Spring/Summer 1999
Prehistory of Agriculture: New Experimental and Ethnographic Approaches The Archaeology of Solvieux: An Upper Paleolithic Open Air Site in France	ON SITE Two Volume Published Prehistory of Agriculture: New Ethnographic and Experimental Approaches, edited by Patricia C. Anderson, appeared in March. It covers such topics as prehistoric plants, domestication process, and harvesting techniques, tools, and technology in the period preceding and following the appearance of agriculture in human history some ten thousand years ago. This edited volume presents chapters by distinguished researchers from all over the world and includes material on southeast Asia, Europe, Australia, America, and Africa. Awarded the JoAnne Stolaroff Cotsen Prize Imprint for excellence in archaeological research, Archaeology of Solvieux details the findings and work at an Upper Paleolithic open air site in the classic Perigord region of southwestern France. The lithic industries sample every one of the principal regional archaeological traditions of the Upper Paleolithic, along with an additional industry, the Beauronnian, which is seemingly unique. To order either volume, contact University Museum Publications by phone (800/306-1941) or email (publications@ vax.museum.upenn.edu) or visit their website (http://www.upenn.edu/museum _pubs/Museum_Pubs.html). De Barros Awarded Grant for Fieldwork in Togo, West Africa Research Associate Philip de Barros was recently awarded an Ahmanson/Institute of Archaeology grant to do fieldwork in West Africa. Like other areas in West Africa, the Oti River, a major tributary of the Volta, has seen little archaeological research. Virtually no serious studies have been conducted in the Oti River Valley in either Ghana or Togo. The proposed research area is a 60 km stretch of the Upper Oti River Valley in Togo between the district capital, Sansanné-Mango, and Mandouri. The Upper Oti River Valley Project (Togo, West Africa) will focus on intensive survey and test excavations at key sites, with a major focus on recovering faunal, floral, and pollen data. The long-term goals of the research are to develop archaeological knowledge and understanding about past human adaptations and settlement during the ceramic Late Stone Age through the early Iron Age (circa 4000 BC-AD 1000) in this part of West Africa and to study the origins of early farming in this part of savanna West Africa. A future issue of Backdirt will present some of the results. News from Archaeology Graduate Program By Helle Girey, Student Advisor Spring quarter is the time to review the accomplishments of the continuing students. Two students of Professor Lothar Von Falkenhausen received their M.A. degrees. Rowan Flad wrote his paper on "Honoring the Dead or the Living? Burial Practices and the Use of Animal Remains at the Cemetery Site of Dadianzi, Inner Mongolia, China." Po-chan Chen completed his M.A. paper on "Rethinking of Austronesian Homeland and Dispersal-From the Perspective of Research Methodology." Bradley Parker received his Ph.D. degree with the dissertation "The Mechanics of Empire: The Northern Frontier of Assyria as a Case Study in Imperial Dynamics." Freya Evenson, a student of Professor Sarah Morris, received a Fulbright for the 1999-2000 year to continue her studies in Greece. Downey to be Visiting Scholar at Princeton Professor Susan Downey, Chair of the Archaeology Graduate Program, will be a Visiting Scholar at the Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton University, next year. Hitchcock Gets Fulbright for Study in Cyrus Research Associate Louise Hitchcock has been selected to receive a nine-month Fulbright Fellowship in archaeology to undertake a research project in Cyprus on Aegean influences and interconnections in Bronze Age Cypriot architecture. The title is "Cyprus Between East and West: Exploring Interconnections in Minoan and Cypriot Architecture."
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