Clamming Up: An Ethnoarchaeological Study of a Costa Rican Artisanal Clam Fishery

A vibrant artisanal fishery of the brackish water marsh clam (Polymesoda acuta) is located in the lower Río Tempisque, Costa Rica. Fishermen harvest clams from shoals according to tidal and lunar cycles. They take most clams directly to riverside processing stations to be cooked and sold as salted meat, although some cooked clams are dried, and others sold live. Processing activities result in the formation of shellmounds that share significant similarities and some differences with ancient marsh clam shellmounds of coastal Chiapas, Mexico. In this study, procurement and processing activities are described and quantified, revealing the substantial amount of labor and skill involved in the modern fishery. Implications for archaeological preservation and predictions from optimal foraging theory are evaluated.     

Polish Historiography of the Holocaust--Between Silence and Public Debate

The story of Polish historiography of the Holocaust lends itselfto divisions when one analyses the number of publications, andthe questions asked by the scholars in the field. There wasa great deal of valuable activity in the period immediatelyfollowing the Second World War and, to a lesser extent, up to1968; the revitalization of the field at the end of the twentiethcentury has roots that go back to the late 1980s. Holocaustscholarship in Poland has changed in many respects since theend of the war. Within the last three years a number of importantpublications have appeared that challenge the long-held assumptionsof Polish historians about the fate of Polish Jewry under Nazioccupation. These works have transformed the field with respectboth to the key topics for investigation and the questions askedby historians researching these aspects of the Holocaust. JanT. Gross led the way with Neighbors, published in 2000. Thisbook opened a heated discussion, and became an important triggerin the process of changing Polish Holocaust historiography.     

The Second Coming of Rail: The Spanish High-Speed Rail-Finance Complex

This article offers a critical account of Spanish high-speed rail (HSR) through the lens of the spatial fix. I designate the integration of Spanish HSR into a European-wide process of circulation of finance capital as the HSR-finance complex. The analysis of the inner workings of the HSR-finance complex reveals the way in which European finance has laid the conditions of possibility for the development of the project and offers a forewarning about the dangers of leveraging finance capital toward green infrastructure. The analysis of the Spanish HSR-finance complex shows that the particular form of capital circulation that has made it possible has not brought about new productive combinations but has instead deepened traditional relations of economic dependency and magnified their socioenvironmental consequences.     

Visit of Soviet leaders Nikita Khrushchev and Nicholas Bulganin to Britain in April 1956

This article examines the visit of Soviet leaders Nikita Khrushchev and Nicholas Bulganin to Britain in April 1956. It concludes that the closer acquaintance of the leaders of the USSR and Britain, the establishment of personal ties between them, and the clarification of mutual positions at the uneasy talks in London played a positive role in Soviet-British relations.     

Historia, Antropologia, Y Fuentes Orales

Historia, Antropología y Fuentes Orales (HAYFO) is aSpanish-language journal for the study of oral data across diversedisciplinary traditions, such as history, anthropology, andsociology. The journal is edited by Asociación Historiay Fuente Oral, Arxiu Històric de la Ciutat de Barcelona,and Editorial Universidad de Granada. HAYFO first saw the lightin 1989 and is published biannually in Spain. The thirty-seventh issue of the journal is an exciting mix ofarticles with a variety of theoretical and empirical merits.This issue is divided into four main sections. The first sectionis entitled "Denouncement and opacity." This section     

The Ethnoarchaeology of Reptile Remains at a Lake Turkana Occupation Site, Kenya

The role of reptiles in hominid hunter–gatherer subsistence in Pleistocene Africa has been largely overlooked. This study examines the reptile component of a modern lake shore camp (site 20) assemblage of low archaeological visibility. Site 20, located on the eastern shore of Lake Turkana, has been observed from its creation to burial. The site is an ideal modern analogue for the interpretation of African prehistoric archaeological sites. Patterns of element loss, and patterns of bone modifications, namely burn, cut and slice marks, are examined. From this baseline data, three conclusions are drawn regarding the interpretability of reptile remains found at archaeological lakeside sites: (1) the MNI of crocodile remains at a site is likely to be similar to the original number of individuals which contributed to the deposited assemblage; (2) the MNI estimates of the turtle component will be much less than the original number of individuals in the deposited assemblage; and (3) patterns of bone modifications can be related to hominid food procurement and processing activities.     

