Was He Murdered or Was He Not?—Part II: Multi‐Elemental Analyses of Hair and Bone Samples from Tycho Brahe and Histopathology of His Bones

Hair and bone samples procured from the remains of Tycho Brahe were analysed by several analytical techniques. In segmented hair samples, concentrations of Fe, As, Ag and Au at the tips exceeded values for the contemporary population; however, they decreased towards the hair bulbs, similarly to Hg, indicating that recent exposure that was discontinued ~2 months prior to Brahe's death. Several other elements did not follow this pattern. Analyses of bones revealed signs of long‐term exposure to Au, while many other elements were within expected ranges. Histopathological examination of bone sections yielded no signs of severe bone metabolic disorders.     

‘Saving the Solomons’: a New Geopolitics in the ‘Arc of Instability’?

The recent crisis in the Solomon Islands is reviewed in the context of historical and regional antecedents. In the past two decades political and ethnic disputes have flared in several parts of Melanesia and nearby parts of the ‘arc of instability’. Tensions and violence in the Solomon Islands, based on social, economic and political issues, exemplify regional development concerns. The collapse of the economy and civil order resulted in the Solomon Islands being characterised as a ‘failed State’. Localised warfare brought external military intervention, with a regional assistance mission led by Australia, which paralleled other involvement in the region. Involvement has emphasised renewed Australian interest in the region, in the light of global geopolitical shifts, and a more controversial approach to regional security and development.     

FAY‐NE15 — Another Neolithic graveyard in the Central Region of the Sharjah Emirate?

The paper describes indications for the existence of another substantial Neolithic graveyard of the fifth millennium BC besides al‐Buhais 18 (BHS18) in the Central Region of the Sharjah Emirate. Archaeological explorations in 2006 recovered skeletal remains of three individuals from a primary burial. Deposition of the deceased was similar to BHS18. All three were richly adorned with different kinds of beads found in the head and neck areas. A total of 949 finds of beads from FAY‐NE15 are compared to the large complex of personal adornments from BHS18. There are slight deviations that might indicate that the two graveyards were used by different groups. Implications for the relations between the groups are discussed.     

Feminist International Relations: a contradiction in terms? Or: why women and gender are essential to understanding the world ‘we’ live in*

This article examines the argument that women and gender are essential to the study of International Relations. It explains why this understanding is based on ontological revisionism and examines key areas where feminist International Relations has explored this possibility: war, militarism and security; sovereignty and the state; and globalization.     

Modified innovation diffusion — A way to explain the diffusion of cholera in Linköping in 1866? A study in methods

This article seeks to simulate diffusions of cholera from different water sources in the town of Linköping in 1866. The innovation diffusion theory, developed by Hägerstrand, has been used and modified. The article also investigates if it is possible to ascertain which water sources were contaminated during the cholera epidemic of 1866. The modifications of the theory of innovation diffusion resulted in a simulation model, which took into consideration the distribution of the population and barriers. The model corresponded with reality both in graphic and cartographic comparisons. With the help of the model, three water sources were identified as having been the probable cholera spreaders.     

Recovering the past from above Hibabiya — an Early Islamic village in the Jordanian desert?

Britain and the Middle East were the two areas in which the technique of aerial archaeology was pioneered in the 1920s. Overwhelmingly the latter took place in Syria where a French Jesuit priest, Antoine Poidebard, worked for a generation. Further south in Transjordan — as it then was — three men presided over a brief (1927–1929) but fruitful period: an archaeologist with a passion for the newly developing technique (O.G.S. Crawford) and two pilots of the Royal Air Force with an amateur interest in what they saw beneath their wings (Flt. Lt. P.E. Maitland and Gp/Capt L.W.B. Rees). An aerial photograph published at the time seemed to identify a ‘village’ as prehistoric. Over eighty years later and just after it was destroyed, a fresh examination and the rediscovery of some crucial dating evidence have combined to identify it as, probably, an early Islamic village on the desert fringe.     

How many Gs are there in ‘global governance’ after the crisis? The perspectives of the ‘marginal majority’ of the world's states

The G20 summit has recently emerged as the dominant agency of global governance. It claims that its economic weight and broad membership give it a high degree of legitimacy and influence over the management of the global economy and financial system. But the G20 still excludes from membership some 150 other countries, all of which have interests at stake within the contours of contemporary global governance. In the financial arena these excluded countries contributed significantly to the alternative agenda for dealing with the global financial crisis proposed by the United Nations conference that met in June 2009. In the trade arena they engaged extensively in a variety of coalitions within the World Trade Organization during the so‐called Doha Round and played a part in preventing a deal emerging that was unsatisfactory from their perspective. Questions are raised about the legitimacy of the G20 by the active presence of so many other country voices outside its remit and it can be expected that the excluded ‘G150’ will increasingly explore different ways to engage with the members of the G20 over the next few years.     

Slavs in Fredegar and Paul the Deacon: medieval gens or ‘scourge of God’?

This article presents a new interpretation of the accounts of Slavs given by two early medieval Latin narrative sources. The first section discusses Fredegar's Wendish account, while the second section considers Paul the Deacon's view of the Slavs in his Historia Langobardorum . The instrumental use of the Slavs in the domestic affairs of the Frankish and Lombard kingdoms constitutes the emphasis of the last section, in which the author compares Fredegar's and Paul the Deacon's historiographical perspectives.     

