【Archaeology】An Annotated WWII Underwater Archaeology Bibliography
With four decades of WWII underwater archaeology publications, the time is nigh to create a comprehensive bibliography and conduct an analysis of tren... [more]
【Archaeology】Dirt in the Wounds: Confronting Hard Histories through Public Community Archaeology in Boston
The majority of Boston's residents are minorities. These minority residents confront the ongoing effects of racism, including the hard histories of e... [more]
New article
Building a copy of the Gokstad Faering
This is the story of the building of a replica Viking craft. Being only 22 ft (6.7 m) long and having 4 ft 6 in (1.37 m) beam, the Gokstad faering does not conform to our usual image of a Viking boat. However, the smaller craft shows all the construction
Seeing things - Perception, experience and the constraints of excavation
Recent attempts to problematize archaeological fieldwork concerned with excavation at the expense of surface survey, and with questions of procedure more than interpretations of the past. In fact these two kinds of fieldwork offer quite different possibil
Pre-Columbian Andean animal domesticates at the edge of empire
Native South American animal domesticates appear in the northern Andes well before the area was occupied by the Incan and, later, Spanish empires. They include camelids and cuy (guinea pigs), both of which are allochthonous to the northern Andes, and musc
An assessment of quality in underwater archaeological surveys using tape measurements
The quality of an underwater archaeological survey using 3D trilateration with fibreglass tape measures was established on an underwater test site. A precision of 25 mm was calculated for tape measurements giving a position accuracy of 43 mm. Of the 304 m
New archaeological insights into food and status: A case study from pre-contact Hawaii
Social differentiation and hierarchy were more highly developed in protohistoric Hawaii than in any other Polynesian culture. In this paper we draw upon both ethnohistoric and archaeological evidence in order to examine the correlations between social sta
New data about the use of coinage in Late Antique Tridentum (Trento, Italy)
In 2003, rescue excavations at Piazzeta dell'Anfiteatro, Trento, identified an extramuralfunerary area dated to the 5th c. CE. The necropolis yielded 45 coins (3rd-5th c.), most of whichwere involuntary losses. Owing to the sound stratigraphy of the site
Bond of allegiance? The three lines on Dilmun seals
Stamp seals of the Dilmun type have kept their characteristic shape and boss decoration of three lines and four dotted circles for several 100 years. Although the carving of the shape of the seal and the design on the obverse normally reveal a confident e
Sherds and the City: Pottery Production, Society, and the Changing Urban Fabric of Fustat, Egypt
This paper coordinates archaeological information on the changing urban landscape of Egypt's first Islamic-era capital, Fustat, with topographical, social, and economic insights from the Geniza archive and other sources. A focus on the organization of th
Integrating and Dividing in a Late Bronze Age Society: Internal Organization of Settlements of the T
Recent research in the later Bronze Age of the southern Carpathian Basin has revealed an extensive network of large, often-enclosed settlements. Within this network, a particularly dense group of sites has recently been characterized: the Tisza Site Group
Wool they, won't they: Zooarchaeological perspectives on the political and subsistence economie
An important facet in the study of complex societies involves documenting how the extraction of resources to support political structures (the political economy) impacted the subsistence economy of everyday life. Caprine production was a central feature o
Evaluation of underwater surveying techniques
The paper discusses the application of a number of manual trilateration surveying systems, an acoustic surveying system and a photogrammetric system applied to a rigid test frame. Results and relative merits are compared and discussed. (c) 2003 The Nautic
Commemorative tales: archaeological responses to modern myth, politics, and war
Academic archaeology of the twentieth century has strangely ignored warfare and violence as relevant aspects of past human activity despite sufficient evidence of war-related traumata, weaponry, warrior burials, and war-celebrative iconographies. Instead
Archaeology, history, and geology of the A.D. 749 earthquake, Dead Sea transform
Historical records of earthquakes can contribute significantly to understanding active faulting and seismic hazards. However, pre-twentieth century historians were unaware of the association of earthquakes and fault ruptures. Consequently, historical text
Bayesian tools for tephrochronology
It is suggested that Bayesian statistical methods for radiocarbon data interpretation, already widely used in archaeology, also have potential to improve the dating of tephra layers and hence enhance their use for tephrochronology. By re-analysing data fr
An ancient seascape: the social context of seafaring in the early Bronze Age
The social context of prehistoric seafaring remains poorly understood and, conversely, the significance of seafaring in exchange networks and the perception of seascape in the early Bronze Age are under-explored. This paper approaches seascapes as the syn