Archaeoastronomy in the Ancient Americas

Since its popular resurgence in the 1960s, the interdisciplinary field of archaeoastronomy, which seeks evidence from the written as well as the unwritten record to shed light on the nature and practice of astronomy and timekeeping in ancient civilizations, has made ever-increasing significant use of the archaeological record. This essay briefly touches on the origin and history of these developments, discusses the methodology of archaeoastronomy, and assesses its contributions via the discussion of selected case studies at sites in North, South, and Mesoamerica. Specifically, archaeology contributes significantly to clarifying the role of sky events in site planning. The rigorous repetition of axial alignments of sites and individual oddly shaped and/or oriented structures can be related to alterations in the calendar often initiated by cross-cultural contact.Together with evidence acquired from other forms of the ancient record, archaeology also helps clarify the relationship between functional and symbolic astronomical knowledge. In state-level societies, it offers graphic evidence that structures that served as chronographic markers also functioned as performative stages for seasonally timed rituals mandated by cosmic connections claimed by the rulership.     

Indigenous agriculture in the Americas

Significant advances in our understanding of ancient agricultural practices in the Americas have been made in recent years. This review of the literature focuses on studies published between 1987 and early 1994. Issues pertaining to the transition from foraging to farming include the habitability of the American tropics prior to the development of agriculture, theories on plant domestication and the origins of agriculture, regional syntheses of agricultural development, and the origin, evolution, and dissemination of domesticates in the Americas. Other topics reviewed include new techniques that have recently been applied to the study of prehistoric agriculture in the Americas, various approaches to the study of agricultural change, and ways in which research on ancient agricultural practices is being applied in modern experimental agriculture and rural development projects.     

佛罗伦萨 迷清翡冷翠

领主广场是佛罗伦萨的心脏。它一反典型的方形,以L字呈现。这种格局,让人错觉它的面积其实不大。但是无处不在的文艺复兴时期的遗迹,让人感觉它曾经庞大的气势一直在这里留存。     

Imagining middle powers

Discussions of middle powers in international relations scholarship are hampered by a lack of clarity about what the term ‘middle power’ actually means. This has not stopped increasing numbers of states that cannot claim great power ranking but resist being categorised as small powers imagining middle power status for themselves in regional and global affairs. In an attempt to shed light on middle power imagining, three concepts of middle power are identified. It is contended that one or more of these concepts influences the foreign policies of states ambitious for middle power recognition in regional and global affairs. Identifying which concept, or which combination of concepts, influences a state's middle power imagining may contribute to deeper understandings of the effectiveness, or otherwise, of its foreign policies.     

Imagining Anthropology's History

Hager, Lori D., ed. Women in Human Evolution. New York: Routledge, 1997. xiii + 214 pp. including index. $69.95 cloth, $18.95 paper.

Morbeck, Mary Ellen, Alison Galloway and Adrienne Zihlman, eds. The Evolving Female: A Life History Perspective. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997. xix + 332 pp. including literature cited and index. $60.00 cloth, $27.95 paper.     

Studies of Gender in the Prehispanic Americas

In the past ten years archaeologists have produced a vast literature on the study of gender in the prehispanic New World. This review defines key concepts, identifies three major themes within this tradition—gender in native cosmologies, intersections of gender and the body, and studies of work and specialization—and explores the significant contributions of engendered archaeology to the broader field. Final suggestions for linkages with queer studies and indigenous feminism point the way to where this field might develop productive new avenues of research.     

Hemispheric Integration and Subregionalism in the Americas

The project to construct a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is unique in its attempt to integrate and build on existing subregional blocs. The impact of the hemispheric integration process on subregionalism can best be understood not through a simplistic strengthening/weakening dichotomy, but rather as involving a substantial reconfiguration of subregional projects. This article focuses on the manifestations of this relationship in the case of the Mercosur, with comparative glances at other subregions. It pays particular attention on the one hand to strategic 'bloc bargaining' issues, and on the other to the policy challenges generated by the FTAA project, which form the twin pillars of the reconfigured form of subregionalism that is currently emerging.