Historical Archaeology Research Articles

Introduction

At the turn of a quarter of a century since nascency, the thematic issue of our review is dedicated to a central problem of the historian’s work, that is the issue of primary sources, from the perspective of new methods of research and their interpretation. By this initiative, we wanted to extend an invitation to a reflection on the current relevance of history and its opening towards the application of some new methods of investigation suggested by the general evolution of knowledge. Of course, the sources of history essentially are still texts, artefacts and facts, and their older differentiation in traditions and vestiges is still timely, implying interesting theoretical debates, but the manner in which the researchers relate to these is permanently changing. Our review, after surpassing the search from the incipient period and, in an emphasised manner, after moving on to the exclusive publishing of thematic volumes, distinguished itself through the proposal of such new perspectives of investigating the past, which imply resorting to new sources or re-evaluating the interpretations bestowed on the traditional sources. This was the reason for organising a methodological workshop dedicated to new themes, sources and methods in historical research, which took place in Alba Iulia, on June 4 of the current year, which also proposed a suitable reflection on the tendencies of the Romanian historiography of the last three decades and its perspectives. The present volume contains part of the communications presented on that occasion, although others are relevant as well, but which could not be included in the volume. Conducted in two major sections – archaeology and cultural heritage and history – the workshop mentioned created the occasion for debates on some diverse methods of research applied to the sources.

Archaeology and Cultural Policy in Ottoman Tunisia Part II: Muhammad Khaznadar (1871–99)

Abstract This article is the second part of a study focusing on Muhammad Khaznadar’s role in the history of archaeology in nineteenth-century Tunisia. Whereas part I traced the meteoric rise of Muhammad Khaznadar as a Tunisian cultural figure, the second part of this inquiry examines Khaznadar’s fall from power and the end of his monopoly over the country’s antiquities. Following the dismissal of his father, Mustafa Khaznadar, as grand vizier in 1873, Muhammad’s artifacts were seized by the bey. The Khaznadar collection then attracted the attention of the new grand vizier, Khayr al-Din (1873–78). Influenced by the activities of Muhammad Khaznadar, Khayr al-Din sought to create a national museum of antiquities. However, this project came to an end with Khayr al-Din’s dismissal and the subsequent arrival of French colonizers, who established the Bardo Museum (then called the Alaoui Museum) in 1888. The historical narrative written by the French colonial authority erased the memory of prominent Tunisian archaeologists and collectors who had been active in the preceding decades. This article seeks to highlight the important contributions of local Tunisians to the development of archaeological research and policies surrounding Tunisian cultural heritage in the nineteenth century.

Syair Perahu Karya Hamzah Fansuri Dalam Kaitannya Dengan Budaya Maritim di Singkel

Hamzah Fansuri lived in the early era of the peak of the Aceh Darussalam kingdom. The Kingdom of Aceh Darussalam at that time visited by many traders from Arab, Parsi, Turkish, Bengal (India), Siamese, Portuguese, and Spain. Hamzah Fansuri is a Sufism scholar who developed Islamic teaching trough his poems. One of his poems is Syair Perahu. Syair Perahu besides containing Sufism also is related to the trade and wealth of Singkel sea. The discovery of foreign ceramics along the Singkel river is one proof of trade in the past. This research use method of manuscript study. The reason for choosing text studies is because Hamzah Fansuri produced many literary works in the form of poetry. The approach used in this study is historical archaeology to reveal the maritime culture of Singkel trough Syair Perahu by Hamzah Fansuri. Data collection is done trough literature study by collecting books, documents, and paper relating to the life history of Hamzah Fansuri and and literary works that he produces. The purpose of this reseach is to determine the relationship between Syair Perahu and maritime culture of Singkel. Based on a study of Syair Perahu, it is known that Hamzah Fansuri not only discusses the Sufism but also provides information about Singkel and trade in its time.

