Patterns of Faunal Utilization and Sociopolitical Organization at the Mississippian Period Kincaid Mounds Site

Archaeologists have debated the degree of complexity at Mississippian period polities with some arguing that they were highly stratified and centralized and others arguing that they were politically decentralized. Faunal analyses from the Cahokia Mounds and Moundville polities have been used to suggest that there were significant differences in the foodways of elite and nonelite peoples and that deer remains were part of redistributive economies. In this article, I discuss the distribution of faunal remains from five archaeological contexts at the Kincaid Mounds site in southern Illinois. In particular, I explore species diversity and the distribution of deer body parts using utility indices and anatomical units and compare these results to Cahokia Mounds and other Mississippian period villages in southern Illinois. The distribution of taxa and deer elements from both the mound- and nonmound-related contexts at Kincaid follows patterns of possible elite consumption at Cahokia and restricted use of rare species.     

Scandal: Olivia Pope,Pope Francis,and Catholic Social Thought

Millions of viewers tune in to watch ABC's Scandal where political corruption, sexual infidelity, secret lives, and hidden crimes abound. What is it that makes something scandalous? In popular culture, scandal involves something morally or legally wrong coupled with public outrage. In contrast, as a theological category scandal is that which impedes the community's relationship with God. Pope Francis identifies poverty as just such a scandal damaging our relationship with God and each other. Examining scandal in popular culture and the media along with Catholic social thought, this article identifies three types of scandal: hypocrisy, impurity, and dehumanization. Ultimately, the theology of scandal can direct us away from the salacious towards addressing scandals of dehumanization.     

Mapping of subsurface shell midden components through percussion coring: examples from the Dundas Islands

Following earlier examples of mapping the subsurface of shell bearing sites using augering, we employ percussion coring to identify early Holocene shell midden components at two types of sites on the Northwest Coast of North America. We describe a method for mapping subsurface components at shell bearing sites including basal deposits, paleosols and transitions between distinct cultural components. Our research was undertaken for the purpose of identifying early Holocene shell middens above the modern shore, and as components below large shell midden villages. Our results augment the developmental trajectory of shell middens on the Northwest Coast by suggesting that pre-5000 BP forms of these sites may be more common than previously thought. In light of these results, we argue that the Northwest Coast cultural historical sequence, which locates an increase in the number and rate of accumulation of shell middens beginning 5000 years ago, to be premature. However, there are insufficient data from shell middens in the early Holocene, a sampling problem that the percussion coring methods described here can address.     

‘Artists are a tool for gentrification’: maintaining artists and creative production in arts districts

This study investigates the relationship between arts-themed development and the strategies used by neighborhood stakeholders, including artists and other marginalized populations, to maintain their place in gentrifying arts and cultural districts. Using a case study of a state-sanctioned Arts & Entertainment District in Baltimore, MD (U.S.A.), I find that the organizations that are ‘thoughtful’ in their development actively seek to maintain the production of arts and the residency of artists in the neighborhood into perpetuity. At the same time, the influx of arts-themed development helps raise property values and spurs re-colonization of the neighborhood’s large industrial buildings, making it difficult for artists to find legal, affordable live/work spaces in the district. As illegal DIY artists’ spaces are increasingly scrutinized by city inspectors, artists and other marginalized populations lose territory in the district and feel that they are being used for capital interests. This paper evaluates arts-themed development and public–private partnerships as a strategy for maintaining artists in revitalizing neighborhoods and considers the possibilities for a more inclusive arts district through political and community engagement.     

(Re)assessing Parliamentary Policy Impact: The Case of the Australian Senate

A recent article in this Journal suggested that assumptions about the legislative influence of the Australian Senate may overstate its de facto power. Stanley Bach indicated that compromise with the Senate was relatively rare, and pointed out that most successful Senate amendments were government amendments. This paper provides an alternative view. We suggest that legislative influence is more subtle than Bach acknowledged, and that it is necessary to dig deeper in the data to fully understand the Senate's role. We therefore supplement his analysis in two ways: (1) through tracking the ultimate outcome of government defeats in the Senate; and (2) through analysis of two case study bills. We find that in confrontations with government the Senate ‘wins’ the great majority of the time. This shapes government behaviour in the chamber, such that many government amendments actually respond to non-government concerns. The most important element of Senate influence is therefore ‘soft power’– exercised through negotiation – backed up only in extremis by the ‘hard power’ of government defeat. This holds important lessons for the study of legislative influence more broadly, as well as demonstrating the true power of the Australian Senate.     

