Fair Isle: half a century of change

ABSTRACT

Fair Isle is one of the best known of the Scottish islands having given its name to a shipping forecast region and to an internationally known style of knitting patterns and also because it has a world renowned bird observatory, and is the most remote of the inhabited British islands. Over the last five decades it has experienced major changes in its economic and social fabric, reflecting the influences of both endogenous and exogenous forces. This paper reviews and interprets those changes, utilising two surveys made fifty years apart using the same survey instrument and the same methodology in order to provide a basis for a consistent comparison. The paper discusses the changes that have taken place in agricultural practices, in infrastructure, in the economic base and the successful stabilisation of population numbers, and in tourism to the island, which reflect changes in ownership of the island and the impacts of North Sea development and local government re-organisation.     

Introduction to Zooarchaeological Method and Theory: a Special Issue Honoring R. Lee Lyman

The Society for American Archaeology presented R. Lee Lyman with the Fryxell award for Interdisciplinary Excellence in Zooarchaeology in 2011. Lyman has produced over 120 journal articles or book chapters, and four single-authored books on the topic, and this issue honors his contributions to zooarchaeological method and theory with six original pieces by his peers. Arguably, his greatest impact has been in the field of vertebrate taphonomy and the development of a means to measure density-mediated bone attrition, but of equal importance was emphasis in the discipline that unit selection, or what one measures, should be linked to a particular research question. Lyman's work has also stressed the importance of making zooarchaeology relevant to modern issues of conservation biology.     

Accessing Hunter-Gatherer site structures using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy: applications at a Taltheilei settlement in the Canadian Sub-Arctic

The results of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy on soils and caribou bone from a Taltheilei culture settlement in northern Canada contribute to developing micro-archaeological approaches suitable for locating and characterizing hearth and midden features on hunter-gatherer sites. A weak yet pervasive signal for montgomeryite was developed from the diagenesis of dispersed ash and caribou processing residues. Disordered calcite, carbonate hydroxylapatite, charcoal, and burned bone in two pit-house hearth deposits indicate that both wood and bone were used for fuel. Crystallinity indices and carbonate/phosphate ratios for bone indicate high intensity burning. These data, in tandem with the presence of semi-subterranean dwellings, demonstrate that this particular tundra-based encampment was occupied during cold seasons, a type of settlement behaviour previously unrecognized in the Taltheilei archaeological record. Our results confirm that Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy is an accessible, rapid, and cost effective means of discovering micro-archaeological evidence valuable for reconstructing hunter-gatherer site structures.     

A walk of art: the potential of the sound walk as practice in cultural geography

Some of the most experimental and exciting work using sound and spatiality has come from the art world. This essay traces how an exciting hybrid of sound art and walking – the sound walk - has evolved over the last century. Examining the latest examples of sound walks in London and New York, and reflecting on the author's experience of creating a sound walk route, this essay focuses on the potential of this medium to create flowing, multi-sensory and embodied ways for social and cultural geographers to research the outside environment. The essay concludes that the medium could also be useful for presenting site-specific cultural geography to the public in an accessible and inclusive way.     

Book reviews

Karl Kaiser, Winston Lord, Thierry de Montbrial, David Watt, Western Security: What Has Changed? What Should be Done? Council on Foreign Relations, Inc. (New York) and Royal Institute of International Affairs (London), 1981, pp. 48. No price given.

Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman, The Political Economy of Human Rights. Two volumes, Black Rose Books, Montreal, 1979. Volume I, The Washington Connection and Third World Facism, pp. xvii + 441; Volume II, After the Cataclysm: Postwar Indochina and the Reconstruction of Imperial Hegemony, pp. xx + 392.

Vanuatu. Institute of Pacific Studies, The University of the South Pacific and The South Pacific Social Sciences Association, 1980, pp. 291. $Fiji4.50

Walter Lini, Beyond Pandemonium. From the New Hebrides to Vanuatu. Asia Pacific Books, Wellington in association with the Institute of Pacific Studies of the University of the South Pacific, 1980, pp. 64. $NZ6.95 (cloth), $NZ4.50 (paper).

Jeremy MacClancy, To Kill a Bird with Two Stones. A Short History of Vanuatu. Vanuatu Cultural Centre Publications No. 1, 1980, pp. 158. 300 Vatu (plus postage).

Richard Shears, The Coconut War. The Crisis on Espiritu Santo. Cassell Australia, North Ryde, pp. 210. $6.95.

G. J. Crough, Foreign Investment and Transnational Corporations in Australia: An Annotated Bibliography. Alternative Publishing Co‐operative, Sydney, 1977, pp. xiii + 200. $14.95.

