Reviews

The Bulkies: Police and Crime in Belfast, 1800–1865 Brian Griffin, 1997 Dublin, Irish Academic Press pp. xi + 166, ISBN 0.7165.2670.0, £29.50 (hb)

The Hungry Stream: Essays on Emigration and Famine E. Margaret Crawford (ed.), 1997 Belfast, Institute of Irish Studies, Queen's University pp.215, ISBN 1.85589.677.1, £25 (hb); ISBN 0.85389.674.7, £9.50 (pb)

The Feminization of Famine Margaret Kelleher, 1997 Cork University Press pp.258, ISBN 1.85918.077.9, £40.00 (hb); ISBN 1.85918.078.7, £16.95 (pb)

The Two Irelands, 1912–1939 David Fitzpatrick, 1998 Oxford, Oxford University Press pp. xviii + 301, ISBN 0.19.289240.1, £8.99 (pb)

The I.R.A. and its Enemies: Violence and Community in Cork, 1916–23 Peter Hart, 1998 Oxford, Oxford University Press pp. xvi + 350, ISBN 0.19.820537.6, £40.00 (hb)

The Politics of Illusion: a Political History of the IRA Henry Patterson, 1997 London, Serif pp.320, ISBN 1.897959.31.1, £14.99 (pb)

Peace or War? Understanding the Peace Process in Northern Ireland Chris GILligan & Jon Tonge (eds), 1997 Aldershot, Ashgate Publishing pp. 167, ISBN 1.85972.519.8, £35.00 (hb)

The Irish RMs: The Resident Magistrates in the British Administration of Ireland Penny Bonsall, 1997 Dublin, Four Courts Press pp.224, ISBN 1.85182.331.X, £30.00 (hb)

The Geopolitics of Anglo‐Irish Relations in the Twentieth Century G. R.Sloan, 1997 London, Leicester University Press pp.320, ISBN 0.718.51356.8, £45.00 (hb)

Hope Deferred: Experiences of an Irish Unionist Basil Mcivor, 1998 Dundonald, Blackstaff Press pp. 163, ISBN 0.85640.620.1, £12.99 (pb)

Who Are ‘The People'? Unionism, Protestantism and Loyalism in Northern Ireland Peter Shirlow & Mark Mcgovern (eds), 1997 London, Pluto Press pp. 192, ISBN 0.7453.1213.6, £35.00 (hb); ISBN 0.7453.1208.X, £13.99 (pb)

Crisis and Decline: the Fate of the Southern Unionists R. B. Mcdowell, 1997 Dublin, Lilliput Press pp. x + 227, ISBN 1.8746.7592.9, £16.99 (hb)

Crime in Ireland 1945–95: Here be Dragons John Brewer, Bill Lockhart & Paula Rodgers, 1997 Oxford, Clarendon Press pp. 268, ISBN C.19.826570.0, £40.00 (hb)

Explorations in Law and History W. N. Osborough (ed.), 1995 Dublin, Irish Academic Press pp. 193, ISBN 0.7165.2451.0, £24.95 (hb)

Decadence and Danger: Writing, History and the fin de siècle Tracey Hill (ed.), 1997 Bath, Sulis Press pp.228, ISBN 0.9526.856.1.2, £35.00 (hb); ISBN 0.9526.856.2.0, £13.95 (pb)

Deeds Not Words: The Life and Work of Muriel Gahan Geraldine Mitchell, 1997 Dublin, Town House pp.224, ISBN 1.860589.046.2, £9.99 (pb)

In Search of Ireland: A Cultural Geography Brian Graham (ed.), 1997 London, Routledge pp. xiv + 240, ISBN 0.415.15007.8, £47.50 (hb); ISBN 0.415.15008.6, £15.99 (pb)

Space and Place: The Geographies of Literature Glenda Norquay & Gerry Smyth (eds), 1997 Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores University Press pp.414, ISBN 0.9527.97802, £15.00 (pb)

Women Divided: Gender, Religion and Politics in Northern Ireland Rosemary Sales, 1997 London, Routledge pp.256, ISBN 0.415.13766.7, £14.99 (pb)

Gender and Sexuality in Modern Ireland Anthony Bradley & Marianna Gialanella Vauuus (eds), 1997 Amherst, University of Massachusetts pp.336, ISBN 1.55849.130.9, US$50.00 (hb); ISBN 1.55849.131.7, US$16.95 (pb)

