify to significant subsistence, ritual, and economic variation within a region of 12 by 17 km: (1) different subsistence strategies in the well-watered, open basin to the west of Asmara (emmer wheat, barley; cattle) compared to the uplands north and east of Asmara (lentil, teff; goats/sheep); (2) ritual events, marked by stone bulls' heads and a huge ash deposit at Sembel Kushet, that brought people together in rites of passage and intensification during Meskel-like ceremonies, including ritual exchange; and (3) the exploitation of gold north of Asmara among heterarchically organized communities that exchanged specialized products within this region.     

The Archaeology of Historic Battlefields: A History and Theoretical Development in Conflict Archaeology

In the last two and a half decades there have been many advances in the technology available to archaeologists. As new technologies have been used to challenge previously held hypotheses and expand the capabilities of current research, they also have assisted the expansion of archaeology to include conflict archaeology. Although there has been a long history of interest in the material remains of conflict, it is only recently that the necessary tools, methodology, and theoretical approaches have been combined to allow serious scientific contributions to the holistic study of past human conflict. This article provides an overview of the origins of conflict archaeology and research that has helped consolidate the subfield into its present form. We examine the current state of conflict studies and consider what lies ahead for conflict archaeology.     

Recent Advances in Moche Archaeology

The discovery of the royal tombs at Sipán in 1987 propelled Moche archaeology to the forefront of Andean studies. In the last decade, the study of Moche political organization and ideology through public architecture, cultural remains, funerary patterns, and iconography has forced the revision of previous conceptions about Moche state formation, urbanism, and the functioning of this complex society. Major advances in iconography, internal organization of urban centers, temples and domestic architecture, craft production, and mortuary patterns are embedded in a new chronology that supports a longer development and a more gradual collapse. The recognition of Moche as the first state in South America is still valid, but its monolithic character is rejected in favor of several autonomous polities. The number and size of potential Moche states are currently debated, as is the role of warfare and ideology in Moche state formation.     

World-Systems Analysis and Archaeology: Continuing the Dialogue

Many archaeologists have used world-systems analysis in precapitalist settings. Some have criticized it; others have dismissed it out of hand. Critiques include that it was developed for the “modern” world, that it is overly economistic, that it neglects individual actors, and that it inappropriately uses modern analyses in ancient settings. Although there is some validity to these charges when applied to Wallerstein’s original formulation, most are misdirected. The critiques are rooted in inattention to the last three decades of work on world-systems, especially modifications made with the explicit intention to make world-systems analysis useful in precapitalist settings. Newer comparative versions of world-systems analysis were initially developed to better understand the evolution of world-systems that gave rise to the modern world-system. These new advances are useful for the study of interregional interactions and long-term development. Archaeologists are well placed to contribute to the further development of world-systems analysis; they can shed light on ancient world-systemic processes and the origins of the modern world-system, provide empirical backing for hypotheses, and raise new theoretical and empirical questions.     

Middle-Class Ideologies and American Respectability: Archaeology and the Irish Immigrant Experience

This study illustrates the materialization of identity shifts through refined ceramic and glass forms recovered from working class Irish immigrant and Irish-American communities. The sites used in this article were chosen because of their spatio-temporal compatibility covering dynamic periods of Irish identity in the United States. Historians argue that 1880 marks the beginning of an identity shift from Irish immigrant to Irish-American. This research attempts to provide the necessary materials to begin a discourse bringing together material and historical evidence illuminating the conflict between competing ideologies of respectability and changing conceptions of Irish identity in America.     

Studying Pleistocene Neanderthal and cave hyena Dietary Habits: Combining Isotopic and Archaeozoological Analyses

Stable isotope analysis is increasingly used to gain insight in the configuration of Pleistocene ecosystems. The application of isotope analysis to Neanderthal and cave hyena bone assemblages has led to hypotheses about the niche differentiation between these species. Comparing isotopic data with archaeozoology analyses shows discrepancies between the results of both analytical methods. Here, the results of all northwest European stable isotope studies on Neanderthals are reviewed. The emphasis of the analysis is on a sample of sites from MIS 4-3 in southwest France. Causes of the discrepancy between archaeozoological and stable isotope results are discussed and hypotheses reconciling the data are proposed. Recommendations for further research will allow testing of the hypotheses and increase our understanding of the functioning of Pleistocene ecosystems.     

Order (and Disorder) in Early Colonial Moquegua,Peru

In the viceroyalty of Peru, Spanish authorities imposed several mechanisms to try to establish Christian social order among the colonists and dwindling indigenous populations, two of which were encomienda and reducción. The implementation of these and other policies and practices is examined using a case study in Moquegua, a colonial periphery in far southern Peru: the encomienda of Cochuna and the reduction site of Torata Alta. Incomplete knowledge of local conditions left the area vulnerable to social and religious disorder: overlapping boundaries, contested jurisdictions, and competing interests. Further historical archaeological consideration of such disorder can illuminate local impacts of colonialism.