Incomplete Histories and Hidden Lives: The Case for Social Network Analysis in Historical Archaeology

Incomplete Histories and Hidden Lives: The Case for Social Network Analysis in Historical Archaeology

Late Pleistocene and early Holocene sea-level history and glacial retreat interpreted from shell-bearing marine deposits of southeastern Alaska, USA

Abstract We leverage a data set of >720 shell-bearing marine deposits throughout southeastern Alaska (USA) to develop updated relative sea-level curves that span the past ∼14,000 yr. This data set includes site location, elevation, description when available, and 436 14C ages, 45 of which are published here for the first time. Our sea-level curves suggest a peripheral forebulge developed west of the retreating Cordilleran Ice Sheet (CIS) margin between ca. 17,000 and 10,800 calibrated yr B.P. By 14,870 ± 630 to 12,820 ± 340 cal. yr B.P., CIS margins had retreated from all of southeastern Alaska's fjords, channels, and passages. At this time, isolated or stranded ice caps existed on the islands, with alpine or tidewater glaciers in many valleys. Paleoshorelines up to 25 m above sea level mark the maximum elevation of transgression in the southern portion of the study region, which was achieved by 11,000 ± 390 to 10,500 ± 420 cal. yr B.P. The presence of Pacific sardine (Sardinops sagax) and the abundance of charcoal in sediments that date between 11,000 ± 390 and 7630 ± 90 cal. yr B.P. suggest that both ocean and air temperatures in southeastern Alaska were relatively warm in the early Holocene. The sea-level and paleoenvironmental reconstruction presented here can inform future investigations into the glacial, volcanic, and archaeological history of southeastern Alaska.

Characterization of archaeological remains from a military settlement in the Argentinian Pampas (19th century): New insights by laser–induced breakdown spectroscopy

Laser–induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) was applied for the rapid characterization of the elemental composition of archaeological remnants recovered from a military settlement dating from 1831, located at the center of the Argentinian Pampas (Buenos Aires province, Argentina). This research is part of an interdisciplinary project for the study of military fortifications within the field of historical archaeology. We present original results of the analysis of metallic artifacts, bones, potsherds, and colored glazed crockery of the site. The measurements included drilling through superficial weathering and corrosion layers to determine the underlying bulk composition of the materials, the analysis of glazing processes and the identification of pigments in the paintings. A new analytical approach was applied for the discrimination of elements corresponding to the pigments, the binder medium or the glaze from those belonging to the paste matrix which improved the LIBS performance. The obtained results provided useful information related to the characteristics, raw materials, manufacturing processes, use and provenance of the objects that contributed to achieve a more comprehensive knowledge of the archaeological context investigated.

Women versus Wheelbarrows: Labor and British Archaeology in Late Ottoman Palestine

