The prehistoric sources of Palliser Bay obsidian

A sample of 210 pieces of archaeologically derived obsidian from settlement sites in Palliser Bay, New Zealand, was subjected to X-ray fluorescent analysis, in order to define the petrographic sources exploited by these prehistoric groups. It was found that the material had been derived from sources at Mayor Island, Huruiki, Rotorua, Cooks Bay, Purangi, Ongaroto and Taupo, and with the exception of the last 3, all were being quarried as early as the 12th century AD. Problems were encountered in assessing the significance of trends in source exploitation which had been proven on other grounds, and these suggested that future analyses must involve far larger archaeological samples.     

Fish and crayfish from the Washpool Midden site,New Zealand: Their use in determining season of occupation and prehistoric fishing methods

A method is suggested whereby modern ecological information on fish behaviour and distribution, together with commercial catch figures, may be used to assess season of occupation of archaeological sites. Monthly catch probabilities for each species are scaled by minimum numbers from prehistoric osteological assemblages to yield an overall likelihood of the fish being caught at different months of the year. A test case on two assemblages from Palliser Bay, New Zealand, suggested year-round habitation, and this was consistent with individual qualitative seasonal markers. The fishbone evidence can also be used to comment on aspects of prehistoric technology connected with marine foods, such as the use of canoes, baited traps, long line hauling, rock fishing and seine netting. In addition, the fish information substantiated subtle environmental changes which are believed to have taken place in this region.     

The role of labrid fish in prehistoric economics in New Zealand

Labrids are one of the most common types of fish to occur in inshore rocky marine habitats in New Zealand. There are major discontinuities in their relative abundance in archaeological sites from different regions of New Zealand, and these are difficult to reconcile with known distributional patterns. A number of possible explanations are examined such as changes in fishing technology and various ecological factors. It is concluded that the reasons for these observed fluctuations may vary considerably from one case to another, but where large numbers were caught by prehistoric people who had access to alternative fish resources, unreliability of some major aspect of the economy may be inferred. A combination of poor sea conditions and marginal horticulture is likely to increase the importance of labrid fish.     

Discoveries of Neolithic prehistoric sites at Pleistocene carbonate rock shelters on the east coast of the UAE

Three newly discovered prehistoric sites on the east coast of the United Emirates (UAE) are described. All are located on surfaces of Pleistocene carbonates or rock shelters that are generally rare along the eastern coast of the Gulf of Oman. Aqqah 1 (Le Meridien al Aqqah Beach Resort), the most important and best preserved of these sites, is a partially collapsed rock shelter with an exposed section, lithic finds and marine molluscs. Deriving an exact date from the material present is difficult because of a lack of comparanda. A bifacial fletched arrowhead made of yellow jasper and the lithic debris of five different raw materials as well as an undecorated ceramic fragment might suggest a date in the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age. The presence of many marine bivalves and snails with operculae, which differ from recent coastal species, indicates the collection and consumption of living molluscs by the prehistoric population of Aqqah. Nearby burials may be related to the rock shelters.     

Clam growth-stage profiles as a measure of harvest intensity and resource management on the central coast of British Columbia

Examination of growth-stage profiles of shells from nine Northwest Coast shell midden sites shows a majority of senile-stage shells at longer-term residential sites and a majority of mature-stage shells at shorter-term encampments. This pattern indicates less intensive harvest in the vicinity of residential sites, which is consistent with management and conservation of resources for anticipated future needs. Consideration of environmental and taphonomic factors does not account for the observed inter-site variability. Shellfish conservation in the vicinity of residential sites is evident for the period of the past 7000 years.     

Inter-site variability in the season of shellfish collection on the central coast of British Columbia

High-resolution stable oxygen isotope analysis of the bivalve Saxidomus gigantea from shell midden sites was applied to identify seasonal patterns of resource procurement on the central coast of British Columbia, Canada. A total of 90 archaeological shells were examined from eight distinct sites spanning a 4500-year period. Combining micro-growth pattern analysis with high-resolution stable oxygen isotope sampling allows for a precise season of collection to be determined in estuarine bivalves recovered from archaeological sites. The results of the stable oxygen isotope analysis provide insights into seasonally structured harvest of S. gigantea (butter clam), which is associated with different types of sites. The results show a variety of patterns, including multi-seasonal collection, intensive seasonal harvesting and casual, supplemental use of butter clams at different locations.     

Oxygen isotope seasonality in a temperate estuarine shell midden: a case study from CA-ALA-17 on the San Francisco Bay,California

Seasonality determination using stable oxygen isotope (δ¹⁸O) analyses in archaeological mollusk shell has been largely limited to aquatic settings where one of the two factors that control shell δ¹⁸O – water δ¹⁸O (or salinity) and temperature – is assumed to be constant. Open coastal marine environments reflect the former situation, and tropical estuaries constitute the latter. In an effort to expand stable isotope seasonality to an ecological setting where neither variable remains constant, we present a model of annual shell δ¹⁸O cycle of aragonite deposition derived from instrumental data on salinity and temperature from San Francisco Bay, California. The predicted range of modeled shell δ¹⁸O is consistent with observed δ¹⁸O values in prehistoric and modern shells when local conditions are considered. Measurements of δ¹⁸O taken at 0 mm and 2 mm from the terminal growth margin were made on 36 archaeological specimens of Macoma nasuta from a late Holocene hunter-gatherer site CA-ALA-17, and season of collection was inferred using the shell δ¹⁸O model. We conclude that shellfish exploitation occurred through the year with the exception of fall, which may indicate scheduling conflicts with acorn harvesting or other seasonally abundant resources elsewhere. The model supports the feasibility of stable isotope seasonality studies in temperate estuaries, provided that instrumental records are available to quantify the relevant water conditions at appropriate spatial and temporal scales.     

