Back from burn out: are experimentally charred grapevine pips too distorted to be characterized using morphometrics?

This article examines the impact of charring on the possibility to characterize grape pips, at compartment (wild versus domesticated) and cultivar level, using morphometrics. Two morphometric methods have been used, one based on linear measurements (traditional morphometrics) and one on elliptic Fourier transforms (EFT; morphogeometrics). Charring experiments were performed using a laboratory muffle furnace and various charring conditions. Despite the strong impact of heating, results showed that wild and domesticated Vitis seeds can be reliably discriminated using both traditional morphometrics and morphogeometrics, even when charring has been done at high temperature (450 °C). The characterization of charred pips at cultivar level using EFT is very powerful when the seeds are charred at 250 °C, but the risk of misclassification is, as expected, higher at 450 °C. Results suggest that the characterization at cultivar level should only be attempted with large assemblages of well preserved archaeological pips, and only after a first classification at compartment level. Our approach was applied on a case study of two assemblages of waterlogged and well preserved charred pips from the archaeological site of Lattara. The results are consistent both between the two morphometric methods and between waterlogged and charred remains.     

Marxism in archaeology: Real or spurious?

Spriggs, Matthew, ed. Marxist Perspectives in Archaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984. viii + 158 pp. including photographs, individual bibliographies, index. $39.50 cloth.

Miller, Daniel, and Christopher Tilley, eds. Ideology, Power and Prehistory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984. viii + 157 pp. including photographs, individual bibiographies, index. $39.50 cloth.     

The Cold War in retrospect: too early to tell?

Rather than looking mainly at how the Cold War started or how it ended, this essay considers what happened in between. Taking into account divergences within the ‘Third World’ of developing nations, the retrospective view leads to the conclusion that the Cold War left most favourable long-term effects in those parts of the world where it had made the greatest impact.     

‘It can be good there too’: home and continuity in refugee children's narratives of settlement

Drawing on refugee children's narratives about their experiences of settlement after prolonged stays in asylum centres, this article explores how the process of home-making is experienced in the everyday lives of children (7–12 year olds) settling with their parents in Norway. This article examines the importance of home as a material and relational space where children's expectations of an ideal home and existing standards together influence the process of home-making. Settlement is found to be a turning point in the lives of refugee families; it is a way of making oneself at home, sustaining continuity in children's world of movement, as well as linking space and time in their lives.     

The Soviet experience in Afghanistan: lessons to be learned?

This article examines the experience of the Soviet army's occupation of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It draws heavily on the report of the Russian General Staff, which gives a unique insight into the Soviet–Afghan war by senior Russian officers, many of whom served in Afghanistan. The author then places this analysis in the broader geopolitical context of Soviet expansionism from the early 1970s to the mid 1980s. And the author proceeds to ask: Did Afghanistan account for the demise of the USSR? Finally, the issue of whether there are parallels with the failure of the Soviet Union's invasion and the current problems facing the USA in Afghanistan is examined.     

Postcolonial criticism in one world archaeology: Where is North Africa's place?

áfrica del Norte hace tiempo ha sido considerada una extensión de Europa del sur. Cuando fue claro que los arqueólogos de áfrica del Norte siguieron la dinámica no-europea, ellos fueron excluidos de los actuales debates y recientes rese?as. Este trabajo ofrece una crítica postcolonial derivada de muchos a?os de trabajo en el campo en dos países árabes africanos: Libia y Sudan. Yo comienzo analizando el papel de tema/objeto del arqueólogo, que conlleva hacia una vista engendrada del presente. Después, yo discuto la perspectiva del arqueólogo sobre el desarrollo económico y explotación de recursos. Finalmente, yo sugiero reposicionar al áfrica del Norte en el actual debate arqueológico, igual que en relación a los actuales eventos políticos y sociales.

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Résumé L'Afrique du Nord a longtemps été considérée comme une extension de l'Europe du Sud. Quand il est devenu évident que les archéologues nord africains suivaient une dynamique non-européenne, ceux-ci ont été exclus des débats courants et des révisions. Ce papier offre une critique postcoloniale consécutive à de nombreuses années de travaux passées sur le terrain dans deux pays arabes d'Afrique du Nord: la Libye et le Soudan. Je commence par déconstruire les r?les sujet/objet de l'archéologue, qui mènent à une vision orientée du passé. Puis, j' examine la perspective des archéologues quant au développement économique et l'exploitation des ressources. Enfin, je suggère de replacer l'Afrique du Nord dans le débat archéologique courant, et de la mettre en relation avec les évènements sociaux et politiques en cours.

