Investigating interrelationships between Lower Palaeolithic stone tool effectiveness and tool user biometric variation: implications for technological and evolutionary changes

Lower Palaeolithic hominins are thought to have been dependent upon stone tools during the acquisition and processing of food resources. Hence, it is hypothesized that the evolutionary advantages provided by efficient stone tool use may have selected for anatomical changes observed in the hand during this period. Similarly, hominin manipulative capabilities are suggested to have been of consequence to Lower Palaeolithic technological choices and tool use capabilities. The extent and character of these relationships are not, however, fully understood and it is not known whether these hypothesized co-evolutionary and co-dependent relationships are consistent across varying technological and task-type conditions. Here, six key biometric parameters of the hand are investigated in terms of their statistical relationship with cutting efficiency using both flakes and handaxes over extended periods of use and in multiple types of cutting task. Results indicate that (1) both handaxe and flake cutting efficiencies are significantly related with biometric variation of individual tool users, (2) relationships between biometric parameters and efficiency are consistent across extended durations but vary dependent upon task-type conditions, (3) manipulative strength is the most significant biometric trait in terms of predicting flake efficiency, while (4) hand size is the strongest predictor of handaxe cutting efficiency. These results demonstrate the long-term impact that stone tool use likely had on the evolution of hominin biometric variation during the Lower Palaeolithic, while also highlighting the variable influence of different tool use contexts. Most notably, results indicate that the onset of the Acheulean may have been dependent, a priori, upon hand dimensions that are close to the modern human range, and that prior to the appearance of this anatomy, handaxe use would have been an impractical (i.e. inefficient) tool use behaviour compared to the use of flakes.     

Location of the Brecourt (Normandy,France) WW2 Howitzer battery using a geoforensic search strategy

The assault on D-day by Easy Company of the 101^st Airborne Corps on a German howitzer battery at Brecourt Manor (Normandy) that was firing upon Utah Beach is a famous action of World War 2. Understanding the firefight and disablement of the guns depends on where the four howitzers and crew were located. Three of the locations are unequivocal, with post-WW2 accounts and the search described here in agreement. One Howitzer position (the northernmost of the four) remains in contention, with two different positions described. A geoforensic search strategy (desktop study, geophysics, excavation) was deployed that shows strong evidence for the location of the debated fourth gun, together with aerial photographic and military tactical evidence for why this fourth Howitzer was moved to a second location close to D-day.     

Book reviews

New Works in Geography

The Holocene: an environmental history. 2nd Edition. Neil Roberts. Pp. 316. Oxford: Blackwells, 1998. 2nd Edition. £17.99 (pbk), ISBN 0 631 18638 7.

The nature of the environment. 4th Edition. Andrew Goudie. Pp. xv + 544. Oxford: Blackwells, 2001. Price £21.99 (pbk), ISBN 0 631 20069 X (pbk).

The human impact on the natural environment. 5th Edition. Andrew Goudie. Pp. xvi + 509. Oxford: Blackwells, 2000. Price £17.99 (pbk), ISBN 0 631 19978 0 (pbk).

Statistical methods for geography. Peter A. Rogerson. Pp. xii + 236. London: Sage, 2001. Price £55.00 (hbk), £17.99 (pbk), ISBN 0 7619 6287 5 (hbk), ISBN 0 7619 6288 3 (pbk).

Introduction to planning practice. Philip Allmendinger, Alan Prior & Jeremy Raemaekers. Pp. x + 439. Chichester: John Wiley, 2000. Price £17.99 (pbk), ISBN 0 471 98522.

A geography of heritage. Brian Graham, G.J. Ashworth & J.E. Tunbridge. Pp. v + 284. London: Arnold, 2000. Price £16.99 (pbk), £45.00 (hbk), ISBN 0 340 67778 3 (pbk), ISBN 0 340 67779 1 (hbk).     

