Archaeologies-Journal of the World Archaeological Congress最新文献

Few archaeological studies of Pre-Columbian Maya peoples mention enslaved individuals. While ethnohistoric texts attest to the likelihood of Indigenous Maya enslavement practices before the arrival of Spanish conquistadores and friars, archaeologists are reluctant to consider such practices and peoples into interpretative frameworks because of their tremendous ambiguity in the archaeological record. This paper embraces and probes the ambiguity of the archaeological record to interrogate the possibility of hidden histories of captive and enslaved Maya individuals in general and captive and enslaved Maya women in particular during the Classic and Postclassic periods. It argues that such women cannot be found in particular types of artifacts or hieroglyphic texts but at the intersection of names and landscapes.

While ethnoarchaeological studies on megalith-building traditions in a few communities in India’s northeastern region have enriched our knowledge, a knowledge gap remains regarding how traditional societies mobilized the workforce for transporting and erecting stone monuments. This paper aims to fill this research gap with an ethnographically documented case of building a monolith in 2020 in Willong Khullen, a village inhabited by the Maram Nagas (an indigenous Tibeto-Burman ethnic community) in the Indian state of Manipur. After participating in the undertaking, I argue that traditional networks of support among sub-clans and clans in the village, as well as among neighboring and distant villages, may have ensured the free mobilization of workforce. The survey also revealed that work feasts and a grand feast, where the host expends maximum resources, are crucial for accessing social support networks, including the mobilization of labor participants. These feasts serve as a means of reciprocating the labor participants for their voluntary labor and time. The survey results support the claim of the high cost of such undertakings and supplement that feasts may have served similar functions in the past among other Naga communities in the region.

Earthen architecture, an enduring legacy of human ingenuity, has historically served as a source of durable and sustainable shelter across civilizations. Despite this significance, several of the world’s earthen architectural sites are now facing abandonment and obsolescence, as is the case of Ksar Khanguet Sidi Nadji in the Algerian Sahara. To address this critical situation, we propose a sustainable, eco-friendly, and cost-effective solution for the restoration of the urban fabric of the Ksar that takes into account the needs of its residents and its heritage value. Our approach utilizes the anastylosis method which implies that we reuse original on-site components as building materials whenever possible. We introduce new materials only when necessary, after subjecting them to rigorous testing and control. Additionally, we take into account the complex challenges of human, natural, and technical factors involved in the restoration process, offering a practical solution to restore and preserve the earthen heritage of the Ksar while benefiting its residents.

Late Neolithic long barrows are commonly found throughout Central and Northwestern Europe, within the Funnel Beaker Culture territory. The sites of this Culture are known from Bohemia covering a period between 3900 and 3400 BC. However, long barrows have not been detected in Bohemia for a long time. The main reason is that they are located in areas where they were affected by modern ploughing. A significant contribution to their recognition was the remote sensing of modern fields, especially aerial archaeology. Current research in Bohemia provided new evidence of dozens of long barrows of several types, significantly expanding our knowledge of this phenomenon in the southeastern margins of its distribution. A new type of long barrow has been identified in Bohemia using remote sensing and current excavation data. The characteristic parameters of the long barrows in Bohemia are an east-west orientation with the ceremonial place in the eastern front and the delineation of the perimeter by a palisade trough or a ditch. The mounds can be divided into at least two structural and chronological forms. The first is the narrow and sometimes extremely long mound with perimeter defined by a palisade trough dating to the 3900–3800 BC. The second type of barrow is enclosed by a trapezoidal ditch. Based on radiocarbon dating, these structures were constructed during the 3700–3600 BC. This type of monument is currently known exclusively from Bohemia.

Beginning in the Levant at the end of the Pleistocene era 11,700 years ago and emerging subsequently in other regions, the advent of farming and food production sustained a massive expansion of human populations, facilitated a host of socioeconomic and technological developments, and transformed much of the world’s land surface. The capacity of farming to support a rapidly growing population may appear to explain why farming first began. However, fundamental questions remain, including whether farming was ever a preferred subsistence option for mobile foragers—and for early farmers. In addition to the failure of farming to appear anywhere in the world prior to the early Holocene, the security and flexibility of hunting and gathering contrasts with the disadvantages associated with relying on farming for food. In querying the prevailing food paradigm, it is argued that fibre production for woven cloth in response to warmer, moister climate regimes in the early Holocene tipped the balance in favour of farming. Contingent on complex clothing acquiring social functions of dress and modesty during the late Pleistocene, and considered in conjunction with the early farming dispersal hypothesis, the textile hypothesis circumvents unfounded presumptions and offers a parsimonious explanatory paradigm for the origins of farming.

Accessibility to archaeological sites has become a growing concern among heritage managers, being one of the crucial aspects of cultural tourism in the contemporary world. I compiled a set of criteria creating a Heritage Site Accessibility Tool (HSAT), to assess accessibility for archaeological sites illustrating the possibilities of inclusion, with special regard towards people with disabilities. To demonstrate the validity of HSAT, several sites from the Mediterranean are examined and compared. Eight case studies were selected based on their cultural relevance and representation of different contexts on the islands of Sicily, Minorca, Ibiza, Malta, and Gozo. Results show the main problems found in the multiple dimensions of accessibility, as well as the strengths, and most importantly the possibilities for improvement.