Leprosy at the Lazaretto on St Eustatius,Netherlands Antilles

Leprosaria established in the Americas during the Colonial period bear many similarities with those found in medieval Europe. They are comparable in terms of isolation, the objectification of leprosy sufferers and their association with religious charities. The Lazaretto on St Eustatius was operated from 1866 to 1923. The site was investigated to recover palaeopathological evidence of leprosy at a leprosarium in the Americas. Five burials were excavated; three individuals showed evidence of bone modifications consistent with those caused by leprosy, including aspects of ‘rhinomaxillary syndrome’ and the bilaterally symmetrical post‐cranial changes that have been described in leprosy examples from medieval Europe. An exceptional find was the presence of potentially leprous bone changes to the hyoid, thyroid and 3^rd–6^th cervical vertebrae. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On Neanderthal subsistence strategies and land use: A regional focus on the Rhone Valley area in southeastern France

This study of Middle Palaeolithic assemblages from the Rhone Valley, in the South-East of France, increases our understanding of Neanderthal subsistence strategies and modes of territorial organisation by comparing a wide corpus of human occupations in limited chronological and geographical frameworks. The Neanderthal occupation modes may be examined using sites located in a reduced area, linking medium-altitude territories (Massif Central and the Alpine foothills) to the Rhone corridor. Through the combined analysis of the occupation levels of ten sites, all dated to between Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS) 7 and the beginning of MIS 3, we identify three types of occupation durations: (1) type 1 as long-term residential camps, (2) type 2 as short-term regular hunting camps and (3) type 3 as brief stopover camps. We discuss this variability of habitat types according to various parameters: site age, technical behaviour, environmental conditions, and site localisation and occupation seasons. The aim is to discern the underlying motivations behind Neanderthal group mobility. One of the main features of the Rhone Valley area is the great homogeneity of behaviours reflected within the sequences. This homogeneity, linked to the variability of the site occupations, supports the hypothesis of Neanderthal groups anticipating their land use requirements, and furthermore suggests that another type of circulating model was used in this area.     

Counting eyeballs,soundbites and ‘plings’: arts participation,strategic instrumentalism and the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad

This article examines cultural participation, its metrics and ‘drivers’ as they are defined through cultural programming for the London 2012 Olympics. The meanings and interpretation of these terms are considered by examining the development of an evaluation framework for the We Play programme in the North West of England, an initiative funded by Legacy Trust UK and part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. It argues that in spite of the dissonance between arts and sports within Olympics programmes and claims of the deleterious impact on arts funding, particular within the regions, London 2012 has engendered creative programming which strategically deploys the Cultural Olympiad to satisfy local cultural policy objectives as well as meeting broader interests in ‘legacy’ from the Games. Such ambitions require the development of appropriate methodologies for understanding arts participation and engagement for the purpose of evaluation and evidence-based policy making, a particular challenge for such a complex range of activities, sites and settings for arts participation.     

Open space preservation in an urbanization context

The objective of this paper is to address the question of open space preservation in an urbanization context. We study the possibility of preserving two different types of open spaces, namely, large open spaces at cities’ outskirts and small intraurban open spaces. Thus, we contribute to the debate of land sharing versus land sparing in an urban context. We analyze these questions by way of a theoretical microeconomic framework that takes into account both households’ preferences for open space and regulators’ interest in the preservation of natural habitat for biodiversity. We compare land use patterns at private equilibrium and when the social planner maximizes social welfare.