SOCIETY–NATURE COEVOLUTION: INTERDISCIPLINARY CONCEPT FOR SUSTAINABILITY

A brief historical background to the currently ascending interest in evolutionary and coevolutionary theory is sketched, and the concept of society–nature coevolution is positioned in this broader field. The significance of society–nature coevolutionary pathways for transition to sustainability is highlighted with Schellnhuber's heuristic ‘theater world’ for representing paradigms of sustainable development. Geography's recent re‐engagement in the geographical experiment of keeping society and nature under one conceptual umbrella is exemplified in the works of Hägerstrand and Harvey. This special issue's four contributions to developing society–nature coevolutionary theory are presented. The outlook these articles provide suggests that research into society–nature coevolution should play a key role in identifying physically, biologically and socially accessible pathways to sustainability. In order to keep the future accessible and navigable, we will need enhanced understanding of society–nature coevolution.     

Behavioural implications of temporal change in cariogenesis

The understanding of process in the archaeological record can only be achieved through the use of a wide range of information. This paper utilizes data from biological anthropology by looking at change in frequency of dental caries with the shift to an agricultural based economy on the prehistoric Georgia coast after c. AD 1150. There is an increase in frequency of carious lesions which is more marked in the females, thus indicating a relatively greater impact of the dietary shift on them than on the males. Most likely, this disparity is due to subsistence role differences between the sexes: males maintained hunting responsibilities, while females were responsible for agricultural related activity, including food preparation.     

A method for chronological apportioning of ceramic assemblages

Artifact assemblages from long-inhabited sites may include ceramic types and wares from multiple time periods, making temporal comparisons between sites difficult. This is especially problematic in macro-regional data sets compiled from multiple sources with varying degrees of chronological control. We present a method for chronological apportioning of ceramic assemblages that considers site occupation dates, ceramic production dates, and popularity distribution curves. The chronological apportioning can also be adjusted to take into account different population sizes during the site occupation span. Our method is illustrated with ceramic data from late prehispanic sites in the San Pedro Valley and Tonto Basin, Arizona, U.S.A., compiled as part of the Southwest Social Networks Project. The accuracy of the apportioning method is evaluated by comparing apportioned assemblages with those from nearby contemporaneous single component sites.     

After ‘the collapse’: Strategic selectivity,Icelandic state elites and the management of European Union accession

Iceland’s 2008 financial crisis has received considerable scholarly attention from economics and business science perspectives. Far less consideration has been given to the political–administrative consequences of ‘the collapse’ in terms of its restructuring state-based projects and instituting new scalar strategies, and, specifically, the role played in this process by Icelandic political and policy elites. We focus on this issue by analyzing recent attempts to reconfigure Iceland’s sceptical position towards the EU by promulgating state narratives of ‘EUrope’ as a ‘safe haven’ for the shattered national economy as part of the country’s formal application for EU membership. We show within the Icelandic state there is, however, a highly fragmented and polarized position on EU accession. Drawing on Jessop’s strategic relational approach, we demonstrate that this derives from the actions of different elite fractions seeking to establish parameters for strategic selectivity on EU accession in ways that support their own interests. ‘EUrope’ emerges as a complex institutional category which is both shaped by, and shapes, the rhetorical interventions and actions of Icelandic state elites in often contradictory ways, demonstrating the fundamental political dynamics of what is emerging as a fraught, fiercely contested EU accession process. We conclude that times of conflicting elite narratives are also moments of potentially significant state change.     

Economic history and America's nineteenth‐century growth

The Cambridge Economic History of the United States, Vol.2: The Long Nineteenth Century, edited by Stanley L. Engerman and Robert E. Gallman     

Insect faunas associated with the Fossil remains of Pinus sylvestris L. in blanket peat from Northeast Scotland

Pine stumps have been found preserved in blanket peats at altitudes of up to 793 m OD in Scotland. Radiocarbon dating by other researchers has demonstrated that these sites were not all contemporary, but most fall within the mid‐Holocene period. Palynological, dendrochronological and stable isotope analyses have previously been carried out on these fossil pine stumps, but not palaeoentomological analysis. This paper reports on the results of an analysis of the fossil beetle remains from two of these sites in the Cairngorms, Monaltrie Moss and a moss on the Mar Lodge estate. The insect faunas indicate that acidic wetland was colonised by pine trees, which developed into mature woodland. The dominance of saproxylic (deadwood) faunas in comparison to those associated with healthier trees suggests that the woodland was always under stress. The pine fauna at Mar Lodge was replaced by montane wetland species once the pine trees died out.     

VALUING ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY: A SPACE‐BASED STRATEGY*

ABSTRACT This paper develops and applies a space‐based strategy for overcoming the general problem of deriving the implicit demand for nonmarket goods. It focuses specifically on evaluating one form of environmental quality, distance from Environmental Protection Agency designated environmental hazards, via the single‐family housing market in the Puget Sound region of Washington State. A spatial two‐stage hedonic price analysis is used to: (i) estimate the marginal implicit price of distance from air release sites, hazardous waste generators, hazardous waste handlers, superfund sites, and toxic release sites; and (ii) estimate a series of implicit demand functions describing the relationship between the price of distance and the quantity consumed. The analysis, which represents an important step forward in the valuation of environmental quality, reveals that the information needed to identify second‐stage demand functions is hidden right in plain sight—hanging in the aether of the regional housing market.     

Glastonbury Revisited

This paper discusses various ways the concept of the past has been interpreted and used in Welsh antiquarian and folklore studies, beginning and ending with illustrations of popular concepts of “Welshness” in the tourism and heritage industries, and en route making a critique of “centre vs periphery” scholarly models. Special attention is paid to the work of the Celtic scholar Sir John Rhys and Iowerth Peate, the founder of the Welsh Folk Museum.