eNewsletters
Volume 12 October 2006
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WORLD ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONGRESS
eNewsletter
No 12: October 2006
Editor: Madeleine Regan
Madeleine@ideasandwords.com.au
Contents:
1. Executive News
2. WAC News
3. News from WAC Members
4. Forthcoming Conferences and Events
· 2006 Conferences
· 2007 Conferences
· Call for papers
5. News Items
· Publications
· Other items
6. Excerpts from other archaeological
newsletters (used with permission)
6(a) SALON (three editions from October
and September 2006)
6(b) ICOMOS (Australia) (three editions from October and
September 2006)
7. Situation vacant
1. Executive News
I am pleased to acknowledge the range of contributions
that members have
made to this issue of the WAC eNewsletter. It
is important to have news about
members' publications, the conferences they are
involved with and other activities, so we
are very grateful to the people who send
us information for inclusion in the newsletter.
WAC's 20th anniversary occurred in
September 2006. For those who may not
know the background, the genesis of WAC arose
out of fundamental
disagreements concerning the organization of the
11th International Congress of
the International Union for Prehistoric and
Protohistoric Sciences (UISPP), which
was planned for Southampton, England, in
1986. Against a backdrop of growing
violence in South Africa, and in light of the
United Nations cultural and academic bans
against Botha's apartheid regime, the city of
Southampton decided to ban
South African participants from the conference,
and the Southampton organizers of this event
decided to support this decision. They felt
this was a moral issue,
and that it was time for archaeology to fully engage
with the social and political
dimensions of the discipline. From the point
of view of the UISPP, the issue was one of
academic freedom, and about supporting colleagues from all
parts of the
world, irrespective of political persuasion. The
outcome of this debate was the
reallocation of the 11th Congress of the
UISPP, to Germany, in 1987—and the
birth of WAC, in the form of the First Congress,
which was held in Southampton,
England, in September,1986.
For a number of years, an uneasy relationship
existed between the UISPP and
WAC. Though there were several earlier attempts,
the first serious signs of
warming occurred in 2003 when Luiz Oosterbeek spoke
at the Plenary session of
WAC5, held in Washington, DC, and invited WAC
members to the 15th UISPP Congress in Lisboa,
Portugal. Numerous discussions and meetings
followed
this, one outcome of which was that I accepted
an invitation to speak in my capacity
as President of WAC at the opening session of
the 15th Congress of the
UISPP, in September, 2006. This speech is available
on the WAC web site.
Briefly, the core of my message was that this
UIPPS meeting provided an
opportunity for rapprochement between the
UISPP and WAC. While the
disagreements of 1986 arose from a particular
set of historical circumstances, in 2006 archaeologists
are faced by many challenges, and we are
stronger if we
address these challenges together. Today, a spirit
of cooperation informs the
relationships between WAC and the IUPPS. While
each organisation has specific, though interrelated,
roles in the global community, we are developing
cooperative
relationships that benefit the members of both
organizations.
Only 20 years after its genesis, WAC is
accomplishing remarkable things. We
routinely hold InterCongresses in various parts
of the world, we publish a wide
range of book series, we provide small amounts
of funding for projects that
support Indigenous agendas, or scholars in economically
disadvantaged
countries, and we are developing programs that
make a significant difference to
teaching and learning in those parts of the world
that most need assistance. The
World Archaeological Congress' Global Libraries
program, for example, provides books
for 50 institutional libraries in economically
disadvantaged countries.
Under the able leadership of Sally May and her
colleagues, over 2000 books,
journals and CDs have been donated to this program since
January, 2006. WAC
covers the costs of postage, and WAC members administer the
program,
package and post the books, and solicit sponsorship
to cover postage costs, or to allow
libraries to purchase new books of their choice
(rather than being dependent on what is donated
to the organization). This is a wonderful program,
and anyone who wishes to help with its development,
or to provide support in other ways,
should contact Sally May directly (see below).
The Global Libraries Program reminds me
to remind readers that WAC is a
member organization, in which every accomplishment
is achieved through the
volunteered labour of members. The success of
our organization directly reflects the commitment
and hard work of our members.
Claire Smith, for the Executive
2. WAC News
Global Libraries Project
The Global Libraries Project is a World Archaeological
Congress initiative, which
aims to develop the archaeological literary collections
of libraries in developing
countries. By supporting such libraries we hope
to assist archaeological and
cultural heritage management students and professionals
to undertake their study and their work.
Currently 50 libraries from 37 different
countries are receiving donations.
The Global Libraries Project relies on the donations
of WAC members and
affiliated organizations, and since January of
this year over 2000 books, journals and CDs
have been donated. This makes a big difference
to the 50 Global Libraries. Members are invited
to make a donation of books or a financial contribution
to the program (so that new books can be
purchased for the libraries).
Further information is available on the
following website:
Website: http://www.worldarchaeologicalcongress.org/site/globallibraries.php
Enquiries: sally.may@flinders.edu.au
Invitation to WAC members
Interdisciplinary initiative: Archaeozoology
session in Jamaica
A session entitled "Scales and feathers:
an environmental/cultural perspective"
has been accepted within the theme:
Archaeology of the Environment and
Cultural Landscapes, at the WAC InterCongress,
Kingston, Jamaica, 2027
May, 2007. While the session abstract will be
available to those interested in the
meeting, I would like to reach out to the broader community
of WAC and beyond.
The aim of this session is to further cooperation
between archaeologists and
zoologists on a global forum. Counting on international
perspectives represented
by WAC, I would like to invite participants
to discuss how the development of
nonutilitarian animal use, especially, was influenced
by environmental vs.
cultural factors.
The title is a reminder that, in spite of their
importance as lato sensu
archaeological artifacts, animal bone finds tend
to be rather insufficient in tackling
complex cultural questions in themselves.
Therefore, I would like to also include
papers on historical/ethnographic sources relating
to animals. A global
interdisciplinary exchange will broaden the
scope of understanding
zooarchaeological finds as true artefacts, further elucidating
crosscultural
variability in archaeological subjects such as
value, mobility and tradition.
