Pub Date : 2022-11-16DOI: 10.1017/S0959774322000233
C. Defrasne
The issue addressed in this article is essentially whether the same cognitive processes are at work for mimetic prehistoric graphic productions and schematic ones. Holocene schematic rock art is one of the main graphic expressions of European prehistory, from the Iberian peninsula to Italy. Despite its wide distribution and the incomparable insight it may provide on the functioning of prehistoric human groups and the cultural geography of the western European Neolithic, this rock art's imprecise chronology and geometric and schematic nature has often led to its exclusion from research on these societies, particularly in France. This paper proposes a study of schematic rock art from the perspective of the pragmatic and cognitive semiotics of visual culture and suggests that the production and purpose of diagrams, which compose so-called schematic rock art and which are common to all human societies, are different to those of figurative images, as is their cognitive origin. This demonstration sheds a new light on schematic rock art and the social practices it involved and invites us to rethink its coexistence with the Levantine imagery from the Spanish Levant.
{"title":"The Cognitive Processus Behind Neolithic Schematic Rock Art. Archaeological Implications and Research Hypothesis","authors":"C. Defrasne","doi":"10.1017/S0959774322000233","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774322000233","url":null,"abstract":"The issue addressed in this article is essentially whether the same cognitive processes are at work for mimetic prehistoric graphic productions and schematic ones. Holocene schematic rock art is one of the main graphic expressions of European prehistory, from the Iberian peninsula to Italy. Despite its wide distribution and the incomparable insight it may provide on the functioning of prehistoric human groups and the cultural geography of the western European Neolithic, this rock art's imprecise chronology and geometric and schematic nature has often led to its exclusion from research on these societies, particularly in France. This paper proposes a study of schematic rock art from the perspective of the pragmatic and cognitive semiotics of visual culture and suggests that the production and purpose of diagrams, which compose so-called schematic rock art and which are common to all human societies, are different to those of figurative images, as is their cognitive origin. This demonstration sheds a new light on schematic rock art and the social practices it involved and invites us to rethink its coexistence with the Levantine imagery from the Spanish Levant.","PeriodicalId":47164,"journal":{"name":"CAMBRIDGE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL","volume":"33 1","pages":"157 - 179"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-11-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43150914","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-10DOI: 10.1017/S0959774322000294
Carina Bennerhag, Sara Hagström Yamamoto, Kristina Söderholm
The article critically examines interpretations of Old World ferrous metallurgical developments with reference to their consequences for Arctic Fennoscandian iron research. The traditional paradigm of technological innovations recurrently links the emergence of iron technology to increasing social complexity and a sedentary agricultural lifestyle, typically downplaying ‘peripheral’ areas such as Arctic Fennoscandia and its hunter-gatherer communities. Even in postcolonial research of recent years, the archaeometallurgical record of Arctic Fennoscandia is interpreted and organized within the traditional frameworks on the time, course, and cultural context of the introduction of iron technology in Europe, where Arctic Fennoscandia is not considered to have any noteworthy role. However, current archaeological research with new data in Arctic Fennoscandia disputes prevailing ideas in European iron research and shows substantial evidence that iron technology was an integrated part of hunter-gatherer subsistence already during the Early Iron Age (c. 200 bc). Archaeometallurgical analyses reveal advanced knowledge in all the operational sequences of iron technology, including bloomery steel production and the mastering of advanced smithing techniques. Therefore, we urge dispensing with traditional ideas and call for an increased interest in the underlying mechanisms for the transfer of iron.
