Corporate kin-groups,social memory,and “history houses”? A quantitative test of recent reconstructions of social organization and building function at Çatalhöyük during the PPNB

It has been argued that the corporate kin-group was the main form of socioeconomic organization at the Turkish site of Çatalhöyük during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB). This hypothesis is linked to a claim of long-term repetitive patterning in the use of household space. Çatalhöyük's corporate kin-groups, it is suggested, would have been maintained by social memory, and social memory would have been created by the repeated rebuilding of houses with the same floor plan and by the burial of important members of the corporate kin-groups under house floors. This hypothesis been taken up by a number of authors in recent years. However, it is not clear how much confidence should be invested in the hypothesis as the use of household space at Çatalhöyük during the PPNB has not been subject to formal evaluation. With this in mind, we carried out a study in which we examined the relationship between continuity in house floor plans and the percentage of houses that contain burials. To assess the co-variation between these variables, we developed a GIS-based method of quantifying house wall continuity, and then subjected the resulting index and a number of other variables, including the percentage of houses that contain burials, to factor analysis. The results of the analyses do not support the hypothesis. The house-wall continuity index and the percentage of houses that contains burials load on different factors, which indicates that they do not co-vary through time. This is contrary to the predictions of the corporate kin-group hypothesis. Thus, claims that during the PPNB Çatalhöyük's occupants formed corporate kin groups that were maintained by social memory and “history houses” should be curtailed and interpretations built on this hypothesis should be viewed with suspicion.     

A “Caesarian,”“Augustan,” or “Justinian” Worldview of Theoretical and Quantitative Geography?

An evolving world view of theoretical and quantitative geography is presented using an analogy from the development of the ancient Roman and Byzantine Empires between Julius Caesar in the first century BC to Justinian in the sixth century AD. This is used to set the discussion platform for a series of papers presented by participants from the early days of quantitative revolution in geography and its transformation into a robust and relevant spatial science. Current theoretical and quantitative geography needs to be, first, active in developing new ideas and applications, second, to continue to transform its methodology to be more societally relevant and scientifically robust and, third, to actively engage cultural critiques of these processes.     

What can we make of these fragments? Excavation at ‘Mamilla’ Cave,Byzantine period,Jerusalem

This paper reports on the pathology and discrete traits of 1388 vertebrae uncovered from a mass burial site at ‘Mamilla’ cave, Jerusalem, dated to the Byzantine period. Observations of the vertebrae were aimed at reconstructing an anthropological profile of the population, by describing such factors as the frequency of pathology and discrete traits, and age at death of the population. The results show that most of the victims were relatively young, and that they differed significantly in their epigenetic traits from Jews and nomadic Arabs. The results reinforce earlier assumptions that the skeletal material excavated at Mamilla cave represents the Christian population of the city, massacred by the Persians in 614 ad . Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Archaeometric analysis of Late Roman amphorae from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Africa</Emphasis> in the ancient city of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Iluro</Emphasis> (Mataró, Catalonia,Spain)

In this paper, the results of the archaeometric study of an assemblage of Late Roman amphorae, found in several contexts from the ancient city of Iluro (Mataró, Catalonia, Spain) and with a presumable origin in Roman Africa, is presented. A total of 57 samples have been analysed, by means of optical microscopy (thin-section analysis), X-ray fluorescence and X-ray diffraction, in order to obtain an integrated petrographic, chemical and mineralogical characterisation and, from this data, to shed light on their provenance. The results indicate the presence of a large number of fabrics, most of them with a Tunisian provenance; a fabric probably from Algeria was also found, as well as a few chemical-petrographic loners that should be related to a provenance out of Africa. Concerning the Tunisian fabrics, the comparison with data from production centres allows for a more precise provenance hypothesis for many of them. These results are useful for the study of the trade networks of Iluro in Late Antiquity, since they provide new evidence on the diversity of transport amphorae that were arriving to this urban centre in Hispania Tarraconensis, showing a more complex reality than initially suggested by the archaeological evidence.     

‘Knitting needles,knotting shuttles, & Totums & Cards & Counters’: The Bluestockings and the Material Culture of Fibre Arts

In this paper I want to tease out threads in the socio-economic narrative of fibre arts by using the case study of the Bluestocking Circle, in particular Elizabeth Montagu (1718–1800), Mary Delany (1700–1788) and Montagu’s sister, Sarah Scott (1721–1795). To contrast these lives through the lens of material culture, we can identify needlework and textiles as a subtle marker of social mobility and disparities in wealth within one social circle (the Bluestockings) and family. Whilst Mary Delany combined scientific interest with technical skills, Elizabeth Montagu commissioned decorative fibre arts, such as her famous feather work, for public display, and her sister Sarah Scott, forced by diminished social and economic circumstances, concentrated on practical dress-making and alteration and appliqué. Both sisters, though born into the same family, thus developed very different textile skill sets. The production of textiles carried class markers in terms of what kind of work was produced and what kind of materials and techniques were used. Thus, fibre arts, like fashion, were ‘an emblem of material self-advancement, [and] … a badge of moral worth’ (John Styles, The Dress of the People (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 60).     

Beyond ‘the toad beneath the harrow’: geographies of ecological science, 1959–1965

This paper traces the distinctive shifts in ecology and conservation in Britain during the late 1950s and 1960s. These were the last six years of the Nature Conservancy, the state research council responsible for ecological research, the conservation of nature, and for providing expert advice. Drawing on work in science studies and the geography of science, the paper addresses the changing spatialities of official ecological knowledge and the ordering of nature in this period of British modernity. The paper examines the Conservancy's construction of the form and relationship of research to practice: the connections between local spaces of research – the laboratory and the nature reserve – to the ‘right’ government of land and management of resources more universally. This putative ‘single great mission’ is traced through examination of the politics and practices of doing ecological research at the time, including the creation of a new Experimental Station, the growth of ecology as public discourse, and, importantly, government reviews of science. The paper concludes by considering how this mission was tempered and reconfigured by institutional change.     

