Organizers: Hisashi Fujita (Niigata College of Nursing, Japan) and Dong Hoon Shin (Seoul National University, South Korea)

Abstract: Recently, paleopathology has been established in Asia as the indispensable study of tissues remnant in ancient biological specimens. By various anthropological and other biological techniques, the secular changes in health and disease patterns of Asian populations could be successfully traced. The obtained information thereby contributes to more comprehensive understanding of the reciprocal interaction between human beings and disease throughout long history. In this session, we will try to discuss the recent progress in paleopathological studies in different countries of Asia. The authors will discuss about the ancient people’s life and diseases from the perspectives of archaeology, anthropology, osteology, parasitology, radiology, and molecular biology etc.

Conveners: Marlon Ririmasse and Peter Lape
 
The Maluku (Moluccas) region of eastern Indonesia was historically famous as the Spice Islands. Its role as the source for cloves and nutmeg was recorded in Chinese documents as early as the 2^nd century CE. Trade in other exotic commodities such as Bird of Paradise feathers connected other islands in the region to global markets. Contact and interaction with European traders in the 15^th century established the role of Maluku as an important intersection for various linguistic groups, religions and political interests.
Geographically situated at the southwest corner of the Pacific Ocean, the Maluku archipelago incorporates the majority of Wallacea, the biogeographic region between the Pleistocene continents Sunda and Sahul and the likely path of early humans migrating between these areas 40-60 kya. A number of Dongson kettledrum scattered in this region indicate possible interaction with the outside world during the late prehistoric period. New rock art sites have been identified and connected Maluku with ancient art in the wider region. Research in the last decade has revealed traces of Neolithic culture that provide insights into the introduction of domestic plants and animals to the region, and provided new ways of understanding how Maluku peoples adapted to new religions and colonial forces.
This positive progress has brought new insights for our understanding of these islands, although compared to its colossal potential, our knowledge of the past of Maluku remains vague. Early human occupation in relation to mobility and interaction with the surrounding areas is still a main question. Likewise, we still have a poor understanding of issues of adaptation in islands environments and early economies. Knowledge of environmental changes in the past and their social impacts has not yet been widely researched. The unique responses of Maluku social groups to outside trade and colonial forces still need the input of archaeological data to counter documentary biases. Many of the thousands of islands in the region have yet to be surveyed by archaeologists.
For over a decade beginning in 1998, violent social conflict in Maluku affected academic research and to some extent, reset the role of the past in the present of the region. Fortunately, following a positive recovery, Maluku has restored its role in global academic interest. A number of international collaborative projects have been conducted to understand culture history of the region from interdisciplinary perspectives. Contemporary residents of Maluku have been increasingly interested in exploring their unique identity by reflecting on their history, culture and archaeological heritage.
This session will discuss these recent developments from the perspectives of archaeology, anthropology, history, linguistics and related studies. 

There is a diversity of approaches and studies in archaeology, including use of scientific equipments with or without clearly defined methodology or justification of their application. There are broadly four main perspectives in the domain of cognitive archaeology – Processual archaeology, Post-processual archaeology, Cognitive-processual archaeology and Evolutionary-cognitive archaeology and all focuses on the ways that ancient man/ societies thought and symbolic structures that can be perceived in past cultural and material cultures.
Reasoning correctly involves representing the constituent elements of a argument with premises, intermediate conclusions, and final conclusions. There are two fundamentally different analytical strategies – Top to Bottom and Bottom to Top. An analytical approach is the use of a process to logically arrange a problem down to multilevel elements. It is necessary to solve each element. The structured approach enables a researcher with an open mind to examine each element of the decision or problem separately and systematically and leaves scope that all alternatives can be considered. The outcome is almost always more comprehensive and more effective than with the instinctive approach. The analytical approach is indeed a proper use of reason to solve problems. 
Models that simultaneously simplify and amplify the power of the original more resonant to our minds as the models make the original more present.
 
The rise of cognitive studies has brought about a new understanding of the hominine mind and also has brought together the social and natural sciences leading to breakthroughs in many fields. For example, the progress in the prehistoric lithic tools has been seen not only as technological innovations and improvisation, but also as a process of cognitive advancement in the prehistoric communities. Similarly, other aspects of human actions/ activities have been generally categorized and periodised on subsistence economy. However, attempt (s) to piece together tangible elements with intangible aspects of hominines like believes, customs, religion, burial practices, art and most importantly the idea and reasoning behind such aspects have not been adequately addressed.
 
Hence, cognitive resonant based on comprehensive analytical approaches and strategies under the domain of cognitive archaeology is the call of the hour. Applications of science and technology without rationale of its use or structured methodology may not lead to cognitive resonant and ultimately to understand cognitive ecosystem. This session welcomes papers on the use of analytical strategies and approaches for cogitating hominine cognition in archaeological landscape or at site (s). This can be true for both the pre-historical and historical archaeology.
 
Professor Prakash Sinha
Department of Ancient History,
Culture & Archaeology,
University of Allahabad-211002
India.
Email ID: passinha@yahoo.com
&
Dr Sukanya Sharma
Department of Humanities & Social Sciences
IIT-Guwahati,
Assam
India