Arctic trophy hunters,tourism and masculinities, 1827–1914

Trophy hunting in the Arctic happened in an intersection between tourism, expeditions and hunting. This study contributes to a discrete history of masculinity within the context of trophy hunting organized from North Norway and to a broader understanding of Arctic masculinity. As trophy-hunting expeditions are primarily a male, even masculinist, practice, an analysis from a gender perspective is unavoidable. By taking an empirical approach I investigate performances of masculinity in written accounts of Arctic trophy-hunting expeditions from 1827–1914. The use of masculinity as a pivot demonstrates that a modification of the prevailing perception of Arctic masculinity is necessary. While the general understanding is dominated by an emphasis on physical strength, roughness, ingenuity, and self-realization, qualities connected to traditional knowledge of trappers, sailors and explorers, my analysis shows that trophy hunting introduced aristocratic ideals such as gentlemen’s sport, self-discipline, hunting morals, care for nature and knowledge to their home communities. Trophy hunting made possible performances of different forms of masculinity, not only the conquest and mastery of nature, but also the interest in and care for nature. Women accompanied as family members and hunters, and took part in the hunt more than has been commonly noted.     

Working Borders: The Contexts of Copán Archaeology

The work of archaeologists and the knowledge they produce both help create, and are conditioned by, a variety of kinds of borders, including political, academic, and cultural. In this article I review a series of borders that shape and determine the social conditions in which archaeology at the well-known site of Copán in western Honduras takes place and takes on meaning. I argue that the histories of these borders, their construction, and their crossings reveal structural tensions in the overlapping registers of academia, public history and popular discourse, in which archaeological knowledge circulates. These histories must be consciously interrogated in order to be negotiated. I suggest that by becoming fluent in the cultural conversations ongoing in a place, archaeologists are best able to begin productive collaborations and make informed choices about how they participate in the border-making processes of their work.     

Exploring children's foodscapes

In this article, we discuss children's becoming as food consumers in the intersection of various foodscapes. We draw from a project, Children as co-researchers of foodscapes, where we have been working with children as co-researchers, using basically ethnographic methods, and as co-designers in a collaborative design effort. This article focuses on the findings from a theoretically inspired perspective, using the concept of foodscapes. These are food-related structures of different kinds, which evolve as the child explores them and where children as food consumers are generated. In this article, we highlight the scapes of taste, routines, people, things, commerce, child (as opposed to adult) and health and give brief accounts of the way the children related to them. Finally, we turn to the benefits of working with foodscapes for a better understanding of children's becoming as food consumers in the intersection of various foodscapes. This article is based on data gathered by the children, but also on our fieldwork notes and observations following the children in their foodscapes.     

Subsistence change,landscape use,and changing site elevation at the Pleistocene–Holocene transition in the Dordogne of southwestern France

The dramatic topography of the Dordogne Valley region of southwestern France has long been recognized as an influence on prehistoric human settlement and subsistence patterns. Previous research on late Pleistocene settlement patterns in this region implies that, as cold-adapted higher-ranked resources became scarce in the lowlands, site location in the Dordogne and adjacent river valleys should shift towards higher-elevation areas during the period from 18,000 to 6500 years BP. This study employs a GIS-based analysis to evaluate the changing settlement patterns in the Dordogne region at this time. While no significant changes in elevation were found during this period, site elevation variance does appear to increase significantly between the Magdalenian and the Sauveterrian. Explanations for this finding are explored using zooarchaeological data from Moulin du Roc, one of the sites in the data set. Results suggest that the Magdalenian period in the Dordogne may not have been as resource-rich as is often assumed.     

“Giving a Voice to Malachi's Interlocutors”

The following article looks afresh at the relation between Malachi and his interlocutors, with the intention to re‐evaluate the negative reputation often assigned to the latter. The form of the book of Malachi is understood as a discussion which reflects actual utterances made by Malachi's interlocutors, accurate to the degree that the latter would recognize these sayings as theirs. By investigating these utterances, we learn how Malachi's interlocutors deny Malachi's accusations and his claim that their wrongdoings were the cause of the miserable situation in Judah. Furthermore, some of their exclamations express their doubts in God's justice. Rather than showing lacking of faith, it is possible that Malachi's interlocutors were expressing thoughts in the realm of theodicy.     

Viking woollen square-sails and fabric cover factor

The discovery of the five scuttled Viking ships of Roskilde Fjord in Denmark and the subsequent excavation, preservation and analysis of the remains has initiated a programme of reconstructive archaeology led by the Viking Ship Museum of Roskilde in which four of the five hulls have now been reconstructed together with their rigs and square-sails. The reconstruction of the sails has been based on fragments of heavy woollen cloth found within the roof of Trondenes church in Norway dating to the mid-13th century. This paper uses the'cover-factor' modelling methods of modern textile engineering to analyse the'Viking' sail fabrics and assess their strength, resilience and performance in comparison with the linen sails from the wreck of the Vasa .     

Characterising the potential of sheep wool for ancient DNA analyses

The use of wool derived from sheep (Ovis aries) hair shafts is widespread in ancient and historic textiles. Given that hair can represent a valuable source of ancient DNA, wool may represent a valuable genetic archive for studies on the domestication of the sheep. However, both the quality and content of DNA in hair shafts are known to vary, and it is possible that common treatments of wool such as dyeing may negatively impact the DNA. Using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), we demonstrate that in general, short fragments of both mitochondrial and single-copy nuclear DNA can be PCR-amplified from wool derived from a variety of breeds, regardless of the body location or natural pigmentation. Furthermore, although DNA can be PCR-amplified from wool dyed with one of four common plant dyes (tansy, woad, madder, weld), the use of mordants such as alum or iron leads to considerable DNA degradation. Lastly, we demonstrate that mtDNA at least can be PCR-amplified, cloned and sequenced from a range of archaeological and historic Danish, Flemmish and Greenlandic wool textile samples. In summary, our data suggest that wool offers a promising source for future ancient mitochondrial DNA studies.     

Moving metals or indigenous mining? Provenancing Scandinavian Bronze Age artefacts by lead isotopes and trace elements

The aim of this study is to further the discussion as to whether copper was extracted locally or imported to Sweden during the Bronze Age or if both of these practices could have coexisted. For this purpose, we have carried out lead isotope and chemical analyses of 33 bronze items, dated between 1600BC and 700BC. Among these are the famous Fröslunda shields and the large scrap hoard from Bräckan and other items from three regions in southern Sweden which are also renowned for their richness in copper ores. It is obvious from a comparison that the element and lead isotope compositions of the studied bronze items diverge greatly from those of spatially associated copper ores. Nor is there any good resemblance with other ores from Scandinavia, and it is concluded that the copper in these items must have been imported from elsewhere. The results furthermore indicate that there are variations in metal supply that are related to chronology, in agreement with other artefacts from Scandinavia as well as from other parts of Europe. Altogether these circumstances open up for a discussion regarding Scandinavia’s role in the maritime networks during the Bronze Age.