A case of ‘butterfly’ vertebra from Sardinia

We describe a rare congenital malformation of the spine known as ‘butterfly’ vertebra, which is classified as a congenital developmental anomaly in the early embryonic period, resulting in a sagittally cleft vertebral body. In our case, the anomaly affects an adult female and involves the fifth lumbar vertebra and first sacral vertebra; it is not associated with other anomalies of the spine. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Limits to interpretation of skeletal trauma — Two case studies from Medieval Abingdon,England

Two adult male skeletons from the Medieval lay cemetery at Abingdon show multiple trauma to the upper limbs and torso. Although this in itself is not uncommon in this cemetery the two skeletons in question stand out by virtue of the near-identical distribution of their injuries. The skeletons are used as examples to discuss the difficulties facing the palaeopathologist in deciding whether to attribute particular examples of trauma to violence. This is particularly relevant to Abingdon, where at least one major episode of civil conflict is documented historically. It was concluded that although the number of skeletons displaying signs of trauma may show the level of violence and high-risk occupations in a society, skeletal evidence rarely can distinguish between the two in individual cases.     

‘The bullets buzzed like bees’: Gunshot wounds in skeletons from the Battle of the Little Bighorn

Gunshot trauma is an important, but often overlooked, avenue for interpreting the historic past. Ten skeletons of Seventh Cavalry troopers, killed during the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, are analysed osteologically. Six of the ten specimens have gunshot wounds, including three to the cranial vault. The other wounds are to postcranial remains, including one in an innominate. This wound location aids the identification of the individual, confirming and complementing historic accounts. Of the remaining two, one is to the humerus and the other to the chest region. These wounds provide insights into the nature of perimortem injuries, weapons used in the battle, and interpretations of the battle.     

From ‘Global’ to ‘Revolutionary’ Development

This article argues that Horner and Hulme's call for moving towards ‘global development’ to do justice to changing 21^st century development geographies neither contributes to advancing our understanding of contemporary development challenges nor helps articulate realistic responses to tackle them. A key problem is that they try to explain several general trends in the geography of development with reference to mainstream statistics without appropriate critical reflection or adequate theorization. Focusing specifically on the environmental and conservation aspects of development, this article contends that these omissions not only confuse the debate on the current state and geographies of development, they risk something more serious, namely the reinforcement of a generic development narrative which will intensify 21^st century development challenges. The article concludes that what we need is not global development but revolutionary development.     

The ‘caries correction factor’: A new method of calibrating dental caries rates to compensate for antemortem loss of teeth

Dental caries rates are frequently based exclusively upon the number of carious teeth observed in a human skeletal series. However, a portion of the teeth lost antemortem will be lost because of severe carious decay, a factor not considered by many investigators. This paper reviews and critiques earlier attempts to adjust dental caries rates to account for antemortem loss of teeth, and proposes a new ‘caries correction factor’ that is population specific, requires no assumptions, and is sensitive to the temporal and ecogeographical context of a skeletal series. An example of how to apply this caries correction factor is provided using new data from the Bronze Age site of Harappa in northern Pakistan. Its value in dental palaeopathology is reviewed with two recent studies of dental caries in the Arabian Gulf, and concludes with a consideration of its possible application to non-human primates.     

An Unusual Erosive Arthropathy from Medieval England

In palaeopathology, diagnosis of skeletal disease is classically made with reference to changes wrought by known diseases in modern or recent cases. This report presents a skeleton from medieval England which shows a form of erosive arthropathy. A more precise diagnosis is problematic because the alterations appear inconsistent with any of the principle forms of erosive arthropathy in current clinical classification. The distribution of lesions in the axial and appendicular skeleton resembles that in seronegative spondyloarthropathies. The nature of the lesions however, which are almost entirely lytic and concentrated principally at synovial articulations rather than entheses, is inconsistent with seronegative spondyloarthropathies and is more consistent with pathophysiology of rheumatoid arthritis. These observations raise the possibility that the manifestations of erosive arthropathies may have altered over time and/or that our clinical understanding of the skeletal distribution of lesions in these diseases may be incomplete. These scenarios would have profound implications for our ability to identify the various forms of erosive arthritis in archaeological populations, but further work investigating erosive arthritis in patients, together with systematic studies of skeletal cases, would be required before firm conclusions can be made. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Recategorizing ‘Public’ and ‘Private’ Property in Ghana

In the course of political struggle in northern Ghana, the classification of land and resources has shifted between the two ‘master categories’ of public and private. Despite the fact that master categories may be wholly inadequate in accounting for the actual complexity of property objects, social units and rights, they are not divorced from the agency of people who have something at stake. Laws, rules and by‐laws are referred to as important markers and fashion the local political struggles over the rights to and control over resources. This article offers a general account of conflicts and the recategorization of resources in the property system of small‐scale irrigation. It examines the logics and positioning of the different stakeholders, and discusses how different levels of public policy have provided opportunities for such changes. A case study presents the opportunity to examine the details of a particular controversy demonstrating the social and political powers involved in the recategorization of property.     