Scottish Landform Example 40: The Buchan Gravels Formation: A Remnant Deposit of a Palaeo-landscape

Abstract

The Buchan Gravels Formation (BGF) takes the form of a series of gravel deposits of intriguing age and origin in North-East Scotland. The BGF is divided into two geographically-distinct groups, the Windy Hills Gravel Member (WHGM) and the Buchan Ridge Gravel Member (BRGM). The WHGM occurs in central Buchan, and is predominantly composed of quartzite gravels considered to have been deposited by eastwardly-flowing rivers. In contrast the BRGM is found in eastern Buchan, and is composed largely of flint-rich gravels, the precise origins of which are still under debate. Both gravel members are of considerable age, judging by the number of rotted clasts they contain. In addition, both presently occupy high ground, despite seeming to have originated as water-lain deposits. Although of unknown age, the BGF members provide evidence of topographic inversion since their deposition, and quite possibly preglacial age.     

People and Things on the Move: Domestic Material Culture,Poverty and Mobility in Victorian London

The development of what Mayne and Lawrence (Urban History 26: 325–48, 1999) termed “ethnographic” approaches to studying nineteenth-century households and urban communities has gathered momentum in recent years. As such research agendas have taken hold and been applied to new contexts, so critiques, methodological developments, and new intellectual and theoretical currents, have provided opportunities to enhance and develop approaches. This article contributes to this on-going process. Drawing upon household archaeological research on Limehouse, a poor neighborhood in Victorian London, and inspired by the theoretical insights provided by the “new mobilities paradigm,” it aims to place “mobility” as a central and enabling intellectual framework for understanding the relationships between people, place, and poverty. Poor communities in nineteenth-century cities were undeniably mobile and transient. Historians and archaeologists have often regarded this mobility as an obstacle to studying everyday life in such contexts. However, examining temporal routines and geographical movements across a variety of time frames and geographical scales, this article argues that mobility is actually key to understanding urban life and an important mechanism for interpreting the fragmented material and documentary traces left by poor households in the nineteenth-century metropolis.     

AVIATION NOISE AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: THE BARRIO BARRIER*

ABSTRACT Aviation noise is a harmful pollutant, which has yet to be studied in the environmental justice literature. This paper uses Tobit and logit multivariate regression analyses to analyze noise pollution exposure from a major commercial‐service airport. It addresses the issue of whether people moved to the aviation noise‐impacted areas or the noise encroached on the people, and controls for economic and political costs as well as the possibility of racial and ethnic prejudice. The results indicate that ethnicity is the primary cause of the disproportionate burden of aviation noise pollution borne by Hispanics in the area analyzed.     

Reviews

Australian

Don Aitkin, Brian Jinks and John Warhurst (eds), Australian Political Institutions, 4th edn, Melbourne, Longman Cheshire, 1989. $4.99 (paper)

F. G. Castles, Australian Public Policy and Economic Vulnerability, Sydney, Allen and Unwin, 1988, pp. 184. $19.95 (paper)

Ian C. Marsh (ed.) Australia Can Compete, Melbourne Longman Cheshire, 1988, pp. 261. $19.95 (paper)

Glyn Davis, Breaking up the ABC, Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1988 pp. 150. $14.95. (paper)

Evatt Research Centre, State of Siege: Renewal or Privatisation for Australian Public Services?, Lei‐chardt, NSW, Pluto Press, 1989. pp. 496. $29.95 (paper)

Keith Hancock (ed.), Australian Society, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1989. pp. 258. $25.00 (paper)

J. B. Hirst, The Strange Birth of Colonial Democracy. Sydney, Allen and Unwin, 1988. pp. 305. $19.95 (paper)

Keith McConnochie, David Hollinsworth and Jan Pettman, Race and Racism in Australia, Social Science Press, Wentworth Falls, NSW, 1988. pp.259. $19.95 (paper).

