A People's History of Industrial Philadelphia: Reflections on Community Oral History Projects and the Uses of the Past

Abstract: In this article the author reflects on three community oralhistory projects he conducted in Philadelphia between 1978 and1984. Brief histories of these projects are used as an opportunityfor reflections on urban folk history, and some of the forcesand often unacknowledged "purposes" of the oral historian thatshape interviews and the history that emerges from them.     

Experimental patterns of hammerstone percussion damage on bones: implications for inferences of carcass processing by humans

The common occurrence of hammerstone percussion damage (pits, striae, notches and impact flakes) on the fossil limb bones of ungulates indicates that marrow extraction has been an important component of hominid butchery for over two million years. Beyond this level of basic inference, it would be behaviorally informative if three deeper aspects of marrow harvesting were understood more clearly: (1) whether inter-element patterns of bone fragmentation vary when processing intensity is held constant; (2) whether butcher investment in marrow extraction correlates positively with the number of percussion marks generated; (3) whether taphonomic effectors can be identified based on percussion mark morphology, frequency and placement. Some experimental work has been conducted previously in service of exploring these questions, but we set out here to address them explicitly through the analysis of a large sample of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) limb elements fractured by hammerstone percussion. Our results indicate that (1) measures of bone fragmentation, which supposedly reflect processing intensity, are highly contingent on the research question being posed. This stresses the fact that researchers must be explicit in their definition of processing intensity. (2) In addition, hypothesized covariance between number of hammerstone blows and percussion mark frequencies are not met in our sample, corroborating previous conclusions of a lack of covariance between cutting strokes and cutmark frequencies. These results highlight the contingent nature of butchery mark production, and emphasize the need to investigate carcass resource exploitation by posing questions that do not rely on mark frequencies, but instead utilize other zooarchaeological measures. (3) Finally, our results—showing high incidences of impact notches and flakes created by direct anvil contact and “anvil scratches” created by direct hammerstone contact—suggest caution in using specific categories of percussion damage to infer their taphonomic effectors.     

INTRODUCTION: HETEROGENEITY AT DIFFERENT SPATIAL SCALES*

ABSTRACT Spatial heterogeneity at the city level is crucial for explaining local inequality. This heterogeneity will continue from a cultural perspective, an age profile perspective, and a productivity perspective. The process of catching up to the technological leader is influenced by geographic proximity and local input–output linkages, particularly to upstream industries. Heterogeneity of urbanization patterns and spatial linkages affect foreign direct investment flows. The relative power of the economic agglomerating and spreading forces are not scale neutral but heterogeneous, more specifically: spatial linkages are found to be more important at higher levels of aggregation.     

À propos du colloque « The Machine as Model and Metaphor » Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte Berlin,novembre 2006

Sans résumé ? Lève la peau, dissèque: ici commencent les machines. Puis, tu te perds dans une substance inexplicable, étrangère à tout ce que tu sais et qui est pourtant l’essentielle. ? Paul Valéry, Tel quel, Cahier B 1910 Ses recherches portent sur l’épistémologie, l’histoire des sciences et l’histoire de la philosophie à l’age classique (xvi ^e-xvii ^e siècles). Elle a notamment dirigé avec Walter Roy Laird, Mechanics and Natural Philosophy before the Scientific Revolution (Dortrecht/Boston/Londres, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2007), puis, en collaboration avec Massimo Bucciantini et Michele Camerota, Mechanics and Cosmology in the Medieval and Early Modern Period (Florence, Olschki, 2007).     

Relating the Ancient Ona Culture to the Wider Northern Horn: Discerning Patterns and Problems in the Archaeology of the First Millennium BC

Archaeological research carried out between 1998 and 2003 on the Asmara Plateau of Eritrea has provided new insights concerning the development of early-to-mid first millennium BC settled agropastoral communities in the northern Horn of Africa. The settlement, subsistence, and material culture of these communities in the greater Asmara area, referred to as the “Ancient Ona culture,” bear both unique qualities and striking similarities to coeval communities in Tigray, Ethiopia. This article provides an overview of regional settlement data and ceramic and lithic traditions from the greater Asmara area, drawing comparisons to other contexts of this period in the archaeology of the wider northern Horn. It is argued that we can see among the Ancient Ona sites distinct localized cultural expressions and development as well as strong links to a wider first millennium BC macro-cultural identity.     

The First Millennium <Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">bc</Emphasis> in the Highlands of Northern Ethiopia and South–Central Eritrea: A Reassessment of Cultural and Political Development

An overview is offered of the development of research—both archaeological and epigraphic—on the inhabitants of the northern Horn during the first millennium bc. Initially, reconstructions of this period placed considerable emphasis on links with southern Arabia and tended to group those into a single cultural category that was designated ‘Pre-Aksumite’. It is now argued that long-distance contacts were much less pervasive, being largely restricted to the élite, and that other aspects of life—including much material culture and subsistence economy—displayed strong local continuity from earlier times. Similarly, it is argued that interpretation of the epigraphic evidence as indicating a single ‘Pre-Aksumite’ state called D'MT is unjustified.     

Biomolecular archaeology of ancient tuberculosis: response to “Deficiencies and challenges in the study of ancient tuberculosis DNA” by Wilbur et al. (2009)

It is sixteen years since the first detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA in archaeological specimens, yet the validity of findings continues to be questioned. Rigorous scientific scrutiny and debate is valuable and has led to a coalescence of procedures and precautions amongst those actively engaged in this work. It is disappointing that these good practices are not recognised by certain scientists whose primary expertise is in the related fields of archaeology, palaeopathology, and eukaryote ancient DNA. There is a danger that by constant repetition, disputable and inadequately justified concerns will assume the status of self-perpetuating myths and misunderstandings. We discuss these issues with reference to a recent article in this journal, in which clear peer-reviewed scientific data were specifically targeted as part of a general critique of the field of the palaeomicrobiology of tuberculosis. We believe we have given sufficient evidence and cogent argument to persuade the unbiased reader that the views in the critique by Wilbur et al. are unjustified.     

The Pricing of Delivery Services*

Abstract. Due to spatial separation between points of distribution and consumption, a vital feature of retailing is the provision of delivery services by customers, retailers, or transport intermediaries. Some store retailers, many Internet retailers, and most transport intermediaries use a multizone pricing plan or a generalized N‐zone menu plan. We extend spatial pricing theory to encompass multizone plans. We prove that the optimal number of zones varies with the level of demand relative to the spatial dispersion of customers, and with the cost of implementing a zonal plan. We show that a small number of zones capture almost all the profit attainable with a spatially discriminatory plan.