The prehistory of Cyprus: Problems and prospects

The archaeological record of prehistoric Cyprus is rich, diverse, well-published, and frequently enigmatic. Regarded by many as a bridge between western Asia and the Aegean, Cyprus and its past are frequently seen from scholarly perspectives prevalent in one of those two cultural areas. Its material culture, however, differs radically from that of either area. Apart from the early colonization episodes on the island (perhaps three during the pre-Neolithic and Neolithic), evidence of foreign contact remains limited until the Bronze Age (post-2500 B. C.). This study seeks to present the prehistory of Cyprus from an indigenous perspective, and to examine a series of archaeological problems that foreground Cyprus within its eastern Mediterranean context. The study begins with an overview of time, place, and the nature of fieldwork on the island, continues with a presentation and discussion of several significant issues in Cypriot prehistory (e.g., insularity, colonization, subsistence, regionalism, interaction, social complexity, economic diversity), and concludes with a brief discussion of prospects for the archaeology of Cyprus up to and beyond 2000.     

On the Origins of Pottery

Renewed research interest in the origins of pottery has illuminated an array of possible precipitating causes and environmental contexts in which pottery began to be made and used. This article is an attempt at synthesizing some of these data in hopes of stimulating further research into this intriguing topic. Following a review of theories on the origins of pottery, discussion proceeds to a survey of geographic and cultural contexts of low-fired or unfired pottery, highlighting the role(s) of pottery among contemporary hunter-gatherers and summarizing data pertaining to varied uses of pottery containers. It is argued that objects of unfired and low-fired clay were created as part of early prestige technologies of material representations beginning in the Upper Paleolithic and are part of an early software horizon. Clay began to be more widely manipulated by nonsedentary, complex hunter-gatherers in the very Late Pleistocene and early Holocene in areas of resource abundance, especially in tropical/subtropical coastal/riverine zones, as part of more general processes of resource and social intensification (such as competitive feasting or communal ritual). Knowledge of making and using pottery containers spread widely as prestige technology and as practical technology, the kind and timing of its adoption or reinvention varying from location to location depending on specific needs and circumstances.     

Stylistic Change as a Self-Organized Critical Phenomenon: An Archaeological Study in Complexity

Archaeologists can learn from models of evolution as a self-organized critical phenomenon. Self-organized critical systems are large, interactive systems that organize into a critical state where minor events can trigger chain reactions. Such systems demonstrate power-law distributions in the size of changes, or avalanches, that occur. The theory of self-organized criticality is important in that it implies that the evolution of complex systems may be driven more by interactions between agents than by external events or natural selection. Stylistic changes may be examples of avalanches of interconnected events. Evidence for self-organized criticality is shown for stylistic evolution in historical pottery styles from New York State and is used to evaluate the nature of a prehistoric pottery typology from the Southwest.     

X‐ray Diffraction and SEM Investigation of Wall Paintings Found in the Roman Temple Complex at Horvat Omrit,Israel

In the present study, the fragments of wall painting found in the Roman Temple Complex at Horvat Omrit were analysed for the first time using the non‐destructive techniques of X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) equipped with energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (EDS). The application of these methods enabled unambiguous identifications of the pigments and plaster components of the samples. Quantitative information on mineral composition, crystallite size and elemental composition of each studied paint layer and plaster was collected. Based on the results of the XRD and EDS analyses, the green pigment was identified as celadonite. It was revealed that the Egyptian blue pigment does not contain impurities of tin and lead, and this excludes the use of bronze scrap in its synthesis. Comparison of the mineral composition of the paint layers indicates that a wider palette of colours was obtained by mixing the available mineral pigments. The study of cross‐sections of painted specimens revealed the usage of slaked lime for plastering. The obtained results give a new insight into the wall painting technique employed by ancient artists at Horvat Omrit, in northern Israel.     

