Manipulating mud: (re-)constructing cosmogonical landscapes in the Nile Valley, Thebes, Egypt

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HERCULES: studying long-term changes in Europe’s landscapes

This paper presents the outlines of a new EU-funded research program for the long-term history, present-day management and further development of the European landscapes, including their natural and cultural heritage: HERCULES. One of the subprojects of this program (Work Package 2) links archaeological, historical and historical ecological data to the analysis of geo-information in order to develop models of long-term landscape change in three carefully chosen study regions in the Netherlands, Sweden and Estonia. This is framed theoretically by integrating insights from landscape biography, historical ecology and complex systems theory. The linking and analysis of data will be done using a Spatial Data Infrastructure and by means of dynamic modelling

On the mystery cloud of AD 536, a crisis in dispute and epidemic ergotism: a linking hypothesis

In AD 536, some kind of natural catastrophe(s) darkened the sun by what has been called a mystery cloud or a dust veil. The darkening of the sun lasted for over a year and initiated dramatic changes of the climate in the Northern Hemisphere,resulting in a series of cold ‘years without summer’. This climatic disaster has been linked to the so-called Migration Period crisis in Scandinavia, a time of population decline and reforestation of agricultural land. The extent of these changes and the relative importance of possible factors involved are matters in dispute; failed harvests and famine, plague, war and social changes have been discussed so far. The present comment puts forward the hypothesis that epidemic ergotism due towidespread contamination of food and fodder by poisonous ergot (Claviceps purpurea) also may have been a contributing factor. The main reason being the extreme weather conditions, which became exceptionally favourable for growth andspread of this highly toxic fungus in crops and pastures for several years in a row after the AD 536 event. It is pointed out how the ecological and toxicological characteristics of ergot are consistent with an irregularly distributed depopulation, aneed of several generations for recovery, an extensive reforestation of agricultural land and migration of settlements from lowlands to higher grounds. It is also argued for the possibility that the wording in two verses of the Old Norse poemVöluspá actually was inspired by long-time memories of illness due to ergotism

Does environmental archaeology need an ethical promise?

Environmental catastrophes represent profound challenges faced by societies today. Numerous scholars in the climate sciences and the humanities have argued for a greater ethical engagement with these pressing issues. At the same time, several disciplines concerned with hazards are moving towards formalized ethical codes or promises that not only guide the dissemination of data but oblige scientists to relate to fundamentally political issues. This article couples a survey of the recent environmental ethics literature with two case studies of how past natural hazards have affected vulnerable societies in Europe's prehistory. We ask whether cases of past calamities and their societal effects should play a greater role in public debates and whether archaeologists working with past environmental hazards should be more outspoken in their ethical considerations. We offer no firm answers, but suggest that archaeologists engage with debates in human-environment relations at this interface between politics, public affairs and science

Putting to (information) work : A Stengersian perspective on how information technologies and people influence information practices

Instead of merely subscribing to an unspecific inseparability in the co-constitution or mangle of information technologies and human-actors, there is a need for conceptual tools to describe and explicate the mechanics of how the enmeshment of technologies and human-beings is occurring in information contexts: how information technologies are both setting standards of the social conduct of information practices, and how people are using information technologies to regulate the social process. Building on an empirical study of human-technology relations in the context of archaeological information work, this article discusses how the imaginary of putting Stengers to work can make a contribution to such an end. Stengers describes an ideal system of human-actors and technology working seamlessly World-as-Clockthat is unattainable but can serve as a benchmark and a lens for understanding frictions and discrepancies in the cohesion of the two