Oldowan reduction sequences: methodological considerations

Transport of resources is a major feature of Oldowan hominin technological adaptations. Comparisons between different Oldowan localities often employ measures of transport that are based on artefact attributes as proxies for the intensity of raw material utilization. The Technological Flake Category system [Toth, N., 1985. Oldowan reassessed: a close look at early stone artifacts, Journal of Archaeological Science 12, pp. 101–120] has been used extensively to infer the relative intensity of lithic reduction within Oldowan assemblages. Here we use a large experimental sample to test the relationship between a flake's stage in a reduction sequence and various quantitative attributes. We demonstrate how many previously described attributes are affected by initial core size. We then develop a multiple linear regression model that incorporates several variables to predict the placement of a flake within a generalized reduction sequence. The model is then applied to Oldowan assemblages in the Koobi Fora Formation which explores the strengths and weaknesses of different methods of investigating reduction intensity on an assemblage level.     

Radiocarbon dating: Some practical considerations for the archaeologist

The article is divided into four main sections in each of which a key aspect of radio-carbon dating is discussed with emphasis on the practical implications for users of dates. The four topics which the article attempts to deal with are, in turn, (i) the effect on the radiocarbon timescale of the variations in atmospheric ¹⁴C now known to have occurred in the past and the role of other absorlute dating methods in investigating these, (ii) laboratory measurement of ¹⁴C, (iii) selection of optimum samples for dating and (iv) some of the limitations of the final dates. The theme is essentially that the technical difficulties of radiocarbon measurement in the laboratory have been overcome to the extent that the physical measurements can now be made with high precision, that is to within ±1% or better, as a routine. Thus, it is more important than ever (a) that only reliable samples having very firm associations should be dated and (b) that pretreatment of such samples by the dating laboratory to remove any age contaminants should be completely effective. However, in addition to the recognized statistical limitations, the absolute accuracy of radio-carbon dating is limited by the past ¹⁴C variations. Coupled with the requirements of proper association and pretreatment of samples is the long-term need to establish an overall correlation between radiocarbon and calendar years. At present this is still a matter for final agreement by the laboratories concerned. Meanwhile, when all possible steps have been taken to ensure the reliability of the date messurements, these can strictly only be compared with one another in terms of radiocarbon years bp. In practice this is often too restrictive but any attempts at calibration must be regarded as approximations for the time being. In this article the lower and upper case notation advocated in Antiquity46, 265, for radiocarbon and calendar years respectively has been followed.     

Conceptions of Australian political thought: A methodological critique

This paper takes issue with a number of standard interpretations of Australian political thought and the methods of argument by which they have been reached. It confronts the substantive claims (a) that Australia has produced no significant indigenous political thought, ideology, or ideological conflict, and (b) that which passes for political thought is generally derivative, lacking in originality and inferior. It is argued that such claims are based upon unduly narrow conceptions of political thought and misplaced categories of evaluation. Finally, the paper demonstrates that by expanding our conceptions of political thought beyond that of ‘epic’ or universalist political philosophy, and applying methods of evaluation appropriate to the subject matter, more sensible conclusions can be drawn about the existence and quality of Australian political thought, as well as its place in political life.     

Looking at the primary (hi)story and the prophetic books as literary/ theological units within the frame of the early second temple: Some considerations

Abstract

This paper deals with some of the features of two large collections of works: (a) those constituting the Primary (Hi)storical Narrative (i.e., Genesis ‐ Kings) and (b) the prophetic books (i.e., those later called “the Latter Prophets). It is advanced that the PHN serves a role akin to that of a founding myth, or better of a “truncated”; creation myth of Israel. The significance (and to a large extent, necessity) of this “truncatedness”; is explored against the background of the Early Second Temple Period.     

Radiocarbon dating of Ohalo II: Archaeological and methodological implications

Charcoal samples from the Early Epipalaeolithic submerged fisher-hunter-gatherers site of Ohalo II have been dated by three laboratories. The samples derive from huts, hearths, a grave and a stone installation. Twenty-five date range between 17,500-21,050 bp and average c. 19,400 bp. The thickness of deposits, the perishable building material (of the huts), the spatial organization of the camp and its rapid cover by sand and water suggest several occupational episodes, lasting not more than tens of years together. The discrepancy between the range of ¹⁴C dates and the real length of occupation are due to the statistical limitations of the dating method.     

Convergence space: process geographies of grassroots globalization networks

This paper considers grassroots globalization networks, which comprise a diversity of social movements working in association to engage in multi-scalar political action. Drawing upon David Harvey's notion of militant particularism (regarding the problems of effecting politics between different geographical scales), and recent research on networks and their relationship to places, the paper analyses People's Global Action, an international network of social movements opposing neoliberal globalization. From an analysis of the process geographies of People's Global Action, the paper proposes the notion of convergence space as a conceptual tool by which to understand and critique grassroots globalization networks. The paper argues that contested social relations emerge in such convergence spaces and considers the implications of these for theorizing such networks, and for political action.     

Geographies of Industrial Convergence: The Case of Retail Banking

This paper considers the relationship between space, place and the convergence of industrial structures and organizational forms by way of an analysis of the retail banking industry in the USA and the UK. The paper examines this process from two theoretical positions. It does so firstly by viewing the process of convergence through the analytical lens of political economy, which looks for explanation in broad structural forces, such as changes in regulatory space and pressures on profitability. The paper then goes on to draw attention to some of the limitations of interpretations of this kind by drawing attention to the importance of place-based evolutionary economic change, and the ways in which conventions of industrial restructuring are transmitted over space. By way of illustration the paper focuses upon the organizational and practical implications of the implementation of two banking technologies: Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) and telephone banking. In doing so, the paper calls for accounts of economic change to pay attention to the rich histories of industrial sectors and for a more active account of economic change which pays attention to the ways in which outcomes are produced through the mixing and borrowing of technologies and practices through space and over time.     

产业融合：旅游业发展趋势的新视角

本文从产业融合的理论视角对当前旅游业多业态现象进行了分析,指出旅游业正在与其他服务业、制造业和农业进行产业融合,产业价值链不断被解构和重组,并表现出生产性现代服务业特征。本文不仅对这种产业融合动因进行了具有旅游特质性的剖析,对融合情况进行分类,还指出其本质是一种创新。融合产生的效应反映在多方面：行业竞争格局发生演变,出现系统集成商和具有双边特征的平台企业,非物质资源取代自然资源推动旅游业发展,旅游业出现模块化迹象,跨行业人才成为稀缺资源等。     

The mechanical properties of macrolithic artifacts: a methodological background for functional analysis

Natural, technical and social factors led to the use of a wide range of rocks for the production of macrolithic artifacts during the later prehistory. In the case of some artifact types, such as the grinding stones, rocks with very different petrographic qualities appear. Analysis of the material behavior, as developed by material sciences, provides a tool which allows the translation of these petrographic characteristics into mechanical properties. Experiments with a group of rocks subjected to different forms of abrasion in industrial machines allow an evaluation of the adjustment between the mechanical properties of the rock and the functions for which they were chosen by prehistoric societies. Finally, the understanding of the mechanical properties of the raw materials together with their forms of exploitation, distribution and use allows the designation of social and economic meaning to the production systems linked to the macrolithic tools.