Was it the deer or the fox?

Herbivores, as taphonomic agents, can modify and consume bones and antlers for no nutritive purpose. This unusual behavior is due to a nutritional dysfunction (osteophagia) that allows them to supplement a lack of minerals in their diet through ingestion of minerals contained in bones. When chewing, herbivores change skeletal element morphology and produce a characteristic forked shape. At an incipient stage of modification, herbivore chewing may mimic that of carnivores. In this paper, we provide diagnostic criteria to distinguish bone modification made by herbivores from that produced by other taphonomic agents, mainly carnivores.     

Disputes over Great Moravia: chiefdom or state? the Morava or the Tisza River?

Great Moravia existed in central Europe from the ninth to the early tenth century and left behind a lasting legacy in central and eastern Europe. However, the interpretation of the early medieval history of the region has always been a delicate matter. The written sources concerning Moravia do not lend themselves easily to historical interpretation. As a consequence, they have often been invoked not just for academic, but also for political debates. For modern state ideologies to effectively exploit the historical heritage of Great Moravia, two conditions must be met. First, there should be absolutely no doubt as to whether Great Moravia encompassed precisely those territories now within the borders of the states claiming to be its direct heirs. Second, firm evidence of politically advanced structures of power is required in order to justify both the name of 'state' and continuity to the modern age. The goal of this paper is to prove these premises on the basis of the archaeological evidence.     

Cleric or Conman,Curate or Crook? Understanding the Victorian Draper

This article analyses contemporary perceptions of the Victorian draper. While neglected in academic literature, drapers were central to the public imagination, facing criticism for dishonesty in trade and condemnation for taking advantage of the vulnerable female shopper. Placing the focus firmly on the purchase of material goods, rather than shopping as a visual experience, the article argues that, while there was some truth in the negative characterisations, drapers operated in an industry that was rife with fraud and adulteration, made possible by an unregulated market. A strong belief in laissez-faire meant that individual failings were highlighted and condemned, without confronting the failings of the free market itself. The drapers’ own response was to provide an alternative portrayal of themselves, as ministering to women and serving them in an almost religious capacity. They, too, for the most part ranged themselves firmly against regulation, despite the harm that a free market did to their trade and the assaults on their character that resulted. As a consequence, both the public and the draper continued to suffer at the hands of an unregulated market.     

The Affluent Worker or the Divided Party? Explaining the Transformation of the ALP in the 1950s

This article argues that the Australian Labor Party was transformed in the 1950s, shedding its rhetorical commitment to socialism as well as many of its democratic ties to the organised working class. It also attempts to explain this transformation. The argument that this transformation was the product of rising working-class incomes and declining class consciousness is considered, before being rejected on both empirical and theoretical grounds. An alternative political explanation, which focuses on the interactions between the Party, its working-class constituency, and its leadership, is then offered. The article thereby aims not only to reconceptualise a specific moment in the history of Labor, but to reorient our theoretical approach to the Party, and our understanding of political change in the early postwar decades.     

Continuity or Discontinuity in the Recent History of the Australian Labor Party?

Recent characterisations of the Australian Labor Party as a ‘cartel party’ suggest that there was, after the 1970s, a fundamental discontinuity in Labor's history. We assess this contention not only in terms of the ALP's policies but also the mechanisms which link it with different classes and social groups: Labor's electoral support, membership and local branches, the backgrounds of the Party's parliamentarians and leaders, the role of trade unions inside the ALP, and its sources of funding. While there have been some quantitative changes in these characteristics, we conclude that Labor remains, on balance, a ‘capitalist workers party.’     

On the ‘arcane modern science of Kremlinology’ or the case of the vanishing birthdays

This article focuses on Stalin’s 70th birthday celebration, 22 December 1949, in order to examine what Americans knew of the Soviet Union, how they knew it and what sense they made. I explore the plight of the American correspondent in late-Stalinist Moscow, the limits to Americans’ knowledge of the Soviet Union and the origins of Kremlinological practices. In the last five years of Josef Stalin’s reign, amid the last flurry of his palace purges, from 1948 until the Generalissimo’s death on 5 March 1953, the Soviet Union all-but closed to western observation. It was a factor vital to the erection of the Iron Curtain and beginning of the Cold War that has yet to become central to its scholarship     

Putting on the Brakes or Pressing on the Gas? Media Attention and the Speed of Policymaking