Irish Women in England: An Annotated Bibliography Clare Barrington, 1997 Dublin, Women's Education, Research and Resource Centre, University College Dublin pp.72, ISBN 1.898473.80.3, £5.00 (pb)

Edmund Spenser's Irish Experience: Wilde Fruit and Salvage Soyl Andrew Hadfield, 1997 Oxford, Clarendon Press pp.240, ISBN 0.10.818345.3, £35.00 (hb)

Salvaging Spenser: Colonialism, Culture and Identity Willy Maley, 1997 Basingstoke, Macmillan pp.260, ISBN 0.3336.2942.6, £40.00 (hb); ISBN 0.3336.2943.4, £12.99 (pb)

Between Nations: Shakespeare, Spenser, Marvell, and the Question of Britain David J. Baker, 1997 Stanford, Stanford University Press, and Cambridge, Cambridge University Press pp.221, ISBN 0.8047.2997.2, US839.50, £30.00 (hb)

Locating Swift: Essays from Dublin on the 250th Anniversary of the Death of Jonathan Swift 1667–1745 Aileen Douglas, Patrick Kelly & Ian Campbell Ross (eds), 1998 Dublin, Four Courts Press pp.208, ISBN 1.85182.317.4, £35.00, US$45.00 (hb)

Maria Edgeworth's Irish Writing: Language, History, Politics Brian Hollingworth, 1997 Basingstoke, Macmillan pp.256, ISBN 0.333.681.66.5, £40.00 (hb)

Verse in English from Eighteenth‐Century Ireland Andrew Carpenter, 1998 Cork, Cork University Press pp.640, ISBN 1.85912.103.1, £40.00, US$60.00 (hb); ISBN 1.85912.104.X, £15.95, US829.95 (pb)

Mrs S. C. Hall: A Literary Biography Maureen Keane, 1997 Gerrards Cross, Colin Smythe pp. 260, ISBN 0.86140.394.0, £33.00 (hb)

Yeats's Political Identities: Selected Essays Jonathan Allison (ed.), 1996 Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press pp.352, ISBN 0.472.10445.4, US849.50 (hb)

Yeats and the Drama of Sacred Space Nicholas Meihuizen, 1998 Amsterdam, Costerus New Series 116, Rodopi pp. 190, ISBN 90.420.0388.X, £19.50, US$34.00 (pb)

High and Low Moderns: Literature and Culture, 1889–1939 Maria Dibattista & Lucy Mcdiarmid (eds), 1996 New York and Oxford, Oxford University Press pp.259, ISBN 0.19.508266.4, £37.50 (hb)

Louis MacNeice and his Influence Kathleen Devine & Alan J. Peacock (eds), 1998 Gerrards Cross, Colin Smythe pp. 184, ISBN 0.86140.391.6, £27.50 (hb)

Samuel Beckett and Music Mary Bryden (ed.), 1998 Oxford, Clarendon Press pp.267, ISBN 0.19.818427.1, £40.00 (hb)

Talking of Joyce Umberto Eco & Liberato Santoro‐Brienza, 1998 Dublin, University College Dublin Press pp.86, ISBN 1.900621.13.4, £5.95 (pb)

The Boy in the Moon Kate O'riordan, 1997 London, Flamingo pp. 278, ISBN 0.00.225555.3, £12.99 (hb)

A Glassful of Letters Evelyn Conlon, 1998 Belfast, Blackstaff pp. 208, ISBN 0.85640.618.X, £7.99 (pb)

The Parchment Boat Moya Cannon, 1997 Oldcastle, The Gallery Press pp.45, ISBN 1.85235.202.7, £11.95 (hb); ISBN 1.85235.201.9, £5.95 (pb)

Thirst David Wheatley, 1997 Oldcastle, The Gallery Press pp.77, ISBN 1.85235.208.6, £12.95 (hb); ISBN 1.85235.207.8, £6.95 (pb)

Selected Poems Medbh Mcguckian, 1997 Oldcastle, The Gallery Press pp.94, ISBN 1.85235.204.3, £13.95 (hb); ISBN 1.85235.203.5, £7.95 (pb)

The Yellow Book Derek Mahon, 1997 Oldcastle, The Gallery Press pp.57, ISBN 1.85253.206.X, £12.95 (hb); ISBN 1.85253.205.1, £6.95 (pb)     

