Exploring the Depths

This paper explores the extensive prehistoric settlement pattern at the Letolo plantation. Using the results of earlier research we use a correspondence analysis to investigate variation in the settlement pattern, particularly differences between coastal and inland locations. Investigation of archaeological sites in Samoa in the 1960s and 1970s resulted in several suggestions about the prehistoric settlement pattern (Davidson 1969, Davidson 1974:242; Jennings et al. 1982). The first archaeological excavations investigated a variety of sites, and an important conclusion of this research was that prehistoric settlement was established at both coastal and inland locales in early prehistory (at least by c. 2000 BP). It was also found that house pavements were an early component of the settlement sequence, but raised stone and earth platforms/mounds for occupation or ritual space are, to current knowledge, confined to the last millennium (Wallin, Martinsson-Wallin and Clark, this publication). A temporal shift in material culture in Samoa is thereby evident. Roads and stone walls were frequently associated with large platforms/mounds. The roads were often clearly defined by stone walls and connected house hold units. Settlement pattern studies Jennings et al. (1982) based their discussion of Samoan prehistoric settlement patterns on data from ethnohistorical records, extensive archaeological survey data and excavations, which they compared with the layout of the contemporary village of Fa'a'ala on Savai'i. The results of the Letolo archaeological survey were employed to interpret the prehistoric settlement pattern, but other settlements at Mt Olo on Upolu, and the Sapapali'i settlements on Savai'i were also brought into the discussion. Using the ethnohistoric settlement data as a backdrop, Jennings et al. (1982) concluded that prehistoric settlements consisted of a household unit (HHU) made up of a few individual house platforms, with a cooking area separated from the other units by walls or walkways (more than 75% were enclosed by walls), and a possible garden area within the enclosure (Jennings et al. 1982:82). Several HHU grouped around a chief's dwelling unit, which was identified by a larger platform. Collectively these chiefly clusters constituted a unit called pito nu'u (residential wards). Several pito nu'u clusters constituted a larger unit called nu'u (village) with a mala'e (village green) and a fale tele (community house). Larger platforms were identified as a chief's dwelling or a community meeting house, and through the use of statistical methods the Letolo settlement pattern was divided in to five village wards (pito nu'u) by Jennings et al. (1982:84) (Figure 1). Roger Green subsequently put forward a sequence in which the settlement pattern has various phases, but there is strong cultural continuity evident throughout the prehistoric sequence (Green 2002:135-146): 1. Settlement patterns during the period of the decorated Lapita ceramics (c. 2900-2700 BP) 2. Settlement patterns during the period of Polynesian plainware (c.2700-2000/1500? BP) 3. An interval for which settlement pattern evidence is extremely limited (c. 1500-1000 BP) 4. Settlement patterns between 1000 and 200 years ago (c. 1000-200 BP). The earliest archaeological evidence for the settlement pattern came from a house site with Polynesian plainware at Sasoa'a which was dated to c. 1800 BP (Green 2002:138139). The house comprised a principal dwelling (PPN *fale) with its posts (PPN *pou, tulu), and other features including an earth oven (PPN *umu), stone pavement (PPN *paepae), storage pit (PPN *lua) and boundary fence (PPN *lotuqaa). The house layout and features were seen by Green as similar to those of the later household units (HHU), suggesting that there was continuity in the social formations expressed in the Samoan settlement pattern. Green also suggests that Ancestral Polynesian societies were house societies and HHU were tied to a social group (PPN * kainga) 'aiga probably lead by a family elder (PPN * fatu). …

