Showing papers in "Antiquity in 1996"
TL;DR: In this paper, the Earth has adjusted in several ways to the changing surface-loads it suffers under ice and under weight of water, and their varied consequences are shown for Greece and especially for the Greek coastal plains and the Greek islands.
Abstract: ‘As the glaciation ended, the ice melted and the sea-level rose.’ Yes — but it has not been as simple as that, as the Earth has adjusted in several ways to the changing surface-loads it suffers under ice and under weight of water. The important issues are set out in a simple mathematical treatment, and their varied consequences are shown for Greece and especially for the Greek coastal plains and the Greek islands, where the impact on human settlement has been large.
220 citations
TL;DR: The ANTIQUITY prize-winning article in the last volume as discussed by the authors addressed writing, its varying nature and role in early states, and the source of the power of rulers like "Sun-faced Snake Jaguar".
Abstract: The ANTIQUITY prize-winning article in the last volume addressed writing, its varying nature and role in early states. Now that the decipherment of Maya writing is well advanced, we can know more of the records of kingship. From them we may discern the concepts and beliefs that defined the authority of these holy lords, as we seek the source of the power of rulers like ‘Sun-faced Snake Jaguar’.
183 citations
TL;DR: The later-prehistoric linear ditches that divide the chalk landscape of Wessex, south England, are markers in an area. as mentioned in this paper The ditches seem to be placed with a view to their visibility in the landscape.
Abstract: The later-prehistoric linear ditches that divide the chalk landscape of Wessex, south England, are markers in an area. It is a topographic space. The ditches seem to be placed with a view to their visibility in the landscape. It is a human topographic space. A GIS study of the ditches' place, in terms of what a human sees in moving acros undulating ground, goes beyond that environmental determinism which underlies many GIS studies.
161 citations
TL;DR: The nature and date of the human colonization of Australia remains a key issue in prehistory at the world scale, for a sufficiently early presence there indicates either Homo sapiens sapiens arriving precociously in a place remote from a supposed African origin, or a greater competence in sea-crossing than has been expected of archaic humans.
Abstract: The nature and date of the human colonization of Australia remains a key issue in prehistory at the world scale, for a sufficiently early presence there indicates either Homo sapiens sapiens arriving precociously in a place remote from a supposed African origin, or a greater competence in sea-crossing than has been expected of archaic humans. Stratigraphic integrity, the new science of luminescent dating and the recognition of worked stone and of rock-engraving are immediate issues in this report from far northwestern Australia.
125 citations
TL;DR: The earliest occupation of Europe (Roebroeks & van Kolfschoten, 1995) has been investigated in this paper. But it is not known when Europe was colonized.
Abstract: Long-running discussions about when Europe was first colonized have recently been fuelled by new discoveries from the Iberian peninsula, which reports hominid occupation by 800,000, or even by 1.8 million years ago. The proceedings of the important Tautavel workshop (1993), published as The earliest occupation of Europe (Roebroeks & van Kolfschoten (ed.) 1995), are now central. This new assessment takes forward ANTIQUITY'S notice by Roebroeks & van Kolfschoten of 1994 (68: 489–503).
123 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a fresh look at issues in the archaic Greek economy revolves once more around patterns in the ceramics, and fine painted pottery is the archaeological trade-mark of the Greek presence overseas.
Abstract: Fine painted pottery is the archaeological trade-mark of the Greek presence overseas. Since other materials of exchange in the Classical world — soft things like grain, oil and slaves — are less archaeologically visible, a fresh look at issues in the archaic Greek economy revolves once more around patterns in the ceramics.
121 citations
TL;DR: The modern state of Greece is, more than most nations, encouraged or required to share what might be its particular heritage with a wider world as mentioned in this paper, starting with ancient Imperial Rome and running up to the present.
Abstract: The Great Powers — starting with ancient Imperial Rome and running up to the present — have valued Classical Greek culture as embodying the founding spirit of their own, our own western world. So where does the modern state of Greece stand? It is, more than most nations, encouraged or required to share what might be its particular heritage with a wider world.