Can Lithic Attribute Analyses Identify Discrete Reduction Trajectories? A Quantitative Study Using Refitted Lithic Sets

Quantitative, attribute-based analyses of stone tools (lithics) have been frequently used to facilitate large-scale comparative studies, attempt to mitigate problems of assemblage completeness and address interpretations of the co-occurrence of unrelated technological processes. However, a major barrier to the widespread acceptance of such methods has been the lack of quantified experiments that can be externally validated by theoretically distinct approaches in order to guide analysis and confidence in results. Given that quantitative, attribute-based studies now underpin several major interpretations of the archaeological record, the requirement to test the accuracy of such methods has become critical. In this paper, we test the utility of 31 commonly used flake attribute measurements for identifying discrete reduction trajectories through three refitted lithic sets from the Middle Palaeolithic open-air site of Le Pucheuil, in northern France. The experiment had three aims: (1) to determine which, if any, attribute measurements could be used to separate individual refitted sets, (2) to determine whether variability inherent in the assemblage was primarily driven by different reduction trajectories, as represented by the refitted sets, or other factors, and (3) to determine which multivariate tests were most suitable for these analyses. In order to test the sensitivity of the sample, we ran all analyses twice, the first time with all the available lithics pertaining to each refitted set and the second time with randomly generated 75 % subsamples of each set. All results revealed the consistent accuracy of 16 attribute measurements in quadratic and linear discriminant analyses, principal component analyses and dissimilarity matrices. These results therefore provide the first quantified attribute formula for comparative analyses of Levallois reduction methods and a basis from which further experiments testing core and retouch attributes may be conducted.     

In Praise of Vagueness: Uncertainty,Ambiguity and Archaeological Methodology

This article stipulates that vagueness is a socially important yet academically largely overlooked aspect of human interaction with the world. Vagueness and vague experiences can structure material categorisations of the world; it can contribute to the shaping of social relations and nurture the appreciation of difficult experiences. However, the recent archaeological (re)turn to science as the main provider of knowledge of the past renders vagueness futile as an empirical occurrence through its exorcism of elusiveness and ambiguity in the notorious pursuit of absolute, exact and quantifiable facts. This article challenges the pursuit and use of exact data in archaeological science and the consequential implications of the omission of vague occurrences, discussing the problem that ambiguous and absent evidence become neglected in subsequent conclusion. Second, it is demonstrated that vagueness and ambiguity can be integral to certain social and material phenomena. Third, the article examines recent archaeological analyses of burial practices in South Scandinavian passage graves from the Middle Neolithic in order to discuss the pursuit of certitude in archaeological observations and interpretations. Finally, it is argued that the idealisation of certitude in archaeological analysis needs to be complemented by an interpretative framework making it possible to recognise vagueness as a social phenomenon.     

The Power of Infrastructures: a Counternarrative and a Speculation

“Infrastructural power” refers to how states “penetrate” their societies and also how local organizations resist such attempts. This essay explores the latter sense of infrastructural power. First, it notes aspects of local power in ancient Mesopotamia, tracing the existence of councils and assemblies over about 3000 years and establishing the concept of a “heterarchy of power” in Mesopotamia, which is a counternarrative to assertions of totalitarian power by kings and central governments. There follows a cross-cultural review of selected other ancient cities and states in order to assess comparable and contrasting local organizations and degrees of infrastructural power. Finally, resistance to state power is explored, and a speculation about the qualities of stability and fragility of political power in early cities and states is advanced.     

From Environment to Landscape. Reconstructing Environment Perception Using Numerical Data

The paper introduces a method that links environment to landscape. The environment-landscape divide appears because of epistemological differences: since studying the landscape involves describing the world as it was perceived by humans, it is difficult to access this dimension through the numerical data that we employ when studying the environment. We approach the issue of non-correspondence between environment and landscape knowledge using fuzzy logic. The numerical data describing two geomorphometric parameters, slope and modified topographic index, are split each into three classes with overlapping borders. The classes are then fused into four qualitative categories: flat wet, steep dry, flat dry, and gradual moist. These four categories have direct correspondence in the real world and can be observed by people through simple perception. The correspondence of such categories to peoples’ perception is checked against evidence of past human settlement in three areas coming from Turkey, Serbia, and Syria. The identified qualitative categories resemble the way people categorized their landscape in all but the second case study. Humans were able to perceive and choose areas which correspond to gradual moist in Turkey and broadly to flat wet in Syria. However, for the Serbian example, the results are inconclusive.     

