Kings and commoners at Copan: Isotopic evidence for origins and movement in the Classic Maya period

Eight human interments were excavated in the 1990s beneath the Acropolis at the Classic Maya site of Copan in Honduras, which was the capital of a Maya kingdom from ca. AD 400 to 800. These human remains come from both royal tombs and less elaborate burials dating to the early part of this period and lie deep in the accumulated architectural layers of the Acropolis. We present a brief summary of the context, contents, and external links represented by these interments. Several lines of evidence point to connections between early Copan and Teotihuacan in the Central Highlands of Mexico, and Tikal in the central Maya lowlands of the Petén in Guatemala.     

Australia–Japan economic relations: ten years after the NARA Treaty

The NARA Treaty looked to a strengthened Australia–Japan relationship, which foreign ministers of both countries celebrated this year. Events of the mid 1980s, however, demonstrated how an adverse turn in economic circumstances can stress even a strong bilateral relationship. The two countries were then at opposite points in their economic cycles, Japan almost too successful, with the high yen putting pressure on Japan's export industries, steel in particular. Seeking to reduce costs, the steel mills transferred pressure to their Australian suppliers of coal and iron ore, through reductions in prices and volumes. This was unwelcome to an Australian government coping with a recession and worried about balance of payments and unemployment, and led to concerns about equal treatment. Although the minerals trade returned to normal relatively quickly, ambitious investment projects aimed at enhancing the economic relationship did not materialise.     

A NOTE ON ADDED INFORMATION IN THE RAS PROCEDURE: REEXAMINATION OF SOME EVIDENCE

ABSTRACT.  An example in Miernyk (1977) presented a rather counterintuitive result, namely, that introducing accurate exogenous information into an RAS matrix estimating procedure could lead to an estimate that was worse than one generated by RAS using no exogenous information at all. This became an oft-cited black mark against RAS. Miller and Blair (1985) included a different (and small) illustration of the same possibility. It was recently pointed out by one of us that the Miller–Blair numerical results are wrong. For that reason, we decided to reexamine all the empirical evidence we could find on the subject. While figures in both Miernyk and Miller–Blair appear to be wrong, more recent published examples seem to have it right. In short, it is possible to identify examples in which additional (correct) information leads to poorer RAS estimates, at least under several fairly common metrics for comparing "closeness" of matrices. However, the overwhelming majority of the evidence is to the contrary. As a general rule, introduction of accurate exogenous information into RAS improves the resulting estimates, and counterexamples should probably not be taken too seriously.     

Review

Sijobang: Sung Narrative Poetry of West Sumatra. By Nigel Phillips. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1981. Pp. ix + 255. Maps, plates, appendices, glossary, notes, bibliography, index. Price £22.50 (cloth).     

REVIEWS

Sumba di dalam Jangkauan Jaman. By Oe. H. Kapita. Jakarta, BPK Gunung Mulia (for Gereja Kristen Sumba). 1976. Pp. 410. Masyarakat Sumba dan Adat Istiadatnya. By Oe. H. Kapita. Jakarta, BPK Gunung Mulia. 1976. Pp. 274.