Domesticated Landscapes: The Subsistence Ecology of Plant and Animal Domestication

Harvesting different species as foods or raw materials calls for differing skills depending on the species being harvested and the circumstances under which they are being taken. In some situations and for some species, the tactics used are mainly behavioral—that is, people adjust, or adapt, their own actions to fit the behavior and circumstances of the species they are taking. Under other circumstances and for other species, the skills and tactics used may call for greater environmental preparation or manipulation. Therefore, instead of trying to distinguish people today and in the past as either foragers or farmers, it makes sense to define human subsistence behavior as an interactive matrix of species and harvesting tactics, that is, as a provisions spreadsheet.     

The Role of Bubo virginianus magellanicus as Rodent Bone Accumulator in Archaeological Sites: A Case Study for the Atuel River (Mendoza,Argentina)

Micromammalian bone assemblages from modern pellets of the strigiform Bubo virginianus magellanicus, from the upper Atuel River (southern Mendoza, Argentina), were taphonomically analysed. The results allow us to place B. v. magellanicus in the category of intermediate modification (Category 2). This sample has also been compared with results from other members of this genus, in order to classify B. v. magellanicus as a taphonomic agent. The participation of the Bubo species in archaeological accumulations has been documented, but in Argentina, the role of B. v. magellanicus has been reported up to the present. It is partly because of the sequence of one archaeological site in the south of Mendoza Province called Laguna El Sosneado‐3 (LS‐3). However, considering the absence of a current taphonomic model of this owl, this participation was mentioned as a hypothesis. In the current investigation, archaeological and modern samples have been compared. The results indicate that the skeletal element assemblages recovered from LS‐3 were accumulated by strigiform birds. Taphonomical evidence of light modifications on units I and IV indicates that Tyto alba (Category 1) was probably the main species involved in these units, whereas the taphonomical evidence on skeletal element assemblages recovered from units II and III suggests the action of a strigiform with a major category of modification such as B. v. magellanicus. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pre-Hispanic gold pieces of an enigmatic archaeological finding in Medellín,Colombia: A glance at an archaeometric analysis

The study analysed pre-Hispanic gold objects found within a surprising archaeological finding of a structure that likely served as a funeral pyre in Medellín, Colombia. ¹⁴C analyses of the site's organic materials dated the structure to the fifth century ce . The metal objects were subjected to X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF), scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX), density measurement by the Archimedes method, and metallographic analysis. The measurements by EDXRF and SEM-EDX showed that the pieces were composed mostly gold and silver. The XRD results indicated that the microstructure of the objects corresponded to a single phase of gold and silver. The images obtained by the metallographic microscope showed equiaxial grains with some twins, a structure consistent with annealed metals. The different colours observed correspond to different grain orientations. Pre-Hispanic objects from a second archaeological site in the municipality of Amalfi (Department of Antioquia) were also analysed for comparative purposes. The results showed that the gold objects were not subjected to any alloying process, but were instead manipulated in their original form (native gold). The shape of the objects and their microstructural results suggested that the pieces were manufactured by casting, mechanical deformation and then annealing.     

Nano-CT evaluation of totally corroded coins: A demonstration study to determine if detail might still be discernible despite the lack of internal,non-corroded,metal

Five unidentifiable, completely corroded ancient coins (three of which were large fragments), proven to lack any residual internal metal, were scanned by nano-computed tomography (CT) to see if discernible detail might still be present. One fragment could be identified as an early fourth-century Urbs Roma commemorative AE 3/4. Another fragment was a coin of either Valerian or of the joint rule of Valerian and Gallienus, which could be dated to the period 254–56 ce . The other three lacked discernible detail. This proof-of-concept study shows that nano-CT scanning has the potential to allow non-invasive identification of at least some totally corroded coins.     

Between east and west: Glass beads from the eighth to third centuries bce from Poland

The study analyses the chemical composition of 57 glass samples from 40 beads discovered at 20 archaeological sites in Poland. The beads are dated to Hallstatt C–Early La Tène periods (c.800/750–260/250 bce ). Analyses were carried out using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Two groups were distinguished among the glasses based on the MgO/K₂O ratio: high-magnesium glass (HMG), five samples; and low-magnesium glass (LMG), 52 samples. The former were melted with halophyte plant ash, the second with mineral soda. These glasses were produced in the Eastern Mediterranean (more likely in Mesopotamia or Syro-Palestine than in Egypt) and transported in the form of semi-products to secondary glass workshops in Europe. Some of the white opaque glass was coloured and opacified in Europe.     

The Precarity of Young People’s Housing Experiences in a Rural Context

Young people’s housing, economic and labour market circumstances have become increasingly insecure due to the combined effects of the 2007/2008 economic crisis, neoliberal welfare reforms, rising costs of higher education and the shortage of affordable housing. Discussions of young peoples’ experiences in these domains have largely neglected their spatial variability but evidence suggests that young people living in rural parts of the UK have distinctive experiences of housing, which are closely connected to labour markets and educational opportunities. By drawing on qualitative data from young people and housing professionals, this article explores some of these rural distinctions and frames them within theoretical debates about the ‘precariat’. It argues for a more theoretically informed and geographically nuanced understanding of contemporary housing issues as rural youth potentially face greater precarity than their urban peers.     

Drawing the line with Google Earth: the place of digital mapping outside of geography

The Te Kawa a Māui Atlas project explores how mapping activities support undergraduate student engagement and learning in Māori studies. This article describes two specific assignments, which used online mapping allowing students to engage with the work of their peers. By analysing student evaluations of these activities, we identify four aspects that benefit student engagement: mapping diversifies the learning experience; mapping promotes acquisition of a different skill set; online mapping allowed more open sharing of work and; mapping promotes place-based learning. Some students were ambivalent about the assignments, so mapping should only be used to support other learning objectives.     

Negotiations of Irish identity in the wake of terrorism: the case of the Irish in Birmingham 1973–74

This article explores the Irish migrant experience in Birmingham during and in the wake of terrorist campaigns carried out in Britain between 1969 and 1975 and attributed to the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Beginning with a discussion of the competencies with which Irishness was associated at the close of the 1960s in England, many of which were hinged on a notion of the Irish predisposition towards violence, the article continues on to take the political, cultural and religious “temperature” of the Irish community in Birmingham between 1969 and 1975, and follows on with a discussion of the specific strategies sought out by Irish immigrants to come to terms with the effect of events such as the “Birmingham Bombings” on their daily lives. Principle findings that emerge from the study indicate that IRA terrorism forced the Irish in Birmingham to engage with and adopt a number of distinct linguistic and cultural strategies in the post-1974 period, the cultivation of which indefinitely altered their relationship with Ireland as “home”, their visibility in the public British sphere and their associational patterns and practices within the migrant enclave.