László Bartosiewicz, Session Organiser President,
International Council for Archaeozoology email:
bartwicz@yahoo.com
Institute of Archaeological Sciences H1088
Budapest, Muzeum krt. 4/B Hungary
3. News from WAC Members
from Dr Cornelius Holtorf University
of Lund
A silver ring discovered by Swedish archaeologists
in Portugal
A silver ring was the most precious artefact
found this year by an international
excavation team investigating a monumental
prehistoric grave in southern
Portugal. The ring had been lost days earlier by
Barbara, herself a member of the
archaeological team.
Cornelius Holtorf, an Assistant Professor from the
Department of Archaeology and Ancient History at
the University of Lund (Sweden) directs
the project atMonte da Igreja near Évora
in the central Alentejo. He says: "We are interested
in the entire history of the site. A find
from several millennia ago, when the monument
was being constructed and used for the first time,
is as important to us as a find from yesterday."
Holtorf explains that Neolithic people built
the imposing collective burial site in
order to alter the landscape forever.
The large granite slabs were to ensure that
the structure lasted into the future. Some five
thousand years later, the imposing
structure still stands on the same hill. But with
the original intentions of the
builders lost, later generations had to come
up with their own interpretations of
the site.
The new results from this spring confirm
that already in the late Bronze Age, the
grave chamber was reused although its precise
purpose at that time is not
known. Later, in the Roman period, a small farm building
was built next to the
monument. At that time, the 4th century AD,
the ancient grave had become a
quarry and convenient part of an animal enclosure.
Lost coins and other artefacts suggest
that the site was subsequently revisited in the
11th, 17th and 19th
centuries. It was not until the middle of the
20th century that archaeologists first
recorded the grave at Monte da Igreja.
Holtorf insists that his project, which is funded
by the Swedish Science Council
(Vetenskapsrådet), is but the most recent
episode in a long history of reusing and
reinterpreting the prehistoric monument. Seen
in this light, the silver ring is archaeological
evidence for the presence of the contemporary excavation
team.
It is also evidence for the craftsmanship of
a modern silversmith and the wealth
of the archaeologist who owned it.
"At the end of the season, we took photographs of
the ring and then returned it
to Barbara", says Holtorf with a smile.
Dr Cornelius Holtorf
Project homepage: http://members.chello.se/cornelius/Igreja/
contact: cornelius.holtorf@ark.lu.se
from Nigel Hetherington
Theban Mapping Project
The Theban Mapping Project announces the
publication of the Valley of the
Kings Site Management Masterplan on the TMP's
website :
http://www.thebanmappingproject.com
The Valley of the Kings (Wadi Biban el Mouluk)
on the West Bank of the Nile in
Luxor, in the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a World
Heritage site whose
archaeological fame and economic importance as
a tourist destination are
internationally recognized. The result of
its popularity has been a massive
increase in visitor numbers over the last
decade, now often exceeding 7,000
visitors every day. This number is guaranteed
to increase in future years. Without
carefully prepared site management plans, the
very existence of this fragile
resourcecould be seriously threatened. In
the spring of 2004, the Supreme Council of Antiquities
(SCA) commissioned the Theban Mapping Project
to prepare a site management masterplan for the
Valley. This project was generously supported
by the World Monuments Fund
(WMF), and the American Research Center in Egypt
(ARCE), and several private
donors.
This 'final draft for public consulation'
is now available for you to download and
we would very much like to have your feedback regarding
our proposal for the
future of this very important site.
Nigel J. Hetherington
Conservation Manager Theban Mapping Project
Nigel also provides an address for his Blog:
http://spaces.msn.com/members/ArchaeologyinEgypt/
From Paul Rainbird
University of Wales, Lampeter
Archaeologists from the University of
Wales, Lampeter have continued over the
northern summer to work in various places
including Cyprus and Scotland. The
Department's research and training excavations
at Strata Florida Abbey in Wales have
continued under the direction of Professor David
Austin with accomplishments this season including
exciting results from geophysical survey.
We continue to offer degrees in archaeology in
Lampeter and Carmarthen and at postgraduate level
we are in the process of validating new programmes
in the Archaeology of the Biblical Lands,
to be convened by the newly appointed
Dr Andrew Petersen, and a unique parttime
MA in Archaeoastronomy and Landscape Archaeology.
Our professional services in environmental archaeology and
dendrochronology have recently been enhanced
by the launch of a new website at www.lamp.ac.uk/uwlas/
This summer saw the retirement of Professor Andrew
Fleming, who became
Professor Emeritus. Also retired is the longserving
Departmental Administrator Mrs Maureen Hunwicks.
Dr Greg Stevenson has come to the end
of his contract and becomes an Honorary Research
Fellow as does Dr Trevor Kirk and Mr Robin
Heath. Dr Andrew Petersen has been appointed Lecturer in
Near Eastern Archaeology and we are
aiming to appoint to a new lectureship in Classical
Archaeology. Dr Paula Jones has been appointed
as our archaeology tutor based at Trinity
College, Carmarthen. We also have two new appointments
in
anthropology.
For further information about the Department
visit our Website at
www.lamp.ac.uk/archanth/
Paul Rainbird
Department of Archaeology & Anthropology University
of Lampter, Wales
4. Forthcoming Conferences and Events
CONFERENCES 2006
CHAT 2006
CHAT 2006:
Friday 10 Sunday
12 November 2006
Bristol, UK
The programme for the CHAT 2006 meeting
in Bristol is online at
http://www.bris.ac.uk/archanth/events/chat2006.html
All enquiries:
Dan.Hicks@bris.ac.uk (Academic
Programme) or
Sam.Barlow@bris.ac.uk (Conference
Administration).
Constructing PostMedieval
Archaeology in Italy: A New Agenda
University Ca' Foscari of Venice
24 – 25 November 2006
Details of the full programme can be found at
the following website:
www.arcmedvenezia.it
The Transformations Conference 2006: Culture
and the Environment in
Human Development Australian National University,
Canberra, Australia,
2729 November 2006
Full details of the conference can be found at
the conference website
http://www.TransformationsConference.com
Cultural Heritage and Indigenous Cultural and
Intellectual Property Rights
A World Archaeological Congress Symposium
Burra, South Australia 3 5 December 2006
Convenors: Claire Smith and Heather Burke,
Department of Archaeology,
Flinders University Program Chair: Tim
Ormsby
All enquiries:
Claire.smith@flinders.edu.au
or Heather.Burke@flinders.edu.au
Quality in Cultural Heritage Management: Assessment Models
and
Methods.
