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| ABSTRACTS, VOLUME 70, 2004 Return
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Dorothy Garrod’s Excavations
in the Late Mousterian of Shukbah Cave in Palestine Reconsidered Professor Dorothy A.E. Garrod’s 1928 excavation
of the Mousterian Layer D at Shukbah Cave in the Wadi en-Natuf (Palestine)
has been neglected by prehistorians in favour of the Epipalaeolithic
Layer B with its Natufian culture, for which Shukbah is the typesite.
The excavation of Layer D is now re-examined with the aid of Garrod’s
own unpublished documentation and photographs, and the lithic industry
analysed in the light of her conclusion that it was the work of a late
Middle Palaeolithic hominid population, probably of Neanderthal type.
Application of current analytical methods to approximately one half
of the recovered assemblage confirms Garrod’s correlation of the
Shukbah Mousterian with Tabun Layer B in the later model for the Mount
Carmel Levantine Palaeolithic succession. Comparison is made, and consistency
demonstrated, with the late Mousterian industry of Kebara Cave (Mount
Carmel, excavated 1982–90) and the Shukbah D assemblage is further
considered in the wider regional context of approximately contemporary
sites ranging from southern Jordan to northern Syria. Suggestions are
made regarding future excavation at Shukbah. Bridge to the
Outer World: Rock Carvings at Bro Utmark, Bohuslän, Sweden The rock carving site of Bro Utmark in Bohuslan
is one of the largest in Sweden. Its hundreds of carved images reflect
a variety of Bronze Age concerns, and the boats, warriors and animals
depicted demonstrate the work of master carvers in the period 1600–300
BC, but concentrated in the later Bronze Age (1100–600 BC). The
site is central to a concentration of about 200 carved sites, burial
mounds, and other monuments. During the Bronze Age, Bro Utmark lay near
the shoreline of a sea which was 15 m higher in relation to the land.
The evolving cultural landscape of the Bronze Age suggests incremental
settlement in the emergent land, with shorelines and wetlands providing
focal points for activity. Reading Early Agriculture
at Kuk Swamp, Wahgi Valley, Papua New Guinea: the Archaeological Features
(Phases 1–3) Multi-disciplinary field investigations were
undertaken in 1972–7 and 1998–9 at Kuk Swamp in the upper
Wahgi Valley in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Multi-period finds
dating from the early Holocene to the recent past and interpreted to
represent human manipulation of a wetland margin for plant exploitation
were documented. The archaeological remains dating from the early to
mid-Holocene have partially grounded contested claims for the emergence
of early and independent agricultural practices on the island of New
Guinea. In this paper, the early to mid- Holocene archaeological remains
at the site (ie, those allocated to Phases 1, 2, and 3) are reported
in detail. The authors of this paper all agree that plant exploitation
began at Kuk at c. 10,000 cal BP, however they hold different interpretations
of the archaeological evidence from the swamp, which have in turn led
to diverse claims for the antiquity of agriculture in New Guinea at
c. 10,000 cal BP (Golson and Hughes), or by at least 6950–6440
cal BP (Denham). Divergent readings of the archaeological remains are
presented at length in order to clarify the evidential bases for the
varying claims and to promote future discussion. Metaphorical
journeys: landscape, monuments and the body in a Scottish neolithic Choosing as its subject the Clyde series of megalithic
mortuary monuments on the Isle of Arran, in south-west Scotland, this
paper explores the way in which natural and built form interact through
the medium of the human body, a dynamic interplay that engendered particular
understandings of the world in the fourth millennium BC. Examining one
monument in detail at the outset is a device by which a series of physical
and intellectual themes may be introduced, which run through the wider
grouping of chambered cairns on the island. These are general principles
which are worked through and around the characteristics of specific
places, rather than regulatory structures which impose a strictly repetitive
order upon the relationship between architecture and landscape. The
ways in which these themes are expressed across the range of Clyde cairns
on Arran are then teased out further in a wider synthetic discussion. Crowning Glories:
Languages of Hair in Later Prehistoric Europe In most societies, the presentation of human hair
makes statements about projections of self, belonging, and difference.
