Taphonomic analysis of leporid remains obtained from modern Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) scats

Distinguishing leporid bones accumulated by diurnal raptors, owls, mammals and humans is essential to understand not only past human subsistence activities but also past ecology. This is particularly relevant in Iberian Palaeolithic sites where leporid remains usually constitute the most abundant taxon. As far as terrestrial mammal carnivores are concerned, the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) would be the main leporid predator in the Iberian Peninsula. Up until now its contribution as a rabbit bone accumulator in archaeological sites has never been properly assessed. In order to investigate the taphonomic signature of this predator the analysis of 33 samples of modern Iberian lynx scats was carried out. Results show that leporid remains consumed by this carnivore appear very fragmented and exhibit a strong degree of corrosion digestion. Cranial elements are most abundant followed by long bones. Whereas there seem to be clear differences in relation to breakage and digestion alteration caused by owls, some of the patterns obtained are closest to those established with diurnal raptors.     

Testing recipes: an experimental approach to paint production processes in Levantine rock art (Spain)

Over more than a century, several proposals have been made on the composition and technical features of the pictorial recipes used by Levantine prehistoric painters. In this paper all these proposals are surveyed and tested through systematic experiments to determine the technical affordance of pigments and binders in different pictorial recipes. Experimental results were then used as independent analytical parameters employed as diagnostic criteria to systematically study an archaeological sample of nine sites located in the Maestrazgo region (Spain) and their surroundings. Results reveal that out of 112 experimental recipes, only 16 afforded the production of paintings technically similar to Levantine rock art.     

Elephants and subsistence. Evidence of the human exploitation of extremely large mammal bones from the Middle Palaeolithic site of PRERESA (Madrid, Spain)

The archaeological site at PRERESA (Madrid, Spain) has been dated to 84 ± 5.6 ka by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) (MIS 5a). An area 255 m² was excavated and 754 lithic pieces were recovered, as well as a large amount of micro and macro vertebrate remains, including proboscidean bones. The aim of this paper is to outline the results of the taphonomic study of these remains. The identification of cut marks on a number of the bones recovered strengthens the theory that the exploitation of extremely large mammals was more than just a marginal practice before the Upper Palaeolithic. Additionally, the identification of green-bone fractures and percussion marks confirm for the first time, that the bone marrow of these taxa was also consumed. Few other cases of this practice have been identified, firstly because obtaining this substance would not be an easy matter, and secondly because similar nutritional needs can also be met by the consumption of brain matter, which is easier to acquire.     

The Intellectual Construction of the Fifth Empire: Legitimating the Braganza Restoration

Summary

Under the Iberian Union, the Portuguese discourse on empire had been both relatively muted and intertwined with Spanish debates. The Braganza Restoration presented a radical break from this tradition. A new network of preachers, theologians and jurists from the four corners of the Portuguese empire made the case for the recovery of independence. Instead of buttressing a common moral universe and the old pan-Iberian network of higher learning, the new network focused its energies on the establishment of the particularity of the Portuguese imperial and missionary enterprises. The contribution explores the importance of networks in establishing intellectual independence and the strategies employed by the partisans of the newly independent Portugal. It was no longer good enough for Portugal to be the other Iberian empire; her very raison d'être was now to become the only Iberian empire.     

Roadlessness and the Person: Modes of Travel in the Reindeer Herding Part of the Kola Peninsula

Five wooden spoons dated to the Sub-Neolithic and Bronze Age are known from Finland. Four of them have an animal head carved onto their handles. The decoration has usually been seen as a sign of the spoons' totemistic and ceremonial use. Three of the spoons are stray finds, one comes from a possible cult site and one from a dwelling site. Two spoons are made of Siberian pine, which makes them objects of trade exchange; the westernmost natural occurrence of the raw material was in the Ural Mountains. Previous interpretations of the spoons have inconsistencies and rigid categorizations, which are reconsidered here from the perspective of cultural biographies of things. The functional aspects, ceremonial use and find contexts of the spoons are re-examined along with their connections to totemism, shamanism and ancient trade.     

