The archaeology and paleoenvironment of an Upper Pleistocene hyena den: An integrated approach

Data of high resolution for reconstructions of archaeological site formation processes can be obtained only by the use of precise excavation methods and comprehensive recovery techniques using fine-mesh water screening, followed by meticulous sorting and quantitative studies of all the small organic components from the screens. These methods are generally used at human occupation sites, but are not often employed at paleontological or mixed human-carnivore sites. At the site of Bois Roche, an Upper Pleistocene hyena den, we have used these meticulous recovery techniques in combination with absolute dating, geoarchaeological observations, taphonomic analyses, studies of microvertebrates and pollen analysis. Correlation of the site environmental data from pollen and microvertebrate assemblages with the vegetation record of a deep-sea core taken in the Bay of Biscay have allowed us to constrain the ages provided by ESR dating of bovid teeth and to reconstruct the physical environment of the site with a degree of confidence rarely achieved by the use of fossil remains from archaeological sites alone.     

Gilded Ages and Gilded Archaeologies of American Exceptionalism

Archaeology’s ties to an interest in America’s natural and cultural resources, enshrined in the Antiquities Act of 1906, can be tied to the development of the presumed entitlements associated with gilded age-era conceptions of America’s cultural and racial exceptionalism. Archaeology, historic preservation, and related interests in the materiality of America’s past were in fact among the mechanisms used to legitimize America’s global emergence in the modern era. Considering elite ideas about race and a fear of “race suicide” as well as the rise of the environmental conservation and the historic house movement, this paper argues that archaeology and related pursuits of historic materiality have been regularly deployed to enforce Anglo-Saxon racial values. Explicitly formed in the historical context of mass-immigration, this dynamic is explored in a discussion of two archaeological sites in Jamaica, Queens connected to gilded-age discourse on Americanization.     

Optical spectroscopy as a rapid and low-cost tool for the first-line analysis of glass artefacts: a step-by-step plan for Roman green glass

Archaeometric research on glass artefacts is continuously evolving and is converging towards a multidisciplinary research domain where different types of techniques are applied depending on the questions asked and the circumstances involved. The technique described in this work is optical spectroscopy. The benefit of this technique being the possibility of building up a knowledge database for a large amount of material in a relatively short period of time and with a relatively limited budget. This is of particular interest for the investigation of extensive and/or unexplored glass collections where a first-line analysis of artefacts could facilitate the selection of material needing further and more detailed examination.     

New maps and charts

Note on The Lake‐Dwellings of Europe.

The Realm of Nature—An Outline of Physiography. By Hugh Robert Mill, D.Sc., Edin., F.R.S.E. London : John Murray, 1892. Price 5s.

Galloway in Ancient and Modern Times. By P. H. M'Kerlie. Edinburgh : William Blackwood and Sons, 1891. Price 7s. 6d.

The Trade Policy of Imperial Federation from an Economic Point of View. By Maurice H. Hervey, Principal of Illawarra College, New South Wales. London : Swan Sonnenschein and Co., 1892. Pp. x. + 182. Price 2s. 6d.

Two Happy Years in Ceylon. By C. F. Gordon Cumming. Illustrated, in 2 vols. Edinburgh and London : W. Blackwood and Sons, 1892. Price 30s.

Travels in the Mogul Empire, 1656–1668. By François Bernier. Edited by Archibald Constable, M.As. Soc. Beng., F.S.A. Scot. Vol. I. of Constable's Oriental Miscellany. Westminster : Archibald Constable and Co., 1891. Pp. li + 498. Price 6s. net.

The Real Japan : Studies of Contemporary Japanese Manners, Morals, Administration, and Politics. By Henry Norman. London : T. Fisher Unwin, 1892.

Japanese Girls and Women. By Alice Mabel Bacon. London : Gay and Bird, 1891. Pp. 333. Price 5s.

