Hope in dirt: report of the Fort Apache Workshop on Forensic Sedimentology Applications to Cultural Property Crime, 15—19 October 2018

A 2018 workshop on the White Mountain Apache Tribe lands in Arizona examined ways to enhance investigations into cultural property crime (CPC) through applications of rapidly evolving methods from archaeological science. CPC (also looting, graverobbing) refers to unauthorized damage, removal, or trafficking in materials possessing blends of communal, aesthetic, and scientific values. The Fort Apache workshop integrated four generally partitioned domains of CPC expertise: (1) theories of perpetrators’ motivations and methods; (2) recommended practice in sustaining public and community opposition to CPC; (3) tactics and strategies for documenting, investigating, and prosecuting CPC; and (4) forensic sedimentology—uses of biophysical sciences to link sediments from implicated persons and objects to crime scenes. Forensic sedimentology served as the touchstone for dialogues among experts in criminology, archaeological sciences, law enforcement, and heritage stewardship. Field visits to CPC crime scenes and workshop deliberations identified pathways toward integrating CPC theory and practice with forensic sedimentology’s potent battery of analytic methods

Participatory Augering: A methodology for challenging perceptions of archaeology and landscape change

Public engagement is a significant feature of twenty-first-century archaeological practice. While more diverse audiences are connecting with the discipline in a multitude of ways, public perceptions of archaeology are still marred by stereotypes. Community excavations of ‘sites’ to discover ‘treasures’ which tell us about the ‘past’ overshadow other forms of public research output and hinder the potential of the discipline to contribute to contemporary society more widely. This paper proposes participatory augering as an active public engagement method that challenges assumptions about the nature of archaeological practice by focusing on interpretation at a landscape-scale. Through exploration of recent participatory augering research by the REFIT Project and Environmental Archaeologist Mike Allen, this paper demonstrates how the public can contribute to active archaeological research by exploring narratives of landscape change. Evaluation of the existing case studies reflects the potential of the approach to engage audiences with new archaeological methods and narratives which have the potential to transform perceptions of the discipline and, through knowledge exchange, drive community-led contributions to contemporary landscape management

Using Ethnographic Methods to Articulate Community-Based Conceptions of Cultural Heritage Management

How can ethnographic methods help communities articulate and enact their own conceptions of heritage management? This and related questions are being explored through an international research project, ‘Intellectual Property Issues in Cultural Heritage’. The project includes up to twenty community- based initiatives that incorporate community-based participatory research and ethnographic methods to explore emerging intellectual property-related issues in archaeological contexts; the means by which they are being addressed or resolved; and the broader implications of these issues and concerns. We discuss three examples that use ethnography to (a) articulate local or customary laws and principles of archaeological heritage management among a First Nations group in British Columbia; (b) assemble knowledge related to land/sea use and cultural practices of the Moriori people of Rekohu (Chatham Islands) for their use in future land and heritage manage- ment policies; and (c) aid a tribal cultural centre in Michigan in crafting co-management strategies to protect spiritual traditions associated with a rock art site on state property. Such situations call for participatory methods that place control over the design, process, products, and interpretation of ‘archaeology’ in the hands of cultural descendants. We hope that these examples of community-based conceptions of archaeological heritage management, facilitated through ethnographic methods and participatory approaches, will increase awareness of the value of these and other alternative approaches and the need to share them widely

Discovery of os cordis in the cardiac skeleton of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

Cardiovascular diseases, especially idiopathic myocardial fibrosis, is one of the most significant causes of morbidity and mortality in captive great apes. This study compared the structure and morphology of 16 hearts from chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) which were either healthy or affected by myocardial fibrosis using X-ray microtomography. In four hearts, a single, hyperdense structure was detected within the right fibrous trigone of the cardiac skeleton. High resolution scans and histopathology revealed trabecular bones in two cases, hyaline cartilage in another case and a focus of mineralised fibro-cartilaginous metaplasia with endochondral ossification in the last case. Four other animals presented with multiple foci of ectopic calcification within the walls of the great vessels. All hearts affected by marked myocardial fibrosis presented with bone or cartilage formation, and increased collagen levels in tissues adjacent to the bone/cartilage, while unaffected hearts did not present with os cordis or cartilago cordis. The presence of an os cordis has been described in some ruminants, camelids, and otters, but never in great apes. This novel research indicates that an os cordis and cartilago cordis is present in some chimpanzees, particularly those affected by myocardial fibrosis, and could influence the risk of cardiac arrhythmias and sudden death

