Towards replicating Egyptian predynastic flint knives

The replication method proposed in this article is based on an analysis of 12 complete and eight incomplete predynastic flint knives. From this a specific replication target was deduced, consisting of geometrical parameters as well as quality standards for practical execution. The given replication technique, verified in more than 50 full replication experiments, utilizes only common tools and all its elements remain within the frame of today's recognized flintknapping practice. What leads to the desired result is the right combination, the high precision and the extreme regularity of a great amount of simple but delicate steps.The Gerzean manufacturing sequence, as resulting from this study, consists of six basic stages and employs such different technologies as percussion, grinding, large pressure flaking and micro-flaking. It is suggested that various kinds of people with separate skills were involved and that a very strong cultural pressure must have secured the extreme regularity of the final product quality.In a special section of this paper, the perfection and the failures of the Gerzean craftsmen are described. It seems that not only did they make few mistakes, but they also had an outstanding repertoire for correction of them.At the same time this paper presents in detail the developed research method itself, so that it may serve as a model for analogous cases in the future. The essential points are the definition of a replication target, the division of the replication problem into separate tasks and the simultaneous start of the study and the practical replication experiments. The benefit of this last point is a rapid feed back which greatly improves the quality and efficiency of the research on the originals itself.     

Technical aspects of a worked proboscidean tusk from Inmachuk River,Seward Peninsula,Alaska

Prehistoric reduction sequences of proboscidean ivory have been described and discussed within the Russian and European Upper Paleolithic archaeological literature. A culturally modified proboscidean tusk (Mammuthus sp.) in Seward Peninsula, northwestern Alaska, displays longitudinal grooving, providing an insight into a reduction technique rarely described within North American archaeological literature. Similar reduction sequences have been described for the production of bone, antler and walrus ivory artifacts in the North American prehistoric record; however, examples on proboscidean ivory are extremely rare.     

Variations in Human Adaptations During the Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene at Quebrada Jaguay (QJ-280) and the Ring Site,Southern Perú

Vertebrate remains from two stratified sites, the Quebrada Jaguay site (QJ-280) and the Ring Site, reveal details about economic strategies practiced between 13,145 and 7500 cal yr BP on the southern coast of Perú. The near absence of terrestrial resources, a broad continuity in economic activities focused on marine resources, and flexibility within the overall strategy, are among the most interesting aspects of these data. Although they reflect economic and social decisions driven, in part, by fluctuations in environmental conditions, they demonstrate that people were sophisticated strategists actively responding to dynamic environmental conditions.     

Cultural implications of international volunteer tourism: US students’ experiences in Cameroon

ABSTRACT

A popular trend is for US colleges to organise short-term, self-funded trips for students to volunteer for several weeks in poverty-stricken communities in the global South. To explore the cultural implications of short-term, international volunteer projects, I undertake an ethnographic study of college students of who travel to a small village in Cameroon to improve the quality of drinking water and community health. I examine whether the volunteer tourism can serve as a unique opportunity to see beyond the African stereotypes to recognise the historical and structural context in which Africa continues to suffer. Although a trip such as this can be a disruptive event for students to critically evaluate the global privileges of Westerners, students tend to experience Cameroon through the lens of popular stereotypes about Africa and Western paternalism. The encounters with Africans in the absence of sufficient education about postcolonial Africa can affirm the stereotypes and cultural superiority formed in USA because students negotiate their actual experience in ways to confirm their perception of Africa. Therefore, seminars and workshops about the fundamental aspects about global inequality can help educate volunteers about the postcolonial context of foreign aid of Western countries for the Third World, and White privilege.