The HERITY Proposal
Rome (Italy) December 5 9, 2006
More information is available at the following
website:
http://www.herity.it/
HERITY Italia
c/o DRI
V. E. Filiberto, 17
00185 ROMA ITALY +39.06.7049.7920
info@herity.it
CONFERENCES 2007
Conference on Repatriation of Cultural Heritage
Nuuk, Greenland 13 15 February 2007
To mark the International Polar Year of
2007 2008,
The Greenland National
Museum & Archive is hosting an international
conference on repatriation of
cultural heritage.
For more details, contact:
Mille Gabriel
mille.gabriel@natmus.dk
Tel: +45 33 47 34 48
Fax: +45 33 47 33 22
CALL FOR PAPERS
VII International Conference on Easter Island
and the Pacific Islands:
Migration, Identity, and Cultural Heritage.
Gotland University, Visby, Gotland, Sweden
August 2025, 2007
Session: Seascapes and Island Archaeology
Organisers: Paul Rainbird (University of Wales,
Lampeter, Great Britain) and
Owe Ronström (Gotland University, Sweden)
Abstract:
It has for long been accepted that landscapes
are polyvocal and are meaningful
to different people in different ways. Anthropologists
and archaeologists have
attempted to tease out these multiple meanings
and in doing so have given us nuanced understandings of
landscape perceptions which have enhanced the
knowledgeofhistoriesandgeographiesofvariousplaces.
Itcanbearguedthat
seascapes are equally ingrained with multiple
understandings beyond a simple
perception of 'bridge or barrier'.
This session invites contributions which
considers the implications of the perception of
the sea(s) which is such a feature
of introductory descriptions to Easter Island
(i.e. distances to next nearest land,)
and also the implications of Epeli Hau'ofa's
'sea of islands' which reverses the
land/sea relation of island in a sea so common
in island archaeology.
Contributions from these perspectives which
may be regarded as enhancing our understanding
of Easter Island are welcome for any period
or place.
Email
proposed title and short abstract to: p.rainbird@lamp.ac.uk
For Conference details, see Website at
www.hgo.se/archaeology/conference2007
5. News Items
Publications
Left Coast Press Inc, to publish One
World Archaeology Series and UCL
Press Archaeology Books
Beginning with volume 48, the One World Archaeology
series will be published
by Left Coast Press, Inc. The series, edited
by Joan Gero, Mark Leone, and
Robin Torrence, contain selections of the papers
presented at the WAC
Congresses, held every four years, and InterCongress
meetings. Current
volumes were developed from the WAC Congress
in Washington, DC in 2003.
These books will be available from our distributors,
Univ. Arizona Press, Univ.
British Columbia Press, Berg Publishers. For more
information or to order, visit
the Left Coast website: www.LCoastPress.com
Coming in December 2006…
One World Archaeology, Vol. 49
Archaeology to Delight and Instruct
Active Learning in the University Classroom
Edited by Heather Burke and Claire Smith (both
at Flinders Univ.)
288 pages Cloth ISBN 9781598742565
$79.00
Paperack ISBN 9781598742572 $29.95
This book presents novel and interesting
ways of teaching archaeological concepts and processes
to college and university students. Seeking
alternatives to the formal lecture format, the
various contributions seek better ways
of communicating the
complexities of human behavior and of engaging
students in active
learning about the past. This collection of imaginative
exercises designed by 20 master instructors
on three continents, include role playing, games,
simulations, activities, and performance, are
all designed to teach archaeological concepts
in interesting and engaging
ways. Sponsored by the World Archaeological Congress
Now available:
One World Archaeology, Vol. 48
African ReGenesis Confronting
Social Issues in the Diaspora
Edited Jay B. Haviser (Netherland Antilles
Archaeology Dept.) and
Kevin C. MacDonald (UCL)
294 pages Cloth ISBN 9781598742176
$79.00/ Paper ISBN 9781598742831 $34.95
Ripped from motherland and family, ethnically mixed
to quell the
potential of uprisings, and brutalized by regimes
of hard labor, the
heart the spirit of Africa did not stop beating
in the New World.
Rather, it survived and has reemerged; changed
by contacts with new
cultures and environments, butstill part of the
continuum of African
tradition: an African ReGenesis. This is the first
volume in its field
to emphasize the interdisciplinary temporal and
geographic comparative
research of archaeology, anthropology, history and
linguistics to allow
us to form unique perspectives on broader trends in
the transformation
and (re) emergence of African Diaspora cultures.
African ReGenesis confirms
that regardless of discipline, from continental
Africa to Europe, the Western Hemisphere and Indian
Ocean, all diaspora research requires a relevance
to modern communities and sensitivity to the interplay
with contemporary cultural identities. Historical
matters concerning race and cultural diversity
remain contentious, even today. African ReGenesis
strikes at the nerve of urgency that the past,
present and future globalization of African cultures
is a cornerstone of the entire human experience,
and it deserves recognition as such.
Future Volumes, available in 2007, include:
A Fearsome Heritage: Diverse Legacies of the
Cold War, edited by John
Schofield and Wayne Cocroft (50)
Rethinking Agriculture: Archaeological and Ethnoarchaeological
Perspectives,
edited by Timothy P. Denham, José
Iriarte, Luc Vrydaghs (51)
Other volumes in preparation for 2007
publication include:
Margaret LeshikarDenton and Pilar Luna Erreguerena
(eds.),
Underwater Cultural Heritage in Latin America
and the Caribbean
Inés Domingo Sanz, Danae Fiore, and Sally May (eds.),
Art and Social Identity
Amy GazinSchwartz and Angèle P. Smith
(eds.), Landscapes of Clearance
John Grattan and Robin Torrence (eds.), Living
under the Shadow:
Cultural Impacts of Volcanic Eruptions
Yannis Hamilakis and Philip Duke (eds.), Archaeology
and Capitalism:
From Ethics to Politics
Patricia Rubertone (ed.), Monuments, Memories
and Archaeology of
Place in Native North America
Dan Hicks, Laura McAtackney, and Graham Fairclough
(eds.) Envisioning
Landscape: Perspectives and Politics in Archaeology
and Heritage
The subject matter of this series is wideranging,
reflecting the diverse interests of WAC.