Radiometric dates and micromorphological evidence for synchronous domestic activity and sheep penning in a Neolithic cave: Cueva de El Toro (Málaga,Antequera, Spain)

We present radiocarbon dates and preliminary micromorphological information from the Neolithic cave site of Cueva del Toro (Antequera, Málaga, Spain). This site has yielded a rich early and late Neolithic archaeological record. The late Neolithic assemblage reflects specialized handcraft activity including in situ ceramic manufacture, textile production, and food processing along with sheep and goat penning, suggesting that the cave occupants and their domestic animals shared the same living space. Until now, dating of the stratigraphic sequence was incomplete, and the function of the combustion activities carried out at the cave remained unclear. New absolute dates from the main late Neolithic domestic activity area, corresponding to the most intense Neolithic occupation of the cave, allow us to place the entire sequence between 5320 and 5170 BP (or 4250–3950 to 2σ Cal BC). Micromorphological results show that many combustion features from this site represent recurrently burnt episodes on sheep/goat stabling deposits all along the sequence, corroborating human-goat/sheep cohabitation. This practice had not been previously documented in southern Spain for such early dates. Our results exemplify the importance of characterizing archaeological deposits at a microstratigraphic scale of observation.     

The Role of Future Discounting in Subsistence Decisions: The Case of Hohokam Agave Bajada Cultivation

This article demonstrates the relevance of future discounting behavior to studies of prehistoric subsistence strategies. The case study of Agave spp. bajada cultivation among the Classic Period, a.d. 1150–1450, Hohokam of southern Arizona illustrates how slight discounting of future rewards can significantly alter agriculture investment strategies. Despite a higher kcal/hour return than maize agriculture, agave cultivation lessened or ceased in several communities during a time in which intensification would be predicted due to inferred subsistence stress. We surmise the decade-long maturation of agave made it unattractive relative to more immediate return resources in any context that presented risks to land tenure. The cessation of agave cultivation can be understood on two levels of explanation. The long-term investments required by agave and tendency to discount future rewards are the ultimate causes. Political and social instability during the tumultuous Classic period, causing increased insecurity in land tenure, are the proximal causes.     

Reconstruction of local environments of ancient population in a changeable river valley landscape (The Middle Vychegda River,Northern Russia)

In river valleys, both human occupation and subsequent preservation of archaeological sites are affected by active landscape transformation caused by river lateral migration, incision/aggradation cycles and changes of river hydrological regime. In the middle Vychegda River valley (Northern Russia), there are numerous traces of human presence since the Mesolithic. We exploit multi-disciplinary archaeological, geomorphological and geochronological approach to elucidate the environmental preferences of settlements positioning during different epochs of the Holocene. High resolution space image supplemented with data on alluvial stratigraphy derived from bank exposures and hand cores, as well as 51 radiocarbon dates were used to make the geomorphic map showing ages of floodplain/terrace segments and palaeochannels. Using this map together with sediment facial interpretation, position of archaeological sites was analysed in the context of local geomorphic and hydrologic situation. The majority of archaeological sites and modern settlements are found on terraces at river banks or at oxbow lakes which were well connected to the river. Few exceptions from this rule may be explained by seasonal character of dwelling functioning, ritual burial practice or specialization of settlements. Geomorphic situation was used as a background for planning further prospection of different-age archaeological objects.     

A fine instrument: two nation‐building strategies in post‐Soviet Belarus*

Abstract. This article pursues two aims. On the empirical level, it challenges the view of Belarus as a ‘denationalised’, or ‘failed’ nation, and exposes the country as an area of intensive nation‐building. The article demonstrates that, unlike most post‐communist states, two versions of national identity have been advanced in Belarus since 1989, with divergent results for their proponents. On the theoretical level, such an atypical experience places qualifications on the instrumentalist approach, that regards nation‐building as a political tool. The analysis of identity creation in Belarus suggests that nation‐building as a political strategy may be limited by the existing attitudes in the society in question, the socio‐economic structures, as well as by the influence of foreign actors.