‘The white woman's burden’ – the racialized,gendered politics of volunteer tourism

Talking about race in volunteer tourism is like breaking a taboo. By critically exploring the racialized and gendered politics of volunteer tourism from the perspective of the ‘white savior complex,’ we seek to open new avenues of discussion to break this silence. We employ a postcolonial feminist theoretical framework to analyze volunteer tourism. The meanings, practices, and policies of volunteer tourism development are informed by the racialized, gendered logics of colonial thought. If older colonial logics were predominantly masculinist, it considers the largely (white) women participants in contemporary volunteer tourism as a window onto current transformations in historic racialized and gendered logics. Colonial logics and discourses have shifted over time, from the erstwhile ‘civilizing mission’ to the subsequent mandate for development to contemporary depoliticized social causes such as ‘saving the environment.’ Volunteer tourism is an exemplar of this third discourse, as global North volunteer tourists, through their depoliticized logic of ‘saving’ and ‘helping’ the less fortunate others in the global South, inherits such distinctions and reproduces them further. Given the predominance of young white women in contemporary volunteer tourism, beyond these continuities, we also point to compelling shifts in this logic from the masculinism of historic colonial processes. We also highlight the religious dimension, how Christian ideologies which were so central to formal colonial processes continue to play an important role in volunteer tourism today. Future studies on volunteer tourism need to examine its emergence, growth, and popularity (with young white women in particular) from the perspective of historic and ongoing power relations having to do with race and racialized gender, which will enable a critical conversation on volunteer tourism that adds significantly to our knowledge of contemporary neo-colonial processes and their gendered dynamics.     

From Labrets to Cranial Modification: Credibility Enhancing Displays and the Changing Expression of Coast Salish Resource Commitments

Recent developments in evolutionary psychology expanding on signaling theory provide key insights to the connections between expressing social commitments and resource rights. Credibility enhancing displays (CREDs) are a means to convince individuals of commitment to belief systems and can link costly acts or extravagant displays to social success. In the Salish Sea, the transition from labrets to cranial modification from 3200 to 1000 BP has often been framed in terms reflecting a shift from achieved to ascribed social status. Other researchers have argued that labrets may reflect village scale identity not tied to political power. We suggest that an explicitly evolutionary approach provides novel insights into the changing material expressions of Coast Salish social commitments, specifically reciprocal resource access. The shift to cranial modification reflects increased CRED investment and cost, but not necessarily a transition towards ascribed status. Instead this shift may be changing expressions of the same forms of social commitments.     

New World States and Empires: Economic and Social Organization

We take a critical perspective in discussing recent publications on the archaeological study of the ancient state-level societies of Latin America. For some topics, such as intensive agriculture and exchange, data are far ahead of theory, whereas for others (e.g., gender and ethnicity), theory has outstripped data. Craft production, a topic that has achieved a good balance of data and theory, is one of the success stories of recent Latin American archaeology. After a discussion of sources of data, we review these and other topics (e.g., consumption patterns, household studies, social organization) in terms of both data and theory. In a second review article, we cover the topics of politics, religion, urbanism, and the processes of change.     

New World States and Empires: Politics, Religion, and Urbanism

The past decade has seen a veritable explosion in archaeological research on complex societies in Latin America. In 1993, Smith published an overview of research to that date; this article is one of two bringing that summary up to the present. Our first article, New World states and empires: Economic and social organization (Smith and Schreiber, 2005), dealt with issues regarding economic and social organization. The present article tackles political organization and dynamics, religion, urbanism, and settlement patterns. We also review recent research in the context of various theoretical perspectives, some traditional, some more contemporary, including approaches to history and process, cultural evolution, agency-based models, linguistic prehistory, migration theory, and the relationship between environmental change and cultural events. Our discussion blends empirical findings, methodological advances, and theoretical perspectives.     

旅游视角下的上海F1大奖赛

F1作为世界三大赛事之一,将于2004年9月正式在中国举办上海大奖赛。F1大奖赛凭借其巨大的影响力,将为上海带来众多的社会经济效应。本文阐述了F1旅游活动的游客动机以及细分市场,分析了相关行业在F1旅游中的作用;同时,从城市旅游形象、旅游环境、基础设施、旅游经济、旅游产品几个方面论证了F1大奖赛是上海旅游发展的新极点。     

商前期青铜斝铸造工艺分析与模拟实验研究

斝是一种酒器,夏代晚期已有出现,盛行于商到西周早期。关于斝的铸造工艺,前人也曾做过一些相关研究。我们通过对出土斝范的考古调研、对铜斝的实物考察和对其铸造工艺的模拟实验研究．认为黄冈博物馆所藏商前期铜斝是采用典型的三分法制作的。斝腹部凸起的棱角分明的兽面纹和柱帽上的涡纹,是在范面上制作出来的;斝腹芯和鏊芯是由芯盒制作而成;铸型不糊草拌泥也可单独阴干、焙烧并用于浇铸。