Women versus Wheelbarrows:Labor and British Archaeology in Late Ottoman Palestine Sarah Irving (bio) KEYWORDS archaeology, efficiency, gender, labor, Palestine In the summer of 1912, Duncan Mackenzie, director of the Palestine Exploration Fund's (PEF) archaeological excavations, sacked several dozen women who had been working on the dig at Ain Shems, west of Jerusalem. On the large-scale excavations that typified archaeology in Palestine in this period, women were mainly employed to carry the baskets of spoil filled by the men digging and mattocking the earth itself.1 Occasionally, they also sieved soil for small finds, although not, as far as we know, as Ain Shems. But according to Mackenzie, women complicated labor relations on the site: he claimed that they caused small-scale rifts and feuds and formed work cliques with their male relatives, who were reluctant to push their own wives, daughters, sisters or cousins to work harder. Mackenzie's solution was to replace his female employees with wheelbarrows. He started to plot the removal of women laborers in May, when he wrote that "I am going to see whether it may not be possible to find some barrows at Jaffa to take their place,"2 and reported by July 1912 that: Barrows were introduced as an innovation to take the place of female labour and it was found that one able bodied youth with barrow was able to accomplish the work of four women. Another advantage was that we could be more independent of local conditions of labour which are often unfavourable in the Valley of Sorek.3 [End Page 427] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. PEF excavation showing female laborers carrying spoil. Image courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund. Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 2. Women workers sieving for small finds at Gezer/Tell Jezar. Image courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund. [End Page 428] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 3. PEF excavation, with both women laborers and heavy wooden wheelbarrows. Image courtesy of the Palestine Exploration Fund. A fortnight later he informed his PEF employers that through the switch from women to wheelbarrows he had cut his workforce at Ain Shems from 90 to 30,4 and reiterated the benefits of these measures: namely a cut in the overall wage bill, more efficient labor via reduced social interaction and increased movement of spoil, and—repeated in several letters, which suggests it was of most importance to Mackenzie—independence from fluctuations in the labor supply to which this excavation seems to have been especially prone. The history of archaeology has been, and to some extent still is, dominated by studies of dead white men, often combined with religious mysticism or tales of adventure. But the records of excavations taking place in late Ottoman Palestine also have the potential to yield valuable insights into a notoriously difficult-to-study subject: the lives of rural village women. As shown by Mackenzie's comments, these archives need to be read against the grain, filtered through an awareness of orientalism, racism and misogyny. But with these caveats in mind, such records can yield material which disrupts both the orientalist imagery of rural scenes straight from the Bible, and the idealized and [End Page 429] timeless peasant women of Palestinian nationalist iconography.5 The archives concerned vary in nature; sometimes information can be gleaned from published material, when excavation directors such as Mackenzie or his predecessors Frederick Jones Bliss and R.A.S. Macalister describe the environment on their digs prior to detailing the finds. More information is often to be found in letters describing daily life on site: Bliss, born in Lebanon to American missionaries, spoke fluent regional Arabic and took an active, if paternalistic, interest in the lives of his workers, whilst his successors wrote more about problems with their employees and the wages allocated to them (adult men were at the top of the pay scale; women and children often received only half as much). Only Bliss mentions the names of significant numbers of workers. The records from the Harvard Semitic Museum excavation at Sebastia, near Nablus, meanwhile, include less narrative description of life on-site but do...

«Soviet scholars were on duty»: studying and teaching of the archaeology and the history of primitive society in the Belarusian State University during the war and post-war period

The article deals with the little-known pages of the history of archaeology and education. It reveals the main aspects of the teaching of archaeology and other disciplines of the relevant profile at the Belarusian State University in the period from 1940s to the beginning of 1950s. Lectures were conducted by full-time staff members of the Belarusian State University. Moscow scholars as well as fellow workers of the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR were also invited for teaching. Scientific activity in the field of archaeology and closely-related disciplines was constrained by personnel problems and restricted material resources. University intellectuals carried did their best to restore the Museum of history and archaeology, however, due to the lack of exhibition space, the renewed exposition had not been opened.

Documenting Functional Use-Wear on Bone Tools: An RTI Approach

Bone tools have a long archaeological history, and have recently been shown to retain use-traces distinctive of different perishable crafting practices. When examined in a controlled way, these diagnostic use-traces can serve as proxies for the crafted forms the bone tools were used to produce (e.g., baskets, leather goods, etc.). However, a number of methodological stumbling-blocks have hindered the sharing of bone tool use-wear results in a consistent standardized format. We suggest the application of Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), and provide details for how to construct an RTI system which resolves most problems related to reproducibility in use-trace analysis.