Molluscan foraging efficiency and patterns of mobility amongst foraging agriculturalists: a case study from northern New Zealand

A New Zealand example illustrates the potential of foraging efficiency (FE) measures to inform not only on human-prey dynamics, but also to help identify situations where mobility is constrained or stimulated. Marked declines in Māori molluscan FE, coupled with increased shellfish usage, are identified over a ca. 450-year period at the coastal locality of Harataonga Beach, New Zealand. The potential effects of climate change are considered using newly available southwest Pacific multi-proxy records and temperature sensitive species, but correlations are lacking. The molluscan results signal possible restrictions on logistic and/or residential mobility in late prehistory, while evidence from the broader cultural landscape points to increasing agricultural investments and marked social competition. The Ideal Free Distribution model (IFD) is used to consider regional-scale interactions between foraging efficiency, agricultural developments, and competition, and their effects on mobility. Geographic and temporal variation in the patterning and causes of population movements is highlighted through this model, particularly differences between large game foragers in the south and populations with mixed economies in the north. In late prehistory, many northern areas including Harataonga apparently experienced reductions in the geographic scale of population movements, coupled with intensified intra-territorial mobility. The latter was an outcome of labour being widely dispatched across tribal territories, quasi-specialisation in subsistence tasks, and pooling and exchange of resources through a variety of social mechanisms which often involved population movements.     

Status Rivalry and the Politics of Biculturalism in Contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand

Could it be that despite a huge literature spanning decades from many disciplines, a corpus of writing that examines seemingly every twist and turn of a complex situation, we still are missing something basic and fundamental to a proper understanding of contemporary cultural politics in Aotearoa New Zealand? A thing so obvious and omnipresent, that it was characterized long ago in the anthropological literature as the fundamental dynamic of Polynesian culture, and acknowledged even further back by Maori in their ancestral sayings? He tauranga uta, he toka tu moana (a resting place ashore, a firm rock at sea). ‘This metaphor describes the chief whose influence is unchallenged in his territory which extends from the land to the sea’ (Mead and Grove 2003:125). But surely real chiefs, those solid anchoring points, no longer exist as they did before the coming of the Pakeha. Be that as it may, the elements of social organization and associated cultural values of chiefly status continue to resonate in contemporary society. This paper argues that Goldman's concept of status rivalry is that crucial overlooked aspect of cultural politics necessary to a full understanding of what is happening today in the Waitangi Tribunal, Parliament, and so many other places where biculturalism and multiculturalism are debated and discussed, and that it is an aspect of Polynesian culture that has been part of the interrelationship between the Crown and te tangata whenua (the indigenous people) since their first encounters.     

华人新移民在澳大利亚、新西兰的生存适应分析

澳大利亚、新西兰自上世纪七八十年代开始实行面向亚洲的政策以来 ,来自亚太地区不同国家的华人移民以及其他亚裔移民大量移进这两个国家。他们在异国他乡面临着以高失业率为主要特征的生存危机。但这一包括中国大陆新移民的华人群体 ,克服重重困难 ,站稳脚跟 ,逐步积累 ,取得了初步的成功     

中国史前龟文化研究综论

本文主要从史前龟甲器的用途、龟灵崇拜的内涵、龟卜文化三个方面对目前中国龟文化的研究现状进行梳理,在此基础上对中国龟文化今后的研究提出了一些看法.     

定位华裔新西兰人：当代“高质量移民”与早年“不受欢迎的外国人”之比较

自19世纪至20世纪中期,华裔新西兰人被视为不被法律承认的异乡人;而从1987年开始,华裔新西兰人被视为主要的中产阶级移民群体而受到欢迎,并被寄予建立国际联系和裨益经济的厚望。在这两个群体之间,存在着如社会经济实力、籍贯、教育程度、移民动机等方面的巨大差异,最主要的是,他们与新西兰非华裔主流群体的融合程度不同。然而,不论是早期卑微的定居者还是近年来的高素质“空中飞人”,华裔新西兰人的定位没有改变,只要他们是华人的后代,而且“看起来是华人”,他们就永远不可能被当作“真正的新西兰人”。“华人性”总是被刻画成和“新西兰价值”格格不入。     

《澳新美同盟条约》对新西兰外交和防务政策的影响——基于冷战时代的考量

《澳新美同盟条约》是新西兰与非英联邦国家签订的第一个防务同盟条约。该条约的签订对其外交和防务政策产生了重要影响。冷战期间,它不仅加强了新西兰与美澳之间的外交和防务联系,提升了自身的防务能力,而且强化了新西兰参与地区性事务的愿望,同时与昔日对手日本的关系也不得不做出适时的调整。当然,必须强调的是,与美国的同盟关系并没有从根本上动摇新西兰对英联邦集体防御机制的信任,新西兰与英国传统的密切关系并未在根本上受到损害。     

Deciduous Nothofagus leaves from the Miocene of Cornish Head,New Zealand

Pole, M.S., 1994:03:28. Deciduous Nothofagus leaves from the Miocene of Cornish Head, New Zealand. Alcheringa 18, 79–83. ISSN 0311-5518.

