Island Biocultural Assemblages — The Case of Kinmen Island

ABSTRACT A growing mass of research contributes to our understanding of how biological and cultural diversity are related in complex and important ways. This paper presents an assembling process of biodiversity and cultural diversity on an island, Kin‐men (Quemoy), based on 1600 years of its environmental history. The study shows that the island's biocultural assemblages are a result both of external relations with the island's surrounding environment and internal relations within the island's changing human ecology. Distant political powers and economic forces are the two major external influences that have affected the flow of natural and cultural elements to and from the island, while ‘screening effects’ and ‘isolation effects’ are two factors that explain internal interactions. The island's biocultural assembling processes reveal that the openness of the island facilitates increase in the diversity of biocultural elements, while its less disturbed isolated condition fosters natural succession and co‐evolution. The study suggests that biocultural assemblages and the associated processes of co‐evolution and nature–society interactions are accomplished through the intermittent opportunities purposively provided by or inadvertently found in the openings and closures of boundaries, setting the scene for both boundary crossings and bounded shelter, by intent or chance.     

Conflicts Over Trees and Waves on Siberut Island

ABSTRACT The paper describes some recent developments with respect to logging operations and the tourist industry on the island of Siberut (West Sumatra, Indonesia). It discusses these developments from the perspective of the notions of equitable access and benefit sharing and prior informed consent. These are often referred to as basic principles in dealing with external intervention within the territory of indigenous peoples. After the initial logging boom during the 1970s and 1980s about half of the island was declared a nature reserve in the early 1990s. All logging operations were terminated. Backpack tourism started to develop more or less simultaneously, stimulated by the lure of a Stone Age culture on a tropical paradise island. This contributed greatly to the efforts to safeguard the island's rich biodiversity. Recently, however, a new form of logging started on the island, with a university as concession holder. But also a new kind of tourism discovered Siberut: its waves are supposed to be of excellent quality and allow for first‐class surfing. As a result of regional autonomy and the process of democratisation in Indonesia, the local people are not willing to accept these new forms of resource use without at least sharing in their benefits. This paper is based on extensive periods of fieldwork on Siberut over the past twenty years.     

A Spanish Man‐o‐War in New Zealand? The 1864 wreck of Grafton and its lessons for pre‐Cook shipwreck claims

This paper considers the 1864 wreck of Grafton in the Auckland Islands, and its implications for wreck analysis and pre‐Cook exploration claims. The captain of Grafton, Thomas Musgrave, stated that the schooner was built from the wreck of a Spanish man‐o‐war, and archaeological analysis of the wreck found that the timbers are a tropical South American species, and had possibly been reused. The implications of this are clear; it is possible that timbers that originated in pre‐Cook (1769) ships lie in New Zealand, but without a full understanding of the historical and archaeological context of any such timbers, including their reuse in later ships, it is not possible to claim proof of pre‐Cook European exploration of New Zealand.     

A Box Containing Carpenter's Accessories from The Akko 1 Shipwreck,Israel: Archaeometallurgical Analysis of Surviving Ironwork

The Akko 1 shipwreck was an Egyptian armed vessel, built at the beginning of the 19th century. A wooden saw handle and a box containing iron nails and two split pins were discovered towards the stern. Given their function, location and context, these were part of the ship's carpenter's tools and accessories. A methodology was developed for conducting systematic metallurgical analysis in order to understand the manufacturing process of the surviving ironwork items, as well as to enlarge our knowledge regarding ironworking technologies during the early 19th century. Such methodology may assist in the future understanding of the technological evolution of similar wrought‐iron objects. The results demonstrated that the artefacts have a wrought‐iron heterogeneous microstructure and were manufactured by hot‐working prior to surface hardening by pack carburization.     

Maʻagan Mikhael B,Israel: a preliminary report of a Late Byzantine–Early Islamic period shipwreck

The Ma?agan Mikhael B shipwreck was found in 1.5m of water, beneath 1.5m of sand, 70m off the Mediterranean coast of Israel. The hull remains are in a good state of preservation, comprising the endposts, aprons, framing timbers, hull planks, stringers, and bulkheads. The finds comprise rigging elements, wooden artefacts, organic finds, animal bones, glassware, coins, bricks, stones, ceramic sherds, and complete amphoras. The shipwreck was dated to the 7th–8th centuries AD; which makes it an exceptional source of information regarding various aspects of ship construction, seamanship, and seafaring in the area in Late Antiquity.     

