Similar to the other forms of cultural heritage, Indigenous oral traditions are collected and held often by outsiders to the community. There are a number of instruments addressing this problem, but none of them provide complete control over such works. This article will focus on the possibility and instances of copyright being used to control oral traditions, both by outsiders and the Indigenous communities. The article will first provide an overview of the applicable legal areas (cultural property law, Indigenous rights, and intellectual property rights), and then it will assess different stages in the treatment of oral traditions. It will discuss the copyright implications for not only the traditions themselves but also their documented versions, subsequent copies, adaptations, and new works in order to provide a full picture of the relationship between control and copyright.

The article critically examines interpretations of Old World ferrous metallurgical developments with reference to their consequences for Arctic Fennoscandian iron research. The traditional paradigm of technological innovations recurrently links the emergence of iron technology to increasing social complexity and a sedentary agricultural lifestyle, typically downplaying ‘peripheral’ areas such as Arctic Fennoscandia and its hunter-gatherer communities. Even in postcolonial research of recent years, the archaeometallurgical record of Arctic Fennoscandia is interpreted and organized within the traditional frameworks on the time, course, and cultural context of the introduction of iron technology in Europe, where Arctic Fennoscandia is not considered to have any noteworthy role. However, current archaeological research with new data in Arctic Fennoscandia disputes prevailing ideas in European iron research and shows substantial evidence that iron technology was an integrated part of hunter-gatherer subsistence already during the Early Iron Age (c. 200 bc). Archaeometallurgical analyses reveal advanced knowledge in all the operational sequences of iron technology, including bloomery steel production and the mastering of advanced smithing techniques. Therefore, we urge dispensing with traditional ideas and call for an increased interest in the underlying mechanisms for the transfer of iron.

En este artículo discutimos las prácticas y representaciones culturales de los pueblos indígenas de Patagonia continental e insular (Tierra del Fuego) en relación con los piojos, confrontando registros históricos y etnográficos de los siglos dieciocho al veinte. El consumo de piojos de la cabeza fue una práctica habitual y cotidiana entre los grupos indígenas del sur de Sudamérica, quienes los consideraban un verdadero manjar. Hombres, mujeres, niñas y niños participaban de esta actividad colectiva que a la vez era atravesada por la afectividad, consumiendo lo que ellos mismos conseguían en las pesquisas. El cambio continuo de campamento, el despiojado, el tipo de vestimenta, el uso de pinturas repelentes, aceite de foca y peines eran sus métodos de control de las pediculosis. Se argumenta que el proceso de expansión colonial de los estados republicanos de Argentina y Chile, a fines del siglo diecinueve, habría forzado la modificación de estas prácticas culturales. Las fuentes históricas y etnográficas reflejan, además, las tensiones y contradicciones entre las percepciones y connotaciones negativas de los foráneos y la significancia que tenían los piojos de la cabeza para las poblaciones indígenas.

Quantifying the marine radiocarbon reservoir effect, offsets (ΔR), and ΔR variability over time is critical to improving dating estimates of marine samples while also providing a proxy of water mass dynamics. In the northeastern Pacific, where no high-resolution time series of ΔR has yet been established, we sampled radiocarbon (14C) from exactly dated growth increments in a multicentennial chronology of the long-lived bivalve, Pacific geoduck (Paneopea generosa) at the Tree Nob site, coastal British Columbia, Canada. Samples were taken at approximately decadal time intervals from 1725 CE to 1920 CE and indicate average ΔR values of 256 ± 22 years (1σ) consistent with existing discrete estimates. Temporal variability in ΔR is small relative to analogous Atlantic records except for an unusually old-water event, 1802–1812. The correlation between ΔR and sea surface temperature (SST) reconstructed from geoduck increment width is weakly significant (r2 = .29, p = .03), indicating warm water is generally old, when the 1802–1812 interval is excluded. This interval contains the oldest (–2.1σ) anomaly, and that is coincident with the coldest (–2.7σ) anomalies of the temperature reconstruction. An additional 32 14C values spanning 1952–1980 were detrended using a northeastern Pacific bomb pulse curve. Significant positive correlations were identified between the detrended 14C data and annual El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and summer SST such that cooler conditions are associated with older water. Thus, 14C is generally relatively stable with weak, potentially inconsistent associations to climate variables, but capable of infrequent excursions as illustrated by the unusually cold, old-water 1802–1812 interval.

The carbon isotope distribution and its relationship with stable N and S isotope ratio values were investigated within a fish assemblage from the shallow lake Tapeliai, which is constantly affected by inflows of 14C depleted water from the surrounding watershed mires. The “conventional” radiocarbon age within the fish from this lake varied from 119 to 693 yr. The 14C/12C and δ13C values correlated significantly (r=0.85 p<0.001), which is not typical in lakes of the temperate zone. There were no observed statistical differences (Kruskal–Wallis ANOVA tests) in the 14C/12C values among different fish species. The radiocarbon dating values and 15N/14N measurements did not correlate. The radiocarbon measurement values also did not correlate with δ34S, however, the distribution of these isotopes in carp (119 yr and 1.3‰, respectively) and roach (344 yr and 4.5‰, respectively) indicated that fish may include allochthonous food sources in their diet.