Michael T. Skully (ed.), A Multinational Look at the Transnational Corporation: An International Collection of Academic and Corporate Views on the Future of Transnational Enterprise. Dryden Press Australia, Sydney, 1978, pp. iv + 278. $24.95.

Francien van Anrooij et al., Between People and Statistics: Essays on Modern Indonesian History. Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1979, pp. 315. D.fl.39.50

Michael Brecher, with Benjamin Geist, Decisions in Crisis. Israel. 1967 and 1973. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1980, pp. xvii + 479. $34.95.

Desmond Ball, A Suitable Piece of Real Estate: American Installations in Australia. Hale and Iremonger, Sydney, 1980, pp. 180. $19.95 (cloth), $10.95 (paper).

W. J. Hudson, Billy Hughes in Paris. The Birth of Australian Diplomacy. Nelson in association with the Australian Institute of International Affairs, Melbourne, 1978, pp. 147. $8.95.

Charles R. Beitz, Political Theory and International Relations. Princeton University Press, 1979, pp. 199. $US21.00 (cloth), $US5.00 (paper).

J. H. Leurdijk (ed.), The Foreign Policy of the Netherlands, Sijthoff and Noordhoff, Alphen aan den Rijn, 1978, pp. ix + 356. D.Fl.85.00.

Shashikant Nair, Rural‐born Fijians and Indo‐Fijians in Suva: A Study of Movements and Linkages. Development Studies Centre, Monograph No. 24, The Australian National University, Canberra, 1980, pp. 97. $8.00.

Goran Hyden. Beyond Ujamaa in Tanzania: Underdevelopment and an Uncaptured Peasantry Heineman Education Books, London, 1980, pp. 270. £3.50.

Elizabeth Vallance, Women in the House: A Study of Women Members of Parliament, Athlone Press, London, 1979, pp. 212. $9.70.

G. H. Jansen, Militant Islam, Pan Books Ltd, 1979, pp. 224. $4.25.

David Elliott, Thailand: Origins of Military Rule, Zed Press, London, 1978, pp. 190 £5.95 (cloth), £2.95 (paper).

Joseph A. Camilleri, Australian‐American Relations: The Web of Dependence, Macmillan, Melbourne, 1980, pp. 167, $29.95 (cloth), $9.95 (paper).

Ross Terrill, Mao: A Biography. Harper and Row, New York, 1980, pp. 481. $19.95     

“Three concepts”—Hospitality, cosmopolitanism, and human dignity: Reconceptualising heritage futures

Resumen Utilizando las imágenes de la destrucción del patrimonio cultural Palestino como punto de partida, este artículo trata de reflexionar de forma crítica sobre el futuro del WAC recapacitando sobre las actuales preocupaciones, a nivel teórico y práctico, en relación con el patrimonio cultural y con la “arqueología de un único mundo”. Mi estrategia es “dotar” de tres conceptos—hospitalidad, el ser cosmopolita y la dignidad humana, a este debate sobre el futuro del WAC, a través de tres autores, Virginia Woolf, Jacques Derrida, y Edward Said. En mi opinión estos tres ‘conceptos’ no son sólo fundamentales para la reconceptualización del patrimonio cultural sino también para sacar a la luz cuestiones claves en relación con la identidad institucional del WAC y los posibles cambios futuros. Mis conclusiones ratifican que la madurez del WAC cristaliza la necesidad de conmemorar no sólo las aspiraciones fundacionales y los logros acumulados, sino también de abrir el futuro de la organización, de forma crítica y reflexiva, a nuevos miembros y a preocupaciones, arqueologías y patrimonios alternativos o paralelos.

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Résumé A l'aide d'images sur la destruction de l'héritage culturel palestinien je cherche à réfléchir sur l'avenir du WAC à travers les rapports contemporains philosopho-operationels de l'héritage culturel et de l'archéologie mondiale. Ma stratégie est de démontrer à travers trois auteurs tels que Virginia Woolf, Jacques Derrida, et Edward Said, trois idées-l'hospitalité, le cosmopolitanisme et la dignité humaine, portant sur ce débat concernant l'avenir du WAC. Je discute le fait que ces idées sont non seulement fondamentales à la reconceptualisation de l'héritage culturel mais aussi capables de donner naissance à des questions fondamentales sur l'identité de l'institution et sur de possibles transformations du WAC. Mes conclusions répètent que l'entrée en majorité du WAC souligne le besoin non seulement de commémorer les aspirations et les efforts accomplis mais aussi d'élargir l'avenir de l'organisation vers de nouvelles fonctions et des héritages archéologiques.