Traces of Power:Recent Books on Women in Antiquity Laura McClure (bio) Philippe Borgeaud . Mother of the Gods: From Cybele to the Virgin Mary. Trans. Lysa Hochroth. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004. xix + 186 pp. ISBN 0-8018-7985-X (cl). Susan Guettel Cole . Landscapes, Gender, and Ritual Space: The Ancient Greek Experience. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004. xiv + 292 pp.; maps. ISBN 0-520-23544-4 (cl). Barbara Goff . Citizen Bacchae: Women's Ritual Practice in Ancient Greece. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004. xiii + 400 pp.; ill. ISBN 0-520-23998-9 (cl). Diane Kleiner . Cleopatra and Rome. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2005. 340 pp.; ill. ISBN 0-674-01905-9 (cl). These four ambitious books provide welcome new perspectives on the lives of ancient women, the spaces they inhabited, and the ways in which they influenced their societies. Although long a commonplace of classical scholarship that religion provided the primary access to power for ancient women, scant attention has been paid to the subject. All of these books address some aspect of gender and religion, from the ritual activities of women in ancient Greece, to the evolution of a maternal divinity in pagan religions and her translation to Christianity, and to the profound impact of a deified Egyptian queen on Roman culture. In Landscapes, Gender, and Ritual Space, Susan Guettel Cole explores the intersection of gender and ritual practice in ancient Greece, with close attention to the epigraphical evidence. Meticulously researched, the book weaves together a broad range of evidence, from inscriptions, literary and medical texts, to archaeological remains. What emerges is a complex picture of the organization of ritual space in ancient Greece and the ways it structured political communities. Cole begins by exploring three related and coextensive landscapes: the natural, the human, and the imagined. In Greece, the division of space always had political implications, and stories about the organization of space and the natural landscape were often "infused with gender." Early Greek epics, such as Hesiod's Theogony and the Catalogue of Women, contain [End Page 184] numerous geographical narratives that "locate the individual community in its landscape and connect it to mythic representations of the larger universe" (21). Such narratives also reflected human categories and social hierarchies: for instance, fixed locations, like the hearth, were associated in the Greek imagination with the female. Chapter 2 examines the ways in which the ancient Greeks delimited the human from the divine. Injunctions against washing in a woman's bathwater, setting a boy on a grave, or eating from an unconsecrated pot, illustrate the profound need to separate human physical processes from the divine. Directed to an exclusively male audience, they also show the importance of delineating male from female. The inability to maintain these boundaries could infect the entire political community with pollution, thus requiring constant maintenance through the symbolic marking of perimeters and the repetition of ritual. In chapter 3, Cole considers the form and function of regional sanctuaries. These helped to merge autonomous cities—separated by geography and fiercely independent political structures—into a unified culture of shared traditions. The gods worshipped at these sites—Zeus at Olympia and Apollo at Delphi—promoted the universal recognition of divine laws. Apollo in particular was invested with a judicial authority that transcended political and territorial boundaries, supporting the "process by which cities made decisions and protected citizens from capricious leaders" (73). The fact that his sanctuary at Delphi marked the imaginary center of the world attests to the god's universality. Just as Delphi provided a sacred center that unified separate city-states into a culture of shared traditions and common laws, so, too, each city-state itself was organized around the prytaneion, "a space . . . both sacred and political" (80) that enclosed its common hearth and sacred fire and forged male solidarity and community. Chapter 4 elucidates the gender asymmetries entailed in ritual practice. Because the ancient Greeks worshipped in groups, gender often came into play in ritual contexts. Although it was less common for men and women to participate in shared rituals, there was no single formula for determining ritual constituency. Rituals connected with the body, especially...

In South Asia, local communities most often live near or amidst archaeological places. Their lives are in many ways framed and structured by these places. At the same time, these places too are impacted by the communities that live nearby. Archaeological sites in India are being destroyed at a rapid pace, due to increasing population and development pressures. This story gets further complicated by legislative practices of preservation related to monuments and archaeological sites, which are solely in the hands of the state through its institutions. It is this very act of protection that sometimes leads to conflict between the institutions of the state and local communities. At the same time, several archaeological sites have also survived due to local interests because they have been transformed into ritual spaces or are considered as ancestral places. Additionally, monuments have been converted into heritage hotels and have become an important means of livelihood for the families that own them. Thus, for protection to succeed, the critical intervention and involvement of local communities living in close proximity to monuments and archaeological sites is fundamental. Is it then education that can enable the survival of archaeological places? School education has the scope of involving and alerting children to their environs, whether it is the natural environment or a built one, and this could be a long-term solution.

This chapter examines animal use among pre-Hispanic Mixtec-speaking peoples in western Oaxaca, Mexico. We focus on animals not only as impor- tant dietary resources but also discuss their use in craft activities, household economies, and ritual practices. Dogs, in particular, are an important com- ponent of Mixtec animal-based diet and religious life. We begin by present- ing new data from recent investigations at the Early and Middle Formative archaeological site of Tayata, a large pre-urban center in the mountainous Mixteca Alta region. Excavations of several households provide new in- sights on early village economies in the highlands. We then briefly discuss animal remains from a segregated area of public buildings and ritual spaces used briefly during the Early Classic period. Tayata’s zooarchaeological as- semblage is unique in that it is the only large and well-preserved collection of animal remains analyzed to date in the Mixteca. Lacking comparative data in the immediate vicinity of Tayata, we turn to previous zooarchaeo- logical research in the Valley of Oaxaca to help us better interpret our find- ings and contextualize them within broader, regional patterns of animal use.

