Measuring Root Dentine Translucency in Human Teeth of Varying Antiquity

Many workers have calibrated human root dentine transparency (RDT) as a linear regression on age. It is now regarded as a well-established means of estimating age at death in modern human material. Similar applications in archaeological material have not yet been developed. The aim of this study was to establish a standard protocol for measuring RDT which was derived from previous methods and which could be applied to teeth of unknown and varying antiquity. An initial study on two archaeological populations determined the choice of tooth to study and a second study, using expendable teeth (of unknown age and origin), evaluated various techniques of specimen preparation and examination. Findings from the pilot study indicated that the lower canine was the tooth of choice. From the second study it was observed that archaeological teeth could only be sectioned if they had first been infiltrated and embedded in methyl methacrylate. The optimal section thickness was found to be 150 μm and no benefit was gained by staining. Inter-observer reliability tests showed significant differences in repeated measures of RDT in intact teeth, which were not borne out when sectioned teeth were used. Intra-observer reliability was maintained for measurements in both intact and sectioned teeth. These findings have been used to establish a standard protocol for application to human teeth of any depositional phase to estimate the dental age at death of that individual.     

Book reviews

Atif A. Kubursi. Oil, Industrialization and ‘Development in the Arab Gulf States. London: Croom Helm, 1984. 144 pp. No price given.

Giacomo Luciani. The Oil Companies and the Arab World. London: Croom Helm, 1984. 197 pp. $31.95.

Freda Hawkins. Critical Years in Immigration: Canada and Australia Compared. Kingston and Montreal: McGill‐Queen's University Press, 1989. xx + 368 pp. $Can 35.00.

Keith Suter. Is There Life After ANZUS? Sydney: Pluto Press, 1987. v + 91 pp. $9.95. Peter Jennings. The Armed Forces of New Zealand and the ANZUS Split: Cost and Consequences. New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, Occasional Paper No. 4, 1988. xi + 108 pp. $12.00.

Alan Powell. The Shadow's Edge: Australia's Northern War. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1988. 346 pp. $24.95.

John Kenneth Galbraith. A History of Economics: The Past as the Present. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1987. xi + 324 pp. $39.95.

John Turner (ed.) Britain and the First World War. Unwin Hyman, 1988. No price given.

Neil Elder, Alastair H. Thomas and David Arter. The Consensual Democracies? The Government and Politics of the Scandinavian States. Revised edition. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1988. xii + 248 pp. $34.95.

Seong‐Kyu Ha (ed.) Housing Policy and Practice in Asia. London: Croom Helm, 1987. 197 pp. $87.95.

J.D. Conroy. Shelter for the Homeless — Asian Pacific Needs and Australian Responses. Canberra: Australian Council for Overseas Aid, 1987. vi + 141 pp. $5.95.

Diane K. Mauzy (ed.) Politics in the ASEAN States. Kuala Lumpur: Maricans, no date. 343 pp. No price given.

Richard Robison, Kevin Hewison & Richard Higgott (eds.) Southeast Asia in the 1980s: Tie Politics of Economic Crisis. Sydney, London, Boston: Allen & Unwin, 1987. viii + 244 pp. No price given.

Noordin Sopiee, Chew Lay See, Lim Siang Jin (eds.) ASEAN at the Crossroads: Obstacles, Options and Opportunities in Economic Co‐operation. Kuala Lumpur: Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia, 1988. viii + 577 pp. No price given.

Desmond Ball (ed.) US Bases in the Philippines: Issues and Implications. Canberra: Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, 1988. 90 pp. $10.00.

Niall O'Brien. Revolution from the Heart. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987. x + 310 pp. $AUS48.00.

Wilfred Fabros. The Church and its Social Involvement in the Philippines, 1930–1972. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1988. 202 pp. $US8.00 P/Back, $US11.00 Cloth.

Cecil B. Currey. Edward Lansdale: The Unquiet American. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1988. xviii + 430pp. $US24.95.

Ansil Ramsay and Wiwat Mungkandi (eds.) Thailand‐US Relations: Changing Political, Strategic, and Economic Factors. Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, 1988. vi + 335 pp. $US20.00.

R. Cribb. The Politics of Environmental Protection in Indonesia. Working Paper No. 48, Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Monash University, 1988. 36 pp. $5.00

George Monbiot. Poisoned Arrows. An Investigative Journey through Indonesia. London: Michael Joseph, 1989, 249 pp. $35.00.

Toshio Toyoda (ed.) Vocational Education in the Industrialization of Japan. Tokyo: The United Nations University. Production by University of Tokyo Press, 1987. xii + 267 pp. No price given.

Noor A. Husain and Leo E. Rose (eds.) Pakistan‐US Relations: Social, Political and Economic Factors. Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, 1988. viii + 326 pp. $US20.00.

V.D. Chopra (ed.) Afghanistan: Geneva Accord and After. New Delhi: Patriot Publishers, 1988. 253 pp. Rs30.

C.D. Throsby (ed.) Human Resources Development in the Pacific. Canberra: National Centre for Development Studies, 1987. x + 248 pp. No price given.     

PATH DEPENDENCE AND LANDSCAPE: INITIAL CONDITIONS,CONTINGENCY AND SEQUENCES OF EVENTS IN LATGALE,LATVIA

The notion of path dependence has not yet been well explored as a tool for analysing landscape change. Within geography it is primarily economic geographers who have, up until now, shown a keen interest in this concept which stresses the role of social agency and institutions in understanding the development trajectories of regions. Further, the notion of path dependence usefully captures the idea of contingency in historical sequences. This article presents such a perspective on landscape change analysis, discussing two dominant types of sequences in path‐dependent systems. Self‐reinforcing sequences characterize the formation and long‐term reproduction of a given institutional pattern, while reactive sequences describe chains of temporally ordered and causally connected events. From a landscape point of view, by the former we can describe the fixity of practices, by the latter the particular development of (or changes in) landscapes. Within such a framework of path dependence analysis, examples from south‐eastern Latvia, the historical region of Latgale, are used to account for the institution of partible inheritance and to explain its impact on landscapes. The landscape biographies of two villages are studied in order to understand the particular key breaking points and the (series of) reactions that follow from these events. The challenge of using the tool of path dependence analysis lies in its openness for various interpretations, suggesting the need for supplementary theory.     

Israeli Perceptions of Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism

Zionist thinkers assumed that the establishment of a Jewish state, which entailed a fundamental change in traits that non-Jews found contemptible, would bring an end to anti-Semitism. Yet after the 1967 war, the Soviet Union, the Western left and Third World governments, previously supportive of Israel, placed Israel in the camp of Western imperialism, while the emerging New Left identified Israel as imperialistic and racist. Against the background of the change in the international climate, debates in Israel over anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism were shaped by domestic politics. While the right saw anti-Semitism as the cause of hostility to Israel, the left argued that anti-Zionism, rooted in political arguments about the Middle East conflict, fanned the flames of anti-Semitism. The attitude to anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism became a cultural code, highlighting the divide between left and right, and between religious and secular.