One of the most puzzling phenomena of the European Bronze Age, is that many communities buried or otherwise hid large numbers of valuable bronze objects, but never returned to retrieve them. This book focuses on the metal finds of one small European region, the southern Netherlands and the adjacent part of North Belgium. Fontijn considers the question of why so many elaborate bronze objects have been found in watery locations in this landscape, such as rivers, streams, and marshes, while so few have been found in the controlled excavations of local settlements and cemeteries. He looks at the evidence for the selective deposition of metal objects, and discusses the "cultural biographies" of weapons, ornaments or dress fittings, and axes respectively. He considers how different depositional contexts might be related to the construction of various forms of social identity, such as male or female, or of belonging to local or non-local communities. He also looks at the way the land itself may have been defined and structured by the act of object deposition.

Sacrificial Landscapes: Cultural biographies of persons, objects and 'natural' places in the Bronze Age of the southern Netherlands, c. 2300-600 BC (Analecta Praehistorica Leidensia)

Politics & Social Sciences

Fontijn, David R.

Archaeology

Sidestone Press

An Archaeology of Exchange is primarily an archaeology of human sociality and anti-sociality. Nevertheless, archaeological studies of exchange are numerous and varied, and archaeologists do not always approach exchange as a social mechanism, concentrating rather on the cultural, economic or political implications of exchange. Even so, at times it is worth retracing the implicit theoretical steps that archaeologists have taken and look at human sociality through the eyes of exchange as something new. This is undertaken here by concentrating on the exchange of social valuables in the later part of the Late Ceramic Age of the Greater and Lesser Antilles (AD 1000/1100-1492). Questions concerning this exchange are framed in a novel mix of theories such as Costly Signalling Theory coupled with the paradox of keeping-while-giving and the notion of gene/culture co-evolution joined with Complex Adaptive System theory. All these theories can be related back to the concept of exchange as put forward by the French sociologist Marcel Mauss in his famous "Essai sur le don" of 1950. This theoretical framework is put to the test by an extensive case-study of a specific category of Late Ceramic Age social valuables, shell faces, which have an area of distribution that ranges from central Cuba to the Ile de Ronde in the Grenadines. The study of these enigmatic artefacts provides new insights into the nature and use of social valuables by communities and individuals in the Late Ceramic Age.

Costly Giving, Giving Guaízas: Towards an organic model of the exchange of social valuables in the Late Ceramic Age Caribbean

Mol, Angus A. A.

Anthropology

Philosopher Bertrand Arthur William Russell (1872-1970) lived almost an entire century, a century full of change. He was one of the few who dared to provide answers to the impossible questions of twentieth century world politics. Several historians have analyzed his attitude towards war, but seldom did they agree on why Russell felt a certain way about war and what caused his often radical attitude. Also, many questions remained unanswered: why did he object to the First World War and supported the Second? And did he really advocate a preventive war against Russia? This book explains the background, motivations and passions behind Russell's sometimes seemingly controversial attitude towards the First World War, the Second World War and the Cold War. By analyzing the consistencies and changes in his thought between 1914 and 1970, the story of twentieth century struggles are relived through the eyes of this invincible rationalist from the nineteenth century.

Consistency and Change in Bertrand Russell's Attitude towards War

Slot, Laura

Philosophy

A facsimile reprint of a classic work on the antiquity of the Netherlands and north west Europe, originally published in 1660, now re-issued and set in context with an Introduction by Wijnand A B van der Sanden. Text in Dutch throughout.

Korte Beschryvinge van eenige Vergetene en Verborgene Antiquiteten der Provintien en Landen gelegen tusschen de Noord-Zee, de Yssel, Emse en Lippe (Dutch Edition)

History

Picardt, Johan

Ancient Civilizations

Similar to the osteological study of prehistoric human remains, the study of human dental wear has been proven to afford a wealth of information on human cultural practices. This study is aimed at recording and understanding the dental wear patterns in human dentitions from the Caribbean archaeological sites of Anse la Gourde, located on the most eastern point of Guadeloupe, and Tutu located on the small island of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. The premise of this research is the assumption that dental wear patterns are informative of a great many aspects of human health and lifestyle. The use of the mouth and teeth in both masticatory and non-masticatory activities is assumed to leave traces which can be studied post-mortem to infer the lifestyle linked to such activities. In order to build a complete picture of these activities and the lifestyle linked to the dental wear patterns, other lines of evidence are also followed here, such as ethnohistoric and ethnographical accounts, and evidence from modern dentistry. Using this combination of different lines of evidence, it has been possible to characterize the diet and a range of cultural practices of the inhabitants at each site. The individuals selected in this sample very actively engaged their teeth in many non-masticatory, culturally defined activities, which put their dentitions under a great deal of stress. It seems these people's use of their mouths and teeth in this way was a very conscious decision, characterized by their cultural background.

