4254 research outputs found
Sort by
The geoarchaeology, chronology and environment of Lusakert-1, a Late Middle Palaeolithic rockshelter (Kotayk Province, Armenia)
No full textLusakert-1 (LKT-1) is a key site in any discussion of the Palaeolithic of the Armenian Highlands. This is in large part because of a long-running campaign of excavation in the 1970–1980s which recovered an obsidian artefact assemblage that was then interpreted as spanning the Lower–Upper Palaeolithic. Our reinvestigation in 2008–2012 revealed evidence of occupation in the interior of the LKT-1 rockshelter comprising spreads of ash, obsidian artefacts and human-modified bone. Deposits inside the rockshelter interdigitate with alluvial sediments deposited in a now-abandoned meander of the river Hrazdan demonstrating that occupation took place at the floodplain edge. Artefacts are typologically Middle Palaeolithic, and based on refits and inferences made from micromorphological and lithostratigraphical observation, are preserved in a near in situ state in the rockshelter interior. Artefacts recovered from alluvial strata on the rockshelter exterior are, however, in a secondary context. In addition to stone tool production and use, and the laying of fires, the butchery of wild goat and wild ass is also documented. These activities likely took place seasonally given that evidence of the use of the site by owls - raptors that avoid humans - is found through much of the rockshelter stratigraphy. Radiocarbon and luminescence dating indicate that the rockshelter sequence accumulated in the 65–34 ka interval, i.e. during Marine Isotope Stage 3. Indeed, micromorphological and stable isotopes of n-alkanes demonstrate changes between the warm-humid and cool-dry climates that characterise MIS 3 in the region. Nevertheless, stable isotope data, vertebrate remains, and wood charcoal suggest that grassland vegetation dominated throughout, albeit that arboreal vegetation is associated with deposits accumulating during humid phases. LKT-1 offers a unique and detailed perspective on hominin behaviour and palaeoenvironments in the Armenian Highlands prior to the Upper Palaeolithic and serves as a valuable comparison to the growing Middle Palaeolithic record of the broader region
Challenging Safe Access: What Ongoing Anti-Abortion Demonstrations Mean for the Practical Realisation for Safe Access Zones Laws in Great Britain
No full textPreserving the Queen's Resources, Pressing Ancient Privileges: Joan of Navarre and the Management of Forest and Parklands
No full textThe development of a conceptual framework for embedding creativity in schools
No full textCreativity and creative thinking are increasingly being cultivated in schools across the world. But while there is a growing evidence base with regard to, for example, curriculum, culture and pedagogy, our understanding of the leadership of creativity is still in its infancy. The lack of research in this area arises from a number of factors including the relative novelty of the field, the continued existence of unhelpful myths about creativity, the lack of consensus about school-based models of creativity and the complexity of evaluating interventions which have many different components and are almost impossible to compare because of their differences.Drawing on two decades of collaboration with schools and system leaders in Australia and England, this paper presents a conceptual framework for school leaders wishing to embed creativity. 12 dimensions of progress are described, each illustrated with a combination of evidence and practices. Two overarching concepts are suggested as the byproducts of any serious attempt to prioritise creativity in schools - a rethinking of the purpose of school and a re-examining of the role of learners.The draft framework is offered as a stimulus to all policy makers, researchers and practitioners in this emerging field
Entangled Roots. Heritage and identity in the African ‘mesa-diasporas’: community case studies for the 2020s
Full text linkThe archaeology and heritage of the African Atlantic diaspora is a topic that has been extensively covered in academic literature. The experience of enslaved and freed Africans in the Americas (primarily) has been well studied through examination of plantation villages, urban settings, burial sites and freed communities. It is a mistake, however, to see this framework as an overarching and monolithic ‘meta-diaspora’, for within this process of forced and violent migration a more nuanced picture emerges of many hidden heritages, movements and re-movements of diasporic communities in the late colonial and post-colonial periods. We argue that the hidden heritages of these ‘mesa- (meaning inside) diasporas’ demands attention. Drawing upon primary, diasporic-focused community heritage work, this paper considers two distinctive case studies: the intra-American context (the Garifuna ‘Black Carib’ communities of St Vincent, Belize and New York) and returned African communities in West Africa (the Krio of Sierra Leone). These two case studies have much to offer in terms of thinking through the survival and remaking of African diasporic identities and emphasising the role of heritage-focused community tourism in the post-Covid world of the 2020s