Dendrochronology reveals the construction history of an early 19th century farm settlement,southwestern Virginia,USA

The McDonald Farm (also called the Anderson-Doosing Farm) in Catawba Valley, Virginia dates to 1789 and is registered with the National Register of Historic Places maintained by the National Park Service. According to written accounts, oral histories, and architectural analyses, the construction of four structures (a collapsed cabin, a standing cabin, a barn, and a smokehouse) at the farm likely occurred in the early to mid-19th century. To verify and refine the construction dates of the four structures, we absolutely dated the tree rings in logs used in their construction by comparing their ring patterns with a composite reference tree-ring chronology created from four regional locations. We used established graphical and statistical techniques used in dendrochronology to ensure that all tree rings were dated absolutely with 99.99% certainty. We found cutting dates for the collapsed cabin ranged from 1809 to 1810, making the likely builder Samuel Myers and not Joseph Anderson, who is currently given credit for its construction. The logs in the barn had cutting dates ranging from 1830 to 1831, confirming the 1830 construction date estimated by the historical documents and confirming the builder was Joseph Anderson. The logs from the standing cabin and smokehouse had cutting dates ranging from 1838 to 1840, refining the “mid-19th century construction” listed in the register nomination. Furthermore, the nomination gave credit of the construction of these latter two structures also to Joseph Anderson, but the builder was actually John Gish who owned the farm from 1837 to 1845. Our study demonstrates the benefit and reliability of using dendrochronology to verify and refine construction dates and ownership histories of historic structures in the Southeastern U.S.     

Book reviews

Reappraisals in British Imperial History by Ronald Hyam and Ged Martin. Cambridge Commonwealth Series, London: Macmillan, 1975. Pp. x + 234. £10.00.

The Black Loyalists: The Search for a Promised Land in Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone, 1783–1870 by James W. St. G. Walker. Dalhousie African Studies Series. London: Longman and Dalhousie University Press, 1976. Pp. xvi+438. £8.75. Paper £3.50. New York: Holmes and Meier, 1976. $24.00. Paper $10.00.

The Loyal Blacks by Ellen Gibson Wilson. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1976. Pp. xi+463. $7.95.

Bibliography of British History 1789–1851 edited by Lucy M. Brown and Ian R. Christie. Clarendon Press: Oxford University Press. 1977. Pp.xxxi+759. £20.

New South Wales—Autocracy to Parliament 1824–1856. Published by the Legislative Council of the Parliament of New South Wales, Parliament House, Sydney, 1976. Pp. vii + 137. Loose‐leaf edition limited to 300 copies.

Office‐Holders in Modern Britain. Volume VI, Colonial Office Officials compiled by J. C. Sainty. London: University of London, Institute of Historical Research. 1976. x + 52 pp. £4.00.

Indian Society and the Beginnings of Modernisation c. 1830–1850 edited by C. H. Philips and Mary Doreen Wainwright. London: School of Oriental and African Studies, 1976. Pp. vi+243. £2.50.

Partner in Empire: Dwarkanath Tagore and the Age of Enterprise in Eastern India by Blair B. Kling. University of California Press, 1976. Pp. xii+276. £15.60.

Buddhism in Sinhalese Society 1750–1900: A Study of Religious Revival and Change by Kitsiri Malalgoda. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 1976. Pp. xiii+300. £13.20

Facets of Modern Ceylon History through the Letters of Jeronis Pieris by Michael Roberts. Colombo: Hansa Publishers Limited, 1975. Pp. 108, map, photographs, appendices. (No price is listed ; Distributors, H. W. Cave and Co. Ltd., P. O. Box 25, Colombo, Sri Lanka).

Southeast Asia: A History by Lea E. Williams. New York: Oxford University Press, 1976. Pp. xii+299. £7.50.

A History of Malaysia and Singapore by N. J. Ryan. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1976. Pp. xiv+322. £16.00.

Comparative History of Civilizations in Asia by Edward L. Farmer et al. Reading (Mass.): Addison‐Wesley Publishing Co., 1977. 2 Vols. Pp. xxx+797. £11.20 each.

Dark Companions: The African Contribution to the European Exploration of East Africa by Donald Simpson. London: Paul Elek, 1976. Pp. xi+228. £7.50.