What to do with vacant and abandoned residential structures? The effects of teardowns and rehabilitations on nearby properties

In the presented paper, we estimate the impacts of three distinct housing policy interventions to deal with distressed and abandoned residential properties: leaving vacant buildings in their current state, remodeling/rebuilding residential structures, and razing vacant structures. We show that vacant structures negatively impact nearby housing up to 4.1%, but when demolition is followed by complete reconstruction, neighboring housing can be appreciated by as much as 14.1%. In addition, negative spillover effects from foreclosures and vacant buildings are primarily observed in low‐income and middle‐income Census tracts, whereas positive spillover effects generated by remodeling are seen in high‐income Census tracts.     

The Trouble with Peace: The Royal Army Medical Corps’ Cold War Recruitment Conundrums

This article examines the Royal Army Medical Corps’ (RAMC) recruitment problems throughout the Cold War (1945–1980s). It explores why the RAMC experienced difficulties in attracting new personnel, how the army tried to alleviate these shortages, and the impact of chronic understaffing on the quality of military health care for generations of soldiers and their families. It concludes by reflecting on the enduring dilemmas of recruiting professionals in peacetime.     

Multiple pathways across past landscapes: circuit theory as a complementary geospatial method to least cost path for modeling past movement

The incorporation of geospatial technologies in archaeology has resulted in productive advances in the analysis of past behavioral processes. Archaeologists have relied on the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) application of cost surface analysis and the computation of least cost paths (LCP) to study movement, one key social process. Recent research has identified limitations with LCP for modeling nonhuman species movement, notably the inability of LCP to accommodate multiple pathways. Archaeology must consider the implications of these critiques for models of past human movement. In this paper, I apply a different approach, circuit theory modeling, enacted through the program Circuitscape, to an archaeological case study previously analyzed with LCP modeling, travel to a regionally significant ceremonial earthwork center during Late Prehistory (ca. AD 1200–1600) in the Northern Great Lakes. Through this comparative analysis, I evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of these methods for modeling past movement. The results suggest LCP modeling and circuit modeling offer archaeology complementary geospatial methods for conceptualizing past mobility. Combining circuit theory and LCP allows archaeologists to produce richer models of past movement by appreciating scenarios where multiple pathways are important as well as scenarios where optimum single travel routes have priority.     

Inter-site variability in the season of shellfish collection on the central coast of British Columbia

High-resolution stable oxygen isotope analysis of the bivalve Saxidomus gigantea from shell midden sites was applied to identify seasonal patterns of resource procurement on the central coast of British Columbia, Canada. A total of 90 archaeological shells were examined from eight distinct sites spanning a 4500-year period. Combining micro-growth pattern analysis with high-resolution stable oxygen isotope sampling allows for a precise season of collection to be determined in estuarine bivalves recovered from archaeological sites. The results of the stable oxygen isotope analysis provide insights into seasonally structured harvest of S. gigantea (butter clam), which is associated with different types of sites. The results show a variety of patterns, including multi-seasonal collection, intensive seasonal harvesting and casual, supplemental use of butter clams at different locations.     

Colonial Encounters,European Kettles,and the Magic of Mimesis in the Late Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Century Indigenous Northeast and Great Lakes

Copper kettles, in high demand among indigenous communities of the Northeast/Great Lakes, became prominent items in the exchange repertoires of early Basque, French and Dutch traders. Kettles’ origin with these “Others” and its connection to a medium (copper) that had held symbolic significance for millennia led them to be used in an indigenous ‘metaphorical’ value regime influencing trade during the late sixteenth/early seventeenth century. An artisan living on the threshold of colonial encounter in Northern Michigan between 1470 and 1660 CE—having seen European goods but not having access to them—harnessed the mimetic faculty to make a small, miniature, ceramic imitation or skeuomorph of a European trade kettle. Rather than the sincerest form of flattery, I suggest this imitation was made to acquire the power of the original to fend off the colonial danger and to connect to this symbolic value regime. I suggest the “magic” of mimesis offered personal and organizational power in the indigenous Northeast/Great Lakes during early contact. This specific case speaks more broadly to how mimesis can provide a robust framework for exploring the material cultures of colonial encounter.