Squaring the Shield: William Ridgeway's Two Models of Early Greece

From the early 1880s the Cambridge-trained classicist William Ridgeway had applied cutting-edge anthropological theory to his reading of ancient Greek literature in order to develop an evolutionary account of the continuous development of early Greek social institutions. Then, at the turn of the century, he began to argue that archaeological evidence demonstrated that the Achaean warriors described by Homer were in origin Germanic tribesmen from north of the Alps who had but recently conquered Mycenaean Greece. The present paper inquires as to how Ridgeway reconciled these seemingly opposed visions of early Greek society. A fairly comprehensive survey of his writings leads to the suggestion that, in Ridgeway's opinion, Achaean invasion had left little lasting impact upon most early Greek social institutions, but that it had been responsible for a fundamental shift from matriarchy to patriarchy, and that this shift was the key to the subsequent greatness of Greek—and so ultimately Western—civilisation.     

Paleodiet in northern Chile through the Holocene: extremely heavy δN values in dental calculus suggest a guano-derived signature?

Dental calculus extracted from the teeth of 28 prehistoric human skeletons from coastal and valley archaeological sites in northern Chile that date from the Archaic period (∼2300 BC) to the Late Intermediate period (AD 1476) was analyzed for stable isotope (δ¹⁵N, δ¹³C) compositions. δ¹⁵N compositions were extremely heavy (+17.8 to +33.1‰), but comparable to some studies using conventional human biomaterials (hair, nail, muscle) at other prehistoric sites in northern Chile. There was a negative correlation between δ¹⁵N and δ¹³C for coastal sites, but a positive correlation for valley sites. Results for the valley sites point to a diet that was influenced by marine resources throughout all time periods. The unusually heavy δ¹⁵N values for the coastal sites require a dietary component with a δ¹⁵N composition significantly heavier than that of marine resources. The hyper-aridity at the study area (mean annual rainfall of 0.5–0.6 mm/year) is a likely contributing factor to the production of heavy δ¹⁵N values, but is unlikely to account for the heaviest δ¹⁵N values (>+30‰). One possible explanation for the heaviest δ¹⁵N values is that dietary components were impacted by isotopically-heavy guano, which is abundant in the region. Guano may have been used as a fertilizer during crop cultivation at the onset of the Formative period, continuing through the Historic period after Spanish contact. The indirect impact of guano from abundant bird habitats in the region may have influenced wild foodstuffs harvested throughout the pre-agricultural period. Results provide support for the utility of dental calculus as a proxy for obtaining stable carbon and nitrogen isotope signatures for use in paleodietary studies.     

The ‘walking’ megalithic statues (moai) of Easter Island

Explaining how the monumental statues (moai) of Easter Island were transported has remained open to debate and speculation, including their resource expenditures and role in deforestation. Archaeological evidence including analysis of moai variability, particularly those abandoned along ancient roads, indicates transport was achieved in a vertical position. To test this proposition we constructed a precise three-dimensional 4.35 metric ton replica of an actual statue and demonstrate how positioning the center of mass allowed it to fall forward and rock from side to side causing it to ‘walk.’ Our experiments reveal how the statue form was engineered for efficient transport by a small number of individuals.     

Issues of In Situ Conservation at Jinsha,People’s Republic of China

Abstract

The archaeological site of Jinsha, in Sichuan Province, China, was excavated in 2001, revealing extensive evidence of a substantial 3000 years old settlement. The site was subsequently sheltered and in 2007 an on-site museum was constructed. The shelter’s performance, in terms of environmental control, public interpretation and site management, is assessed. The need for more scientific research on site material science is highlighted.     

Aegean Prehistory as World Archaeology: Recent Trends in the Archaeology of Bronze Age Greece

This article surveys archaeological work of the last decade on the Greek Bronze Age, part of the broader discipline known as Aegean prehistory. Naturally, the literature is vast, so I focus on a set of topics that may be of general interest to non-Aegeanists: chronology, regional studies, the emergence and organization of archaic states, ritual and religion, and archaeological science. Greek Bronze Age archaeology rarely appears in the comparative archaeological literature; accordingly, in this article I place this work in the context of world archaeology, arguing for a reconsideration of the potential of Aegean archaeology to provide enlightening comparative material.     

Warfare in Prehistoric and Early Historic Eastern North America

Recent criticisms of the use of historically and ethnographically recorded conflicts as models for warfare in prehistoric times force archaeologists to reexamine assumptions about the frequency, severity, and effects of intergroup fighting. In eastern North America, skeletons of victims and palisaded settlements—the only information consistently available on intergroup hostilities—indicate that the prevalence of conflicts varied greatly over time and space. Occasionally the attacks, typically ambushes of small numbers of people, cumulatively resulted in numerous casualties.Variation in palisade strength is consistent with the organizational structure and warrior mobilization potential of late prehistoric societies in different parts of the Eastern Woodlands.     