121 citations
TL;DR: Greenland, far north land of the Atlantic, has often been beyond the limit of European farming settlement as discussed by the authors, and one of its Norse settlements, colonized just before AD 1000, is located not even at the southern tip, but a way up the west coast, the ‘Western settlement’.
Abstract: Greenland, far north land of the Atlantic, has often been beyond the limit of European farming settlement. One of its Norse settlements, colonized just before AD 1000, is — astonishingly — not even at the southern tip, but a way up the west coast, the ‘Western Settlement’. Environmental studies show why its occupation came to an end within five centuries, leaving Greenland once more a place of Arctic-adapted hunters.
116 citations
TL;DR: The later Palaeolithic sites of Moravia, the region of the Czech Republic west of Prague and north of Vienna as discussed by the authors, continue to provide remarkable new materials, such as groundstone and ceramics, and now woven materials, interlaced basketry or textiles.
Abstract: The later Palaeolithic sites of Moravia, the region of the Czech Republic west of Prague and north of Vienna, continue to provide remarkable new materials. To the art mobilier for which Dolni Věstonice and Pavlov have been celebrated, there has recently been added the technologies of groundstone and ceramics — and now woven materials, interlaced basketry or textiles, again of a kind one expects only from a quite later era.
116 citations
TL;DR: The events to do with peopling the New World archaeologically represented by "Clovis" and "Folsom" have been beyond the range of radiocarbon calibration.
Abstract: The events to do with peopling the New World archaeologically represented by ‘Clovis’ and ‘Folsom’ have been — tantalizingly — beyond the range of radiocarbon calibration. Now calibration extends further, one can ask if the aburptness of Clovis, of Folsom, and of the transition between them are realities. A calibrated chronology for those sites where the stratigraphic security is best shows these in truth are rapid human affairs.
105 citations
TL;DR: A critical analysis of context and content in those carbon determinations leads to a different view as discussed by the authors, which may be disconcerting for every region which builds its late Pleistocene chronologies on radiocarbon.
Abstract: Allen (1994) and Allen & Holdaway (1995), noticing the pattern in early radiocarbon dates from Australia, have advanced the notion their limit records the human settlement of the continent. A critical analysis of context and content in those carbon determinations leads to a different view. The results may be disconcerting for every region which builds its late Pleistocene chronologies on radiocarbon!
TL;DR: New excavation at Blombos Cave, in the southern Cape of South Africa, and new radiocarbon dates for its sequence further illuminate the chronology of pastoralism in southern Africa and the relations between pottery-using and shepherding as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: New excavation at Blombos Cave, in the southern Cape of South Africa, and new radiocarbon dates for its sequence further illuminate the chronology of pastoralism in southern Africa, and the relations between pottery-using and shepherding.
TL;DR: It is a startling experience to look down a microscope at a real Palaeolithic artefact and see on its flint surface grubby brown-red stains that look the colour of old blood as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: It is a startling experience to look down a microscope at a stone tool — a real Palaeolithic artefact, not a modern thing or a replicated copy — and see on its flint surface grubby brown-red stains that look the colour of old blood. Is a consensus emerging from the archaeological scientists as to just what traces of, especially, biological materials do survive on ancient stone surfaces, where they can be reliably characterized and identified?
TL;DR: Later, the authors found Roman ceramics stratified into levels at Arikamedu, in south India, which allowed the same kind of matching link from the Mediterranean to a distant shore, this one in the Swahili world.
Abstract: Mortimer Wheeler famously tied together the worlds of ancient Rome and ancient India by finding Roman ceramics stratified into levels at Arikamedu, in south India. Late Roman pottery from far down the East African coast now permits the same kind of matching link from the Mediterranean to a distant shore, this one in the Swahili world.