The Pugung Raharjo Archaeological Park in East Lampung faces complex managerial challenges as a multi-functional destination encompassing conservation, tourism, and ritual space. This study aims to formulate a participatory strategic governance model to balance these three functions, particularly in accommodating the sacred values of megalithic remains actively used for Hindu spiritual rites. A qualitative method with a multi-stakeholder case study approach was employed. Primary data were gathered through in-depth interviews with the Cultural Heritage Preservation Office (BPK) Region VII, the East Lampung Regency Government, site guardians, and the Hindu community. Data were analyzed using the Miles and Huberman interactive method, grounded in Stakeholder Theory. The findings reveal that while no open conflicts have occurred, the current operational management of the site remains sporadic, relying on "informal customs" and ad-hoc communication between institutions. A significant gap was identified where the Hindu community, despite possessing high urgency and legitimacy regarding the site, has not been formally involved in strategic decision-making by central authorities. This lack of formalization poses a potential risk to the degradation of sacred values and administrative uncertainty. In conclusion, this research proposes a "Cultural Value-Based Strategic Governance Model" which advocates for the establishment of a Multi-Functional Governance Forum. This model offers solutions through the formalization of stakeholder participation, the integration of Conservation Religious Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and the strengthening of the site’s religious brand equity. Implementing this model is expected to ensure the physical preservation of cultural heritage while respecting its function as a living spiritual space.

Cultural heritage in coastal or shallow aquatic environments is often located in areas where access is difficult or where accurate survey and documentation may not always be possible with terrestrial or aquatic equipment. The combination of photogrammetry and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) generates a range of possibilities across multiple sectors, including history, ethnography and cultural heritage studies. Additionally, these methods can be used to prospect new archaeological sites. This article presents three case studies that use UAV techniques and Structure from Motion and Multiview Stereo (SfM‐MVS) photogrammetry to conduct topographic and geometric registrations of archaeological, historical and ethnographic sites (some of which are classified as cultural heritage sites). These examples are located in coastal or shallow aquatic environments that are difficult to survey with traditional methods. The results show that it is possible to carry out detailed geometric registration and heritage prospection over large coastal or shallow aquatic environments using a low‐cost UAV. Furthermore, the results of this work show great advantages in terms of cost and quality, even in cases where the seabed is below a shallow water column. Other particularities of SfM‐MVS application in aquatic environments are discussed. From an interdisciplinary perspective, this methodology will offer new possibilities for the study, restoration and conservation of archaeological, historical and ethnographic monuments.

The article highlights the history of studying monuments located in the Taldy River valley, which form the foundation of the proposed Taldy Historical and Archaeological Museum-Reserve. The historiographical analysis of the study of monuments in the Taldy archaeological microdistrict allowed the authors to analyze and systematize previous research, as well as to determine the role and significance of these monuments for Central Kazakhstan. By examining articles, monographs, and field research reports, the authors identified key stages of archaeological excavations and refined the methodologies applied in different periods. Two main phases of research have been distinguished. The first phase is associated with the activities of the Central Ka-zakhstan Archaeological Expedition under the general leadership of Academician A.Kh. Margulan and covers the years 1947–1964. From 1965 to 2010, research in the microdistrict was practically not conducted. Field archaeological work, including excavations, exploratory surveys, and stratigraphic analysis, played a key role in this study. During extensive expeditions (1947–1964 and from 2011 to the present), numerous archaeolog-ical sites from various historical periods, ranging from the Bronze Age to the Golden Horde era, were exam-ined, including burial mounds, settlements, and ritual complexes. Special attention was paid to excavation methods, including the clearing of burial mounds, identifying structural features of burial sites, recording stratigraphic data, and analyzing cultural layers. Since 2011, the modern stage of research has been ongoing, characterized by a rapid accumulation of new material that is of fundamental importance in addressing ques-tions of the genesis, periodization, and chronology of the archaeological cultures of Central Kazakhstan and neighboring regions

