Archaeologies-Journal of the World Archaeological Congress最新文献

Bioarchaeological research in Australia has lagged behind that in other regions due to understandable concerns arising from the disregard of Indigenous Australians rights over their ancestors’ remains. To improve this situation, bioarchaeologists working in Australia need to employ more community-oriented approaches to research. This paper reports a project in which we employed such an approach. The project focused on burials in the Flinders Group, Queensland. Traditional Owners played a key role in the excavations and helped devise analyses that would deliver both scientific contributions and socially relevant outcomes. The fieldwork and laboratory analyses yielded a number of interesting results. Most significantly, they revealed that the pattern of mortuary practices recorded by ethnographers in the region in the early 20th century—complex burial of powerful people and simple interment of less important individuals—has a time depth of several hundred years or more. More generally, the project shows that there can be fruitful collaboration between archaeologists and Indigenous communities in relation to the excavation and scientific analysis of Aboriginal ancestral remains.

This paper presents the results of recent archaeological work conducted at the ruined site of Kisimani Mafia, Mafia archipelago, Tanzania. The site is one of the two stone town sites on the archipelago, the other being Kua. Despite being fairly well reported in scholarly accounts, few archaeological investigations have been carried out, with Neville Chittick’s excavation at the site in the late 1950s being the only one. As the then prevailing scholarly interpretation of all ruined sites on the East African coast, the founding of Kisimani Mafia and Kua was attributed to the Persians and Arabs, respectively. It was suggested that Kisimani Mafia dated to the early second millennium CE, and was then regarded as the earliest settlement on the archipelago. This endeavour sought to review the cultural history of the stone town settlement in relation to the remote settlement history of the archipelago and the coast generally, currently known to date to the early first millennium CE, or even before that. This study involved an archaeological survey and excavations carried out on an open-air site in 2018. An array of cultural materials was recovered, including pottery, beads, glass, coins, slag and metal objects, as well as bone and shell remains. This paper, however, is based on the results of pottery and chronometric analyses, the results of which firmly established that the stone town site was occupied from a much earlier period than was thought. The cultural history spans the Triangular Incised Ware/Tana Tradition period through the Plain Ware period, to the end of the Swahili Ware period. The first two periods, which evolved from the Early Iron Working culture of the archipelago, were when the Swahili stone town settlement was founded.

Beer is not only a favourite drink for many archaeologists, but is increasingly the subject of their research. Brewing and beer consumption have played a significant role in prehistoric human cultures around the world. Beer was a tasty, nutritious food, a substance affecting the mind, medicine, a religious symbol, as well as a social medium and an accelerator. Alcohol relieved the pain and prevented the spread of infection. Beer was a safe and healthy drink compared to contaminated water. At the time when our ancestors began to domesticate agricultural crops, they commonly produced not only bread but also beer. It is probable that the first ceramic vessels in the Near East were created precisely out of the need to more effectively control the technological process of beer production. Similarly, in the Central European Copper Age, beer production and its growing social significance influenced the emergence of the set Ceramic complex that lasted continuously for more than three millennia. Beer has entered almost all aspects of social life, from everyday consumption and social interactions to initiation ceremonies and major religious celebrations. The study of beer and other fermented beverages sheds light on many aspects of the biocultural development of humans on this planet.

In this paper, we analyse the results of a collaborative indigenous archaeology project especifically through a multivocal construction with two archaeological studies developed by Laklãnõ Xokleng researchers, who focused on the study of lithic and ceramic artefacts associated with their people. Our intention here is to consider the dissensions between the status of these objects based on their native perceptions and scientific classifications. If the analysis of indigenous production of the “elders”/ancestors can be understood based on the processes of subjectification commonly attributed to the objects of Amerindian ontology (as also appears to be the case among the Laklãnõ Xokleng), how can we understand the contemporary production of this materiality? We also reflect on the production of objects linked to the idea of “tradition” as an updating of a cultural continuum. That is, a creation of continuity that can (and should) open itself to incorporate the new, the other and thus transform, but simultaneously maintain a connection with the past. The crafts, the festivals for Indian Day and for the commemoration of the 100 years of resistance, the clothes used in presentations, the objects exhibited in their cultural spaces reinforce an intertextuality of what it is to be Laklãnõ Xokleng today. In this sense, we must understand the production of objects/crafts as a form of resistance, of engagement with a broader movement of this population to strengthen their cultural identity and a political strategy to guarantee their future.

The historical context of archaeology in the Philippines was shaped by colonial influences, and it can be seen through various foreign archaeologists who initially worked and contributed to the archipelago. The study uses the framework of Edward Said’s Orientalism to carefully extract the colonial features of Philippine archaeology through an overview of the discipline’s history from the late nineteenth century up to the present. The study finds that the practice of Philippine archaeology became a hybrid of its western origin and nationalistic view—showcasing a unique blend of indigenous knowledge, scientific advancements, and antiquarian perspective. The discipline also moved away from its western roots as it leans more on actual fieldwork and public archaeological efforts rather than pursue theoretical discourses. The study reveals the importance of nationalism in archaeological practice in postcolonial states in Southeast Asia such as the Philippines as it was used to promote common heritage and unity to its multicultural landscape. Lastly, the paper also presents current developments in the discipline and its influence on future archaeological research.

Today, the state reconstruction policies for historical sites in China represent strategic long-term plans that meet the heritage conservation demands of the public. Once Buddhism consolidated in China, the extant architectural designs of Buddhist temples, statues and wall paintings became an important source of historical data in the Chinese Buddhism research. This study focuses on one of these extant architectural pieces—the Xi Qingling Temple in the city of Guilin. Given the spiritual and historical value of the Xi Qingling Temple, restoring it will go deep with not only the Chinese society but also the large Buddhist community. In the plan for temple reconstruction, the priority is laid on blending in the rebuilt construction seamlessly with its unique surroundings. In this regard, the study aims to reveal the social and cultural aspects that influenced how the Xi Qingling Temple was designed, which were then incorporated into a macro-plan of the symbolic and cultural reconstruction of an historical object. The economic impacts of this reconstruction project were examined.

Being one of the best iron producers in the prehistoric world, Sungai Mas of Kedah Tua was an entrepot for various world civilisations including China, India and Arab through iron industry. With Muda River as the backbone of Kedah Tua’s trading, the river connects numerous iron smelting sites to the entrepot for supply. This study aims to locate a potential iron smelting site using 3D resistivity method at Kuala Ketil; a site situated along Muda River. Considering the location, geometry, size and resistivity values, the archaeological anomaly suggests a promising outcome.