Mapping Historical Archaeology and Industrial Heritage: The Historical Spatial Data Infrastructure

While a vibrant and growing research literature exists on the value of GIS to archaeology in general, the application of geospatial digital data to the subfield of historical archaeology is less well developed, especially in North America. This is particularly true for the era of industrialization, where the archaeological record is accompanied by a comparatively rich historical record. Historical and industrial archaeology are fundamentally bound up in the interplay between material and historical data, and it is in enhancing the dialogue between these two evidentiary bodies that interdisciplinary geospatial approaches are most fruitful to these subdisciplines. Drawing on recent discussions in digital archaeology and Historical GIS (HGIS), which has a robust history in the social sciences and humanities, we present an approach to modelling, visualizing, and analyzing longitudinal physical and social environment data for historical and industrial archaeology: a Historical Spatial Data Infrastructure (HSDI). Our HSDI, which is data-rich and highly flexible in scale, is especially well-adapted to facilitating this dialogue within archaeological research, as well as having important applications to heritage management and public engagement, as demonstrated in our case study.

The Powhatan Landscape: An Archaeological History of the Algonquian Chesapeake

The Powhatan Landscape: An Archaeological History of the Algonquian Chesapeake

Islands of Salt: Historical Archaeology of Seafarers and Things in the Venezuelan Caribbean, 1624–1880, by Konrad A. Antczak

Islands of Salt: Historical Archaeology of Seafarers and Things in the Venezuelan Caribbean, 1624–1880, by Konrad A. Antczak

Human Skeletons, Grave Goods and Textual Sources: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Southwestern Switzerland’s Late Iron Age Communities through the Study of their Funerary Rites

Abstract This paper’s primary focus is the investigation of Late Iron Age funeral practices. This is carried out by means of a multidisciplinary study of two necropolises, Randogne – Bluche and Sion – Parking des Remparts, which are located in southwestern Switzerland. The overall purpose of this paper is to enhance the socio-cultural understanding of this period through an integrated approach that combines the fields of bioanthropology, archaeology and ancient cultural history. Consequently, sex, age, pathologies and biological proximity first were assessed for the individuals found in the two studied necropolises. Next, data from these necropolises was contrasted with the archaeological and cultural environment from the surrounding regions. Finally, a combined perspective was developed in order to consider and combine the data collected through these different approaches. The obtained results appear to point to a regional particularism present in southwestern Switzerland’s funerary practices during the Late Iron Age. However, cultural influences from both northern and southern neighbouring regions can be identified in southwestern Switzerland’s funerary rites and material productions, which sheds light on the innerworkings of the Celtic communities populating this region.

“Potentially the Pompeii of East Africa”:

Focusing on a quotation by Mortimer Wheeler from the year 1955, when he called the ruined Swahili stone town of Kua on Juani island in the Mafia archipelago in today’s Tanzania “potentially the Pompeii of East Africa,” this article unravels some of the many layers encapsulated in this statement. The article contextualizes the passage by Wheeler with regard to the history of archaeology, colonialism, and tourism in the region. It interrogates ways how the discipline of art history can contribute to studies of the built environment along the East African coast. And it illuminates both the necessity and the potentials of decentralizing studies of the humanities on empirical-historical and methodological levels for future scholarship on the art and architecture along the Swahili coast as well as within the field of transcultural art history more generally.

Heritage Management: Analytical Study of Tourism Impacts on the Archaeological Site of Umm Qais—Jordan

The archaeological site of Umm Qais is a popular tourist destination for both local and foreign tourists who come to appreciate the site’s archaeological history, scenic landscape, and panoramic perspective. The site was the focus of tourism planning, which included the construction of amenities and infrastructure, the creation of tourist circuits, and archaeological management. This development was linked to a rise in visitor numbers as well as the provision of a high level of service, such as parking, tickets, kiosks, restaurants, and cafés, to welcome visitors. The purpose of this study was to examine the impacts of on-site tourist services and infrastructures, as well as those of visitors, and their geographical and temporal scope on the site. The study used a qualitative approach based on case study fieldwork as a research method to achieve this goal. Personal observation, interviews with site-related stakeholders, and a checklist were used to collect data during the fieldwork. Both tourism infrastructure and visitors were proven to have a detrimental influence on tourist attractions. The site’s aesthetic pollution and structural deterioration were caused by tourism services and infrastructure. Graffiti, vandalism, and trash left by visitors exerted strong negative impacts. Furthermore, spatial and temporal negative impacts were determined by the patterns of seasonal movement of visitors and the location of infrastructure. Thus, most of the impacts were concentrated in a small portion of the site, among the western theater, the panoramic view, and the traditional Ottoman village. This research sheds light on these challenges and makes recommendations in the areas of heritage management, tourism, and visitor impact management that may be of interest to on-the-ground decision makers as well as academics.

