The politics of Australian yuppies

Although many popular claims are made about the social distinctiveness and political importance of yuppies (young, urban or upwardly‐mobile professionals), there is little firm evidence to support such claims. This paper uses national survey data to identify individuals who might be classified as yuppies, and examines their demographic and social attributes and political orientations. The results show that there are no substantial differences between yuppies on the one hand, and non‐yuppies (young, rural persons or young urban non‐professionals) and people aged 40 and over on the other. Moreover, yuppies tend to be liberal rather than conservative on most issues, economic ones included. These results suggest that claims about the distinctiveness and political importance of yuppies are generally exaggerated.     

Evidence of early medieval trade and migration between Wales and the Mediterranean Sea region

Imported Mediterranean pottery recovered from 5th–7th century settlement sites along the south Wales coast indicates that trade and contact between Wales and Byzantium continued following the collapse of the Roman Empire in the early-5th century. It is hypothesised that people as well as pottery continued to travel to Wales from Byzantium, some of whom subsequently settled amongst the local communities. Strontium and oxygen isotope analysis was undertaken on human remains (n = 33 individuals) from four early medieval cemeteries from south Wales. The study identified individuals who may not have been local to the British Isles, thus demonstrating that the isotopic analysis of human remains from Wales can further our understanding of migration to Britain during the early medieval period.     

Chemical and strontium isotope analysis of Yaozhou celadon glaze

To produce useful information about the raw materials used in northern Chinese Yaozhou celadon glazes Chinese glazes (especially the source of the calcium‐bearing flux), Sr isotope analysis has been used for the first time. Yaozhou celadon is one of the most important representatives of northern Chinese greenware. The study has enhanced our understanding of the raw material sources used to make Yaozhou glazes dating from the Tang to Northern Song dynasties. It is highly likely that ‘Fuping stone’ mentioned in the historical record is not the main raw material used to make Yaozhou celadon glazes of the Tang to Northern Song dynasties. The results of ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr analysis of the Yaozhou celadon glazes studied produce relatively consistent ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr isotopic signatures, with a wide variation of relatively high Sr concentrations. This is firm evidence that a calcium‐bearing plant ash was the source of the calcium and of the flux in the Celedon glazes studied, and not, as some have suggested, limestone or ‘Liaojiang stone’. The study had illustrated that the present approach has great potential in providing a new way of reconstructing porcelain glaze technology.     

Organic Public Geographies: “Making the Connection”

Abstract: A new field of “public geographies” is taking shape ( Fuller 2008 ) in geography's mainstream journals. While much is “traditional”, with intellectuals disseminating academic research via non‐ academic outlets ( Castree 2006 ; Mitchell 2008 ; Oslender 2007 ), less visible is the “organic” work and its “more involved intellectualizing, pursued through working with area‐based or single‐interest groups, in which the process itself may be the outcome” ( Ward 2006 :499; see Fuller and Askins 2010 ). A number of well‐known projects exist where research has been “done not merely for the people we write about but with them” ( Gregory 2005 :188; see also Cahill 2004 ; Johnston and Pratt 2010 ). However, collaborative writing of academic publications which gives research participants authorial credit is unusual ( mrs kinpainsby 2008 ; although see Sangtin Writers and Nagar 2006 ). This paper is about an organic public geographies project called “Making the connection”. It is written by a diverse collection of (non‐)academic participants who contributed to the project before it had started, as it was undertaken, and/or after it had finished. This is a “messy”, process‐oriented text ( Cook et al. 2007 ) working through the threads (partially) connecting the activities of its main collaborators, including a referee who helped get the paper to publication.     

Provisioning an Early City: Spatial Equilibrium in the Agricultural Economy at Angkor,Cambodia

Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory - A dominant view in economic anthropology is that farmers must overcome decreasing marginal returns in the process of intensification. However, it is...     

A strontium and oxygen isotope assessment of a possible fourth century immigrant population in a Hampshire cemetery,southern England

The aim of the project was to test the hypothesis, using oxygen and strontium isotopes, that a group of burials in the Late Roman cemetery of Lankhills, Winchester, southern England, were migrants from the Danube region of central Europe. The method assumes that the oxygen isotope composition of immigrants from this locale would be significantly more depleted that any one British origin and that the restricted range in Sr isotope compositions produced by chalk in the overlying biosphere of southern England would discriminate between the local population and settlers from elsewhere. As a control for the immigrant group a sample of Romano-British individuals were examined to provide a comparative data set. The results showed that the majority of the individuals used to define the “local” control group plotted in a restricted field of strontium and oxygen isotope composition that was consistent with the values expected for the Hampshire area of southern England. By contrast, the “exotic”, putatively immigrant population generated a much more dispersed field including four with δ¹⁸O drinking water values of −10‰ or less, which supports a non-British origin for these individuals. The study shows that the archaeological data suggesting that there is an exotic population buried at the Lankhills cemetery is generally supported by the isotope work, although the “exotic” group appears to a rather dispersed set of individuals rather than a single population from a restricted overseas location.