Disaster risk management (DRM) for cultural heritage is a complex task that requires multidisciplinary cooperation. This short communication underlines the critical role of satellite remote sensing (also known as earth observation) in DRM in dealing with various hazards for cultural heritage sites and monuments. Here, satellite observation potential is linked with the different methodological steps of the DRM cycle. This is achieved through a short presentation of recent paradigms retrieved from research studies and the Scopus scientific repository. The communication focuses on the Eastern Mediterranean region, an area with an indisputable wealth of archaeological sites. Regarding the cultural heritage type, this article considers relevant satellite observation studies implemented in open-air archaeological monuments and sites. The necessity of this communication article emerged while trying to bring together earth observation means, cultural heritage needs, and DRM procedures.

Megalithic sites in the Efrātā and Gǝdǝm woreda, particularly the stelae in Gādilo Medā , were first noted by Ethiopian archaeologists in 1986. Following this, in 1999 an Ethio-French team identified additional megalithic sites in the Maḥal Wanz area. However, archaeological sites described in this article were only recently discovered and prior to their survey by the present author, there was no archaeological research reported. Hence, this paper is based on archaeological prospection undertaken in and around ʾӘrgoṭәlā River as part of the study of megalithic monuments in the Central Highlands of Ethiopia which includes the Efrātā and Gǝdǝm woreda. It is intended to communicate the newly identified stelae and their artistic composition as well as the features of other archaeological sites located nearby. A total of six stelae were identified where three of these stelae are phallic and possess eight symbolic representations. The other three are devoid of special morphological or artistic compositions. Accordingly, the paper highlights the dimensions and the artistic characters of the stelae as well as the material traces and oral tradition associated with other archaeological sites prospected in the area.

In 2021 and 2022, large-scale security and rescue works were carried out in the territory of the Republic of Khakassia. During the study of burial monuments of Minusinsk Basin archaeological cultures, burial set and wooden log structures were discovered. Parts of the logs and spiles were sent to the laboratory of dendrochronology. Researchers were unable to define annual rings, due to the poor preservation of the wood. Archaeological wood is a brittle structure with an altered chemical composition. Its physical characteristics are much different from healthy wood. The article describes the search for a solution to the problem of preliminary preservation of archaeological spiles. The criteria for analysing the preservation of wood material are presented. On the basis of the experiment, it is concluded that the main methods used by restorers for the conservation of dry archaeological wood are not suitable for the treatment of dendrosamples. The question of organising the preservation of spiles with optimal temperature and humidity conditions is raised. The application of the method of digital sample preparation of spiles to accelerate the process of dating archaeological monuments is proposed.

Perception and experience have become important elements of the study of past landscapes, monuments, and material culture within archaeology since the early 1990s. The main theoretical driver behind this has been the philosophical concept of phenomenology, which gives primacy to engaged, embodied, and sensory encounters with archaeological materials, sites, and landscapes. Such approaches are much contested and various methodological developments have been necessary in terms of how one records experiences of places, and things, and subsequently uses these experiences to generate valid archaeological interpretations.

This article is devoted to the one of the most significant moments of the beginning of the history of discovery and study of the archaeological monuments and artifacts on the territory of Grozny and its suburbs in the end of the 1880-th, correlated with wide spread of illegal excavations on the territory of the Terek district (Terskaya) and visiting this site by the directors of the main archaeological structures of Russia - count A.A. Bobrinsky (Imperial Archaeological Commission, St. Petersburg) and countess P.S. Uvarova (Imperial Moscow Archaeological Society (Moscow). The immediate reason for such attention was the rumors that reached the center about a find of the golden "crown" by treasure hunters in one of the mound near the village of Kulary on the river Sunzha. The Terek regional and district administrations of Grozny actively participated in the search. One of the officials, Yu.K. Churakovsky, also took active part in the research of local archaeological sites carried out by the Imperial Archaeological Commission and the Imperial Moscow Archaeological Society, as well as in the collection of numerous artifacts recovered by robbers from the mounds on the Chechen Plain in 1887-1888. In the end, the «crown», having become the necklace of Early Sarmatian period (E.I. Krupnov, V.B. Vinogradov, M.P. Abramova) came to P.S. Uvarova and was later transferred to the State Historical Museum. Twists and turns of the story are preserved in the correspondence of P.S. Uvarova to Yu.K. Churakovsky, once again confirming the importance of the epistolary heritage in the study of the process of the formation of archeology in Russia.