Introduction: Current Directions in Community Archaeology of the African Diaspora.

This article introduces the special issue, “Community Archaeology of the African Diaspora.” This collection of papers grew out of a session at the 2020 Society for Historical Archaeology conference in Boston, Massachusetts, with additional authors invited to add further geographical and methodological diversity. The papers in this issue address a single question—how are archaeologists currently involved with community archaeology projects related to the African Diaspora?—and reflects the wide array of approaches currently being implemented across the discipline.

ARCHEOLOGY AS A VOCATION: TO THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARCHAEOLOGIST RIMMA DMITRIEVNA GOLDINA

The article is devoted to the anniversary of the Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor of the Department of History of Udmurtia, Archeology and Ethnography, director of the Institute of History and Culture of the Peoples of the Urals of the Udmurt State University, Honored Worker of the Higher School of the Russian Federation, founder of the scientific archaeological school Rimma Dmitrievna Goldina. The article briefly outlines the significant scientific problems solved under the guidance of the scientist, presents the key achievements made by the researcher and her colleagues and students during the long-term archaeological research of the vast territory of the Urals by the Kamsko-Vyatka archaeological expedition. The personal contribution of the archaeologist to the development of Ural-Volga and wider - Russian archeology in general, to the formation of university science and the Udmurt State University is shown.

THE PERMIAN WORLD IN ANTIQUITY AND THE MIDDLE AGES IN THE WORKS OF R. D. GOLDINA

In November 2021, Rimma Dmitrievna Goldina, Doctor of History, Professor of the Department of History of Udmurtia, Archaeology and Ethnology, director of the Institute of History and Culture of the Peoples of the Urals of the Udmurt State University, celebrates her anniversary. The article presents the main results of the research of the outstanding Russian scientist on the ethnogenesis of the Permian peoples.

Island on a Pendulum: Naxos Between Isolation and Connectivity

Naxos, the largest island of the Cyclades, in the center of the Archipelago, swayed over time between the two ends of the pendulum of insularity, namely between isolation and connectivity, in almost every aspect of human life (society, politics, economy, art, worship etc.). The article examines the position and importance of the island in the Archipelago but also its interaction with the neighboring mainland. It seeks the identity of its inhabitants and whether it differed from that of neighboring islands. It is a diachronic study based on the methods of Historical Archaeology, extending from the Early Iron Age to the end of the Roman period. In this respect, the limitations imposed by the material remains of the past can be overcome by the exploitation of textual evidence in conjunction with evidence found in the landscape and the natural resources.
 The starting point is the image of Naxos in myth and literature as a place chosen for the upbringing of gods (i.e., Zeus’ and Dionysus’) or as a deserted landscape of abandonment and pain (in the case of Ariadne). The article specifies which of these traditions are of local origin and which are panhellenic. Subsequently, local history issues related to the aspect of insularity are examined, such as: the trade of Naxian goods, the spread of Naxian coins, the mobility of Naxians as individuals (artists, professionals, pilgrims, etc.), products imports, the participation in alliances (i.e. Delian League, Second Athenian League, Nesiotic League), issues of colonization and mobility of Naxians in general etc.

Alliance Rises in the West: Labor, Race, and Solidarity in Industrial California by Charlotte K. SunseriLincoln: University of Nebraska Press and the Society for Historical Archaeology, 2020. 174 pp.

Alliance Rises in the West: Labor, Race, and Solidarity in Industrial California by Charlotte K. SunseriLincoln: University of Nebraska Press and the Society for Historical Archaeology, 2020. 174 pp.