Professor John Morton Coles

Professor John Coles, who died on 14 October 2020 aged 90, had a long and distinguished career as a prehistorian, experimental archaeologist and wetland archaeologist, and he made substantial contributions to Scottish archaeology, as well as to European and world archaeology more generally.

Landscape and Space

This volume addresses a subject central to both world archaeology and trans-cultural art history. Landscape has been a key theme in the last half-century at least in both disciplines, particularly in the study of painting in art history and in all questions of human intervention and the placement of monuments in the natural world, within archaeology. However, the representation of landscape has been rather less addressed in the scholarship of the archaeologically accessed visual cultures of the ancient world. The kinds of reliefs, objects, and paintings discussed have a significant purchase on matters concerned with landscape and space in the visual sphere but were discovered within archaeological contexts and by means of excavation. Through case studies focused on the invention of wilderness imagery in ancient China, the relation of monuments to landscape in ancient Greece, the place of landscape painting in Mesoamerican Maya art and the construction of sacred landscape across Eurasia between Stonehenge and the Silk Road via Pompeii, this book emphasizes the importance of thinking about models of landscape in ancient art and also the value of comparative approaches in underlining core aspects of the topic. Notably it focuses on questions of space, both actual and conceptual, including how space is configured through form and representation.

Diversifying the debate: increasing the visibility and accessibility of queer heritage

While there has long been an archaeological interest in diverse gender identities and sexualities, queer theory was first introduced into archaeological discourse only in 2000 with the publication of ‘Queer Archaeologies’, a special edition of World Archaeology. Growing out of the exciting work being done by queer archaeologists and the increasing interest in queer theory and the archaeologies of sexuality, the National Parks Service (United States), led by Megan E. Springate, digitally published LGBTQ America: a theme study of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer history in 2016 as part of the LGBTQ Heritage Initiative. The goal of the LGBTQ Heritage Initiative and LGBTQ America was to explore the nuances of LGBTQ+ heritage and history in the USA. Two recently published volumes, Identities and place and Preservation and place, edited by Katherine Crawford-Lackey and Megan E. Springate, are collections of a selection of the chapters originally published as part of LGBTQ America. Identities and place and Preservation and place collectively cover many issues affecting LGBTQ+ identity, history and cultural heritage.

Fulfilling the Promise. . . An Essay on Swedish Archaeology and Archaeology in Sweden

This paper presents a vision of archaeology in Sweden intended to transcend traditional Nordic and Euroamerican perspectives and build on the potentials of Swedish diversity and geography. Sweden is viewed as the northwestern corner of Eurasia and a meeting ground of longterm European and circumpolar cultural and environmental forces. As a player in world archaeology, Sweden can make major contributions to the growth of new theoretical and methodological perspectives incorporating western and non-western lindigenous) ways of knowing. The subject of archaeology is undergoing post-national reformation and must redefine its institutions, better assert its public roles and clarify its message to achieve its full promise.

A Proposed Management Plan for the New World Archaeology Department's Photographic Archive at the Royal Ontario Museum

This practical thesis project addresses the dilemma faced by many museums of deteriorating archival photographs that are related to objects in their permanent collections. Collection managers often have little time, expertise or financial means to preserve these important resources. The first part of the thesis provides a guide to assessing and devising a management plan using a collection of 25,000 images in the New World Archaeology department of the Royal Ontario Museum as a case study. The guide addresses the physical issues of object identification, condition assessment, materials and methods of rehousing a diverse collection, and creating a proper storage environment. It also examines issues of improving intellectual access through cataloguing and digitizing as well as budgeting. A report summarizing the condition of the New World Archaeology collection accompanied by recommendations for implementation of a management plan is the focus of the second part of the thesis. This project highlights the need for institutions to recognize the value of these deteriorating materials and devote the necessary resources to their preservation.

A Proposed Management Plan for the New World Archaeology Department's Photographic Archive at the Royal Ontario Museum

This practical thesis project addresses the dilemma faced by many museums of deteriorating archival photographs that are related to objects in their permanent collections. Collection managers often have little time, expertise or financial means to preserve these important resources. The first part of the thesis provides a guide to assessing and devising a management plan using a collection of 25,000 images in the New World Archaeology department of the Royal Ontario Museum as a case study. The guide addresses the physical issues of object identification, condition assessment, materials and methods of rehousing a diverse collection, and creating a proper storage environment. It also examines issues of improving intellectual access through cataloguing and digitizing as well as budgeting. A report summarizing the condition of the New World Archaeology collection accompanied by recommendations for implementation of a management plan is the focus of the second part of the thesis. This project highlights the need for institutions to recognize the value of these deteriorating materials and devote the necessary resources to their preservation.

Profesor Stanisław Tabaczyński (1930–2020) – wybitny uczony i intelektualista

The reason for this article was the 90th birthday of Professor Stanisław Tabaczyński (born on April 1, 1930). However, at the last stage of editorial work, the sad news of his death reached us (November 28, 2020). All the more we would like to commemorate the Professor, recalling his achievements and merits, which place him among the most outstanding Polish archaeologists, including actual members of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He made a great contribution to the development of Polish and world archaeology in the area of theoretical and field archaeological research. Many of his scientific initiatives concerned the theory and anthropology of culture as well as the methodology of archaeological research and the syntheses of prehistory and the early Middle Ages. His achievements and influence on shaping the minds of archaeologists of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century cannot be overestimated.