{"title":"Towards a Broader Understanding of the Emergence of Iron Technology in Prehistoric Arctic Fennoscandia","authors":"Carina Bennerhag, Sara Hagström Yamamoto, Kristina Söderholm","doi":"10.1017/S0959774322000294","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774322000294","url":null,"abstract":"The article critically examines interpretations of Old World ferrous metallurgical developments with reference to their consequences for Arctic Fennoscandian iron research. The traditional paradigm of technological innovations recurrently links the emergence of iron technology to increasing social complexity and a sedentary agricultural lifestyle, typically downplaying ‘peripheral’ areas such as Arctic Fennoscandia and its hunter-gatherer communities. Even in postcolonial research of recent years, the archaeometallurgical record of Arctic Fennoscandia is interpreted and organized within the traditional frameworks on the time, course, and cultural context of the introduction of iron technology in Europe, where Arctic Fennoscandia is not considered to have any noteworthy role. However, current archaeological research with new data in Arctic Fennoscandia disputes prevailing ideas in European iron research and shows substantial evidence that iron technology was an integrated part of hunter-gatherer subsistence already during the Early Iron Age (c. 200 bc). Archaeometallurgical analyses reveal advanced knowledge in all the operational sequences of iron technology, including bloomery steel production and the mastering of advanced smithing techniques. Therefore, we urge dispensing with traditional ideas and call for an increased interest in the underlying mechanisms for the transfer of iron.","PeriodicalId":47164,"journal":{"name":"CAMBRIDGE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL","volume":"33 1","pages":"265 - 279"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45179117","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-28DOI: 10.1017/S0959774322000300
Aimée Little, A. Needham, A. Langley, Ben Elliott
Mesolithic resinous adhesives are well known for their role as hafting mastic within composite technologies, yet it is increasingly clear that their usage was more diverse than this. Birch-bark tar has been recovered from Mesolithic contexts as chewed lumps linked to medicinal treatment of toothache and oral diseases, and as a decorative element on ornaments and art objects; and an amorphous resinous substance possibly derived from pine or spruce resin has been found within a burial context. This diversity of applications suggests that resins and tars may have been understood in different ways which did not always privilege their mechanical functionality. To underscore the limited archaeological perspective of conifer resins and tars as hafting agents, we draw on data sourced from a wide range of ethnographically documented societies, demonstrating the array of economic and social functions these materials have for contemporary hunter-gatherer groups. Using archaeological case studies, we illustrate how a deeper understanding of the material and sensory properties of resins and tars, and the trees from which they are derived, opens new insights into the diverse roles resinous materials performed within Mesolithic worldviews.
{"title":"Material and Sensory Experiences of Mesolithic Resinous Substances","authors":"Aimée Little, A. Needham, A. Langley, Ben Elliott","doi":"10.1017/S0959774322000300","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774322000300","url":null,"abstract":"Mesolithic resinous adhesives are well known for their role as hafting mastic within composite technologies, yet it is increasingly clear that their usage was more diverse than this. Birch-bark tar has been recovered from Mesolithic contexts as chewed lumps linked to medicinal treatment of toothache and oral diseases, and as a decorative element on ornaments and art objects; and an amorphous resinous substance possibly derived from pine or spruce resin has been found within a burial context. This diversity of applications suggests that resins and tars may have been understood in different ways which did not always privilege their mechanical functionality. To underscore the limited archaeological perspective of conifer resins and tars as hafting agents, we draw on data sourced from a wide range of ethnographically documented societies, demonstrating the array of economic and social functions these materials have for contemporary hunter-gatherer groups. Using archaeological case studies, we illustrate how a deeper understanding of the material and sensory properties of resins and tars, and the trees from which they are derived, opens new insights into the diverse roles resinous materials performed within Mesolithic worldviews.","PeriodicalId":47164,"journal":{"name":"CAMBRIDGE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL","volume":"33 1","pages":"217 - 246"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43520477","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-20DOI: 10.1017/S0959774322000282
L. Grosman, A. Belfer-Cohen
Summing up the data deriving from the Natufian burials at Hayonim Cave which incorporates information pertaining to the last grave uncovered on site (Grave XVII), the paper endeavours to understand the role of burials within the evolving Natufian society at large. It seems that certain sites—Hayonim Cave being a case in point—served as special localities, used by a particular group as a burial ground all through the Natufian time-span (i.e. for more than 3000 years). Members of that group returned to the cave again and again in order to bury their dead, being aware of the location of the preceding graves, apparently retaining a long-term memory of their burial practices. At the same time, at least some burials provide evidence for inter-group ties, as evident through particular similarities between certain burials in two distinct Natufian sites, Hayonim Cave and Eynan (‘Ain Mallaha). Clearly, retention of mortuary practices played a significant role in consolidating and preserving social cohesion in the Natufian society.
