Daniel Albero Santacreu

Enhancing “Places” Through Archaeological Heritage in Sun, Sand, and Sea Touristic Coastal Areas: A Case Study From Mallorca (Spain)

ABSTRACT Many islands and coastal areas worldwide, particularly in warm climates, have experienced a large and sustained population and urban growth driven by mass tourism. This development has created new social spaces that have broken the social and economic dynamics which have traditionally defined these areas. This new reality has led to new socioeconomic praxes that have improved the life of the local communities, but also entailed new conflicts and problems. This article aims to analyze some of the socioeconomic and territorial disconnections and issues that currently characterize coastal areas and islands affected by mass tourism. At the same time, we introduce and develop some useful conceptual tools and practical strategies intended to enhance archaeological heritage and link it together with local communities and tourists to transcend some of these problems. Furthermore, to show the inherent value of our approach, we present a case study from Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Spain), which focuses on the actions performed in order to enhance the islands heritage in touristic coastal areas and connect it through heritage corridors with the Serra de Tramuntana, recently classified as a UNESCO World Heritage area. As a result of our research, we suggest that from the proposed strategies and conceptual framework, cultural heritage—particularly archaeological heritage—can be used as a powerful tool of social and territorial activism. We argue that heritage makes possible the development of new dynamics to reduce territorial, social, and economic issues that may result from the uncontrolled and unplanned development of sun, sand, and sea mass tourism on islands and coastal regions in general.

Landscape construction in southern Sardinia in the 4th Millennium BC: an approach using clay procurement

Landscape is constructed through the diverse activities of individuals in the environment that surrounds them. In this article, we address the role that coastal and lagoonal areas played in the way in which the human communities that inhabited southern Sardinia during the Final Neolithic constructed their landscape. To this end, we approach how individuals managed the mineral raw materials available in these locations and constructed taskspaces embedded in the landscape. We studied the provenance of the clays used to make diverse types of artifacts (i.e., pottery, coatings on architectural structures and loom weights) using optical microscopy based on thin-section analysis. In addition, microfossils present in the samples have been identified. The link of these archaeological materials with certain sedimentary deposits from the surrounding area enables us to suggest a close interrelationship and knowledge exchange between different technologies with respect to the possibilities of the diverse resources available in the environment and the elements that formed the landscape of these communities. Thus, the preference to exploit raw materials from lagoonal and coastal areas demonstrates that these environments became a reference point in the construction of landscape and identity in these communities.

El techo de mi casa es particular: identidades étnicas y espacios domésticos en el distrito de Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo (Noreste de Ghana)

In this paper we investigate the profound and complex relationships that exist between ethnic identity and material culture, through an ethnoarchaeological study of the domestic spaces of several communities that inhabit the district of Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo (Northeast Ghana). This territory is inhabited by a number of ethnic groups that present a set of complex relationships. These relationships, and especially the day to day interactions between these groups are significantly influenced by social identity and will be discussed in detail. In order to explore these relationships, we used two initial premises. First, we defend the concept that ethnic identities are, above everything else, relational and fluid in nature. Second, we argue that that material culture plays an active role in the maintenance, negotiation, and subversion of those identities. In line with these viewpoints, we will demonstrate that material culture is in its essence part of these processes, and thus adopts the same characteristics.

MATCHING DATA: ANALYZING THE CHRONOLOGICAL USE SEQUENCE IN THE IRON AGE NECROPOLIS OF THE STAGGERED TURRIFORM OF SON FERRER (BALEARIC ISLANDS, SPAIN)

The Son Ferrer archaeological site presents a series of successive occupations spanning a long period of time. At the beginning of the Iron Age (~850 BC), a staggered turriform structure was built for a ritual purpose over an artificial hypogeum that had already been used as a collective necropolis during the Early Bronze Age (~1800-1500 BC). Later, in the post-Talayotic phase (Second Iron Age, 550-123 BC), the hypogeum was again reused as a collective burial place. The pres- ent work is focused on the chronological and functional analysis of this last phase, which began ~500 BC and ended ~180 BC with the saturation and sealing of the hypogeum. The excavation process revealed that significant removal of archaeological material has occurred as a result of complex funerary space management practices, which generated a secondary archae- ological context. Given this situation, and in order to establish the different use phases of the post-Talayotic necropolis, a dual strategy of excavation and research was implemented. First, an extensive series of radiocarbon dates on human remains (18 dates) was obtained, which were later analyzed following Bayesian strategies. Second, a detailed spatial analysis was carried out, georeferencing the location of all the archaeological finds. This strategy allowed the reconstruction of the space management processes and movement patterns that took place in the burial space. Despite some initial difficulties, the com - bination of these research strategies embedded in a contextual analysis provided both material and chronological references that have contributed to define the various use phases of the hypogeum. Bearing this situation in mind, and aiming at defining the possible use phases of the necropolis, a twofold strategy of excavation and research was developed. First, a series of radiocarbon dates on human remains was established. Then, spatial analysis with GIS methodology was employed in order to georeference all the archaeological elements recovered in the site. This second strategy facilitated the reconstruction of the deposition sequence and phases of both inhumations and archae- ological material. The study followed four analytical guidelines: the recording of the stratigraphic relations of the materials and the different stratigraphic units; the consideration of pottery refitting patterns; the analysis of postdepositional movement dynamics (Schiffer 1976); and, finally, the re - view of funerary space management strategies.