Kabardino-Balkaria is a republic with a rich archaeological heritage. It represented archaeological sites from the Paleolithic era in its territory. The article proposes a classification of burial struc-tures of the Koban archaeological culture in this region. It is noted that their study makes it possi-ble to identify the features of the funeral rite of the local population and trace the dynamics of its ritual-ritual activity throughout the entire period of the existence of this culture. To do this, the article attempted to specify the typology proposed in 1989 by V.I. Kozenkova, considering the specifics of the funeral structures of the Koban culture identified on the territory of Kabardino-Balkaria. The work notes that the need for such a revision and clarification of known classifica-tions with the definition of local features on KBR materials is increasing against the background of a sharp increase in the number of burial structures discovered and the appearance of new stud-ies of Koban cultural monuments. During the study, funerary structures are classified considering their differentiation into simple and complex ones. There are considered 2 types of simple (burials in soil pits of oval, rectangular or underground rectangular forms and burials in stone boxes) and 3 types of complex burial structures (mounds with a stone cover with soil burials, mounds with stone boxes and stone cover from cobblestones and stone tombs). Each of the proposed funerary structures is characterized considering the division into subtypes. It was revealed that almost no burial ground of the Koban archaeological culture on the territory of the KBR can be traced to the observance of a single type of burial structure.

New systematic studies of the clay monuments found by the Italian Archaeological Mission in Afghanistan (hereafter IAMA) in the 1960s and 1970s at the Buddhist archaeological site of Tapa Sardar, in the Ghazni area, are providing a deeper understanding of both the general context and the details of the decorations. This paper focuses on the row of thrones alternating with small stūpas that were discovered in the pradakṣiṇāpatha around the Main Stūpa and assigned to the Late Period of the site (end of the 7th–8th/9th century CE). Although still far from the goal of comprehensively explaining the complex iconographic program of these monuments, we started itemizing significant details that, in spite of their apparently marginal character, are likely to have had a strong impact on the monuments’ physical and symbolic definition. The rich array of their surface decoration, which combines a great variety of moulded motifs, was meant to convey the notion of preciousness. While the majority of those motifs may represent the portrayal of real jewellery, some stand apart for their unusual shapes, which depict gems in their natural state and may arguably be considered as having special emblematic meaning, such as the perfect, powerful, “pure” symbols of an unconditioned reality.

G. R. H. Wright . Ancient Building Technology. Volume 3: Construction . Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2009, 325 pp., 415 b/w illus. $272, ISBN 9004177451 Carmelo G. Malacrino, trans. Jay Hyams . Constructing the Ancient World: Architectural Techniques of the Greeks and Romans . Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2010, 216 pp., 200 color illus. $50, ISBN 9781606060162 These two books devoted to the ancient art of building differ in aim and scope. G. R. H. Wright's book follows upon his two earlier volumes, focusing respectively on the historical context and building materials in the ancient world.1 Wright presents this third volume as a compendium of research on ancient construction, intended as a reference for specialists, particularly during fieldwork. Although Carmelo Malacrino's book also addresses scholars, it seeks a wider audience of nonspecialists, and will appeal to classical archaeologists, historians of art and architecture, and the general public with an interest in antiquity. While narrower in terms of the technical specialization of its intended audience, Wright's book features greater breadth in its balance of classical and nonclassical material. Including extensive treatment of the architecture of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, the Levant, and Iran, it stretches chronologically from the Neolithic period to the Sassanians. Unlike Malacrino's book, which makes for a pleasant cover-to-cover read in addition to serving as a reference, Wright aims to facilitate reference by repeating information throughout chapters that are organized according to phases or techniques of construction, as well as by providing sections treating cultures and periods not covered by Malacrino. Both books are informative on a wide range of topics related to ancient construction, but because Wright had written an earlier volume devoted entirely to materials, his present book is not afforded the opportunity to give the kind of expansive treatment of the nature and production of building materials offered by Malacrino. The latter provides a whole chapter covering the full array of building stones used in Greek and Roman construction, including the different volcanic stones, limestones, and marbles presented in their historical and geographic contexts. Welcome information includes the varying prices of marble and colored stones during the Imperial era, as well as …