Media attention is fundamental to the policy process and policy change in punctuated equilibrium theory. In this literature, media attention is usually conceptualized as fomenting or contributing to shifts in attention, positive feedback, and large‐scale policy change. This article extends how we understand the role of the media and punctuated equilibrium by arguing that media coverage can also contribute to negative feedback and stability in the political system. Media attention should also slow down the speed of policymaking and the momentum for policy change as new policy participants and problem definitions enter the debate. Using event history analysis, this article tests the effects of media coverage on the length of time it takes legislation, once introduced, to become law for public laws from the 109th U.S. Congress (2005–06). Findings provide support for media attention “putting the brakes” on policymaking. Controlling for other factors, the speed of bill passage slows down as media attention increases. This effect decays over time for high levels of media coverage.     

The 2010 Cultural Olympiad: playing for the global or the local stage?

Increasingly, local cultural communities are called upon to support global mega‐events such as the Olympic games with the promise that this global occurrence is a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ for an urban artistic community. What evidence exists to support the premise that hosting a Cultural Olympiad provides a professional arts sector with positive and substantive legacies, sustained material and financial benefits, or increased national and international profile? Data collected on the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad suggest that the local arts sector did not enjoy any of the claimed global benefits. However, it is also clear that some arts organizations, by virtue of the artistic and operational decisions they took, were able to exert influence over and upon the outcome; this outcome ultimately depending on whether they elected to play for a global or a local stage.     

Wales and objective 1 status: learning the lessons or emulating the errors?

West Wales and the Valleys is approaching the mid‐way point of its European funded Objective 1 programme—the highest form of Structural Fund aid for the Union's economically and socially ‘lagging’ regions. Objective 1 has afforded Wales the tools to develop an economic regeneration strategy aimed at improving the performance of the western part of the Welsh economy, and combating the country's entrenched pockets of economic and social disadvantage. However, after three years there are some important structural and implementation problems facing those managing Objective 1 in Wales, specifically in terms of the governance of the programme and resource allocation. This paper draws out these key issues by tracing the main fault lines in the design and delivery of the programme, and also offers some critical assessment of the initial economic impact of Objective 1. In short, this paper argues that Wales has shown little evidence of learning the lessons from other Objective 1 regions, but has been rather more adept at emulating the errors found elsewhere.     

Yangjiao or the ��Other��? Christianity and Chinese society in the second half of the nineteenth century

This article explores the relationship between Christianity and Chinese society in the second half of the nineteenth century by re-examining the primary sources of anti-Christian movements. The first part shows how Christian churches broke the dominance of the Qing government over local society. Conflicts between Christianity and Chinese religion were often transformed into political confrontations between churches and the Qing bureaucracy. The second part analyzes how Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism interpreted Christianity, with an emphasis on how to understand the perception of Christianity in Chinese society. Exploring broader societal perceptions of Christianity—and not just those expressed in the writings of the Confucian literati—allows for a more nuanced understanding of Chinese interpretations of Christianity. The third part studies the relationship between churches and Chinese religious sects. On the one hand, in the language of anti-Christian movements such as those of the Zaili and Cai sects, Christianity was the hateful “Other.” On the other hand, in the process of preaching Christianity, churches themselves experienced a period of transmutation: they recruited into the church not only non-religious civilians but also the followers of popular religions. For a long period, Christianity was called yangjiao, the “foreign religion,” making it the “Other.” Missionaries started to feel an urgency to reject their identity as the “Other” after the harrowing experience of the Boxer Movement.     

Faunal Assemblages and the “Wiegemethode” or Weight Method

Abstract

The “Wiegemethode” or weight method has long been applied to faunal remains from archaeological sites in order to determine the relative representation of taxa in terms of differences in meat weight. The basic assumption of the weight method is that a constant relationship exists between bone weight and meat weight within a taxon. This assumption is questioned, relevant data examined, and the assumption found to be unsubstantiated. Data for domestic pigs are utilized to test the accuracy of predictions made by the weight method. Predictions made using the weight method are found to be in error by from 28% to 2243% and are judged to be highly unreliable.     

Archeology: Dismal science or science of the dismal?

Charles L. Redman, ed. Research and Theory in Current Archeology. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1973. ix + 390 pp. Tables, figures, references, and index. $14.95.