Bahamian Ship Graffiti

In the Age of Sail the Bahamas was on major routes between the Americas and Europe. Bahamians developed a way of life using their location to advantage. Ship graffiti are the first archaeological evidence of Bahamian shipping activity. The graffiti are unique in the region, being incised into a variety of stone surfaces, and probably other surfaces which have not survived. Images depict locally-built vessels such as sloops and schooners as well as larger, ocean-going ships. Graffiti locations are predominantly associated with people of African heritage and lower socio-economic status. Details suggest artists were familiar with ship construction and rigging.
© 2006 The Author     

Book review

Peter Bellwood. Prehistory of the Indo‐malaysian archipelago, xii, 370 pp. north ryde, nsw: academic press, 1985. £50.50 (paperback £30.50).     

Peopling the Recent Past in the Serra de L’Altmirant: Shepherds and Farmers at the Margins

The region of the Serra de l’Altmirant in southeastern Spain, through its upland location and its rocky and scrub landscape, is strongly perceived as marginal–this mainly in contrast with the nearby fertile coastal plains between Valencia and Denia, busy with orange and vine production especially. A progressive colonization of the lower part of the Serra by weekend homes is starting to counter this image of marginality, but at the same time such constructions threaten the residual archaeology of a different type of human upland exploitation, namely pastoralism and hunting. Abandoned terraces, cisterns, store buildings and larger corrals are evident even on the exposed plateau and testify to a period in which the Serra was active and integral to farmers and shepherds from the villages of the adjoining valleys and plains. This paper discusses the nature of this activity, as recorded through archaeological and ethnographic investigation, and considers also the materials and outlook of Manolo, the last shepherd-in-residence on the Serra.