Poverty Point as Structure,Event, Process

A multiscalar analysis of the Poverty Point mound and ridge complex of northeast Louisiana illustrates the value of agency and practice theories to historical interpretations of monumental architecture. The architects of Poverty Point included both ancient mounds in their design and, arguably, symbolic representations of the far-flung places and peoples from which Poverty Point residents acquired raw materials for tools and ornaments. The conjunction of the past with the present, and the local with the nonlocal was the logic of a new social order that was both corporate and pluralistic. Extrapolation of the geometry of Poverty Point earthworks at increasingly larger scales encompasses the places and histories of communities whose migrations, shifting alliances, and transformations contributed to the genesis of Poverty Point culture.     

The Regular Component in Settlement Patterns as Shown on a Map

The author uses the concept of entropy from information theory to test the application of Christaller's hexagonal trade-area concept to actual settlement patterns. The entropy measure is used to separate the settlement pattern into its hexagonal and random components, just as incoming radio signals would be separated into the original outgoing signals and noise interference. Medvedkov derives formulas for two methods, one using the density of points within cells of a lattice, the other using the nearest-neighbor technique. The entropy approach is tested in seven actual situations, including three control situations, and shows the regular, or hexagonal, pattern to be the predominant component in five out of seven cases.     

捕鱼能手 鸬鹚

<正>西湖是人间天堂,也是鸟类乐园。每年冬天,大批鸬鹚从北方飞来越冬,西湖成为游人观赏鸬鹚、鸟人拍摄鸬鹚的好去处。我跻身在这人群中,欣赏、拍摄并渐渐研究起来。当我每拍一种鸟并探寻它的历史背景时,激动的心久久不能平静,以至于有"百种鸟有百种故事"的赞叹。     

The Muslim Settlement of Late Ottoman and Mandatory Palestine: Comparison with Jewish Settlement Patterns

In the late Ottoman and Mandatory periods, Palestine's rural landscape underwent a great transformation. This study examines how the Muslim population expanded beyond its traditional inhabitation in the highlands and settled the fluid inventory of marginal lands in the coastal plains and unpopulated valleys of Palestine. In settling these marginal landscapes their settlement dovetailed with Jewish settlement patterns. While most studies have emphasized the competitive aspect of this process, examining Zionist and Arab national claims, this research points to a different aspect of this new settlement—mainly how much the Jewish and Muslim settlement patterns mirrored one another and how they were part of similar physical processes and complemented one another. Relying on censuses, aerial photographs, and period maps, as well as other archival sources, this is the first systematic research to examine the full extent of new Muslim settlements in Palestine in the late Ottoman and Mandatory periods, and to draw parallels between this phenomenon and the settlement endeavors of the Zionists.     

Unfinished Business: Confirming Australia's Constitution as an Act of Political Settlement

This paper sympathises with both conservatives who oppose continual tampering with the Constitution and progressive reformers wishing to improve its democratic character. It suggests a constitutional reconciliation between the two is feasible if both take more account of the position advanced by federal constitutionalists. Such a reconciliation would leave the mainframe of the Constitution intact and establish it more securely as an authoritative framework for political association. Doing so would also resolve much of the normative confusion surrounding the polity, help establish a more coherent philosophy of government in Australia, and subsume the translation to a republic.     

伟大历史转折的1978年

1978年是新中国具有转折意义的重要一年。通过关于真理标准问题的大讨论,人们冲破了“两个凡是”的束缚,解放了思想;顺应人们要求改变生产力的落后状况的迫切心情,我国对外改善了与日、美等国的关系,确立了引进开放的方针;对内大胆地提出改革生产关系和上层建筑的意见,确定经济战线必须实行三个转变,达成对改革的原则问题的一致认识;最后通过召开中共十一届三中全会,重新确立了党的实事求是的思想路线,实现了全党工作重心的转移。     

A Map of the Settlement Field Potential as a Special Type of Population Map

The concept of settlement field potential, a term preferred over “demographic potential,” is applied to the territory of Tyumen' Oblast in Western Siberia. The generalizad resulting pattern of potential is then compared with a convential population density, and differences and similarities are noted. The maps, not reproduced in the article, are to be published in the Atlas of Tyumen' Oblast, which is in press.     

Water Use at Palmetto Point and Middle Island, Saba, Dutch Caribbean: A Modeled Approach for Settlement Viability

The neighboring abandoned villages of Palmetto Point and Middle Island, on the northwest of Saba, Dutch Caribbean, relied upon rainwater caught in cisterns as their primary source of potable water. The island of Saba is located in the northern Lesser Antilles, and thus is subject to a rainy and dry season in the course of a year. Using measurements of the village cisterns and their respective catchments combined with variations in monthly rainfall data over the course of a year, a study of water replenishment versus water consumption is possible for Palmetto Point and Middle Island. As a result, fluctuations in population in villages with measurable, finite supplies of potable water allow a researcher to determine the viability of the villages at particular points in time, and the resultant effects on internal economies and social dynamics during these periods.