Europäische Kolonialherrschaft 1880–1940 by Rudolf von Albertini, in association with Albert Wirz. Zurich and Freiburg im Breisgau: Atlantis Verlag, 1976. Pp. 528, 20 maps. DM. 54 (hardback), DM. 45 (paperback).

Oil and Empire: British Policy and Mesopotamian Oil 1900–1920 by Marian Kent, London: Macmillan, 1976. Pp. xiii+273. £10.

On Revolt: Strategies of National Liberation by J. Bowyer Bell. Cambridge (Mass.): Harvard U.P., 1976. Pp. xv+272. £11.25.

The Erosion of a Relationship: India and Britain since 1960 by Michael Lipton and John Firn. Oxford University Press for the Royal Institute of International Affairs: London, 1976. Pp. xvi+427. £13.00.     

Des coquillages… outillages des Ichtyophages? Mise en évidence d'industries sur Veneridae,du Néolithique à l’âge du Fer (Yémen,Oman, E.A.U.)

From Yemen to the Arabian/Persian Gulf the coastal societies of Arabia developed an industry utilising bivalve shells (Veneridae). From the Neolithic to the Iron Age these shells were transformed into knives or scrapers, the latter sometimes having a characteristic notch. The majority of these tools are manufactured from the left valve, probably selected by right-handed people. The shell tools are very standardised and did not replace stone tools; they were probably intended for specific and complementary uses. In Arabia this industry constitutes a specific element of the material culture of the Ichthyophagi .     

New investigations into the Uluburun resin cargo

Resin found within Canaanite amphorae from the Late Bronze Age shipwreck discovered off the coast of southwest Turkey at Uluburun has previously been identified as Pistacia sp. Although evidence from Egypt suggests that this resin was in high demand and typically transported in such amphorae, it has also been proposed that the amphorae contained wine, with the resin used to seal the interior surfaces and to flavour and/or preserve the wine. To attempt to resolve this question, we have analysed five samples of pistacia resin found in amphorae from the shipwreck using a range of analytical techniques which have used in the past for the analysis of wine residues: spot tests, FT-IR, and HPLC-MS-MS. As well as the archaeological samples, we have analysed modern samples of pistacia resin, leaves and fruit to determine the effectiveness of each technique and to exclude the possibility of false positive results. In addition to the analyses for wine we also detail analysis (GC-MS) of the terpenoids for the purpose of further molecular characterisation of the resin. Bulk stable isotope analysis was used in comparison with similar resins to attempt to identify the geographical origin of the resin.     

‘The meat market’: production and regulation of masculinities on the Grindr grid in Newcastle-upon-Tyne,UK

This article explores the regulatory practices that shape the production of embodied masculinities in profile pictures in the online dating app, Grindr. Mobile dating applications are becoming increasingly enmeshed in everyday socio-sexual lives, providing ‘new’ spaces for construction, embodiment and performance of gender and sexuality. I draw on 31 semi-structured interviews and four participant research diaries with men who use Grindr in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, a post-industrial city in North East England. Exploring the ways men display, expose and place their bodies in online profile pictures, revealed the production of two forms of masculinity – hypersexualised masculinity and lifestyle masculinity. I argue that the regulatory practices that shape men’s bodies in everyday spaces work to produce these masculinities. I take a visual approach that pays attention to the spatial practices that produce pictures, but that also pays attention to other senses, particularly touch. Paying attention to the visuality of the Grindr grid enables an understanding of the instability of online/offline dichotomies, as it is the interactions of online and offline spaces that enable the production of digital masculinities.     

Design and evaluation of an Open Web Platform cartography lab curriculum

Recent shifts in web map technology away from proprietary software and toward development on the Open Web Platform have increased the number and complexity of technical skills needed to do cartography on the Web. Web-based cartography curricula likewise must be adapted to prepare geography, cartography, and GIS students with the skills needed to make use of open source technology. This paper describes the design and evaluation of a novel curriculum for the laboratory component of a web mapping course offered by a university geography department. We drew from constructivist educational theory to create a scaffolded and spiralled lab curriculum that builds on prior understanding and progressively increases student independence and confidence. We evaluated the success of the new curriculum through an instructor log, student feedback on assignments, and an exit survey. The evaluation revealed significant growth in student abilities and confidence in the use of Open Web Platform-based mapping tools as a result of the curriculum scaffolding. This research provides a methodology for designing and evaluating curriculum around highly technical skills that are increasingly in demand in research, education, and industry careers.