     

‘The facts stated do not seem to be true’: The Contested Process of Repatriation in British Colonial Nigeria

This article will examine requests for repatriation submitted by Nigerian subjects in the last decade of colonial rule in Nigeria. Requests for repatriation from this time provide insights into the motives, outcomes and impact of a growing trend among Nigerians to travel abroad for work, studies, pilgrimages and adventure. This mobility reflected both easier access to the means to travel and the empowerment of Nigerians to realise their economic, social and cultural aspirations beyond the borders of Nigeria. Once abroad, many became destitute and unable to pay for their return back home, and requests for their repatriation were then made to the colonial administration in Nigeria. A review of the files regarding the process of repatriation exposes divergent perceptions between colonisers and colonised of the rights and obligations structuring the colonial relationship. It will be seen that a very limited range of options was available to the British administration in Nigeria in dealing with those who defied, ignored or reinterpreted rules aimed at monitoring and regulating the identities and movement of Africans. Thus, the history of repatriations reveals both the impotence of the colonial regime in imposing limits on the mobility of its African subjects, and the various ways in which Africans imposed their own notions of flexibility and ambiguity in response to colonial policies.     

Too precarious to be inclusive? Hotel maid employment in Spain

ABSTRACT

Hoteliers have steadily been able to reduce costs and increase employees’ workload as a result of mass unemployment sparked by the financial crisis, beginning in 2008, and associated legislative reforms by the Spanish government. Outsourcing has been hotels’ main instrument in this drive. Hotel chambermaids are among the groups most affected by this phenomenon. This article analyses the impacts of outsourcing on hotel maids’ working conditions, while questioning the possibilities for achieving inclusive tourism given the current outsourcing trend. It is based on 44 in-depth interviews with a range of informants, including 24 hotel maids who have experienced the process of outsourcing, in major Spanish tourism destinations. This study aims to understand the changes these workers have experienced and perceived in their working conditions. The research results highlight a marked deterioration in hotel maids’ working conditions in recent years, most notably involving (a) a reduction in their salary and the loss of professional categories, (b) work overload, (c) greater uncertainty in the duration of employment, timetables and work schedule, (d) de-professionalisation, (e) segmentation, division and an increase in competition between hotel staff, (f) the accentuation of health problems and (g) a decrease in the capacity of representation and the defence of workers’ collective interests.     

Review article: What’s new in early medieval burial archaeology?

Books reviewed in this article:
John Hines, Karen Høilund Nielsen and Frank Siegmund (eds), The Pace of Change. Studies in Early–Medieval Chronology.
Catherine E. Karkov, Kelley M. Wickham–Crowley and Bailey K. Young (eds), Spaces of the Living and the Dead: An Archaeological Dialogue.
Sam Lucy, The Early Anglo–Saxon Cemeteries of East Yorkshire. An Analysis and Reinterpretation.
Elizabeth O'Brien, Post–Roman Britain to Anglo–Saxon England: Burial Practices Reviewed.
Nick Stoodley, The Spindle and the Spear. A Critical Enquiry into the Construction and Meaning of Gender in the Early Anglo–Saxon Burial Rite.     

To be or not to be in Europe: is that the question? Britain's European question and an in/out referendum

The idea of holding an in/out referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union has increasingly become a norm of British politics, an act seen as a necessary step for the country to answer what David Cameron described as the ‘European question in British politics’. A referendum, it is hoped, will cleanse British politics of a poisonous debate about Europe and democratically sanction a new stable UK–EU relationship, whether the UK stays in or leaves. Such hopes expect more of a referendum than it can provide. The European question is a multifaceted one and whatever the result of a referendum it is unlikely to address underlying questions that will continue to cause problems for UK–EU relations and Britain's European debate. A referendum can be a step forward in better managing the relationship and debate, but it is only that: a single step, after which further steps will be needed. Coming to terms with the European question and bringing stability to Britain's relations with the EU—whether in or outside the EU—will require comprehensive, longer‐term changes which a referendum can help trigger but in no way guarantee.     

Health geography in Canada: where are we headed?

This paper overviews the emergence of medical/health geography in Canada. The paper discusses the key questions that Canadian health geographers have explored in the past two decades, how these enquiries have featured in the field and how they contribute to the wider discourse of human geography. It also addresses questions on emerging themes and where Canadian health geography will go in the years ahead. With shifting health landscapes in terms of changes in social, political and physical environments, and changes in health care restructuring, Canadian health geographers are entering a new phase of research, teaching and policy. The complexity of the questions that health geographers seek to address means it is necessary to continue to highlight the policy implications of their findings. Health geographers need to emphasize the public agenda through interdisciplinary research and by continuing to work with geographers in other subfields.     

Some comments on ethnohistory and archaeology: Have we attained (are we even approaching) A truly conjunctive approach?

Robert M. Carmack. The Quiche Maya of Utatlan. Norman: The University of Oklahoma Press. 1980, 400pp. $27.50.

John W. Fox. Quiche Conquest: Centralism and Regionalism in Highland Guatemalan State Development. Albuquerque: The University of New Mexico Press. 1978, xii, 322pp. $15.00.