Remembering Gotham: Urban Legends, Public History, and Representations of Poverty, Crime, and Race in New York City

The past is never truly past, nor are historians/archaeologists privileged stewards of a city's memory. The moment ground was broken at Five Points, researchers encountered a public avidly interested in the history of New York's legendary nineteenth-century slum. From the 1840s this Manhattan neighborhood provided journalists with grist for lurid tabloid tales, creating a grim literary legacy that lingers in popular historical memory into the twenty-first century and also continues to shape public perceptions of poverty and antipoverty policies. New York's press remains steeped in memories of a crime-infested Five Points. Even as researchers uncovered nineteenth-century accounts of gangs, prostitution, and sweat-shop labor at the Five Points, our own newspapers arrived with blaring headlines drawing on nineteenth-century stereotypes of poverty, race, and place. The struggle to create alternative accounts of life in Five Points based on archaeological evidence clashed with these tenacious narratives and the class interests informing them.     

Current Research on Late Precontact Societies of the Midcontinental United States

Research during the past decade on Late Precontact societies (ca. A.D. 1000–1600/1700) in the Midcontinent, particularly Mississippian, Oneota, Fort Ancient, and Late Woodland, is strongly rooted in empirical approaches. While some of this work is pursued within a broadly evolutionary interpretive framework, other scholars emphasize agency and practice theory, symbolism, the historically contingent nature of human action, and cultural heterogeneity in sociopolitical organization, political economy, and subsistence. Dynamic models of the settlement systems and demography of complex societies have developed out of the recent growth in site inventories and refinements in ceramic chronologies and have come to be closely linked with theoretical treatments of sociopolitical organization. Various physical and chemical analytical techniques are commonly applied to the analysis of archaeological materials in this region, contributing to our understanding of direct and indirect exchange relationships and other forms of interaction, especially those between hierarchical and nonhierarchically organized societies, and enhancing our understanding of the kinds of foods prepared and eaten by people in the past.     

Addressing data comparability in the creation of combined data sets of bioapatite carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions

Before amalgamating published isotope data, comparability should be demonstrated. This paper compares carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions of 30 enamel samples measured by two laboratories. The aims were to see what, if any, isotopic variation was observed, to determine the causes as needed and to correct if possible. Bioapatite was acidified at 90°C in 2006 and at 26°C in 2017, while δ values were corrected via one‐point normalization in 2006 and by two‐point normalization in 2017. One case (of the 30) produced different δ values between the analysis dates, suggesting contamination. Repeated carbon isotope ratio measurements were not meaningfully different. Repeated oxygen isotope ratio measurements were significantly different, even following correction for acid‐carbonate fractionation at different temperatures and the renormalization of 2017 δ values using one point; however, differences were not meaningful for interpretations. Results were used to calculate real interpretative differences (RIDs) for comparing enamel bioapatite as 0.6‰ for δ¹³C values and as 1.6‰ for δ¹⁸O values.     

Caring for the dead? An alternative perspective on Sámi reburial

This article is an effort to critically discuss Sámi repatriation and reburial practice based on the analysis of five repatriation cases. Since the seminal repatriation (and burial) of the skulls of Somby and Hætta in Gávvuonna/Kåfjord in 1997, and the more recent reburial of 94 skeletons in Njauddâm/Neiden in 2011, a precedent seems established in Norway that allows the unconditional reburial of all Sámi human remains from collections and excavations. This inevitably poses a serious challenge to research on Sámi human remains and the Sámi past. It is argued that what is important is not research, but that Sámi are allowed to decide for themselves how they wish to care for the dead. Rather than argue according to the adversarial pro-research or pro-reburial viewpoints, this article will take a closer look at how the dead, and their associated material remains, are cared for during Sámi reburial. As will be argued, the care for the material side tends to be neglected and therefore raises an ethical question regarding this practice.     

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.     

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.     

河南贾湖遗址考古地层分析

贾湖遗址是属于裴李岗文化的一个重要遗址,是目前所见的中原地区年代最早的新石器时代遗址。本文主要通过贾湖遗址T107B和T43两个剖面样品的粒度分析和地球化学元素分析来推测当时的环境;并以该遗址为例,尝试利用地球化学多元统计分析进行考古探方之间层位关系对比的可行性。分析表明贾湖地区新石器时代考古地层主要代表了一种洪积,及局部的洼地沼泽相沉积(即顶积层),且新石器时代早期气候较为湿热,晚期则向干旱方向转化。