Radiocarbon Dates from the Oxford AMS System: Archaeometry Datelist 36

This is the thirty‐sixth list of AMS radiocarbon determinations measured at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU). Amongst some of the sites included here are the latest series of determinations from the key sites of El Mirón (Spain) and Sutton Courtney (UK), as well as others dating to the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and later periods. Submitters of the material provide comments on the significance of the results.     

A Russian Before and After the Revolution: P. P. Efimenko,a Pioneer of Levantine Prehistoric Research

ABSTRACT

This paper offers a reappraisal of the Levantine prehistoric chronological sequence constructed by Pyotr Petrovich Efimenko (1884–1969). As a young Russian prehistorian, Efimenko visited Palestine in 1913, collected material from several sites and, in 1915, published a synthesis in which he compared the prehistory of Europe with that of the Near East. This was part of his comprehensive monograph on the Prehistory of Eurasia which was also based on his work at the sites of Mezin and Kostenki and the Palaeolithic of Russia. The current paper also attempts to evaluate the career of Efimenko particularly in light of the unfamiliarity of his work among prehistorians working in the southern Levant.     

Rapid On‐site Topographic Mapping with a Handheld Laser Range Finder for a Geoarchaeological Survey in Syria

A digital elevation model and a topographic map of an archaeological site in Syria were created from a field topographic survey with a handheld laser range finder and data post‐processing using a notebook personal computer with Geographical Information System software. The method enabled rapid on‐site topographical mapping even under technical and political restrictions in the country. In an area of about 1 km², coordinates of random points on the land surface were measured, and a DEM with a 10 m interval grid was generated from the point cloud using Kriging interpolation. The DEM enables various topographic representations to be constructed, such as contour lines, cross sections and slope distribution maps. The DEM‐derived contour lines with a 1 m interval were combined with vector data showing roads and buildings to provide a topographic map. Topographic cross sections created from the DEM generally agree with sections surveyed with a hand level and a measurement tape. The obtained DEM and map are useful for preliminary field research.     

Archaeological research on HMS Swift: a British Sloop-of-War lost off Patagonia, Southern Argentina, in 1770

HMS Swift was a British sloop-of-war which sank off the coast of Patagonia, Southern Argentina, in 1770. Since 1997 the Underwater Archaeology Programme of the National Institute of Anthropology has taken charge of the archaeological research conducted at the wreck-site. This article presents an overview of the continuing Swift project and the different research lines comprised in it. The latter cover aspects related to ship-construction, material culture and natural site-formation processes.
© 2006 The Authors     

Cultural Transmission Theory and the Archaeological Record: Providing Context to Understanding Variation and Temporal Changes in Material Culture

Cultural transmission (CT) is implicit in many explanations of culture change. Formal CT models were defined by anthropologists 30 years ago and have been a subject of active research in the social sciences in the ensuing years. Although increasing in popularity in recent years, CT has not seen extensive use in archaeological research, despite the quantitative rigor of many CT models and the ability to create testable hypotheses. Part of the reason for the slow adoption, we argue, has been the continuing focus on change in central tendency and mode in archaeology, instead of change in dispersion or variance. Yet archaeological research provides an excellent data source for exploring processes of CT. We review CT research in the anthropological sciences and outline the benefits and drawbacks of this theoretical framework for the study of material culture. We argue that CT can shed much light on our understandings of why material technology changes over time, including explanations of differential rates of change among different technologies. We further argue that transmission processes are greatly affected by the content, context, and mode of transmission and fundamentally structure variation in material culture. Including ideas from CT can provide greater context for explaining and understanding changes in the variation of artifacts over time. Finally, we outline what we feel should be the goals of CT research in archaeology in the coming years.     

WAC Reflections Through Maori Eyes

For a while now issues surrounding ethics in archaeology have occupied my thoughts, as have case studies of ethical misconduct. In fact a large part of why I gravitated toward archaeology is rooted in past instances of poor ethical practice instigated against my people, and the overwhelming personal need I have, to seek redress and change for Iwi Maori. Part of my commitment to both of these endeavours, is expressed through my association with WAC, with whose present code of ethics and principles i find affinity with.     

Alchemy or Science? Compromising Archaeology in the Deep Sea

In the torrid debate between archaeology and treasure hunting, compromise is often suggested as the pragmatic solution, especially for archaeology carried out either in deep water or beyond the constraints that commonly regulate such activities in territorial seas. Both the wisdom and the need for such compromise have even been advocated by some archaeologists, particularly in forums such as the internet and conferences. This paper argues that such a compromise is impossible, not in order to fuel confrontation but simply because of the nature of any academic discipline. We can define what archaeology is in terms of its aims, theories, methods and ethics, so combining it with an activity founded on opposing principles must transform it into something else. The way forward for archaeology in the deep sea does not lie in a contradictory realignment of archaeology’s goals but in collaborative research designed to mesh with emerging national and regional research and management plans.     

The decline of eastern Arabia in the Sasanian period

This paper lists and reviews the archaeological evidence for the Sasanian period in eastern Arabia (third–seventh centuries AD). Much of the published evidence is shown to be either erroneous or highly doubtful, leaving very little evidence that is reliable. It is argued that the paucity of evidence in comparison to the Hellenistic/Parthian period indicates that this was a time of marked and continuing decline in the number and size of settlements, the number of tombs and the amount of coinage in circulation, all of which probably result from a population that was both declining in size and participating less in the types of production and consumption that leave discoverable traces in the archaeological record. This is in contrast to the historical evidence, which, although patchy, is stronger for the Sasanian period than it is for the Hellenistic/Parthian period. The argument for decline challenges some generally accepted historical views of eastern Arabia at this time, which see the region as undergoing a notable period of growth. In conclusion, some brief consideration is given to the possible causes of the decline.     

Ground penetrating radar survey of a prehistoric site in southern Italy

In this paper, we present and discuss the results of a ground penetrating radar (GPR) study carried out in an area of southern Italy where a karst cave with prehistoric remains was found. The aim of the study involved the imaging of the subsurface stratigraphy, both inside and outside the cave, in order to assist archaeologists in an excavation programme.The survey grid comprised 18 intersecting GPR profiles. Problems associated with the use of the GPR within a cave environment are highlighted and the data processing sequence designed to extract useful geo-archaeological signatures is described. Interpretation of the radar sections was controlled by the excavation of two trenches (inside and outside the cave), allowing detailed outlining the complex stratigraphy and the reconstruction of Palaeolithic and Neolithic subsurface horizons.     

Archaeology in the Lettered City

The ‘lettered creole’ Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora is widely seen as an antiquarian who collected textual materials associated with the indigenous past. But Sigüenza's historical interest exceeded both the textual and the indigenous. Following a popular insurrection in 1692, which left the viceroy's palace in ruins, Sigüenza was asked to present a proposal for segregating Mexico City into distinct Spanish and Indian zones. He framed his project not as an attempt to trace a new line but as the recuperation of an old one, ‘excavating’ the original plan laid out by Hernán Cortés. Drawing on recent work in the field of archaeology and proposing a revisionist history of Mexican archaeology, this essay reads Sigüenza's interventions in the wake of the uprising as articulating an ‘archaeology of the colonial present’ whose modalities include both digging and ‘walking in the city.’ This operation renders the Spanish city a colonial ruin to be curated by a creole administrative apparatus. For the first time, the Spanish present has become the colonial past.