A compositional perspective on the origins of the “Nasca cult” at Cahuachi

We provide a compositional perspective on the origins of the Cahuachi cult in Nasca, south coast of Peru. Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis of ceramics from the Formative site of La Puntilla demonstrate that a small group of pottery known as Nasca 1 blackwares are compositionally consistent with Early Nasca polychromes originating at Cahuachi. These data suggest that the patterns of pilgrimage and group ceremonies exhibited at Cahuachi during Early Nasca began at least in the proto-Nasca phase of Nasca 1 during the Formative. We use these data to further document the Paracas to Nasca transition, a complex and dynamic period in south coastal prehistory.     

Effects of Confidentiality-Preserving Geo-Masking on the Estimation of Semivariogram and of the Kriging Variance

Geostatistical methods, such as semivariograms and kriging are well-known spatial tools commonly employed in many disciplines such as health, mining, forestry, meteorology to name only few. They are based essentially on point-referenced data on a continuous space and on the calculation of distances between them. In many practical instances, however, the exact point location, even if exactly known, is geo-masked to preserve confidentiality. This typically happens when dealing with confidential data related to individuals-health and their biometric parameters. In these situations, the estimation of the semivariogram and, hence, the spatial prediction can become biased and highly inefficient. This paper examines the extent of the bias in the particular case when the geo-masking mechanism is known (called “intentional locational error”) and lays the ground to a full understanding of the phenomenon in more general cases. We also examine how the geo-masking affects the estimation of the kriging variance thus reducing the efficiency of spatial prediction. We pursue our aims by developing some theoretical results and by making use of simulated and real data analysis.     

A note on the geomorphological environment of Çatal Hüyük, Turkey

It had previously been proposed (Cohen, 1970) that after large-scale Early Holocene alluviation, no post-occupational sediment accumulated around the neolithic site of Çatal Huyuk in south-central Anatolia. Data presented here, however, indicate that several metres of archaeological deposit at both east and west mounds are overlain by alluvium. This implies that the modern distribution of soil and water resources cannot be used directly to assess past agricultural potential in the vicinity of the site.     

The problem with ‘radicalization’: the remit of ‘Prevent’ and the need to refocus on terrorism in the UK

This article questions the utility of the term ‘radicalization’ as a focus for counter‐terrorism response in the UK. It argues that the lack of clarity as to who the radicalized are has helped to facilitate a ‘Prevent’ strand of counterterrorism strategy that has confusingly oscillated between tackling violent extremism, in particular, to promoting community cohesion and ‘shared values’ more broadly. The article suggests that the focus of counterterrorism strategy should be on countering terrorism and not on the broader remit implied by wider conceptions of radical‐ization. This is not to diminish the importance of contextual or ‘root cause’ factors behind terrorism, but, if it is terrorism that is to be understood and countered, then such factors should be viewed within the terrorism‐counterterrorism discourse and not a radicalization‐counter‐radicalization one. The article goes on to consider the characterization of those presenting a terrorist threat to the UK as being ‘vulnerable’ to violent extremism. While it argues that the notion of vulnerable individuals and communities also lends itself to a wider ‘Prevent’ remit, it cautions that the impetus towards viewing terrorism as the product of vulnerability should not deflect us from what has generally been agreed in terrorism studies—that terrorism involves the perpetration of rational and calculated acts of violence.     

‘The revolt of the medievalists’. Directions in recent research on the twelfth-century renaissance

This historiographical article contains two basic parts. First, it discusses recent approaches to the twelfth-century renaissance in the last two decades by focusing on some selected themes. These themes basically derive from Charles Homer Haskins' notion of the renaissance and include individualism, rationality, secularisation, and the question of the emergence of a ‘critical mentality.’ From this point of departure, the article addresses the question of thematic innovation with regard to the twelfth-century renaissance. The second part of the article discusses the effect of the so-called linguistic turn on renaissance studies in general and on the twelfth-century renaissance in particular. In conclusion, some suggestions for further research are singled out.     

Refractions and recombinations of the ‘economic’ and the ‘social’: a personalized reflection on challenges by—and to—feminist urban geographies

This invited essay responds to requests by the Suzanne Mackenzie Memorial Lecture Nominating Committee and by the former Editor of this journal to take stock of and provide intellectual‐historical context for the major preoccupations that characterized feminist urban geography in its early years, by means of a personalized reflection in light of the author's own positioning in those debates and interventions. The thread running through the article is that of the relationship between the ‘economic’ and the ‘social’ in urban geography. The last section briefly considers new challenges that neoliberalism poses for critical feminist urban geographies.     

Capitalizing on Desire: Reconfiguring ‘the Social’ and the Government of Poverty in the Philippines

Tracing the contours of ‘the social’ is of critical importance today, since there is a widely shared understanding that ‘the social’ has been undergoing a fundamental mutation under the encroaching influence of globalization and neoliberalism. This mutation means that a population and its risks are increasingly administered and managed through the nurturing of free subjects, productive citizens and active communities. By focusing on conditional cash transfers as a poverty‐alleviation programme in the Philippines, this study examines how the contemporary government of poverty attempts to realize social inclusion through the nurturing of desires, habits and dispositions that are conducive to an ‘investment in human capital’. The study argues that such regimes produce various forms of exclusion and counterclaims by the beneficiaries, and that these counterclaims, which reflect the popular notions of patronage and clientelism, have serious implications for envisioning the alternative configuration of ‘the social’.     

A Rebuttal to Comments on ‘Sacrifice of the Social Outsider’

A recent publication by the author documented two probable cases of Klippel–Feil Syndrome at the site of Midnight Terror Cave in the Cayo District of Belize. Radiographic images recently taken of the multiple congenital fused vertebrae from these two individuals raised discussion regarding the initial assessment of Klippel–Feil Syndrome. This commentary further discusses the topic by dealing with researcher assumptions of the syndrome and indicates radiographic data do not provide enough evidence to change the initial assessment. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

National identity on the Portuguese‐Spanish frontier

This article gives an ethnographic account of national identity in the day‐to‐day lives of villagers who face one another across the Portuguese‐Spanish frontier along the Guadiana River on the Iberian Peninsula. The article shows that despite European integration, the symbolic boundaries of culture and identity in these nation states persist.