WAC gives place to considerations of power and
politics in framing archaeological questions and
results. WAC also gives place and privilege to
minorities who have often been silenced or regarded
as beyond capable of making main line contributions
to the field. All royalties from the series
are used to help the wider work of WAC, including
providing the means for less advantaged
colleagues to attend WAC conferences, thereby
enabling them to
contribute to the development of the academic
debate surrounding the study of
the past.
The OneWorld Archaeology series was launched
after the first WAC Congress in 1986
in Southhampton, England. Books prior to Volume
48 were published by Routledge.
Left Coast is also proud to announce that it
is now publisher of the archaeology list
of UCL Institute of Archaeology, formerly published
by UCL Press. Generated
from one of the preeminent archaeological
institutes in the world, the UCL
publication program will include the best
theory, research, pedagogy and
reference materials in archaeology and cognate
disciplines, through publishing
exemplary work of scholars worldwide. There are
17 books currently in print from this
publications program and another 20
to be published before the end of 2007.
More information on the Left Coast Press website
at: www.LCoastPress.com
Archaeolingua Publications
Archaeolingua Foundation is an independent, nonprofit
organisation dedicated to interdisciplinary research
and connected activities in Archaeology, Linguistics and
other related fields.
The following are recent texts published by the
Archaeolingua Foundation.
1. Landscape Ideologies, Thomas Meier (ed.)
Contents:
On Landscape Ideologies: An Introduction (Thomas
Meier), The Term "Cultural
Landscape"(Ulf Ickerodt), Landscape in Prehistoric
Archaeology: Comparing
Western and Eastern Paradigms (Olena V. Smyntyna),
Settlement,
Environmentaland
Landscape Archaeology in Eastern Central
Europe between
AngloAmerican
Influence and Communist Ideology (Grietje
Suhr), The
Archaeology of Lowlands: A Few Remarks on
the Methodology of Aerial Survey (Martin
Gojda), Debating the Fürstensitz Model:
Prolegomena for New Directions in the
Archaeology of West Hallstatt Societies (Adriene
Baron Tacla), Place
Names and Folk Landscapes in Southern Germany as
Archaeological Resources (Matthew Leigh Murray),
Our Place in the Landscape? An Archaeologist's Ideology
of Landscape Perception and Management (Graham
Fairclough), The
EU: In Need of a Supranational View of Cultural
Heritage (Anders Högberg), The
Challenge of Bridging the Gap between Landscape
Theory and Practice:
Establishing Cultural Heritage Monitoring, the
DEMOTEC Example (Birgitte
Skar), Tuscany: Historical Landscapes as Cultural
Heritage (Riccardo Lorenzi,
Marinella Pasquinucci, Oreste Signore)
2. The Archaeology of Cult and Death Mercourios
Georgiadis and Chrysanthi
Gallou (eds.)
Contents:
Introduction (Mercourios Georgiadis and Chrysanthi
Gallou), Death, Display and
Performance: A Discussion of the Mortuary Remains
at Çayönü Tepesi (Karina
Croucher), Cultural and Ritual Evidence in the
Archaeological Record: Modeled
Skulls from the Ancient Near East (Michelle Bonogofsky),
The Peqi'in Cave:
Ancestor Worship in the Chalcolithic Period
(Zvi Gal), Religion and Wealth:
Aspects of the Social Dynamic in SouthCentral
Crete during the PrePalatial
and ProtoPalatial Periods (Joanne M. A. Murphy),
Games and Funerary Beliefs in
ProtoPalatial Crete (Helène Whittaker),
Ancestor Worship, Tradition and
Regional Variation in Mycenaean Culture (Chrysanthi
Gallou and Mercourios Georgiadis), Priestly
Burials in Mycenaean Greece (Christina Aamont),
Poor Relations: A Pauper's Cemetery
in Poseidonia/Paestum (Mikels Skele), Archaeology of
Children: SubAdult Burials during the Iron Age
in the TransUrals and Western Siberia (Natalia
Berseneva)
For more information about titles and how
to place orders contact:
Fruzsina Cseh
Editorial Assistant
Archaeolingua Publications H1014
BudapestÚri utca 49.
Tel./Fax: +361 375 8939
www.archaeolingua.hu
New perspectives on Minoan Crete
Archaeology and European Modernity: Producing
and Consuming the 'Minoans' edited by Y Hamilakis
and N Momigliano
This unique collection contributes to current
debates on the relationship between
archaeology and European modernity by
focusing on the specific case study of
Minoan Crete, which has often been hailed as the
cradle of European civilisation.
It represents the first multidisciplinary effort
to understand critically the
disciplinary history and reception of the Minoan
past, by bringing together the
work of archaeologists, historians, anthropologists,
art historians, and literary scholars.
The contributions deal with a variety of
issues concerning the 'production' and
'consumption' of the Minoan past, especially
its use in the construction of
European, Mediterranean, Greek, and Cretan identities.
They cover an
exceptionally wide array of topics, ranging
from the historical and intellectual
environment in which the rediscovery of Minoan
Crete took place to the role of
the Minoan past in Freudian psychoanalysis, and
from the reception of the
Minoans in modern European artistic movements
and literary works to tourism,
heritage management, and pedagogy. The volume
will be of interest to
archaeologists, historians, anthropologists, and
art historians interested in the
politics of the past, the archaeology and anthropology
of identity, the critical
history of archaeology, colonialism, nationalism,
and European modernity.
Contents
I. INTRODUCTION
1. Archaeology and European Modernity: Stories
from the Borders Yannis Hamilakis and
Nicoletta Momigliano
II. THE PRESENT IN THE PAST: PRODUCING THE
'MINOANS'
2. A Country in a 'State of Destitution' Labouring
under an 'Unfortunate
Regime':Crete at the Turn of the 20th Century (1898
1906), Philip Carabott
3. The Minoans a Welsh invention? A view from east
Crete, James Whitley
4. From Ideologies of Motherhood to 'Collecting
Mother Goddesses,'
Christine Morris
5. Knossos as Memorial, Ritual, and Metaphor,
Philip Duke
6. Forging the Minoan Past, Ken Lapatin
7. Crete, Greece, and the Orient in the Thought
of Gordon Childe (with an
appendix on Toynbee and Spengler: the Afterlife
of the Minoans in European
Intellectual History), Andrew Sherratt
8. Minoan Wannabees: The Resurrection of Minoan
Influences in Scandinavian
Archaeology, Lena Sjögren
III. THE PAST IN THE PRESENT: CONSUMING THE 'MINOANS'
9. The Colonial, the National, and the Local:
Legacies of the 'Minoan' Past
Yannis Hamilakis
10. Knossos: Social Uses of a Monumental Landscape,
Esther Solomon
11. Minoans in Modern Greek Literature, Roderick Beaton
12. Happy Little Extroverts and Bloodthirsty Tyrants:
Minoans and Mycenaeans in Literature in English
after Evans and Schliemann, David Roessel
13. Cretan Psychoanalysis and Freudian Archaeology:
H.D.'s Minoan Analysis with Freud in 1933,
Cathy Gere
14. The Arts of Bronze Age Crete and the European
Modern Style: Reflecting
and Shaping Different Identities, Fritz Blakolmer
15. Minoan Crete in 20th Century Italian Culture,Vincenzo
La Rosa and Pietro
Militello
16. The 'Minoan' Experience of Schoolchildren
in Crete, Anna Simandiraki
(Creta Antica 7, Aldo Ausilio, 2006); Pp: 277.