TL;DR: The present system of English resource management relies on legal protected status given to a pre-designated group of monuments and when it is replaced by an adversarial debate between social values, hosted by the planning system, archaeology will need to arm itself with a definition of "archaeological value" as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The present system of English resource management relies on legal protected status given to a pre-designated group of monuments. When it is replaced by an adversarial debate between social values, hosted by the planning system, archaeology will need to arm itself with a definition of ‘archaeological value’. The new management system would favour research rather than monumentality as the principal asset of the heritage.
TL;DR: A GIS study of the great field system at Kohala on the leeward side of Hawai'i Island explores the controlling variables that permitted, encouraged, restricted, and blocked the spreading of intensive agriculture into new areas of fields as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Intensified dryland agriculture was a component of the late prehistoric Hawaiian subsistence base. Which environmental factors permitted, encouraged, restricted, blocked the spreading of intensive agriculture into new areas of fields? A GIS study of the great field system at Kohala on the leeward side of Hawai'i Island explores the controlling variables.
TL;DR: The impact of human presence on the fauna of a Pacific island is often immediately archaeologically visible in the slaughter of its land birds seen in the bones as mentioned in this paper. But the impact on vegetation is less distinct archaeologically, and many of the Pacific cultigens have soft tissues which rarely preserve.
Abstract: The impact of the human presence on the fauna of a Pacific island is often immediately archaeologically visible in the slaughter of its land birds seen in the bones. The impact on vegetation is less distinct archaeologically, and many of the Pacific cultigens have soft tissues which rarely preserve. So a study of prehistoric agriculture on one of the high Micronesian islands largely involves pollen and charcoal.
TL;DR: The Holocene mud-flats of Formby Point, at the mouth of the Mersey estuary in northwest England, have long provided information about their palaeoenvironment as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The Holocene mud-flats of Formby Point, at the mouth of the Mersey estuary in northwest England, have long provided information about their palaeoenvironment. Now they yield a more direct evidence — in the form of preserved footprints — of the people and animals that frequented the foreshore.
TL;DR: A lake-sediment sequence from Marcacocha in the central Peruvian Andes provides a well-dated and continuous vegetation record from an area rich in Inca and pre-Inca remains over the last 4000 years as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: A lake-sediment sequence from Marcacocha in the central Peruvian Andes provides a well-dated and continuous vegetation record from an area rich in Inca and pre-Inca remains over the last 4000 years. Climatic changes in this record at AD 1–100 and AD 900–1050 seem to be broadly contemporaneous with major arid events from Lake Chichancanab, Mexico, affecting the Maya civilization and corroborated by the Quelccaya and Huascaran ice cores in Peru.
TL;DR: In this paper, the concepts of style and function are theoretically defined from a neo-Darwinian perspective and the expected spatial-temporal distributions of each kind of trait outlined.
Abstract: The concepts of style and function are theoretically defined from a neo-Darwinian perspective and the expected spatial-temporal distributions of each kind of trait outlined. Fish-hook assemblages from Aitutaki, Cook Islands, are examined using this framework and related to previously studied collections. Emerging stylistic patterns support notions of interaction between certain East Polynesian archipelagos around the 14th century AD.
TL;DR: One of the larger and more expensive programs of study in archaeological science explores the provenance of prehistoric bronzes from the Mediterranean as discussed by the authors, and the findings tell us about the real place of metal as it moved in the ancient world.
Abstract: One of the larger — and more expensive — present programmes of study in archaeological science explores the provenance of prehistoric bronzes from the Mediterranean. What are the bases of research? What will the findings tell us about the real place of metal as it moved in the ancient world?
TL;DR: Two pure and opposing models exist to give historical account of the structure in modern cultural patterns, with particular attention to the relations between histories as they are inferred from archaeological and from linguistic patterns.
Abstract: Two pure and opposing models exist to give historical account of the structure in modern cultural patterns. A phylogenetic account explores divergence from some shared commonality (the word ‘phylogenetic’ is from the Greek words for ‘tribal origins’). A reticulate account concentrates on a network of interactions (the word ‘reticulate’ comes via French from the Latin for ‘small net’). It follows that neither model may tell all the story. These continuing issues are explored with particular attention to the relations between histories as they are inferred from archaeological and from linguistic patterns.
