A 2500‐year record of marine resource use on Ulong Island,Republic of Palau

The paper reports fish bone and shellfish assemblages from Ulong Island in the Rock Islands of Palau, western Micronesia dating from ∼3100 to 500 BP . Use of marine resources in early prehistory appears to have been highly localised with increasing capture of outer‐reef/pelagic taxa including shark and tuna after 1000 BP . Local stocks of large Tridacnids were depleted during initial human use of Ulong Island, and there is a size decrease in Scarus sp. remains consistent with pressure on the inshore fishery, especially after establishment of permanent stonework villages in late prehistory. Comparison of archaeological assemblages of fish bone from other Rock Islands dated to after 2000 BP indicate that the captured fish species and major capture methods differ between sites and likely reflect local marine environments at each location. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Crenostrea sp. cf. C. cannoni (Marwick, 1928) (Bivalvia: Ostreoidea) and associated fauna from east of Heard Island,Kerguelen Plateau: age and palaeoenvironmental value

Quilty, P.G., Clark, N. & Hibberd, T., 21.01.2015. Crenostrea sp. cf. C. cannoni (Marwick, 1928) (Bivalvia: Ostreacea) and associated fauna from east of Heard Island, Kerguelen Plateau: age and palaeoenvironmental value. Alcheringa 39, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518

A well-preserved single left valve of a large oyster embedded in coarse volcaniclastic sediment and identified as Crenostrea sp. cf. C. cannoni (Marwick, 1928) was dredged from east of Heard Island, central southern Indian Ocean. It is accompanied by a fragment of the pectinid bivalve Austrochlamys sp. indet. and foraminifera. Austrochlamys sp. indet. and other bivalve fragments were analysed for ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C, the results yielding an age of 17.5 Ma (later early Miocene) and a water temperature of ca 10°C. Foraminifera and sediment characteristics indicate that accumulation occurred in mid-continental shelf depths, at a location where nutrient supply was good.

Patrick G. Quilty [p.quilty@utas.edu.au], School of Earth Sciences (Private Bag 79) and Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS: Private Bag 129), University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia. Nicola Clark [nc118@leicester.ac.uk], Department of Geology, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK. Ty Hibberd [ty.hibberd@aad.gov.au], Australian Antarctic Division, Channel Highway, Kingston, Tasmania 7050, Australia.     

Geography, Space, and Science: Perspectives from Studies of Migration and Geographical Sorting

For the past four decades a significant subset of geographers have had a strong interest in using scientific methods and tools to answer questions about society and societal change. The scientific endeavor, learning and verifying new knowledge, has been at the heart of this project. Even though the discipline as a whole seems currently less interested in the classic science project, that project continues within geography and is a part of the wider social science community's attempt to provide verifiable and useful knowledge to a wide range of stakeholders. The findings from studies of migration and the life course, and segregation and geographical sorting reemphasize the very real contribution of spatial science to understanding societal change. Recent work on the geography of neighborhoods and mobility with the context of legal contestation goes beyond academic research per se to show the continuing relevance of an informed scientific approach and the contributions of geography beyond narrow disciplinary boundaries.     

Book reviews

AUSTRALIA IN WORLD AFFAIRS 1966–70. Gordon Greenwood and Norman Harper (eds.). Cheshire, for the Australian Institute of International Affairs, Melbourne, 1974. vii + 489 pp. 0–7015–1571–6. $13.95.

FROM TWEEDLEDUM TO TWEEDLEDEE. THE NEW LABOR GOVERNMENT IN AUSTRALIA: A CRITIQUE OF ITS SOCIAL MODEL. Robert Catley and Bruce McFarlane. Australia and New Zealand Book Company, Sydney, 1974. 88 pp. + 24 pp. app. 0–8555–022–1. $3.50 paper.

FULL CIRCLE. S. F. Rowell. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1974, 206 pp. $9.90.

PUBLIC POLICY IN AUSTRALIA. Roy Forward (ed.). Cheshire, Melbourne, 1974. 276 pp. 07015–1741–7. $6.50 paper.