Map or Terrier? The Example of Christ Church, Oxford, Estate Management, 1600–1840

Many factors might have prompted English landowners to map their properties after the genre of estate maps emerged in the late sixteenth century. However, the continuing predominance of the traditional written survey, or terrier, remains to be accounted for. An example from the muniments of Christ Church, Oxford, a large institutional landowner, is used to explain this pattern. Circumstantial evidence from maps and written surveys is augmented by the deeper insights gained from evidence of individual perceptions and institutional policies to explain the durability of the written, as opposed to the cartographic, record of land.     

Recognition or imposition? Federalism,national minorities,and the Supreme Court of Canada†

ABSTRACT. This paper makes two main arguments. First, federalism in Canada, properly conceived, is a system which evolves as a result of struggles over the norms of mutual recognition between territorially based groups. Second, if federalism is to work as a way of accommodating national minorities, the role of the judiciary in adjudicating this relationship must be taken into account, because it plays an integral role in the continuing contestation of the arrangement. I begin with the ‘problem’ of national minorities in the nation‐state system and why federalism is espoused as a solution for alleviating tensions, focusing on Canada. I then turn to review the relevant jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) in adjudicating the federal arrangement. Finally, considering this jurisprudence, I reflect on why it is important to account for the role of the Court when promoting federalism to accommodate national minorities. I go on to argue that a dialogical approach to federalism, as opposed to a monological one, is best suited to do this.     

Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence analysis of Haleakalā basalt adze quarry materials, Maui, Hawai‘i

One of Hawai‘i’s major prehistoric basalt adze quarries (SIHP 50-50-11-2510) is located in the summit region of Haleakalā, Maui. Situated at approximately 2750 m above sea level (9000 ft), the quarry shares a similar high-altitude setting with the Mauna Kea adze quarry on Hawai‘i Island. Adding to a growing Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) database for the Hawaiian Islands, we present the results from 255 geological and archaeological lithic samples from the Haleakalā quarry site. We also briefly discuss why this non-destructive XRF technique is particularly applicable in the Hawaiian cultural context.     

郭店楚简&lt;&lt;老子&gt;&gt;“矛山“,“赛“,“来止“

郭店简本《老子》乙中的一段话里有“ 、赛、 ”三个字与今本、帛书本有明显不同。作者从字音、字形、字义的分析入手,佐以典籍例证,并结合文义与方言的考察,对此差异作出解释。     

A European ‘society of states’—but only states of mind?

The late Martin Wight (1917–72) made a significant contribution to the study of International Relations by developing the concept of an international 'society of states'. In such a society, he argued, states accept a number of norms and conventions governing their behaviour, which facilitate the management and resolution of interstate conflicts. The article argues that some of Wight's concepts can help to illuminate the current functioning of the European Union—seen as a body of states subject to a wide range of rules, both formal and informal—especially if these concepts are combined with the 'scientific' research methods developed more recently. In this connection, particular attention is paid to the historically based theoretical model developed by Andrew Moravcsik.     

Hidden in Plain Sight? Looking for the Indigenous Agricultural Fields of Gran Canaria,Agüimes and Temisas,Canary Islands,Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries

International Journal of Historical Archaeology - The location, size, and structure of the farmlands and hydraulic systems built by the Indigenous inhabitants of Gran Canaria, Canary Islands,...     

‘Who is the Developed Woman?’: Women as a Category of Development Discourse,Kumaon, India

This article analyses gendered discourses of development in rural North India, and addresses the usefulness of recent scholarship on development as ‘discourse’ for understanding connections between development and subjectivity. This scholarship is an excellent point of departure for exploring the contradictions inherent in the institutionalization of economic development and the global reach of its discourses, but it has focused primarily upon development as discourse at official sites of deployment, while paying less attention to how specific discourses and processes of development are appropriated by those constituted as beneficiaries of development. The under‐theorization of this aspect has meant that the range of processes through which development projects may encourage new subject positions are poorly understood. By investigating what some women in rural Kumaon have made of their own development, this article contributes to emerging scholarship on development and subjectivity with an ethnographic analysis of the polysemic enthusiasm for development expressed by some of its ‘beneficiaries’.     

Analogy or Erasure? Dialectics of Religious Transformation in the Early <Emphasis Type="Italic">Doctrinas</Emphasis> of the Colca Valley,Peru

This paper examines the tension between the Spanish evangelical ideal of religious conversion (erasure and replacement of “idolatrous” praxis) and the exigencies of its enactment (inter-cultural communication via analogy) among a series of sixteenth century Franciscan doctrinal settlements (doctrinas) in the Colca valley of southern Peru. I suggest that the necessity and outcomes of inter-cultural communication during initial evangelization made conversion impossible, despite increasing institutionalization of coercive doctrinal measures through time. Combined archaeological and historical analysis explores how these tensions were locally negotiated. Written texts describe early extirpation campaigns, while archaeological evidence documents the remains of early doctrinas in the form of rustic chapels at local settlements which were previously centers of Inka power. Associations between these chapels and Inka ritual spaces hint at an analogical approach to conversion that is not as evident in the documentary record. Analogies linking Inka and Christian religious symbols were later “re-written” onto the surfaces and spaces of Spanish-style reducción villages established in the 1570 s.