Price GB £85.00;
Orders: info@ausilioeditore.com
www.oxbowbooks.com
A new text about archaeology in Japan
Archaeology, Society and Identity in Modern Japan
covers a range of broad
public archaeology, postcolonial archaeology,
and general theoreticalarchaeologyrelated
issues including modernity and archaeology, archaeology and
the selfidentification
of the public, postmodern difficulties and
the changing mode of the consumption of archaeological
past, archaeology and education.
http://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp
isbn=0521849535
Koji Mizoguchi, Ph.D.
Graduate School of Social and Cultural Studies,
Kyushu University,421
Ropponmatsu, Chuo Ward,
Fukuoka, JAPAN 8108560
Email: mizog@rc.kyushuu.ac.jp
A new book on maize in the Americas
Title: Histories of Maize: Multidisciplinary
Approaches to the
Prehistory, Linguistics, Biogeography, Domestication,
and Evolution of
Maize, edited by John E. Staller, Robert H. Tykot,
and Bruce F. Benz
This volume represents an important reference
source and is the most
comprehensive treatment of maize in the Americas published
to date. It
is organized by geography and analytical approach
into five different
parts.
The information on this book can be accessed
at this link to the
Elsevier/Academic Press web site:
http://www.elsevier.com/
Hardbound, ISBN 0123683640, 704 pages
Price: 149.00 U
The book includes various state of the art
applications, which provide
evidence on the role and significance of maize
to prehistoric societies in the Americas,
for all timeperiods.
Table of Contents:
An Introduction to the Histories of Maize, by
John E. Staller
Part I: Histories of Maize: Genetic, Morphological,
and
Microbotanical Evidence
1. Differing Approaches and Perceptions in the
Study of New and Old
World Crops, by Terence A. Brown
2. Maize in the Americas: A Synthetic Look, by
Bruce F. Benz
3. Origin of Polystichy in Maize, by Hugh H. Iltis
4. Dating the Initial Spread of Zea Mays, by T.
Michael Blake
5. El Riego and Early Maize Evolution, by Bruce
F. Benz, Li Cheng, Steven
W. Leavitt, and Chris Eastoe
6. Ancient DNA and the Integration of Archaeological
and Genetic Approaches to the Study of Maize
Domestication, by Viviane JaenickeDesprés
and Bruce D. Smith
7. Ancient Maize in the American Southwest: What
Does it Look Like
and What Can it Tell Us?, by Lisa W. Huckell
8. Environmental Mosaics, Agricultural Diversity,
and the
Evolutionary Adoption of Maize in the American
Southwest, by William E.
Doolittle and Jonathan B. Mabry
9. Towards a Biologically Based Method of Phytolith
Classification, by
Greg Laden
Part II: Isotope Analysis and Human Diet
10. Isotope Analyses and the Histories of Maize,
by Robert Tykot
11. Social Directions in the Isotopic Anthropology
of Maize in the
Maya Region, by Christine D. White, Fred J. Longstaffe,
and Henry P.
Schwarcz
12. Diet in Prehistoric Soconusco, by Brian Chisholm and
T. Michael Blake
13. Early to Terminal Classic Maya Diet in
the Northern Lowlands of
the Yucatán (Mexico), by Eugenia Brown
Mansell, Robert H. Tykot, David A.
Freidel, Bruce H. Dahlin, and Traci Ardren
14. The Importance of Maize in Initial Period
and Early Horizon Peru, by Robert H.
Tykot, Richard L. Burger, and Nikolaas van
der Merwe
15. Maize on the Frontier: Isotopic and Macrobotanical
Data from CentralWestern
Argentina, by Adolfo F. Gil, Robert H. Tykot,
Gustavo Neme,
and Nicole Shelnut
16. Dietary Variation and Prehistoric Maize Farming
in the Middle Ohio
Valley, by Diana M. Greenlee
17. A Hard Row to Hoe: Changing Maize Use in the
American Bottom and
Surrounding Area, by Eleanora A. Reber
18. Evidence for the Early Use of Maize in
Peninsular Florida, by
Jennifer A. Kelly, Robert H. Tykot, and Jerald
T. Milanich
19. Prehistoric Maize in Southern Ontario: Contributions
from Stable
Isotope Studies, by M. Anne Katzenberg
20. The Stable and RadioIsotope Chemistry of
Eastern Basketmaker and Pueblo Groups in
the Four Corners Region of the American Southwest:
Implications for Anasazi Diets, Origins and
Abandonments in Southwestern Colorado, by Joan
Brenner Coltrain, Joel C. Janetski, and Shawn
W. Carlyle21. The Agricultural Productivity of
Chaco Canyon and the Source(s) of PreHispanic
Maize found in Pueblo Bonito, by Larry Benson,
John Stein, Howard Taylor, Richard Friedman, and
Thomas C. Windes22. Summary of Isotope Section,
by Henry Schwarcz
Part III: Histories of Maize: Mesoamerica, Central
and South America:
The Spread of Maize in Central and South America
23. Caribbean Maize: First Farmers to Columbus,
by Lee Newsom
24. Maize on the Move, by J. Scott Raymond, and
Warren R. DeBoer
25. The Gift of the Variation and Dispersion of
Maize: Social and
Technological Context in Amerindian Societies,
by Renée M. Bonzani and
Augusto OyuelaCaycedo
26. The Maize Revolution: A View from El
Salvador, by Robert A. Dull
27. PreColumbian
Maize Agriculture in Costa Rica: Pollen and Other
Evidence from Lake and Swamp Sediments, by Sally P.