The Role of Metallurgy in Transforming Global Forests.

Forest degradation—both past and present—has been a significant research focus of many disciplines in recent decades, and it is an area in which the multidisciplinarity and long-term perspectives of archaeological endeavour has the potential to make a particularly valuable contribution. One of the past craft activities that has long been linked to significant socio-economic change and associated accelerations in forest cover reduction and environmental decline is the intensification of early iron production—an industry reliant on the consumption of charcoal as fuel for much of its history. However, the impact of iron production on the transformation of woodlands is dependent on a suite of interrelated factors—climatic, ecological, technological and cultural—only some of which have so far been adequately scrutinised. This paper explores the theoretical context that links iron production with deforestation in academic and popular cultures, examining the role that archaeology can play in investigating this association, before reviewing recent methodological approaches that aim to interrogate the relationship between metallurgy and the environment in archaeological settings.     

Embracing the Complexities of ‘Big Data’ in Archaeology: the Case of the English Landscape and Identities Project

This paper considers recent attempts within archaeology to create, integrate and interpret digital data on an unprecedented scale—a movement that resonates with the much wider so-called big data phenomenon. Using the example of our work with a particularly large and complex dataset collated for the purpose of the English Landscape and Identities project (EngLaID), Oxford, UK, and drawing on insights from social scientists’ studies of information infrastructures much more broadly, we make the following key points. Firstly, alongside scrutinising and homogenising digital records for research purposes, it is vital that we continue to appreciate the broader interpretative value of ‘characterful’ archaeological data (those that have histories and flaws of various kinds). Secondly, given the intricate and pliable nature of archaeological data and the substantial challenges faced by researchers seeking to create a cyber-infrastructure for archaeology, it is essential that we develop interim measures that allow us to explore the parameters and potentials of working with archaeological evidence on an unprecedented scale. We also consider some of the practical and ethical consequences of working in this vein.     

Making the Dead Visible: Problems and Solutions for “Big” Picture Approaches to the Past,and Dealing with Large “Mortuary” Datasets

There can be few “bigger” questions than the nature and development of human experience and self-awareness and few better ways to study it than through the changing treatment of the dead over time. Funded by the John Templeton Foundation, the ‘Invisible Dead’ project (Durham University) is exploring diachronic changes in mortuary practices across two regions: Britain and the Levant. In doing so, it uses archaeology as a way to approach fundamental questions about the human condition. This paper explores the principal difficulties faced during the construction of a database for this project and their wider relevance for the development of robust and successful methods for the study of large “mortuary” datasets in the future. It discusses the issues and biases identified within the mortuary record and how the project has sought to mitigate some of these. By adopting a flexible and ultimately expandable approach to data entry and analysis, value can be added to legacy datasets and “grey” literature, allowing us to make comparisons between regions which are both geographically and chronologically distinct.     

Charting a Future Course for Organic Residue Analysis in Archaeology

Working hypotheses, which draw upon as many relevant disciplines as possible to derive the maximum information from a very limited database, are key to the highly interdisciplinary field of organic residue analysis in archaeology, a branch of biomolecular archaeology. Archaeology and chemistry are most important for effectively developing and testing such hypotheses, but botany, zoology, geology, etc. also need to be taken into account. Archaeologically, the goal is to obtain as many relevant samples as possible from the best preserved and dated contexts, which have been subjected to the least degradation and disturbance by later natural processes and human handling, including washing and conservation treatment. Chemically, molecular biomarkers of natural products need to be defined and identified by the best and most appropriate techniques, together with bioinformatics searches and assessment of degradation. With ever-improving techniques and new data, previously analyzed samples need to be retested and hypotheses possibly reformulated. Consideration of three case studies illustrates this holistic approach to inductive hypothesis generation and deductive testing: (1) new chemical findings that attest to grape wine in amphoras on board the 14th c. B.C. Uluburun ship, the earliest recorded Mediterranean wreck; (2) recently published research on beeswax/mead in Chalcolithic Israel and Neolithic China and Poland; and (3) recent articles on milk products from 2nd millennium B.C. Central Asia and Neolithic Poland. Potential pitfalls leading to weak hypotheses and mistaken conclusions are described, and a more productive approach is proposed.