Before Farming: the archaeology and anthropology of hunter-gatherers

ref: Before Farming 2007/2 article 1

Digital documentation of Ju/’hoan narratives: significance for hunter-gatherer studies, language archives and education

Megan Biesele
Kalahari Peoples Fund, PO Box 7855, University Station
Austin, TX 78713-7855, USA
meganbie@io.com

Keywords: San, endangered languages, digital documentation, hunter-gatherers, indigenous education

Abstract

Studying the phonetically complex language of the Ju/’hoan San (previously called the !Kung) of Botswana and Namibia greatly increases our understanding of their hunting and gathering tradition and how it is changing. This paper reports on a long term project to transform an extensive ‘legacy collection’ of audio textual material in Ju/’hoan into authoritative digital texts and sound files, enabling the responsible posting of the material to intercollaborating internet archives. The texts, gathered between 1970 and the present, range from folklore, dreams, and narratives of trance healing to political meetings and oral history. Recent interviews and conversations about the Nyae Nyae Conservancy, the Namibian Ju/’hoan people’s organisation, were recorded as well, and these focus on the environment, land rights and new issues in governance and representation. Transcribed and translated with precision by a collaborative team containing computer-literate native speakers, these texts are valuable research tools for anthropologists, archaeologists and linguists. Destined too for the archives of the Ju/’hoan people themselves, they contribute to a movement now developing among indigenous people in many parts of the world, to document and develop their own culture and language for educational, political, and economic goals.

ref: Before Farming 2007/2 article 2

Hunters, fishers and scavengers: a review of the isotope evidence for Neanderthal diet

JA Pearson
School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, Hartley Building, University of Liverpool, Brownlow Street, Liverpool, L69 3GS, UK
pearson@liv.ac.uk

Keywords: Palaeolithic, Neanderthal, palaeodiet, isotope, carnivory

Abstract

Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of bone collagen is now a popular method of palaeodietary inquiry. With the routine application of this technique, small sample sizes and good organic preservation in many late Pleistocene sites, there are now a large number of stable isotope articles available that report on Palaeolithic diet. A number of these have focused on reconstructing Neanderthal diet because carbon and nitrogen measurements of bone collagen distinguish between the relative contribution of animal and marine protein to the diet. For Palaeolithic studies, key debates include the carnivorous diet of Neanderthals in contrast to anatomically modern humans and direct evidence supporting the Broad Spectrum Revolution among modern humans. This paper provides a critical conspectus of current research, focusing on dietary reconstruction of Neanderthals and outlines the current evidence, areas of debate and suggests other sources of dietary protein and directions for future research.

ref: Before Farming 2007/2 article 4

New perspectives on the Kalahari debate: a tale of two ‘genomes’

Victor A Grauer
5559 McCandless Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
victorag@verizon.net

Keywords: Kalahari debate, archaeology, indigenous peoples, bushmen, pygmies, genetic anthropology, ethnomusicology, genome, cantometrics

Abstract

While the ‘Great Kalahari Debate’ hinged almost exclusively on the interpretation of sparse and confusing archaeological and historical data, abundant and convincing genetic evidence from the realm of biological anthropology has been largely ignored, while equally compelling cultural evidence drawn from the musical traditions of the populations in question has been overlooked entirely. In this paper, I attempt to demonstrate how genetic and musicological research can be combined to provide a compelling case for the ‘traditionalist’ position in this ongoing controversy. To this end, I draw upon an important but little known musical ‘genome’, the Cantometric database, compiled under the direction of the late Alan Lomax, at the Columbia University Bureau of Applied Social Research.