Cold War : a Transnational Approach to a Global Heritage

Although within living memory, many countries now consider their surviving Cold War architecture as part of their heritage. It can even be a priority for heritage managers given that significant buildings are often suitable for reuse while extensive ‘brownfield’ sites such as airfields can be used for large-scale redevelopment. In a number of countries whose work we refer to here (notably the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe), agencies responsible for managing their country’s heritage have approached this priority by creating national inventories of sites and buildings with a view to taking informed decisions on their future. This paper presents the argument that the wider international context of the Cold War provides a more appropriate (or additional, higher-level) framework for such decision making. Such a ‘transnational’ approach would allow the comparison of similar (e.g. European) sites not merely within national borders but across the full extent of their western NATO1 deployment in Europe and North America. Taking this approach would also allow comparison with related sites in countries that formed part of the eastern-bloc Warsaw Pact.2 After outlining some examples of how national agencies have approached their Cold War heritage, this paper presents the four stages of this transnational approach making provision for an improved understanding and management of Cold War heritage sites wherever they occur. With a specific focus on the direct comparison between England and Russia, and also referring to sites surviving elsewhere within the former NATO and Warsaw Pact regions, as well as the United States, we argue that this four-stage approach: provides new understandings of a complex archaeological and architectural record; gives fresh perspectives on significance; and (importantly in a time of geopolitical instability) does so in a spirit of cooperation and friendship

Effect of cross-linking and hydration on microscale flat punch indentation contact to collagen-hyaluronic acid films in the viscoelastic limit

The properties of the extracellular matrix (ECM) have profound impact upon cell behaviour. As an abundant protein in mammals, collagen is a desirable base material to engineer an ECM tissue scaffold, but its structural weakness generally requires molecular crosslinking or incorporation of additional ECM-based macromolecules such as glycosaminoglycans. We have performed microscopic indentation to test collagen films under dry and aqueous conditions prepared with different levels of physical and chemical crosslinking. Our technique isolates intrinsic properties of the poro-viscoelastic matrix in a regime minimizing the influence of drainage hydrodynamics and allows direct measurement of the effect of hydrating a specific sample. A doubling of the effective stress-strain stiffness under crosslinking could be directly correlated to structural changes in X-ray diffraction spectra, while electron microscopy revealed possible fibril bridging mechanisms explaining observed toughness. Overall, an intrinsic viscoelastic stress-strain response of collagen under various conditions of cross-linking was observed for both dry and wet conditions, with the latter most affected by indentation rate. Under creep testing, a three order of magnitude increase in dynamic compliance and factor three reduction in relaxation time was found going from the dry to hydrated state. When fitted to a simple viscoelastic model, crosslinking showed a tendency to decrease relaxation time in both states, but reduced dynamic compliance only in the hydrated case. This suggests a reduced role of virtual crosslinks under hydration. This is the first study reporting consistent mechanical testing of dry and hydrated ECM-derived biomaterials, accessing the intrinsic material mechanics under in vivo-like conditions. Statement of Significance: This manuscript presents new insights into the effect of crosslinking on mechanical properties of dry and hydrated collagen intended for tissue scaffolding applications. A novel microscopic indentation technique allowed testing of the poro-viscoelastic matrix isolated in a regime minimizing the influence of drainage hydrodynamics, so direct comparison of the effect of hydration on the intrinsic material behaviour to could be made. A variety of experimental techniques including X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron and atomic force microscopy were used to augment the mechanical testing. The results of creep testing were numerically analysed using a four-component viscoelastic model. This is the first mechanical testing of dry and hydrated ECM-derived biomaterials, accessing the intrinsic material mechanics under in vivo-like conditions