Just as a contemporary professional person maintains copies of wills, real estate records, and court decrees, so did 15th-century B.C. residents of the ancient city of Nuzi. Such documents, then and now, are generally written by legal scribes. The Hittites of the 14th century B.C. maintained detailed manuals concerning the care and feeding of…

Reviews historical and archaeological evidence about Weeksville, a nineteenth century Black community in what is now Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Discusses problems with dating the community, its growth and development, and social, educational, and philanthropic institutions. (GC)

Reviews several definitions of material culture and material culture research. Identifies the special characteristics and pitfalls of material culture research appraising how such research can be useful in historical explanation. Forecasts expectations for materials culture research over the next decade. (JDH)

Discusses a cuneiform Babylonian tablet from about 500 B.C., the earliest extant world map. Explores bases for contemporary interpretation of the map. Observes that the map contains representations found in later maps. Suggests that modern views of the world are no less culturally laden than much earlier perspectives were. (SG)

Describes the discovery in Swaziland of the oldest iron mining site known. Before this evidence that it was Africans who discovered iron mining and smelting around 42,000 B.C., it had been believed that the knowledge of iron originated in the Middle East between 550-1500 B.C. (GC)

Uses archaeological evidence to trace the history of the Pueblo ancestors in the Southwest's Four Corners region as they evolved from nomadic hunters and gatherers into farmers, and later, were forced by drought, famine, and war to build defensive strongholds on remote cliffs. Contains photographs and paintings. (SV)

The primary focus of this booklet is the use of anthropology in archaeology and the history of American Indians and their culture in Pennsylvania. Explanations are given for: (1) anthropology; (2) the purpose of archaeology; (3) archaeological interpretations and patterns of culture; (4) types of societies (bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and states);…

Within the context of American studies, this article explores how material artifacts, in this case early American structures and dwellings representative of different sections of the United States, can illuminate the history of a community. (JDH)

Part of the Mississippian culture, which featured the construction of large earthen mounds, Etowah (in northwest Georgia) was a major ceremonial center. Based on excavations and Creek and Choctaw oral traditions, daily life in this village is portrayed, including social structure, clothing, ornaments, ceremonies, burial practices, and warfare.…

This issue both reports on the activities of the Division of Historical and Anthropological Services since its creation in 1979 and documents the record of New York State governmental efforts in history and anthropology that will serve as a resource for future study. "Keepers of the Flame: History and State Government in New York" (Paul…

Describes the results of an archaeological dig of a 2000-year-old Woodland Period Indian village. Goes on to include quotes regarding Indians from early colonial inhabitants in an attempt to blend ethnohistorical evidence of Indian trade and wars with archaeological evidence gained from the dig. (JDH)

Reviews the life, theories, and influence of Alexander von Humboldt, the early nineteenth century founder of modern geography. Maintains that Humboldt's novel approaches to the study of landscape antiquities have value for contemporary students in cultural and historical geography. (JDH)

A classic, purportedly authentic, account of the origins of Lenape (Delaware) Indians was exposed as a scholarly hoax perpetrated by Constantine Rafinesque in the 1830s. Rafinesque sought to reconcile American Indian origins with Biblical teachings and promoted the "Bering Strait theory" of Indian origins. Describes involvement of a…

Interest in early means of communication and in the uses and kinds of media that existed in ancient cultures is starting to grow among communication scholars. Conversation analysis of these cultures is obviously impossible, so that the emphasis must rest with material cultural artifacts. Many ancient cultures used non-verbal codes for dyadic…

The ancient Makah village of Ozette in northwest Washington, buried for centuries under mud, was exposed by a storm in 1970. Based on excavations and oral tradition, daily life in this village is portrayed, including longhouse construction, clothing, whale and seal hunts, fishing, social structure, slavery, ceremonies, and potlatches. Contains…