Horn
28. CaralSupe
and the NorthCentral
Area of Peru: The History of
Maize in the Land Where Civilization Came into
Being, by Ruth Shady
29. Prehistoric Maize from Northern Chile,
An Evaluation of the
Evidence, by Mario A. Rivera
30. The Archaeology and Ethnography of Maize
Cultivation in the
Titicaca, by Sergio Chavez and Robert Thompson
31. The Movements of Maize into Middle Horizon
Tiwanaku, Bolivia, by Christine A. Hastorf,
William T. Whitehead, Maria C. Bruno, and
Melanie Wright
32. The Social, Symbolic and Economic Significance
of Zea mays L. in
the Late Horizon Period, by John E. Staller
Part IV: The Histories of Maize: North America
and Northern Mexico
33. Early Agriculture in Chihuahua, Mexico,
by Robert J. Hard, A.C.
MacWilliams, John R. Roney, Karen R. Adams, and
William L. Merrill
34. Protohistoric and Contact Period Salinas Pueblo
Maize: Trend or
Departure? by Katharine D. Rainey and Katherine
A. Spielmann
35. Early Maize Agriculture in the Northern
Rio Grande Valley, New
Mexico, by Bradley J. Vierra and Richard
I. Ford
36. Hominy Technology and the Emergence of Mississippian
Societies, by Thomas P. Myers
37. The Migrations of Maize into the Southeastern
U.S., by Robert Lusteck
38. The Science behind the Three Sisters Mound
System: An Agronomic Assessment of an Indigenous
Agricultural System in the Northeast, by Jane
Mt. Pleasant
39. The Origin and Spread of Maize (Zea mays) in
New England, by
Elizabeth S. Chilton
40. Precontact Maize from Ontario, Canada:
Origins, Context,
Chronology, Variation, and Plant Associations,
by Gary W. Crawford,
Della Saunders, and David G. Smith
Part V: The Histories of Maize: The Language of
Maize
41. Siouan Tribal Contacts and Dispersions Evidenced
in the
Terminology for Maize and Other Cultigens,
by Robert L. Rankin
42. Maize in Word and Image in Southern Mesoamerica,
by Brian Stross
43. Thipaak and the Origins of Maize in Northern
Mesoamerica, by
Janis B. Alcorn, Barbara Edmonson, and Cándido
Hernández Vidales
44. The Place of Maize in Indigenous Mesoamerican
Folk Taxonomies,
by Nicholas A. Hopkins
45. Native Aymara and Quechua Botanical Terminologies
of Zea Mays in
the Lake Titicaca and Cuzco Regions, by Sergio
J. Chávez
46. The Historical Linguistics of Maize Cultivation
in Mesoamerica and
North America, by Jane H. Hill
47. Glottochronology and the Chronology of
Maize in the Americas, by Cecil H. Brown
48. A Review of the Antiquity, Biogeography and
Culture History of
Maize in the Americas, by Bruce F. Benz and
John E. Staller
Publication to celebrate the work of Jay Hall
An Archaeological Life: Papers in Honour of
Jay Hall edited by Sean Ulm and Ian
Lilley
2006, viii+276pp, 297x210mm, pb
ISBN 1864998636
In 2007 Associate Professor Jay Hall retires
from the University of
Queensland after more than 30 years of service
to the Australian
archaeological community. Celebrated as a gifted
teacher and a
pioneer of Queensland archaeology, Jay leaves
a rich legacy of
scholarship and achievement across a wide range
of
archaeological endeavours. An Archaeological Life
brings together past and present students,
colleagues and friends to celebrate Jay's contributions,
influences and interests.
Contents
Jay Hall From Scatology to
Eschatology, by Jim Allen
After Clovis: Some Thoughts on the Slow Death
of a Paradigm, by David Pedler & J.M.
Adovasio
MidHolocene Hunters of Kangaroo Island: The Perspective
from Cape du Couedic Rockshelter, by Neale
Draper
Archaeology and Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Studies at
the University of Queensland, by Ian Lilley
An Attack of Nostalgia and
Other Ways of Seeing the Past, by Mike
Rowland
Of Fairy Rings and Telegraph Poles: The
Importance of Accounting
for Evidence of Absence in Archaeological Surveys,
by Richard Robins & Cheryl Swanson
Sa Huynh and Cham in Vietnam: Implications
of Maritime
Economies, by an Walters
Process or Planning? Depicting and
Understanding the Variability in Australian
Core Reduction, by Peter Hiscock
Late Moves on Donax: Aboriginal Marine Specialisation
in
Southeast Queensland over the Last 6000 years,
by Ian J. McNiven
Diatoms and Sponge Spicules as Indicators of
Contamination on
Utilised Backed Artefacts from Turtle Rock,
by Gail Robertson
Historical Archaeology at the University of
Queensland, by Jonathan Prangnell
MRAP and Beyond: Bribie Island, Southeast Queensland,
by A.D.
(Tam) Smith
The Antiquity of Marine Fishing in Southeast
Queensland: New
Evidence for Pre2000
BP Fishing from Three Sites on the
Southern Curtis Coast, by Sean Ulm &
Deborah Vale
Interpreting Surface Assemblage Variation in
Wardaman Country,
Northern Territory: An Ecological Approach, by
Chris Clarkson
Starch Grains, Stone Tools and Modern Hominin
Behaviour, by Richard Fullagar
The Ceramic Chronology of Copan: A Plotted
History and Some
Revisionist Reflections, by René Viel
Filling the Gaps: Extending the TARDIS Concept
to Teaching
Cultural Heritage Management Skills, by Anne Ross
Archaeology under the Bitumen: Excavations
at the Bribie Island
Road Site, Southeast Queensland, by Jill
Reid
To Trash and to Cache: Analysis of a Late Formative
Living
Surface at Copan, Honduras, by Daniel Cummins
& Michael
Haslam
Data Grid for the Management, Reconstruction,
Analysis and
Visualisation of Archaeological Data, by Nicole
Bordes, Sean Ulm,
Oystein Pettersen, Karen Murphy, David Gwynne,
William Pagnon,
Stuart Hungerford, Peter Hiscock, Jay Hall
& Bernard Pailthorpe
Jay Hall Publications 19692006
Purchase a Copy
Copies of An Archaeological Life: Papers in Honour of
Jay Hall are
available at the price of $59.95 each (including
GST and postage in
Australia). For international customers copies
are AUD$69.95 each
(GST exempt and including airmail postage). Order forms
are
available by clicking on the link at the base
of the following web
page:
http://www.atsis.uq.edu.au/index.html?page=41638&pid=41633
New European Association of Archaeologists (EAA) blog
WAC members may be interested to know about the
new EAA blog with loads of
information and some discussion relevant to European
archaeology. One of the
aims of the blog is to publicise and further discuss
issues published in the
European Journal of Archaeology. Also included
are reports on recent
conferences and reviews of exhibitions, and even
a world map that shows the
locations of people who have logged onto the site!
