Nicholas J. Saunders

Zemís , trees, and symbolic landscapes: three Taíno carvings from Jamaica

Three carved wooden images have come to light in Jamaica, the most important find of Taino carvings for two centuries from that island. Their discovery prompts a reconsideration of Taino zemis, and their placing into the known context of the Caribbean region, with its South American links.

Fire on the desert: conflict archaeology and the Great Arab Revolt in Jordan, 1916–18

Archaeologists specialising in twentieth-century conflict here turn their attention from the trenches of Europe to the desert landscape of the Arabian theatre. The thrust and parry between the Ottoman Army and Lawrences Arabian forces are reflected in defence-works and the outgoing and incoming bullets found there. The Ottoman generals changed their defences from long lines to redoubts, implying that the less visible guerrillas were having a palpable effect on strategy. Here, archaeology amplifies and enhances the story told in T.E. Lawrences Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

Desert labyrinth: lines, landscape and meaning at Nazca, Peru

The shapes drawn out by the famous Nazca lines in the Peruvian desert are at their most evident from the air—giving rise to some famously fantastic theories about their origin. The new understanding offered here is the result of a piece of straightforward brilliance on the part of our authors: get down on the ground, where the original users were, and see where your feet lead you. Using stratigraphic and taphonomic reasoning to decide which lines were contemporary, they discover an itinerary so complex they can justify calling it a labyrinth, and see it as serving ceremonial progressions.

Fire and Water: Tradition and Modernity in the Archaeology of Steam Locomotion in a Desert War

Abstract The construction of the Hijāz Railway from Damascus to Medina between 1900 and 1908 transformed the physical and cultural landscapes of a traditional desert routeway. The contesting of the routeway and its landscape during the Great Arab Revolt of 1916–18 necessitated heavy investment in the defence of the railway and its supply of wood and water. Adopting the interdisciplinary perspective of modern conflict archaeology, this paper explores interaction between traditional life-ways and cultures, and the effects that the industrialization and militarization of the railway had on natural resources.