New evidence for the use of cinnabar as a colouring pigment in the Vin?a culture

This paper presents the results obtained for red pigments used on ceramics from the Neolithic period, excavated at three Vin?a culture archaeological sites on the territory of present day Serbia. Emphasis was put on cinnabar, a characteristic red pigment, in order to define its possible origin and usage. Several spectroscopic techniques (EDXRF, PIXE, X-ray powder diffraction) were applied to identify the pigments. According to the results presented in this paper, the known record regarding the first cinnabar use in the Balkans can be extended to the end of the sixth millennium BC.     

Living on the Edge? Transformation of a Marginal Pleistocene Landscape Into a Settlement Area in the Northeastern Part of the Netherlands

ABSTRACT

This paper will examine settlement location during the Iron Age in the northeast part of the Netherlands, an area shaped by Pleistocene geology. In recent years, a number of Late Iron Age/Early Roman settlements situated on the low lying slopes of sand ridges and nearby stream ridges revealed traces of an earlier Iron Age occupation. Palynological data revealed that this part of the landscape was used by humans before it was transformed into an area of settlement. An analysis of excavation data from two key sites at Denekamp-De Borchert and Groningen-Helpermaar, as well as other known sites, lead to the conclusion that the transformation of ‘peripheral landscapes’ into permanent settlement locations was preceded by a phase of arable cultivation which left no trace of permanent habitation. It is also suggested that the impact of human behaviour on the natural landscape in the Early and Middle Iron Age was much bigger than previously anticipated. When excavating this type of settlement areas dating to the Late Iron Age, archaeologists must be aware that only of a small group of archaeological features exist. The proposed model for the choice of settlement location may be more widespread, because of similarities in landscape between the study area presented here and other landscapes in Northwest-Europe (e.g. parts of Germany and Denmark).     

Did the NARA Treaty make a difference?

The Basic Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between Australia and Japan (the NARA Treaty) was the first treaty of friendship and amity signed between Australia and any other country. Importantly it extended most-favoured-nation status or non-discriminatory treatment beyond trade to all commercial dealings between Australia and Japan, including investment and migration and stay. It was a framework agreement that established a comprehensive basis of equality and fairness in economic and political relations. Yet it is frequently seen as not having had any substantial economic impact on the relationship. This article argues otherwise. It demonstrates that the NARA Treaty had a large and measurable effect on the intensity of investment flows and suggests that it had similar effects on the movement of people between the two economies.1 1. I would like to thank Jenny Corbett, Bill Tow, David Walton, Max Suich, Geoff Miller, Moreen Dee and other participants for their helpful comments on the presentation of an outline of this paper to the Workshop on the 30th Anniversary of the NARA Treaty organised through the Australia–Japan Research Centre at the Australian National University, and the Australian Institute of International Affairs. I am very grateful to Bill Bannear for research assistance in calculating the measures of trade and investment intensity used in the argument of this paper. I am especially grateful to Shiro Armstrong for his assistance in that work and his final polish to the argument of the paper. View all notes     

A Human Rights "Soul" for a Secular World of "Faiths": A Contradiction,or Just a Paradox?

Abstract

The critically important role of groups associated with the infant World Council of Churches in the process of introducing ‘human rights’ into the post-World War II international order, and then helping to define them in the Universal Declaration (1948), has been forgotten. It was asserted in those years that (at any rate Christian) faith is properly concerned with the inter-dependence of healthy religion and religiously neutral human-rights institutions. The principle was advanced, not only by Christians, that this conviction could be held in good conscience by any of the world-faiths. To open educational windows would increase knowledge of the beliefs of ‘the other’, and foster both self-criticism and mutual respect. This vision has been only very partially realised. Now, many difficult public issues spring from claims made by religious traditions, and many religious groups have rejected ‘universal’ human rights as a threat. This paper argues that the mutuality of religious faith and human rights needs to be re-enterprised urgently—and not only by elites—for the health of both and for the sake of containing violence. This is not a responsibility to which political authority—however religiously neutral—can or should remain indifferent.     

Variabilities in the thermospheric temperatures in the region of the crest of the equatorial ionization anomaly—a case study

Results on spectroscopic measurements of thermospheric temperatures made from a low latitude station, Abu (24.6°N, 72.7°E, geographic; 18°N dip latitude), India, situated in the crest region of the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA), are presented. On many occasions, these measurements reveal large deviations frorn the predictions of the neutral atmospheric model, MSIS-86, bringing out its limitations as applied to the equatorial and low latitude thermosphere. The role played by large-scale geophysical processes like the EIA, equatorial spread F (ESF) and the midnight temperature maximum (MTM), all of which influence the thermal structure of the upper atmosphere, is examined in the context of explaining the differences between the measured temperatures and model predictions. It has been conclusively shown that Joule heating associated with ESF irregular electric fields is not solely responsible for the observed deviations, and the possibility of a significant role by the EIA related processes is indicated.     

Who needs a review of the financial system in Australia? the case of the Wallis inquiry

The Howard government reoriented the then existing institutionally based financial regulation towards a functionally based regime with new prudential and disclosure regulators in 1998. This paper uses the governmental agenda-setting framework of John Kingdon to explain this financial regulatory change undertaken in Australia following the Wallis Inquiry of 1996. It also examines the role of the Inquiry in the policy process. It shows that the financial regulatory change was on the bureaucratic agenda of the Treasury Department. A window of opportunity opened for the Treasury following the 1996 election, with the new Howard government keen to achieve financial regulatory reforms to address future regulatory challenges proactively while the new Treasurer Peter Costello wanted to consolidate his power within markets and politics. Costello coupled the Treasury's solutions to problems and to political processes. The Wallis Committee was ‘packed’ by the government in accordance with its regulatory policy preferences. Its role was to legitimise the government's policy preferences publicly, and to transfer the ‘governmental agenda’ into the ‘public agenda’. However, this was not a case of the government pressuring for its policy preferences over the financial services industry. In fact, the Inquiry was used as a venue to generate industry and public support for the regulatory changes, and was used to build a network of alliances within and outside the parliament.     

Why the Śailendras were not a Javanese dynasty

Archaeologists and art historians generally agree that most of the 8th- to 9th-century Buddhist temples in central Java were constructed by the rulers who claimed to belong to the ?ailendra dynasty. But the unsolved question preying on the minds of scholars for many decades now is the origins of this dynasty. Drawing on a variety of arguments this study contends that the present popularity of the ?ailendra dynasty's Javanese origin is ill-founded, and urges a resumption of research into its foreign origins, whether in India, Sri Lanka or mainland Southeast Asia.