The EAA Blog is hosted by Troels Myrup Kristensen
The web address is: http://eja.eaa.org/
Other news items
From Virginia SteenMcIntyre
IN THE BUILDING STAGE: A WEBSITE WITH HARDTOFIND
DATA ON
CYNTHIA IRWINWILLIAMS' ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES, VALSEQUILLO
AREA, PUEBLA, MEXICO http://www.valsequilloclassic.net
The archaeological sites excavated by Cynthia
IrwinWilliams
and Juan Armenta Camacho in the early 60s have
caused controversy from the first. In
them, well made stone tools were found in situ
associated with butchered bones of
Pleistocene animals including mastodon, horse,
and camel. Later work by geoscientists
dated the sites at around 250,000 300,000 years
(SteenMcIntyre, Fryxell, and Malde, 1981, Quaternary
Research, 16, 117 and cited references). Recent
diatom studies for sediment from the
artifactbearing layers and a cavity in the
Dorenberg skull support this great age (VanLandingham,
2006, J. Paleolimnol. 36, 101116 and cited references).
Because of the controversial age for the
sites, little information is in print. Much of
the original material, including artefacts, trench
profiles, field notes, and
thousands of photos and slides has since disappeared.
To preserve what is left,
and to disseminate the information as widely as
possible, this website is being
created.
See also abstract and online papers by SteenMcIntyre
and VanLandingham, WAC5, Washington D.C.
Virginia SteenMcIntyre
P.O. Box 1167
Idaho Springs, CO 80452 USA
dub.ent@ix.netcom.com
6. Excerpts from other archaeological
newsletters (used with permission)
6(a) SALON (editions from October and September 2006)
SALON the
Society of Antiquaries of London Online Newsletter
SALON 151: 30 October 2006
SALON Editor: Christopher Catling
christopher.catling@virgin.net
Contents
• Culture Minister unveils
the UK's next three nominations for World
Heritage status
• Explorers who forge new links between
communities
• Was Columbus Portuguese?
• First humans in Tibet
• Goats might have been the first
domesticated farm animals
• The dark earth mystery
Culture Minister unveils the UK's next three nominations
for World Heritage
status
The Antonine Wall, the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct
and the Wearmouth Jarrow twin
monastery are to be the UK's next three
nominations as World Heritage Sites,
Culture Minister David Lammy has announced.
The Antonine Wall was added to the UK Tentative
List this year and would form an extension
to the Frontiers of the Roman Empire Transnational
World Heritage
Site presently consisting of Hadrian's Wall
and the Upper Raetian German
Limes. The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is the highest
canal aqueduct ever built and as such is
considered to be one of the most heroic of the
monuments that symbolise
the world's first Industrial Revolution.
The AngloSaxon monastery of Wearmouth Jarrow
needs little introduction to
Fellows: created by Benedict Biscop, who
returned from his travels in Continental
Europe in the 650s determined to build a monastery
'in the Roman manner', it
was home to the Venerable Bede, the first historian
of the English people, who
became a member of Benedict Biscop's
community at the age of seven, around
AD 680.
Our Fellow, Sir Neil Cossons, Chairman of
English Heritage, said: 'The
nomination for Wearmouth Jarrow recognises the
unique international
contribution the site and its greatest inhabitant,
the AngloSaxon
scholar Bede, made to the development of
European learning and culture. The inscription
of the
Antonine Wall will complement the recent joining
of the Upper German Raetian
Limes and Hadrian's Wall to form the Frontiers
of the Roman Empire World
Heritage Site and will strengthen international
cooperation on conservation.'
At 125ft high, Thomas Telford and William Jessop's
Pontcysyllte aqueduct takes the Llangollen
canal across the River Dee valley. It is formed
from a 1,000ftlong
iron trough laid on stone arches. The first stone
of the aqueduct, which
connected the Rivers Severn, Mersey and Dee
at the height of the Industrial
Revolution, was laid in 1795. It took a decade
to complete. Alun Pugh, Minister for Culture,
Welsh Language and Sport in Wales, said: 'We have
a wonderful built historic environment in Wales
and the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is a jewel in the
crown.'
Explorers who forge new links between communities
As a schoolboy learning about the voyages of
Magellan and Columbus, Salon's editor could
never quite reconcile the notion of the 'discovery'
of Africa, Australia
or the Americas with the blindingly obvious
fact that there were people already living
there nor how northern European explorers could
claim to have 'navigated
for the first time' routes that local traders
and sailors had been using since time
immemorial.
Now in a book, called Pathfinders: a global history of
exploration (published by OUP), our Fellow
Felipe FernándezArmesto has squared
that circle by making a useful distinction between
'exploration' and mere 'movement'. True explorers,
in FernándezArmesto's definition, are strangers from afar
who create new links between communities
that have not been in contact before. These 'pathfinders'
lay down 'gangways of cultural convergence' though
the author admits that where Europeans were
involved, and especially during the socalled
'golden age of exploration', this intercultural
contact has too often 'begun with embraces,
continued in abuse and ended in bloodshed'.
Through meticulous research married to a gift
for storytelling, FernándezArmesto
chronicles some 4,000 years of global exploration,
which he dates back to the ancient Egyptians
who sent an expedition to central Africa in the
late third millennium BC. As he charts the
process by which the globe has been mapped (not
systematically but by means of a meandering and
haphazard process) he ends by asking: is
exploration now obsolete?