Nothofagus leaves with plicate vernation, indicating a deciduous habit, are recorded from the Late Miocene of New Zealand. This is the first unequivocal record in New Zealand of deciduous Nothofagus, deciduous species now being restricted to Tasmania and South America.     

Point Chev boys and the landscapes of suburban memory: autobiographies of Auckland childhoods

This article uses a comparative analysis of two autobiographical texts to consider the ways in which the emotions and the imagination inform a sense of place. These autobiographies recount boyhoods in Point Chevalier, an Auckland suburb which embodies much that is emblematic of the mythology of early- to mid-twentieth-century childhoods in New Zealand. Both a modern suburb in a fast-growing city, and a richly particular coastal environment, it makes itself available as the setting for a childhood of the national imaginary. But as each of these narratives crosses the suburban terrain it produces a different understanding of what it meant to grow up as a male then, and there: in Halfway Round the Harbour Keith Sinclair never questions the fit between boy and place, or the certainty of his belonging and his identity; Peter Wells in Long Loop Home recalls a tumultuous boyhood increasingly marked by the threat of exclusion and intense family conflict. Between the two opposing trajectories of these texts, other possibilities are glimpsed. Place is created here by gender, sexuality and class; and masculinity is shaped and positioned differently for each of these boyhoods and the men who reflect on them. The affect of place marks the difference between these two Point Chevs.     

Foreign and comparative politics in the Australian Journal of Political Science: A review

This article reviews analyses of foreign and comparative politics published in the Australian Journal of Political Science over the past 50 years. The article uses a thematic approach, reviewing five broad regional areas: the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe; New Zealand and the Pacific; Canada, the USA and Western Europe; China and the rest of Asia; and Africa and the Middle East. The article assesses changes in the attention given to particular regions and countries over time, and highlights countries that have received relatively little attention. The article uses a Presidential address in 1985 by David Goldsworthy as a key reference text for assessing the study of foreign and comparative politics in Australia since 1966. The main shifts in overall attention since the early 1990s have been a decline in the historical study of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and increased attention to New Zealand.     

Origins of Procellariidae Hunting in the Southwest Pacific

Small procellariids, mainly petrels, prions and shearwaters, were hunted at their rookeries in various parts of the southwest Pacific during the early historical era. The industries, some of which continue, arose from both traditional, indigenous, practices of prehistoric origin and subsistence necessity in early European settlements. The history and main features of the Tasmanian and southern New Zealand ‘muttonbird’ industries are described, together with brief summaries of those on Chatham, Raoul and Norfolk islands. Procellariid hunting occurred in two different situations, on isolated tropical islands, where its impact was often devastating, and on temperate islands associated with the East Australian Current, a western boundary current like the Gulf Stream. In the latter case, procellariid populations were very large and resilient to predation. In Tasmania, muttonbirds were taken for immediate consumption, but in New Zealand and other Polynesian islands there was preservation for storage. However, a common feature seems to have been the late development of systematic procellariid hunting, possibly because of the relative costs of access to the resource, although other explanations cannot be ruled out.     

A note on the use of temporal frequency distributions in studies of prehistoric demography

Temporal frequency distributions of archaeological sites and radiocarbon dates are commonly used as proxies for prehistoric population levels based on the assumption that more people create a stronger archaeological signal. While this assumption is certainly correct, we question whether relative frequencies of sites or dates observed from prehistoric contexts are necessarily linked to human demography. In this paper, we demonstrate that the typical positive curvilinear frequency distributions observed in archaeological contexts also regularly occur in paleontological and geological contexts and are thus likely caused by the operation of time-dependent destructive processes, what we call “taphonomic bias.” Using a simple model, which assumes a constant rate of site loss over time, we show how taphonomic bias can produce positive curvilinear frequency distributions through time even in cases of population stasis, decline, and fluctuation. We conclude that caution must be used when attempting to infer demographic trends from frequency distributions alone.     

A short note on starch and xylem of Ipomoea batatas (sweet potato) in archaeological deposits from northern New Zealand

This study examines preservation of microfossils identified as introduced Ipomoea batatas in soils from northern New Zealand. Starch grains and xylem cells showed highly variable preservation, from good to extremely poor. For starch grains, the latter included brown-staining, expansion and distortion of the grain and vacuole, loss of the Maltese cross, pitting, cracking, fragmentation and disintegration. Degraded xylem showed similar brown-staining, occasional cracking, cross-wise fragmentation, with wall pits becoming progressively less visible or showing distortion, expansion and coalescence.