Drawing upon analogies from living traditions where hair makes an important
contribution to symbolic grammars of personhood, this paper seeks to
explore the evidence for symbolism associated with head and body hair
in later European prehistory. This evidence is wide ranging, and includes
the (exceptional) survival of hair in the archaeological record, iconography,
and the equipment used for the management of hair. Questions are raised
as to the manner in which hair may have been employed in visual languages,
not only those associated with self-identity, but also in the presentation
of ‘others’, whether social outcasts, sacrificial victims,
shamed prisoners or special people, such as priests, shamans, or heroes.
Issues of relationships between hair and gender are addressed, particularly
with reference to iconography. The final part of the paper is concerned
with the socio-political connotations associated with personal grooming
and, in particular, the significance of adopting new, Roman, ways of
managing hair in late Iron Age Britain. The Late Upper
Palaeolithic Lithic Collection from Gough’s Cave, Cheddar, Somerset
and Human Use of the cave A first formal description is given of the largest
collection of lithic artefacts from Britain to be clearly dated to the
first part of the Late Glacial Interstadial. Much of this material is
interpreted as having been left in the cave following hunting of wild
horses and red deer in summer and winter. The large total of artefacts
is suggested to be a result of small increments over a lengthy period
rather than evidence of use of the cave as a base camp or aggregation
site. It is possible that the cave took on an additional or alternative
function as a funerary site. Petroglyphs
of Kahikinui, Maui, Hawaiian Islands: Rock Images within a Polynesian
Settlement Landscape We report on the recording and analysis of 17 petroglyph
or pictograph sites, containing a total of 168 glyphic units, carried
out as part of a large scale survey of the ancient district (moku) of
Kahikinui, on southeastern Maui Island, Hawaiian Islands. In contrast
with previous studies which have tended to view Hawaiian petroglyphs
as divorced from their larger archaeological context, we analyze and
interpret this corpus in terms of a landscape-level settlement analysis.
The Kahikinui petroglyphs exhibit a regular and limited range of motifs,
with certain styles of anthropomorphs and zoomorphs (especially dogs)
dominating; petroglyphs dating to the early post-European contact period
are characterized by Roman lettering reflecting early missionary efforts
at literacy. Petroglyphs are strongly associated either with an early
historic-period trail, or with rockshelters and cliff faces where there
is evidence for freshwater springs or seeps. In the arid environment
of Kahikinui, freshwater was a precious resource, and the petroglyphs
may have served as territorial markers, or signs of individual ownership
or rights of access. Excavations at three rockshelter sites with petroglyphs
provide indirect evidence for dating these petroglyphs to the late prehistoric
era (16th to 18th centuries AD). Comparisons with petroglyph sites on
other islands in the Hawaiian archipelago indicate the existence of
distinct regional variations. The Neolithic
Landscape of the Carnac Region, Brittany: New Insights from Digital
Approaches The typology and chronology of the Neolithic monuments
of the Carnac region of Brittany have been much debated. However, the
landscape of which they are a part has been under-researched, in part
due to the difficulty of conducting landscape research in the field.
Through complimenting fieldwork with digital approaches, this paper
demonstrates that the Neolithic monuments were deliberately situated
in distinct landscape settings. By investigating the characteristics
of the locations of the various types of monuments, new insight can
be shed on the ways in which the monuments were experienced and perceived. Early
Hominin Activity Traces at FxJj43, a One and a Half Million Year Old
Locality in the Koobi Fora Formation, in Northern Kenya: a Field Report FxJj43 is one of a series of Early Stone Age archaeological
sites preserved in the Okote Member of the Koobi Fora Formation, in
northern Kenya. It is the focus of a new research project that aims
to explore the impact of time-averaging on the composition and characteristics
of Early Stone Age archaeological assemblages. FxJj43 lends itself particularly
well to this exercise because, unlike other sites in the Okote Member,
it preserves a laterally extensive set of interlocking landforms. These
include part of a sandy river channel, its southern bank, levee, and
adjacent floodplain.
Palaeolithic Cave Engravings at Creswell Crags, England A series of undoubtedly Palaeolithic engraved figures have been recorded for the first time in the United Kingdom in Church Hole Cave, Creswell Crags. The first recorded images were thought initially to be two birds and a large ibex. This paper presents the preliminary results of the first systematic survey of the caves for engravings which identified a total of 16 figures. On closer examination with correct lighting the ibex was seen to be a stag, accomapanied by a bison and another herbivore. The presence of the birds was confirmed and at least one other bovid and several other images, including possible vulvas, were identified.
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