Teeth Tell Tales: Dental wear as evidence for cultural practices at Anse a la Gourde and Tutu (Caribbean)

Mickleburgh, Hayley L.

In the centre of the Mexican town of Mitla stands a run-down chapel on an overgrown pre-colonial pyramid. The chapel, housing three crosses, is the town's Calvario, the local representation of the hill on which Christ died. Although buses full of tourists on their way to Chiapas or on daytrips from Oaxaca City swarm the town every day almost none of them ever visit the Calvario. Instead they stick to the tourist zone to marvel at the famous mosaic friezes of the pre-colonial temples and shop for traditional souvenirs in the tourist market. If they would climb the steep steps to the chapel they would discover that despite appearances the building still sees extensive use as pilgrims from the wide Zapotec region visit it to bring offerings to and ask favours of the souls of their dearly departed. And as these offerings consist of elaborate arrangements of flowers, fruits, black candles, cacao beans and bundles of copal incense, such tourists might well start to wonder where the origins of these practices lie.  It is this question that this thesis seeks to answer. To achieve this, current theories on cultural continuity, syncretism, the materiality of religion and ritual theory are combined with a study of archaeological, historical, iconographical and anthropological sources. In addition ethnographic fieldwork has been conducted to come to a better understanding of the offerings made in the Calvario today. In three parts, the thesis first addresses the history of Mitla as 'The Place of the Dead', then of the Calvario as a ritual location and finally of the offerings for the dead. Combining these three lines of research an interesting image is formed of the continuity of ancestor veneration in this busy tourist town.

Visiting the Calvario at Mitla, Oaxaca: a critical look at the continuity of a religious practice

Arfman, William R.

A veritable veterinary museum, a large collection of historical objects used in treating animal diseases in the past brought to life with the stories about their use and collection. Farmer Servais Hutschemakers illuminates a lost world. (Dutch text) Volksdiergeneeskunde is een vrijwel verdwenen,en wat geheimzinnige, wereld van praktische oplossingen, kwakzalverij, toverij, geloof en bijgeloof. Een bijna ontoegankelijke wereld die alleen kan worden betreden door mensen die vertrouwen inboezemen, door intimi. Zon vertrouwens persoon is Servais Hutschemakers, zelf boer geweest en zijn hele leven gefascineerd door het verleden. Hij verzamelde in 20 jaar tijd een unieke collectie gebruiksvoorwerpen die met volksdiergeneeskunde te maken hebben, maar echt uniek zijn de verhalen die met deze voorwerpen verbonden zijn. Die verhalen staan opgetekend in dit boek en lichten een tipje op van de sluier waar achter de geheimzinnige wereld van de volksdiergeneeskunde verborgen ligt.

Vóór de veearts kwam... Volksdiergeneeskunde van weleer (Dutch Edition)

Hutschemakers, Servais

Almost fifty years ago J. J. Butler started his research to trace the possible remains of a Bronze Age metalworker's workshop in the Netherlands. Yet, while metalworking has been deduced on the ground of the existence of regional types of axes and some scarce finds related to metalworking, the smith's workplace has remained elusive. In this Research Master Thesis I have tried to tackle this problem. I have considered both the social as well as the technological aspects of metalworking to be able to determine conclusively whether metalworking took place in the Netherlands or not. The first part of the thesis revolves around the social position of the smith and the social organization of metalworking. My approach entails a re-evaluation of the current theories on metalworking, which I believe to be unfounded and one-sided. They tend to disregard production of everyday objects of which the most prominent example is the axe. The second part deals with the technological aspects of metalworking and how these processes are manifested in the archaeological record. Based on evidence from archaeological sites elsewhere in Europe and with the aid of experimental archaeology a metalworking toolkit is constructed. Finally, a method is presented which might help archaeologists recognize the workplace of a Bronze Age smith.