TL;DR: For temperate Europe, the transition to the Neolithic is still defined by a shift from a hunter-gatherer to a farming economy and archaeologically recognized by its characteristic artefacts of pottery and polished-stone axes as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: For temperate Europe, the transition to the Neolithic is still both defined by a shift from a hunter-gatherer to a farming economy and archaeologically recognized by its characteristic artefacts of pottery and polished-stone axes. But what should be the criteria in the far north of Nordic Europe, where the definition of a Neolithic is a less straightforward issue?
TL;DR: Fontana Nuova di Ragusa, a small rock-shelter in southeast Sicily, was thoroughly excavated by Bernabo Brea in 1949 as discussed by the authors, and it has continuing importance as marking a southern geographical limit of Aurignacian settlement, and as proof of humans crossing the strait into island Sicily.
Abstract: Fontana Nuova di Ragusa, a small rock-shelter in southeast Sicily, was thoroughly excavated by Bernabo Brea in 1949. In the far south of Europe — Sicily is nearly on a latitude with Africa — it has continuing importance as marking a southern geographical limit of Aurignacian settlement, and as proof of humans crossing the strait into island Sicily.
TL;DR: The Hypogeum, celebrated underground ossuary of Neolithic Malta, is the most resonant place to chant a rhythmic "Oum" as discussed by the authors, and it has fine echoes.
Abstract: Enclosed prehistoric spaces can have fine echoes. The Hypogeum, celebrated underground ossuary of Neolithic Malta, is the most resonant place to chant a rhythmic ‘Oum’. Are the acoustic features of structures like the megalithic chambers of northern Europe integral to their design? An expert description of their acoustic properties is the point to start.
TL;DR: The rock art of the Pecos River region, on the Texas-Mexico border, is deservedly celebrated for its very large and inspiring human depictions, convincingly interpreted as images of shamanism.
Abstract: The rock-art of the Pecos River region, on the Texas-Mexico border, is deservedly celebrated for its very large and inspiring human depictions, convincingly interpreted as images of shamanism. Study of plant remains in associated middens gives a new aspect to understanding of the images.
TL;DR: Grotte Chauvet has its own original themes, revealing a striking and an unexpected Aurignacian art with dates from charcoal in which one can have confidence as mentioned in this paper, and the dates on charcoal from the classic European painted caves have given a sharper view of images and their making in the later Palaeolithic.
Abstract: Trustworthy dates on charcoal from the classic European painted caves have given a sharper view of images and their making in the later Palaeolithic. The new Grotte Chauvet has its own original themes, revealing a striking and an unexpected Aurignacian art with — again — dates from charcoal in which one can have confidence.
TL;DR: The brochs, great stone towers of Iron Age Scotland, are famously puzzling. New fieldwork at the broch of Dun Vulan, on South Uist in the Western Isles, prompts reappraisal of the geographical and social context of the brochs by developing untapped sources of social evidence as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The brochs, great stone towers of Iron Age Scotland, are famously puzzling. Who inhabited these strongholds (if habitations they were)? New fieldwork at the broch of Dun Vulan, on South Uist in the Western Isles, prompts reappraisal of the geographical and social context of the brochs, by developing untapped sources of social evidence.
TL;DR: The repertoire of site-types for later English prehistory has not changed for a generation as mentioned in this paper, and from East Chisenbury on Salisbury Plain, a new type is defined, a midden of refuse so large and strange it re-defines the concept of "rubbish" and its "disposal".
Abstract: The repertoire of site-types for later English prehistory has not changed for a generation. Now, from East Chisenbury on Salisbury Plain, a new type is defined, a midden of refuse so large and strange it re-defines the concept of ‘rubbish’ and its ‘disposal’.