Was the Dog Locally Domesticated in the Danube Gorges? Morphometric Study of Dog Cranial Remains From Four Mesolithic–Early Neolithic Archaeological Sites by Comparison With Contemporary Wolves

In this article, we test a hypothesis about local dog domestication in the Danube Gorges of the central Balkans in the course of the Mesolithic period. Morphometric features of dog mandibles and teeth from Mesolithic–Early Neolithic sites of Vlasac, Padina, Lepenski Vir, and Hajdučka Vodenica have been analysed and compared with recent wolves from the central Balkans. Decrease in size and changes in proportions of dog's dental features were tracked diachronically. We identified specimens which manifested mixed wolf/dog features. Such specimens originate from the Early Mesolithic contexts, the time when a decrease in size began. On the basis of this pattern, we suggest that dog domestication may have taken place in the Danube Gorges during the Early Mesolithic (ca 9500–7500 cal. bc ). The reduction of size continued throughout Late Mesolithic (ca 7500–6300 cal. bc ), but there were still individuals that might be regarded as ‘transitional’ in comparison with wolves on account of their size, and a distinct difference in size between wolves and dogs did not develop. Accordingly, if local domestication was in progress here, the domestication process might have lasted for more than just few generations and even several millennia. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The long‐haired kings of the Franks: ‘like so many Samsons?’1

As the paradigm of Germanic sacral kingship has lost its appeal, historians have begun to rethink the concept of Merovingian kingship. Most of the arguments once used in support of its alleged Germanic and pagan character have now been refuted. However, the meaning of their long hair has thus far proven difficult to explain. This article will argue that the Merovingian hairstyle took up Christian meaning shortly after their conversion, presenting them in the image of the biblical Samson. Consequently, their use of biblical analogies to legitimize royal power further challenges the once‐held dichotomy between Merovingian and Carolingian kingship.     

Radio – Ulnar Weight Index — is it a Useful Criterion for Sex Identification of the Human Skeleton?

Sex identification of human long bones has been studied by several investigators. Measurements of the radius and the ulna have also been reported as an indicator of sex by reference to separate parameters and/or to combinations of the parameters of a single bone. This study was designed to determine whether the radius and the ulna can provide reliable information for the sexing of human bones, as can the lower leg bones, if the forearm measurements include the weight index of the two bones as a parameter. The materials consisted of the dried radii and ulnae of 20 recently deceased Japanese males and 20 similar females. Almost all the dimensions exhibited statistically significant sex differences. The radio–ulnar weight index did not, however, differ between the sexes. In discriminant analysis, the rate of correct sex discrimination based on distances between various pairs of points was not improved by the inclusion of the radio–ulnar weight index. Therefore, the radio–ulnar weight index cannot be recommended as a parameter for the sexing of human bones.     

Is “Threat” in the Eye of the Researcher? Theory and Measurement in the Study of State‐Level Immigration Policymaking

This study initiates a methodological critique of the state‐level immigration policy literature through the lens of the racial threat and group power perspectives. First, I highlight the conceptual problems related to the application of such theories to legislature‐level data analysis. Next, I demonstrate the methodological and analytical problems that raise concerns about ad hoc theorizing in this field. Using counts of hostile and welcoming immigration legislation (2005–2011), I demonstrate that outgroup size measures correlate positively with both dependent variables while measures of population growth rate yield null results unless used on their own. These results suggest that the use of legislature‐level models with demographic indicators does not allow us to gain a clear understanding of whether and how population dynamics influence immigration policymaking. Based on these findings, I recommend that when using demographic indicators as key explanatory variables, researchers provide evidence of result consistency across multiple model specifications and also test the models with both hostile and inclusive policy variables. Such protocols would help avoid ad hoc theorizing.     

‘A Sense of Crowd and Urgency’? Atmosphere and Inconvenience in the Chamber of the Old House of Commons

The house of commons before the 1834 fire that destroyed it was small, poky, and uncomfortable. Its effects on the health, audibility, and behaviour of its members were frequently a cause of complaint, and informed the consideration by two select committees in 1831 and 1833 of what could be done to replace the chamber. This article examines the background to the appointment of the committees, and what their discussions reveal about the unsatisfactory nature of the chamber. It considers why there failed to be a consensus on altering the chamber before its destruction.     

‘Who Should Be the Author of a Dwelling?’ Architects versus Housewives in 1950s France

This article draws upon archival sources, architectural trade publications and contemporary social science to trace the design and reception of the ‘cell’, a functionalist, rational apartment that was the building block of apartment complexes that sprung up all over France during the 1950s and 1960s. I argue that French Modernist architects, shaped by both professional and socio‐political concerns, believed their streamlined interiors to be key to building a classless society and restoring French greatness and thus rejected the dwelling preference and expertise of French homemakers when designing their homes. Nevertheless, Frenchwomen tried to ignore architectural dictates when it came to homemaking, and ultimately, in a changed political climate, their preferences convinced the national housing ministry to redefine its norms and standards for apartments.     

Businessmen in the Parliament of 1852–7: Players or Spectators?*

This article examines the activities of the business MPs who were members of the parliament of 1852–7. Largely coming from a different social background from those who had traditionally led the United Kingdom, with different educational experiences, and inhabiting a different social milieu, they demonstrated their interest in the governance of the United Kingdom by a vigorous participation in the activities of the house of commons. Although they composed less than 21% of the membership of the Commons, they disproportionately attended the sessions of the House, spoke often on topics of interest, participated regularly on committees, were quite active in sponsorship of public bills and sponsored more than half of the local and private bills.