Elongated styloid process in late medieval skeletons from Uzdolje‐Grablje,Croatia

Analysis of skeletons from Uzdolje‐Grablje cemetery near Knin, Croatia, reveals three cases of an elongated styloid process. Elongation is a condition of unknown aetiology characterised by a styloid process that exceeds 30 mm. Although the prevalence of this condition has been reported in modern populations, we document for the first time elongated styloid processes in human skeletal material from an archaeological population. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

‘Scientific’ nationalism

This paper investigates how the discursive battle for the Flemish nation is waged in the Flemish mass media by politicians of the Flemish nationalist party, the New Flemish Alliance (N‐VA). I focus on the ‘new nationalism’ that N‐VA politicians advocate as a means to ‘banalise’ a hot Flemish nationalism. I establish that N‐VA spokespeople and especially their chairman Bart De Wever invoke discursive alliances with established scholars such as Anderson, Hroch, Calhoun and Billig. On the one hand, these alliances are used to sell their nationalism as a non‐ideological or non‐discursive project. On the other hand, the analyses of these intellectuals are used as manuals to ‘banalise’ a hot nationalism. The concept of ‘scientific’ nationalism refers to the entextualisation of scientific discourses in order to legitimate and banalise the nationalist project of the party as ‘in line with science’.     

‘Novy Svet Ware’, an Exceptional Cargo of Glazed Wares from a 13th‐Century Shipwreck near Sudak (Crimea,Ukraine)—Morphological Typology and Laboratory Investigations

Excavation of a medieval shipwreck at Novy Svet, Crimea, Ukraine, revealed an exceptional quantity of glazed ceramics with sgraffito decoration which, according to chemical analysis, correspond to a single production provisionally named ‘Novy Svet Ware’. Typological and analytical definitions are given. Its diffusion in the Crimea and extending to Turkey and the Levant, points to a main, as yet unlocated, workshop. The Novy Svet shipwreck suggests the persistence of large‐scale diffusion of ceramics in the late‐13th century, and demonstrates connections with the Black Sea, the Byzantine capital and territories, the Mediterranean and possibly the spice roads. © 2009 The Authors     

‘Fighting from the fields’: developing the British ‘National Farm’ in the Second World War

The Second World War had a profound impact on British Agriculture, with state intervention at an unprecedented level cementing the idea of a ‘National Farm’ in both the popular and the governmental psyche. Critical attention has recently begun to refocus on this period, adding to the somewhat celebratory meta-narratives written in the official histories. Drawing from the practice of micro-historical research and recent work in geography that seeks to understand the production of the landscape ‘from within’, this paper explores how ‘small stories’ can afford an appreciation of the ‘complications of everyday existence’ and bring greater depth, nuance and understanding to these ‘larger’ historical events and their influence on the British countryside. Utilising oral histories from farms in Devon (UK), the paper explores the micro-geographies which shaped as well as destabilised the national farm message as it was translated into the local context.     

‘Ex utroque sexu fidelium tres ordines’– The Status of Women in Early Medieval Canon Law

Canon law provides for various categorisations among Christians. In early Christian and medieval sources it is often not very clear whether a category is only for men, or for women as well. Taking as its starting point the question of lay status this article intends to clarify terminological difficulties. It touches upon the question of female members of the clergy and the greater equality of monks and nuns. The status of queens and empresses is also discussed.     

‘Working for’ and ‘Working’ among Western Arrernte in Central Australia1

This article discusses some conflicts between kin‐ and market‐based society as they are reflected in the lives of Western Arrernte in and around Ntaria (Hermannsburg). Both political economy and cultural analysis provide accounts of concomitant ‘problems about work’ and training initiatives in remote communities. Neither brings together, however, the issues of economic marginalisation and a history of cultural difference with its own transformations. This discussion takes its departure from the Arrernte's attempts to reconcile kinship service (‘working for’) and paid employment (‘working’) in everyday practice. It demonstrates that this attempt is part of broader change concerning the ways in which hunter‐gatherer people in Australia have been compelled to adapt to a world of cash and commodities, and waged employment. In this discussion, the focus is on remote indigenous Australians today.     

When Governance Gets Going: Certifying ‘Better Cotton’ and ‘Better Sugarcane’

As many new certification systems for commodities have been established over the past decade, scholars have devoted sustained attention to the ways that these multi‐stakeholder governance initiatives have transformed the industries in which they were launched. With a few notable exceptions, studies in this area have continued to focus on the development and impacts of new governance mechanisms, and on the sectoral or industrial changes that have ensued. In contrast to these ‘inside‐out’ perspectives on governance innovation and change, this article considers how two prominent yet relatively under‐studied commodity governance initiatives have been shaped by the broader political economic order in which they operate. To offer an ‘outside‐in’ account of the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) and Bonsucro (formerly the Better Sugarcane Initiative), the article details recent changes in what the author terms the ‘world commodity order’, and situates the BCI and Bonsucro within this order. From this vantage point, the author ultimately makes two analytical claims: (i) that the world commodity order has not precluded the differential institutionalization of these initiatives; and (ii) that aspects of the order have circumscribed the potential of the BCI and Bonsucro to deliver pro‐poor business practices.