TO PHOENIX SEAT: AN INTRODUCTORY STUDY OF MAOISM AND THE CHINESE COMMUNIST QUEST FOR A PARADISE ON EARTH. Leslie R. Marchant. Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1973. 276 pp. 0–207–12373. $7.95.

THE NORTH KOREAN COMMUNIST LEADERSHIP, 1945–1965: A STUDY OF FACTIONALISM AND POLITICAL CONSOLIDATION. Koon Woo Nam. The University of Alabama Press, Alabama 35486, 1974. 214 pp. 08193–4723–2. $7.50.

TRADITION AND REVOLUTION IN VIETNAM. Nguyen Khac Vien. Indochina Resource Center, Berkeley, California, 1974. 169 pp. $US 2.65.

POLITICS AND POWER IN CAMBODIA: THE SIHANOUK YEARS. Milton Osborne. Longman, Melbourne, 1974. 120 pp. $7.50 hard cover, $3.50 paper.

THE 1971 ELECTIONS IN INDONESIA: AN EAST JAVA CASE STUDY. Ken Ward. Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, 1974. 120 pp. 0–909835–09–8. $3.75.

TWENTY YEARS OF INDONESIAN FOREIGN POLICY, 1945–1965. Ide Anak Agung Gde Agung. Mouton, The Hague and Paris, 1973. 640 pp. $17.00.

HET EKONOMISCH BELEID IN NEDERLANDSCH‐INDIE, CAPITA SELECTA. EEN BRONNENPUBLICATIE (Economic Policy in the Netherlands Indies, Selected Subjects), PART II. P. Creutzberg (ed.). Publication No. 6 of the ‘Committee for the Publication of Primary Sources Concerning the History of the Netherlands Indies 1900–1942’. H. D. Tjeenk Willink, B.V., Groningen, The Netherlands, 1974. 792 pp.

FIFTEEN MEN ON A POWDER KEG: A HISTORY OF THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL. Andrew Boyd. University Paperback, London, 1973. (First published by Methuen & Co. 1971.) 416–70230–9. 383 pp. $4.20.

HAMMARSKJOLD. Brian Urquhart. The Bodley Head, London, 1972. 630 pp. $14.70.

THE NEW ZEALAND BUREAUCRAT. T. B. Smith. Cheshire, Wellington, New Zealand, 1974. 162 pp. $9.95.

INTERNATIONAL POLITICS: FOUNDATIONS OF THE SYSTEM. Werner Levi. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1974. (Distributed in Australia by Oxford University Press.) 285 pp. 0–8166–0703–6. $11.00.     

Pottery tempered with sponge from the White Nile,Sudan

Pottery containing abundant organic and siliceous particles of the swamp-dwelling spongeEunapius nitens occurs at occupation sites dated between 3500 and 1500 bp flanking the White Nile in central Sudan. Megascleres, gemmoscleres and gemmules in vast numbers are well preserved in the pottery, megascleres forming the temper. Common features of sponge pottery are: fine paste; wall thickness in the range 4 to 9 mm; internal scoring; deepish, steep-walled bowls with straight or slightly everted rims often decorated with chevron pattern; and a variety of well executed external decoration by incision, rouletting and stamping. Thorough study of the distribution, economy, affinities and chronology of the peoples practising this swamp-based technology is yet to be made. The pottery forms part of a wider tradition in the Nile basin.

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Résumé Dans des sites d'habitat de 3500 à 1500 bp, le long du Nil Blanc, au Soudan central, se trouve une céramique contenant de nombreuses particules organiques et silicieuses de l'épongeEunapius nitens, qui habite les marais. D'énormes quantités de mégasclères, de gemmosclères et de gemmules sont bien préservées dans la céramique—les mégasclères en forment le dégraissant. Parmi les traits communs de la céramique à éponge sont: une pâte fine; des parois épaisses de 4 à 9 mm; des stries internes; des bols profonds à parois raides avec des bords droits ou un peu éversés, souvent décorés de chevrons; et une variété de décors externes bien exécutés par des incisions, des roulettes ou des estampages. On n'a pas encore fait une étude approfondie de la répartition, de l'économie, des affinités et de la chronologie des peuples qui pratiquaient cette technologie des marais. Cette poterie fait partie d'une tradition plus large dans le bassin du Nil.