Mast-Step Coins among the Romans

The archaeological evidence of more than a dozen ancient shipwrecks indicates that the tradition of placing a coin inside the mast-step of a ship's hold probably originated with the Romans. The mast-step coin phenomenon, which persisted through the Middle Ages and continues in various forms today, has often been characterized according to the modern concept of 'luck'. The custom was, however, not one of an exclusively maritime nature; rather, it was ultimately derived from a long-standing religious tradition that can be traced back to the consecration of the earliest Greek temples.
© 2007 The Author     

Fabric fragments from Pine Island,Alabama: indicator of an evolving male costume item

European and indigenous artifacts from a grave near a mound on Pine Island in the Tennessee River near Guntersville, Alabama, donated to the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History in 1915, included a group of fabric fragments. The fragments, which incorporate interlaced bison-hair yarns, most likely represent portions of a sash, an accessory with a long history in Mississippian iconography but with few extant archaeological examples. This paper addresses fabric attributes, comparable archaeological and historical fabrics, and the social significance of this costume item.     

Naval Battlefield Archaeology of the Lost Kublai Khan Fleets

From AD 1274 Chinese emperor Kublai Khan dispatched fleets of ships in a series of attempts to expand the empire's hegemony and extend his rule into East Asia (Japan) and Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Champa and Java). Archaeological remains associated with the fleets and battles have been found at Takashima Island, Japan and on the B?ch Ð?ng River, Vietnam. This paper develops a thematic approach to these sites within a framework of naval battlefield archaeology. It compares the similarities and differences in environmental conditions and archaeological contexts of the two sites in Japan and Vietnam. It also outlines recent archaeological research conducted between 2008 and 2010 on the physical remains at the B?ch Ð?ng River battlefield site.     

A 15th‐Century Wreck of an Ordnance‐Carrying Ship from Atlit North Bay,Israel

In 1977, a shipwreck assemblage was discovered off Atlit, Israel. Finds included three iron anchors, a large bombard, four swivel guns, stone and lead shot, and bronze helmets. The bronze bombard (2210 kg, 3.247 m long) contained a wooden wad and remnants of what may have been gunpowder. The swivel guns (each 185 kg) were bronze, with swivels and the tillers of iron. Twenty (or 21) bronze helmets were recovered. The findings provide rare evidence for the mounting of heavy ordnance on the bow of a galley or ship in the 15th century.     

“长江口二号”沉船出水青花瓷中的污染物研究

位于长江入海口的“长江口二号”清代沉船是中国目前发现的保存最为完整的古代木制沉船之一，已于2022年11月完成整体打捞。在进行水下考古调查时，沉船出水的部分青花瓷出现的病害现象引起了考古工作者的关注，特别是裂纹中黑色污染物及表面铁锈状污染物对文物的外观产生了很大影响。本工作选取了三件具有典型被污染特征的青花瓷标本作为代表，使用能量色散X射线荧光分析(EDXRF)、光学显微镜(OM)、X射线衍射分析(XRD)、拉曼光谱分析(Raman)和扫描电子显微镜-能谱分析(SEM-EDS)等方法，对污染物进行了研究，探讨了其形成原因以及环境的影响作用，并对其潜在危害进行了分析。研究表明，污染物主要以方解石、菱铁矿等碳酸盐以及铁的氧化物、氢氧化物和硫化物为主。长期处于河口淤泥中的还原性环境是导致菱铁矿和亚稳的铁硫化物形成的原因，船体中铁质构件腐蚀对局部环境的污染是重要的影响因素，这也反映出被污染的青花瓷所处位置和环境的特殊性。出水的部分青花瓷釉中裂纹的形态表明其形成是由物理撞击造成，而釉中硅灰石晶体的选择性腐蚀会导致腐蚀坑的形成，裂纹和腐蚀坑均为外部污染物进入釉层内部提供了通道，导致瓷器劣化。出水后...