Historical ecology coming of age

Historical ecology is a research program that in earnest has emerged within anthropology since the turn of the millennium. This essay offers a short outline of historical ecology and, on the basis of a review of four volumes published over the last decade, discusses several key issues in the historical ecological analyses of socio-environmental relations. It is argued that historical ecology (1) emerged as a concept in different, but related, discursive contexts, (2) coalesced in North American anthropology and anthropological archaeology, and (3) subsequently cross-fertilized and diversified in new academic milieus successfully addressing previously unconsidered research questions in novel ways.     

Metamorphosis of root dentine and age

Transparency in the location of the tooth root apex is a normal phenomenon in human ageing and provides important information for determining a person's age. The illumination of root dentine may prove useful when trying to obtain an approximate estimation of a person's age, particularly when no other data can be obtained. Regression analysis could provide a reasonably reliable means of determining an approximate age of human remains and could be used in archaeological investigations. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The age of the Drake Passage

The distribution of benthic foraminifera in Miocene deposits of the continental margin of southeastern South America is compared with that in the Recent. The comparison indicates that Miocene zoogeographic boundaries were located in higher latitudes than at present, suggesting that the climate at that time was warmer than now. In the Pliocene, temperatures were lower than at present. This signifies that a considerable decrease in water temperature took place in the latest Miocene or at the Miocene/Pliocene boundary in the southwestern Atlantic. The main reason for this drop in temperature was the opening of the Drake Passage and the establishment of the Circumpolar Antarctic Current and a branch — the Malvin Current. The opening resulted from strong orogenic movements, in the latest Miocene, which created the main part of the Andes. Prior to the opening of the passage, the anticyclonic (counterclockwise) gyre of surface currents in the South Atlantic was much larger and warm Brazilian waters reached higher latitudes. The Austral Strait, connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, may have existed from the Cretaceous in the southern part of South America, but its location and character did not permit the establishment of the true Circumpolar Antarctic Current. The Austral Strait was closed simultaneously with the opening of the Drake Passage.     

A re-assessment of bronze age wool

Measurements of twelve new samples of Danish Bronze Age wool showed them to be hairy medium fleeces. Supporting evidence was obtained that a high proportion of fine fibres in a yarn results from the plucking of wool during the moult before the hairy fibres have been released from the skin. The fine fibres were closer in diameter to the underwool of the wild ancestor than to those of the Soay sheep (supposedly a Bronze Age survivor), indicating a more primitive fleece. The samples described include the first white Bronze Age wool. Those with natural pigmentation in every fibre could be black or brown, while those with pigmented and white fibres are thought to be a mixture of brown and white (by analogy with the Soay) rather than grey, which is unknown in the Soay.     

Coming of age in applied archaeology

Thomas F. King, Patricia Parker Hickman, and Gary Berg. Anthropology in Historic Preservation. New York: Academic Press, 1977. xi +344 pp. $15.00.

Michael B. Schiffer and George J. Gumerman, eds. Conservation Archaeology. New York: Academic Press, 1977. xxi + 495 pp. $19.50.     

Habsburg Italy in the age of reform

This essay surveys the main reforms carried out by the Habsburg governments in Lombardy and Tuscany from the 1730s to around 1790 in the light of recent historical literature. Venturi's biographical approach to the theme is discussed in the first part of the essay, which then sets out to compare reforming activities in the two states in the fields of the administration of justice, ecclesiastical policy, and public finance. The drive towards centralization and uniformity is identified as the main aspect of the Milan reform movement, to the liberal and humanitarian tendencies of Peter Leopold's government in Tuscany.     

National defence in the age of austerity

Preparations for the next UK defence review are under way; a struggle is imminent and the lines of battle are being drawn. There is a grave danger that in the new 'age of austerity' defence planning—and strategy generally—will be driven by tribal conflicts, either between supporters of one or other of the armed services or between contending viewpoints about the nature of conflict. And there will be others who will argue that the defence review should be driven simply by the need to reduce government expenditure, as quickly as possible. These arguments not only reduce the defence debate to a struggle between various incompatible and uncompromising tribal beliefs—'war among the fetishes', perhaps—they also miss the point. This article gauges the extent of the economic challenges which the UK defence establishment will confront over the coming decade. The authors consider how best to approach the problem of undiminished (and even expanding) commitments at a time of decreasing resources. They argue that defence planning should be driven by the notion of value (the ratio of function to cost), which in turn requires both a clear national political vision and a defence establishment which is output- rather than input-oriented. Finally, the authors assert that defence must transform itself to be able to achieve the outputs required in the most efficient and responsive manner.     

Captive afterlives in the age of mass conviction

ABSTRACT

Criminal records have become an increasingly important mechanism for managing and containing criminalized populations beyond prison walls. This ethnographic analysis of a formerly imprisoned woman’s search for work explores how the feeling of captivity resonates not only with the imprisoned but also with the recently released.     

Enlightenment in the second nuclear age

The debate on nuclear proliferation has become increasingly polarized. While there is widespread agreement on the perilous state of the traditional non‐proliferation regime, the analyses of the causes differ widely. The liberal arms control community has sought to salvage the eroding non‐proliferation regime both by overplaying its importance (nuclear enlightenment') as well as by blaming the policies of the nuclear weapons states, notably the United States. However, this view rests on several assumptions that have been increasingly revealed as myths: the myth of a universal non‐proliferation norm generated largely by the Non‐proliferation Treaty; the myth of a direct relationship between nuclear reductions and proliferation; and the myth of US policy being a cause of, rather than a reaction to, the non‐proliferation crisis. Clinging to these myths is counterproductive, as it seeks to perpetuate old policies at the expense of new approaches. However, new approaches to non‐proliferation are bound to gain in importance, even if they run counter to established arms control dogmas.