A new Late Devonian acanthodian fish from the Hunter Formation near Grenfell,New South Wales

The ischnacanthid acanthodian Grenfellacanthus zerinae gen. et sp. nov. is described on the basis of two large jaw bones from the Late Devonian (late Famennian) Hunter Formation, near Grenfell, N.S.W. The new species is the youngest known ischnacanthid, and the largest ischnacanthid from Gondwana. As for many ischnacanthids, the structure of the jaws and teeth indicate that Grenfellacanthus was probably an ambush predator.     

Social integration at a frontier and the creation of Mississippian social identity in southwestern Virginia

ABSTRACT

Frontier areas are poor in labor but rich in land. To be successful, frontiers must attract people and socially integrate them using both low- and high-level social integrative mechanisms, which can range from basic work groups to elaborate feasts. Craft production can be a useful means of accomplishing low and high levels of social integration because it can be done as part of a work group but for special purposes, such as exchange. In the process of social integration, social identity specific to the types of crafts produced and their uses emerges. This paper examines a Mississippian frontier site, Carter Robinson, and discusses evidence for the production and use of ceramics and shell beads as integrative mechanisms at the Southern Appalachian Mississippian frontier area. Through the use of these types of mechanisms I argue that both a communal social identity and an identity of social inequality were created at Carter Robinson which resulted in the production and reproduction of Mississippian identity.     

West African Tradition in the Decoration of Colonial Jamaican Folk Pottery

In the early colonial period, Jamaican slaves manufactured pottery that incorporated traditional West African technology with selected European innovations. Recent examination of Afro-Jamaican wares from the seventeenth-century site of Port Royal suggests that the decorative elements are consistent with those that are in wide use among West African pottery traditions, particularly those of the Gold Coast (Ghana). Stamped designs prevail as the clearest example of this continuity. Potential Amerindian contributions to the Jamaican folk pottery industry during this period are considered and shown to be unlikely. The isolation of decorative traits demonstrates how certain craft elements of West African peoples were transported to the New World and integrated with other cultural traditions. It also corroborates the documentary record pertaining to the geographical origin of Jamaican slaves during the early colonial period.     

Webs of belonging

Lynn Pan (ed). The Encyclopedia of the Chinese Overseas. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999. 400 pp. Illustrations, colour photographs, tables and maps, introduction, timelines, Chinese character list, bibliography, index. US$59.95, hardcover.

Mandy Thomas. Dreams in the Shadows: Vietnamese‐Australian Lives in Transition. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1999. 220 pp. Maps, illustrations, introduction, bibliography, index. A$35.00, paper.

Mia Tuan. Forever Foreigners or Honorary Whites?: the Asian Ethnic Experience Today. New Brunswick, New Jersey and London: Rutgers University Press, 1998. 202 pp. Tables, figures, introduction, appendix, notes, bibliography, index. US$18.00, paper.

Traise Yamamoto. Masking Selves, Making Subjects: Japanese American Women, Identity, and the Body. Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press, 1999. 317 pp. Introduction, notes, bibliography, index. US$17.95, paper.