Martin Painter, Steering the Modern State: Changes in Central Co‐ordination in Three Australian State Governments, Sydney, Sydney University Press, 1987. pp.208. $25.00 (paper)

Comparative and International

John E. Chubb and Paul E. Peterson (eds), Can the Government Govern!, Washington D.G, Brook‐ings, 1989. pp.339. US$29.95 (paper)

Timothy E. Cook, Making Laws and Making News: Media Strategies in the U.S. House of Representatives, Washington D.C, Brookings, 1989. pp.210. US$26.95 (cloth)

Richard Crockatt and Steve Smith (eds) The Cold War Past and Present, Winchester, MA., Unwin Hyman, 1987. pp.272. US$14.95 (paper)

Leon Gordenker, Refugees in International Politics, New York, Columbia University Press, 1987. pp. 227. US$30.00 (cloth)

Stephen Hess, Organizing the Presidency, 2nd edn, Washington, D.C., Brookings, 1988. pp.273. US$10.95 (paper)

Eric Hobsbawm, Politics for a Rational Left, London, Verso, 1989. pp. 250. £8.95 (paper)

Robert A. Katzmann (ed.), Judges and Legislators: Towards Institutional Comity, Washington, Brookings, 1988. pp. 200. US$10.95 (paper)

Fred Krinsky (ed.), Crisis and Innovation: Constitutional Democracy in America, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1988. pp.158. $34.95 (paper)

Philip Laundy, Parliaments in the Modem World, Aldershot, Gower, 1989. pp.166. £25.00 (doth)

Stanley Bach and Steven S. Smith, Managing Uncertainty in the House of Representatives: Adaptation and Innovation in Special Rules, Washington D.C., Brookings, 1988. pp. 140. US$22.95 (cloth)

Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1988. pp.218. US$42.50 (cloth)

Carol M. Mueller (ed.) The Politics of the Gender Gap: The Social Construction of Political Influence. Newsbury Park, California, Sage, 1988. pp.316. US$ 16.95 (paper)

John Newhouse, The Nuclear Age: From Hiroshima to Star Wars, London, Michael Joseph, 1989. pp.486. £15.95 (cloth)

Richard Rose, Ordinary People in Public Policy. Newbury Park, California, Sage, 1989. pp.189. US$8.95 (paper)

Richard Rose, The Postmodern President: The White House Meets the World, Chatham, New Jersey, Chatham House, 1988. pp. 349. US$14.95 (paper)

William E. Rosenbach and Robert L. Taylor (eds) Contemporary Issues in Leadership, 2nd edn, Boulder, Westview, 1989. pp.248. US$16.95 (paper)

Angus Mclntyre (ed.) Aging and Political Leadership, Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 1988. pp. 316. $35.00 (cloth)

Graham Little Strong Leadership: Thatcher, Reagan and An Eminent Person, Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 1988. pp. 289. $ 19.95 (paper)

Emile Sahliyeh, In Search of Leadership: West Bank Politics Since 1967, Washington, D.C., Brookings, 1988. pp. 201. US$10.95 (paper)

Betty H. Zisk, Money, Media and the Grass Roots: State Ballot Issues and the Electoral Process. New‐bury Park, California, Sage, 1987. pp.279. US$12.95 (paper)

Political Theory and Methodology

Terrell Carver, Marx and Engels: The Intellectual Relationship. Harvester Press, Sussex, 1983. pp. 172. $50.00 (cloth)

Levi, Margaret, Of Rule and Revenue, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1988. pp.253. US$10.95 (paper)

Robert Paul Wolff, Understanding Marx: A Reconstruction and Critique of Capital, New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 1984. pp.235. US$8.95 (paper)     

Theorizing Military Intervention

Argument and change in world politics: ethics, decolonization and humanitarian intervention. By Neta Crawford
The purpose of intervention: changing beliefs about the use of force. By Martha Finnemore
Agency and ethics: the politics of military intervention. By Anthony F. Lang Jr     

Place mapping with teenagers: locating their territories and documenting their experience of the public realm

The purpose of this paper is to present, analyse and critique a research method, ‘place mapping’, used to document and understand teenagers' experience, use and perception of public spaces. Researchers in two case study sites, Edinburgh, Scotland, and Sacramento, CA, employed conventional street maps as a basis for eliciting and recording young people's spatial experiences. This method offers an effective mechanism for generating and structuring discussion – through dialogue – by the participants about their dynamic and shared experience of place, geographically recording places and ensuring equitable participation.