Bronze Age Metalworking in the Netherlands: A research into the preservation of metallurgy-related artefacts and the social position of the smith

Kuijpers, M. H. G.

The sophistication of Neanderthal behavioural strategies have been the subject of debate from the moment of their recognition as a separate species of hominin in 1856. This book presents a study on Neanderthal foraging prowess. Novel ethnographic and primatological insights, suggest that increasing dependence on high quality foods, such as meat, caused the brain to evolve to a large size and thus led to highly intelligent hominins. From this baseline, the author studies the Neanderthal archaeological record in order to gain insight into the knowledge-intensity of Neanderthal hunting behaviour. In this research, an optimal foraging perspective is applied to Pleistocene bone assemblages. According to this perspective, foraging success is an important factor in an individuals evolutionary fitness. Therefore foraging is organised as efficiently as possible. The prey species that were selected and hunted by Neanderthals are analysed. The author investigates economic considerations that influenced Neanderthal prey choice. These considerations are based on estimates of the population densities of the available prey species and on estimates of the relative difficulty of hunting those species. The results demonstrate that when Neanderthals operated within poor environments, their prey choice was constrained: they were not able to hunt species living in large herds. In these environments, solitary species were the preferred prey. It is striking that Neanderthals successfully focussed on the largest and most dangerous species in poor environments. However, in richer environments, these constraints were lifted and species living in herds were successfully exploited. In order to assess the accuracy of this approach, bone assemblages formed by cave hyenas are also analysed. The combined results of the Neanderthal and hyena analyses show that an optimal foraging perspective provides a powerful tool to increase our understanding of Pleistocene ecology. The niches of two social carnivores of similar size, which were seemingly similar, are successfully distinguished. This result lends extra credence to the conclusions regarding Neanderthal foraging strategies. This book contributes to the debate surrounding Neanderthal competence and ability. It combines an up-to-date review of current knowledge on Neanderthal biology and archaeology, with novel approaches to the archaeological record. It is thus an important contribution to the current knowledge of this enigmatic species.

A view to a kill: investigating Middle Palaeolithic subsistence using an optimal foraging perspective

Dusseldorp, G. L.

Hoe overleven leden van professionele teams in een wereld die gekenmerkt wordt door individualisering, versnelling en winstmaximalisatie? In tegenstelling tot de theorieën in de gangbare managementliteratuur concludeert dit onderzoek, dat de dynamiek in teams in commerciële organisaties vooral beheerst wordt door eigenbelang, angst, bindingsverlies en macht. Daarin onderscheiden deze professionals zich nauwelijks van gewone mensen in het alledaagse leven: Net het echte leven. Drie teams met een complexe opdracht worden intensief gevolgd. Gedurende dit veldwerk blijkt dat teamprocessen in de onderstroom (meestal genegeerd in de bestaande literatuur, door managers en de teamleden zelf), een vitale rol spelen in het handelen van de individuele teamleden en in de teamprestaties. Machtsposities, uitsluitingsmechanismen, vertrouwensvragen en communicatieproblemen bepalen de effectiviteit van een team sterker dan gewoonlijk wordt gesuggereerd. In een complex proces van ambigue gedragingen, opgevoerde voorstellingen en versluierde belangen verloopt de teamdynamiek weinig rationeel. Uiterst zelden zijn teamleden zich dit expliciet bewust; onzekerheid, irrationeel en illusoir gedrag, eigenbelang en angst zijn nu eenmaal geen processen die gemakkelijk onthuld worden. Doordat zij het belang niet zien, bestaat er in deze door versnelling voortgedreven teams doorgaans weinig animo om hier aandacht aan te besteden. Patronen die in dit onderzoek worden blootgelegd beïnvloeden de effectiviteit van teams èn het werkplezier van de betrokken teamleden in hoge mate. Men kan hier dus maar beter rekening mee houden en op in spelen. Vanuit deze visie presenteert Belia van den Berg nieuwe ideeën voor de aansturing van teams, waarbij ruimte ontstaat om de onderstroom toe te laten en tot nu toe verhulde mechanismen in teamdynamiek te benutten.

Net het echte leven: Belangen, macht en illusies in professionele teams (Just real life: interests, power and magic in professional teams) (Dutch Edition)

Van den Berg, Belia

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