In the sense in which he has defined it, the
answer has to be 'yes' globalisation,
powered by consumerism and digital media,
have penetrated so widely that you
now have to work very hard to escape from those
'gangways of cultural
convergence' laid down by developed western
economies. But if exploration
means following your curiosity into the unknown,
then there are vast realms still
to be discovered, as every antiquary surely knows:
was it Gilbert White who said
he learned more from studying a square foot
of soil in his back garden than
others learned by travelling the world?
Was Columbus Portuguese?
Another puzzle to torment schoolboy historians
is the question of why Christopher Columbus
spoke fluent Portuguese, but not Italian, though
claiming
to be Genoese, how he came to marry the aristocratic
daughter of the
Portuguese Governor of Porto Santo island, in
the Madeiran archipelago, and
why on his return from his first voyage
across the Atlantic he spent a week in
Lisbon in audience with 'his' king,
before reporting back to the Spanish
monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, who had sponsored
his voyage.
Two scholars who have pursued these questions Ñü
the Portuguese historianMascarenas Barreto and
the US historian Manuel Luciano da Silva Ñü
have now
concluded that Columbus was in fact the illegitimate
son of Isabel Goncalves Zarco, daughter of
João Goncalves Zarco, the Portuguese navigator credited
with the discovery of Madeira. Columbus'
father was the Duque de Beja, and
Isabel gave birth at the Duke's palace
in Cuba, the town 12km north of Beja, after which
Columbus later named the island of Cuba. Why did
Columbus not reveal
his true identity? Because his father, the Duke
of Beja, and the king of Portugal,
João II, were rival claimants to the Portuguese
throne and sworn enemies.
The people of Cuba (Portugal) certainly believe
this theory and have just
unveiled a 7ft bronze statue of the explorer in
their main square to
commemorate the 514th anniversary of Columbus's
landfall on the Caribbean
island of Cuba. And Dom Duarte de Braganza,
direct descendant of Columbus's supposed
father has agreed to donate a blood sample to
the Spanish and Portuguese governments in
the hope his DNA can be matched with that
of Columbus or his descendants.
First humans in Tibet
The explorers whose lives and deeds are chronicled
by Felipe FernándezArmesto
might get the posthumous biographies, but Salon's
editor is just as interested in the
anonymous humans whose slow journeys in pursuit
of basic necessities of life led to the peopling
of the globe. While it is easy to understand
the motivation of lotus eaters following plentiful
food and warmth around the shores of Africa and
Asia, one wonders what drove people to explore
harsher regions of the globe, such as Tibet.
Again published in the Journal of
Archaeological Science, recent research suggests
that humans penetrated the
region between 13,000 and 15,000 years ago, and
may have been there ten
millennia before that, despite the fact that the
QinghaiTibetan plateau is the largest continuous
highelevation ecosystem on the planet, characterised
by extremes of climate.
Archaeologists surveying the shores of the Qinghai
lake, in the northeastern
corner of the plateau at an elevation of 3,200m
(10,500ft), have found hearths,
consisting of charcoal dating from 13,000
and 12,800 years ago along with burnt
cobbles used for boiling and degreasing, and debris
from toolmaking and the
bones of a gazellesized animals. David Madsen
notes in his report in the Journal
that camps such as this are critical to understanding
the capacities of early humans for the movement
into other extreme environments such
as Siberia and
Beringia — the Ice Age land bridge
that led into the Americas.
Rapid sea level rise might alter views of human
migration
Another perspective on the peopling of America
comes in the form of a paper presenting
new evidence that the Bering Strait near Alaska
flooded into the Arctic Ocean about 11,000
years ago, about 1,000 years earlier than previously believed,
closing off the land bridge thought to be the
major route for human migration from Asia
to the Americas.
In a paper in the October issue of Geology
magazine, researchers from the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)
report results from three new
core sites north and west of Alaska in the Chukchi
Sea, where the continental
shelf was exposed when the sea level fell during
the last glacial maximum, about
20,000 years ago. Their analysis shows a
consistent pattern of rising sea levels that
flooded the Bering Strait about 12,000 years ago.
The implication is that people arrived in the
Americas sooner than many US archaeologists
believe, or that the current migration dates
are accurate,but that people arrived by boat rather than
by land.
Goats might have been the first domesticated
farm animals
Goats, rather than cows, sheep or pigs,
might have been the first animals to be
domesticated by Neolithic farmers, according to
a report in the Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences based on DNA
analysis of goat bones from a
cave in Baume d'Oullen in southwestern France.
The authors of the report say they have
tracked two goat lineages stemming from the
Near East around 7,500 years ago.
Goats would have been ideally suited companions
for early farmers, being hardy animals that
can survive on minimal food, cope with extremes
of temperature, and travel long distances. Goats
would have provided clothing, meat, and milk as well
as bone, sinew nd dung for consumption and trade.
The researchers also found that once domesticated,
the farming of goats spread very quickly
from one end of the Mediterranean to the
other, rather than taking many goat generations.
Commenting on the results, archaeologist Marek Zvelebil,
from the University of
Sheffield, said that caution was needed in interpreting
the results of research
based on a small sample of bones from a single
site but added that: 'this site is strategically
located along one of the major routes for the
dispersal of farming
into Europe', and that the study backed
other archaeological evidence that
indicates that once Neolithic culture reached
modernday Italy, it spread rapidly through
the western Mediterranean region.
The dark earth mystery
To many archaeologists, dark earth (the
2to 3footdeep layer of soil that is found
in many urban contexts in postRoman stratigraphy) is
as mysterious as the intricacies of
DNA. In an attempt to foster discussion and debate
about its origins and significance, Pete
Clark has compiled a bibliography on the
subject which he posted on the Britarch bulletin
board on 13 October 2006. The jury is still
out on whether it results from the decay
of weeds and organic rubbish,
representing evidence of urban decline from the
second to the ninth centuries or whether
it consists of structural timbers and earth floors
reworked by worm action.
SALON 150: 16 October 2006
Contents
· John Coles awarded EAA Heritage Prize
· The birth of Natural England
· Landscape quality guidance
· The Conservation of Australia's
Historic Heritage Places
· Campaign to save the ancient diolkos
of Corinth
· International outrage at proposedsale
of BadenWürttemberg
manuscripts
· Agreement to control sale of antiquities
on eBay
· Noah's Ark International Workshop
John Coles awarded EAA Heritage Prize
Our Fellow Anthony Harding, President of
the European Association of
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