【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
The discovery of ancient history in the deep sea using advanced deep submergence technology
The Skerki Bank Project was the first interdisciplinary effort to determine the importance of the deep sea to the field of archaeology. Over a nine year period from 1988 to 1997, its various field programs resulted in the discovery of the largest concentr
Resource depression on the Northwest Coast of North America
The mammal and fish faunal record from eight sites on the Columbia River (Oregon, USA) dating to the last 2000 years is examined to study subsistence change before and after European contact. Results show an increased use of low-ranked resources before co
Skeletal sex and gender in Merovingian mortuary archaeology
Since the late 19th century, archaeologists have used a binary model of male- and female-associated artefacts to sex skeletons in Merovingian cemeteries. Because the extent of the bias in artefactual sexing is unknown, testing the accuracy of current tech
Diversity, lifestyles and rites: New biological and archaeological evidence from British Earlier Neo
A potentially very important and comparatively neglected source of information in debates about the nature of the early Neolithic period in northwest Europe is human skeletal material. A new project is concerned with the issues of population diversity, li
Death and society: A Marxist approach
Mortuary practices have been studied by archaeologists from different and sometimes conflicting points of view. This article is a critical review of the dominant approaches to the study of mortuary practices in archaeology. A different approach, based on
The man, the woman and the hyoid bone:: From archaeology to the burial practices of the Xiongnu peop
A man and a woman were found in a double burial dating from the 1st century BC and located in a Xiongnu burial site in northern Mongolia. An offering box at the head of the man's coffin contained both remains of domestic animals and a human hyoid bone. T
Intepretation not record: The practice of archaeology
'The separation of theory and practice is not one that will easily be overcome by academic and philosophical critique, however necessary and important these are.' (Shanks and Tilley 1992, xxii) Here a team of archaeologists address this difficult theme,
Decay of delicate organic remains in shallow urban deposits: Are we at a watershed?
What conditions preserve archaeology, and what conditions accelerate decay? Here experts from York, using the wealth of experience and data gathered from that city, discuss the issues.
The millennium bug: Health and medicine around the year 1000
This introductory paper has two main themes: first, what can be said about the diseases characteristic of the period in question; second, what generalizations are possible about the medicine that could be deployed against them. After a preliminary discuss
On the way to knowledge: Making a discourse at quality
This paper shows how 'archaeology of knowledge' (Foucault) works at a sire, called quality By tracing the formation of knowledge on quality, a discursive space is opened. A spider web and snowballs help to illustrate where and how connections and concep
Laser technology for graffiti removal
When two nationally important monuments were defaced, lasers were used to remove the offending graffiti. The West Kennet Avenue at Avebury, Wiltshire was attacked in June 1996 and the Heel stone at Stonehenge, Wiltshire was attacked on July 1998. As the p
Handaxes as a measure of the mental capabilities of early hominids
Handaxes are often used to discuss the evolution of mental capabilities in early hominids. There are several reasons handaxes are used for this purpose, but principal among these is the notion that handaxe shape is an arbitrary imposition of form, on vari
A comparison of methods for establishing fatty acid concentration gradients across potsherds: A case
Canaanite amphorae fragments in fabrics believed to be associated with the bulk transport of vegetable oils from the fourteenth century BC site of Amarna, Egypt, have been examined. A comparison is made between solvent extraction, saponification and the u
On the value of soft bones in faunal analysis
It is argued here that faunal analysts should count soft skeletal parts (such as the articular ends of limb bones) as well as hard parts (such as limb bone shaft fragments). If soft parts are not counted, it is impossible to assess and correct for density
Early Holocene fishing strategies on the California coast: Evidence from CA-SBA-2057
Limited excavations at CA-SBA-2057, and 8300-year-old shell midden located on the Santa Barbara coast, yielded over 3000 fish bones. Fish remains from this buried, single component site indicate that the occupants fished primarily in the sandy, calm water