A review of archaeology in mainland Southeast Asia

This article outlines recent advances in establishing and understanding the prehistoric sequence in mainland Southeast Asia. Research has been unevenly distributed, varying from virtually none in Cambodia to a marked intensity in Hong Kong and the adjoining mainland. A new pattern is becoming apparent, due in no small part to the new findings in southern China. It is argued that despite its long history of occupation, beginning withHomo erectus almost a million years ago, tropical Southeast Asia was occupied by scattered inland groups and larger, possibly sedentary coastal foragers until exposed to intrusive agricultural societies during the third millennium BC. These communities, which originated ultimately in the Yangzi Valley, brought with them rice cultivation and were responsible for the wide distribution of Austroasiatic languages. The three divisions of this language superfamily are now distributed from eastern India to southern China. Following a relatively brief Neolithic period, small and autonomous communities, particularly in Lingnan and Bac Bo (Guangdong and Guangxi provinces of China and the area of the Red River Delta), were exposed to exchange contact with the Shang state of the Chinese Central Plains, and this brought exotic jades and bronzes. Within this context, a local bronze industry was established between 1500 and 1000 BC over much of Southeast Asia, but without any obvious social developments until the middle of the first millennium BC, when several major changes occurred. These incorporated iron smelting and forging and exposure in the southern parts of the region to Indian mercantile contact and along the northern margins to the expanding Chinese empire. Adaptations varied regionally, from the establishment of warrior chiefdoms to counter the Chinese to the construction of water control systems in the arid heart of Southeast Asia to alleviate environmental unpredictability. It is within these regional changes that we can identify trends toward the establishment of states, some of which persisted in an unbroken lineage to the present.     

珠海、澳门史前史的重建

文章以珠澳地区的考古发现为基础,全面而真实地揭示出珠澳在远古时期文化面貌上血肉一体的关系。     

Stable isotopes in human skeletons of Southern Ontario: reconstructing Palaeodiet

Most native plants of Ontario use the C₃ photosynthetic mechanism and therefore have relatively low ${}^{13}\text{C}{}^{12}\text{C}$ ratios; maize is a C₄ plant and is relatively enriched in ¹³C. The proportion of maize in the diet of a human can therefore be estimated from the ¹³C-content of collagen of fossil bone. We have used this method to follow the increase in consumption of maize in ancient native populations over the interval from AD 400 to 1650, and to quantify the amount of maize consumed. Maize consumption rose gradually to a maximum of 50% of the diet by AD 1400. These data agree with archaeologically derived data for this region, and with previous isotope studies in the northeastern U.S.A. In some of the latter, however, the maximum percentage of maize consumed has been overestimated because maize was assumed to have a δ¹³C value of ?12·5‰; our studies of archaeological specimens show the correct value to be closer to ?9‰. The introduction of beans into the native diet about AD 1100, should have caused a decrease in the ¹⁵N content of human bone collagen because legumes are deficient in this isotope, with respect to meat and fish. However, we observe no significant change in the ${}^{15}\text{N}{}^{14}$N ratio of human bone collagen over the period from 2300 BC to AD 1640. We conclude that meat and fish remained the main sources of protein even after the advent of agriculture into this region.     

Modeling Late Copper Age demographics on the Great Hungarian Plain using ceramic petrography

Ceramic petrography can be an effective method for studying demographic shifts and the possibility of migration into a region. This is based on the principle that ceramic manufacturing technology is resistant to change over time, while form and decoration can change quickly even in times of demographic continuity. As such, sudden shifts in raw material preparation and methods of pottery manufacture may be indicative of the arrival of new people in a region. The manufacturing characteristics indicative of such a demographic change are observable and measurable microscopically. Petrography was used to describe and measure paste characteristics of 114 Middle Copper Age, Late Copper Age, Early Bronze Age, and Middle Bronze Age sherds from the Körös region of the Great Hungarian Plain to determine if changes in manufacturing techniques accompanied changes in ceramic form and decoration at the beginning of the Late Copper Age Baden period (ca. cal. 3500 B.C.). A comparison of the petrographic results from the cultural phases showed that little manufacturing and technology change occurred during the time period covered by the study. Migration of new people into the region is therefore not supported, and changes in ceramic form and decoration associated with the Late Copper Age occurred during an extended period of demographic continuity.