{"title":"Insights into Natufian Social Identity: A Case Study from the Graveyard of Hayonim Cave","authors":"L. Grosman, A. Belfer-Cohen","doi":"10.1017/S0959774322000282","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774322000282","url":null,"abstract":"Summing up the data deriving from the Natufian burials at Hayonim Cave which incorporates information pertaining to the last grave uncovered on site (Grave XVII), the paper endeavours to understand the role of burials within the evolving Natufian society at large. It seems that certain sites—Hayonim Cave being a case in point—served as special localities, used by a particular group as a burial ground all through the Natufian time-span (i.e. for more than 3000 years). Members of that group returned to the cave again and again in order to bury their dead, being aware of the location of the preceding graves, apparently retaining a long-term memory of their burial practices. At the same time, at least some burials provide evidence for inter-group ties, as evident through particular similarities between certain burials in two distinct Natufian sites, Hayonim Cave and Eynan (‘Ain Mallaha). Clearly, retention of mortuary practices played a significant role in consolidating and preserving social cohesion in the Natufian society.","PeriodicalId":47164,"journal":{"name":"CAMBRIDGE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL","volume":"33 1","pages":"247 - 264"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43475915","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-18DOI: 10.1017/S0959774322000257
Flavia V. Ottalagano
The pre-Hispanic art of the Lowlands of Paraná comprises very realistic to extremely simplified ceramic figurines made by complex hunter-gatherer groups during the Late Holocene. In particular, the article seeks to discuss the differences found between parrot and raptor figures, which are the most frequent motifs. Alternative styles of representation were involved in the visual symbolism of the two groups of birds with well-differentiated morphological and behavioural attributes. Whereas parrot images were elaborated with greater naturalism in sites mostly located in the middle Paraná, birds of prey exhibit a higher degree of stylization and schematization, especially in the lower Paraná. It is proposed that the differences in the artistic modalities used to represent these groups of birds could be related to the positioning of these animals within different metaphorical domains and opposable conceptual categories. It is also suggested that this iconography could be specifically linked to a totemic ontology, which implies a particular attitude towards nature. This study attempts to contribute to broadening our knowledge about the symbolic relationships between humans and animals in pre-Columbian America.
{"title":"Naturalistic Parrots, Stylized Birds of Prey: Visual Symbolism of the Human–Animal Relationship in Pre-Hispanic Ceramic Art of the Paraná River Lowlands, South America","authors":"Flavia V. Ottalagano","doi":"10.1017/S0959774322000257","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774322000257","url":null,"abstract":"The pre-Hispanic art of the Lowlands of Paraná comprises very realistic to extremely simplified ceramic figurines made by complex hunter-gatherer groups during the Late Holocene. In particular, the article seeks to discuss the differences found between parrot and raptor figures, which are the most frequent motifs. Alternative styles of representation were involved in the visual symbolism of the two groups of birds with well-differentiated morphological and behavioural attributes. Whereas parrot images were elaborated with greater naturalism in sites mostly located in the middle Paraná, birds of prey exhibit a higher degree of stylization and schematization, especially in the lower Paraná. It is proposed that the differences in the artistic modalities used to represent these groups of birds could be related to the positioning of these animals within different metaphorical domains and opposable conceptual categories. It is also suggested that this iconography could be specifically linked to a totemic ontology, which implies a particular attitude towards nature. This study attempts to contribute to broadening our knowledge about the symbolic relationships between humans and animals in pre-Columbian America.","PeriodicalId":47164,"journal":{"name":"CAMBRIDGE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL","volume":"33 1","pages":"193 - 215"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-10-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44174551","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-27DOI: 10.1017/S0959774322000245
Philip J. Boyes
Writing is a social practice, and as such is fundamentally entwined with a wide array of other forms of human activity, professional categories and aspects of cultural life. However, this is often not fully reflected in scholarly approaches to writing practices, which tend to focus almost exclusively on the act of inscription itself, and on the practices of literates alone. Taking as its case study the Late Bronze Age Syrian polity of Ugarit and focusing on the social and cultural aspects of the procurement of raw materials for writing, this article aims to explore some of the ways in which groups of people beyond the urban, literate elite facilitated, contributed to and shaped the nature of writing practices.