“I do not know if Mum knew what was going on”: Social reproduction in boarding schools in Soviet Lapland

ABSTRACT

This inquiry into the history of boarding schools for indigenous and quasi-indigenous, tundra-connected children in the Soviet part of Lapland tries to answer why children were sent to a boarding school despite their parents living in the same village, and also why an additional school for mentally disabled children, a school half as big as the boarding school for “regular” children, was opened. Data from oral history interviews among former pupils and teachers, both indigenous and incomers, are combined with archival materials. Using the concepts of cynical knowledge as well as the Bourdieuan notions of social exclusion and reproduction, concealed functions of the boarding school system are identified, among which are the attenuation of housing shortage and the operation of the school out of economic interests, alongside with ethnocentric and paternalist patterns. The stigmatization of mostly Sámi children from relocated families as mentally disabled is set in a frame of individualization of the negative, which sought to present failures of the state’s social engineering as personal fallibility.     

Smelting and recycling evidences from the Late Bronze Age habitat site of Baiões (Viseu,Portugal)

Many aspects of bronze production during Late Bronze Age in Western Europe are so far unknown. In the present study selected artefact fragments and metallurgical debris, which include a slag fragment, from the emblematic Late Bronze Age habitat site of Castro da Senhora da Guia de Baiões (Viseu, Portugal) have been studied by optical microscopy, micro-EDXRF, SEM–EDS and XRD. Evidences were found for bronze production involving smelting and recycling. Compositional analysis showed that the artefacts are made of a bronze with 13 ± 3 wt.% Sn (average and one standard deviation) and a low impurity pattern, namely <0.1 wt.% Pb, being comparable with the composition of other bronzes from the same region (the Central Portuguese Beiras). This alloy is generally different from elsewhere Atlantic and Mediterranean bronzes, which show frequently slightly lower Sn contents and higher impurity patterns, namely Pb which is often present as an alloying element. The present study gives further support to early proposals suggesting the exploration of the Western Iberian tin resources during Late Bronze Age, and besides that, it indicates that metalworking and smelting could have been a commonplace activity requiring no specific facilities, being bronze produced at a domestic scale in this Western extreme of Europe.     

Early agriculture and palaeoenvironmental history in the North of the Iberian Peninsula: a multi-proxy analysis of the Monte Areo mire (Asturias,Spain)

A multi-proxy study (pollen and NPPs, geochemical composition and radiocarbon dating), combined with principal components analysis, was applied to a core sampled in the Monte Areo mire (Asturias, N Spain), which covers the last 11,600 years cal BP. Both signals of Holocene climate change and transformations by human activities were recorded.     

Characterization of a current coprogenic sample originated by Canis lupus as a tool for identifying a taphonomic agent

We study a skeletal sample digested by Iberian wolf (Canis lupus signatus) in order to finding diagnostic features of digestion caused by this agent. The remains were taken from scats collected in different natural areas in the northwestern Iberian Peninsula. We tested different methods to recover the remains with the goal of not produce biases, and we evaluated the most appropriate methods. The results were compared with those reported by other authors who have also worked with samples digested by wolves. Bias during the procurement of the skeletal assemblages seems to be a significant cause of the differences observed between the samples. We found that it was necessary to fully recover all remains and individually analyze all modifications, even in small-sized remains. Taphonomic characterization was performed by analyzing physical and biochemical modifications. We believe that these results may be useful in the study of archaeological and paleontological assemblages.     

O deslocamento de interesses da Índia para o Brasil durante a União Ibérica: mapas e relatos

This paper proposes the insertion of cartographic production about the Portuguese possessions into a wider context of interests and need for information experienced by the Hapsburgs during the Iberian Union (1580–1640). I focus on two documents, compiled as a result of two requests made by the monarchs who wished to learn about their domains in India and Brazil: the 1612 Livro que dá razão do Estado do Brasil, written by Captain Diogo Campos Moreno, with maps by João Teixeira Albernaz I, and the Livro das Plantas de todas as fortalezas, cidades e povoações do Estado da Índia oriental, dated 1635, by the official chronicler of the Estado da India, Antonio Bocarro, with city views usually attributed to Pedro Barreto de Resende.

These texts and maps show a shift of interests from India to Brazil. They incorporate the various aspects that the authors considered relevant, interesting or representative of the Portuguese presence in these spaces. At the same time, the royal orders that gave rise to these surveys bring some elements that give specificity to each region, but emphasize the effort to standardize the information and to ensure a common administration over different areas of the empire.