Coomassie and Magdala. The Story of Two British Campaigns in Africa. By Henry M. Stanley. New Edition. Pp. x + 402. Price 3s. 6d

The Great Lone Land: A Narrative of Travel and Adventure in the North‐West of America. By Colonel W. F. Butler, C.B., F.R.G.S. Fourteenth Edition. Pp. x + 386. Price 3s. 6d. London : Sampson Low, Marston, &; Company, Limited, 1891.

Untrodden Jamaica. By Herbert J. Thomas. Kingston : Aston W. Gardner and Co., 1890. Pp. 90.

The New Jamaica. By Edgar Mayhew Bacon and Eugene Murray Aaron, Ph.D. New York : Walbridge and Co. Kingston: Aston W. Gardner and Co., 1890. Pp. xi + 243.

The Statesman's Year‐Book, 1892. Edited by J. Scott Keltie, Assistant‐Secretary to the Royal Geographical Society. Pp. 1151. Price 10s. 6d.

The Northern Counties Red Book and Chronicle Almanac for 1892. Inverness: Northern Chronicle Office. Pp. 88. Price 3d.

Smith American Railways. Argentina and Uruguay. By J. K. Carter, F.G.S. London : Fred. C. Mathieson &; Sons, 1891. Pp. xii.+ 204. Price 2s. net.

Britannic Confederation : A Series of Papers by Sir John Colomb, Professor Edward A. Freeman, George G. Chisholm, Professor Shield Nicholson, Maurice H. Hervey, and the Bight Honourable Lord Thring. Edited, with an Introduction, by Arthur Silva White, Secretary and Editor, Eoyal Scottish Geographical Society. With a new map of the British Empire. London: George Philip and Son, 1892. Pp. 180. Price 3s. 6d.     

Pilote ‘hebdomadaire’ and the Teenager Bande Dessinée of the 1950s and 1960s

Launched in 1959, Pilote magazine was an original bande dessinée publication. Unlike most other magazines read predominantly by children, Pilote's unique collaboration with Radio Luxembourg facilitated its recruitment of ‘teenager’ readers captivated by the transistor craze that had rejuvenated radio by the end of the decade. The magazine also sought to endear itself to parents and the increasingly powerful educationalist lobby by adopting a sober pedagogical profile both in strips and accompanying textual content. Pilote thus sourced a new category of BD reader in the school-going teenager and, as the 1960s progressed, the volatile tastes and radicalisation of this category of reader necessitated a near ceaseless revision of the magazine's content to enable it to maintain market share. This article concerns itself with Pilote's struggle to align itself with dissident youth discourse of the 1950s and 1960s and analyses the socio-cultural impetus for thematic departures in bande dessinée it published.     

Cultural dynamics and ceramic resource use at Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age Troy,northwestern Turkey

Changes in resource use over time can provide insight into technological choice and the extent of long-term stability in cultural practices. In this paper we re-evaluate the evidence for a marked demographic shift at the inception of the Early Iron Age at Troy by applying a robust macroscale analysis of changing ceramic resource use over the Late Bronze and Iron Age. We use a combination of new and legacy analytical datasets (NAA and XRF), from excavated ceramics, to evaluate the potential compositional range of local resources (based on comparisons with sediments from within a 10 km site radius). Results show a clear distinction between sediment-defined local and non-local ceramic compositional groups. Two discrete local ceramic resources have been previously identified and we confirm a third local resource for a major class of EIA handmade wares and cooking pots. This third source appears to derive from a residual resource on the Troy peninsula (rather than adjacent alluvial valleys). The presence of a group of large and heavy pithoi among the non-local groups raises questions about their regional or maritime origin.     

The Lead Ingots from the Wreck of the Zuiddorp (1712), Western Australia: a report on their provenance and manufacture

The Dutch United East India Company ship Zuiddorp vanished on its way to Batavia in 1712 – its last port of call was the Cape of Good Hope. After its wreck was found on the Western Australian coast, archaeological investigations resulted in the retrieval of 21 lead ingots. Recent study of this artefact assemblage, comprising both great pigs and pieces, suggests that they were of north English origin. Historical records indicate that the Dutch procured large quantities of lead from English sources and maritime trade links between English and Dutch ports were well established at the beginning of the 18th century. © 2012 The Authors