{"title":"The Wider World of Writing. Networks of People, Practice and Culture Underpinning Writing in Late Bronze Age Ugarit","authors":"Philip J. Boyes","doi":"10.1017/S0959774322000245","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774322000245","url":null,"abstract":"Writing is a social practice, and as such is fundamentally entwined with a wide array of other forms of human activity, professional categories and aspects of cultural life. However, this is often not fully reflected in scholarly approaches to writing practices, which tend to focus almost exclusively on the act of inscription itself, and on the practices of literates alone. Taking as its case study the Late Bronze Age Syrian polity of Ugarit and focusing on the social and cultural aspects of the procurement of raw materials for writing, this article aims to explore some of the ways in which groups of people beyond the urban, literate elite facilitated, contributed to and shaped the nature of writing practices.","PeriodicalId":47164,"journal":{"name":"CAMBRIDGE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL","volume":"33 1","pages":"181 - 192"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42357721","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-14DOI: 10.1017/S0959774322000208
Mallory E. Matsumoto
Classic Maya hieroglyphic writing displays a coherence across time and space that points to intensive, sustained communication among scribes about what they were writing and how. Yet we know little about what scribal transmission looked like on the ground or what knowledge scribes were conveying among themselves. This article examines the monumental hieroglyphic corpora from two communities, at Copan in western Honduras and at Palenque in Chiapas, Mexico, to illustrate local processes of innovation and exchange that shaped participation in regional transmission. I argue that distinct ‘cultures of creativity’ developed at Copan and Palenque from local elites’ varying understanding of their position in the Maya world and the nature of hieroglyphic inventions. These case studies attest to the multi-faceted nature of scribal production and exchange within a hieroglyphic tradition that remained largely coherent despite never being centrally administered. In addition, the study's palaeographic methods suggest possibilities for tracing dynamics of cultural innovation and transmission in the ancient past at multiple scales of society.
{"title":"Cultures of Creativity: Hieroglyphic Innovation in the Classic Maya Lowlands","authors":"Mallory E. Matsumoto","doi":"10.1017/S0959774322000208","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774322000208","url":null,"abstract":"Classic Maya hieroglyphic writing displays a coherence across time and space that points to intensive, sustained communication among scribes about what they were writing and how. Yet we know little about what scribal transmission looked like on the ground or what knowledge scribes were conveying among themselves. This article examines the monumental hieroglyphic corpora from two communities, at Copan in western Honduras and at Palenque in Chiapas, Mexico, to illustrate local processes of innovation and exchange that shaped participation in regional transmission. I argue that distinct ‘cultures of creativity’ developed at Copan and Palenque from local elites’ varying understanding of their position in the Maya world and the nature of hieroglyphic inventions. These case studies attest to the multi-faceted nature of scribal production and exchange within a hieroglyphic tradition that remained largely coherent despite never being centrally administered. In addition, the study's palaeographic methods suggest possibilities for tracing dynamics of cultural innovation and transmission in the ancient past at multiple scales of society.","PeriodicalId":47164,"journal":{"name":"CAMBRIDGE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL","volume":"33 1","pages":"99 - 118"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47694018","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-02DOI: 10.1017/s0959774322000221
Ron Shimelmitz, Hagar Reshef, Assaf Nativ, Nimrod Marom
In this paper, we discuss the occurrence of lions, bears and leopards in south Levantine archaeological assemblages between the last glacial maximum (c. 25,000 years ago) and the Iron Age (c. 2500 years ago). We argue that the occurrence of these large carnivores constitutes a significant long-term cultural feature that begins with the first settled hunter-gatherer communities of the Natufian culture. Importantly, we show that carnivoran species representation in the archaeological record shifts through time, with leopards common during the Neolithic and lions and bears during the Bronze and Iron ages. These shifts, we suggest, are best understood as reflecting the interplay between costly signalling and symbolism as they interacted through processes of increasing socio-political complexity.
{"title":"Large Predator Hunting and Its Interpretation: Leopards, Bears and Lions in the Archaeological Record of the Southern Levant","authors":"Ron Shimelmitz, Hagar Reshef, Assaf Nativ, Nimrod Marom","doi":"10.1017/s0959774322000221","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0959774322000221","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In this paper, we discuss the occurrence of lions, bears and leopards in south Levantine archaeological assemblages between the last glacial maximum (<span>c.</span> 25,000 years ago) and the Iron Age (<span>c.</span> 2500 years ago). We argue that the occurrence of these large carnivores constitutes a significant long-term cultural feature that begins with the first settled hunter-gatherer communities of the Natufian culture. Importantly, we show that carnivoran species representation in the archaeological record shifts through time, with leopards common during the Neolithic and lions and bears during the Bronze and Iron ages. These shifts, we suggest, are best understood as reflecting the interplay between costly signalling and symbolism as they interacted through processes of increasing socio-political complexity.</p>","PeriodicalId":47164,"journal":{"name":"CAMBRIDGE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL","volume":"38 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50168011","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}