The Institute’s seventieth volume: the journal,its origins and its engagement with foreign policy debate

Australian Outlook, published initially in 1947, was Australia’s first journal devoted exclusively to the analysis of Australia’s foreign relations and of international affairs. It emerged from a context where nationalist and internationalist sentiments were taking on new prominence and in a time of heightened public awareness of global issues. The journal came to provide a unique venue for academic and expert commentary, especially on the international politics of Australia’s region, as well as on a wide range of topics from defence and trade to great-power dynamics. Early contributions demonstrated a generally sound—and sometimes remarkably prescient—grasp of regional and international trends. The journal built on earlier Australian Institute of International Affairs publications—notably, the Austral-Asiatic Bulletin, inaugurated in 1937.     

Raymond E. Crist

A Companion to Cultural Geography . Edited by James Duncan, Nuala C. Johnson, and Richard Schein. Maiden MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2004. Notes on contributors, list of figures and tables, and index, xiii+529 pp. $124.95 hardback. ISBN: 0-631-23050-5.

Studying Cultural Landscapes . Edited by Iain Robertson and Penny Richards. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Acknowledgments, list of contributors, list of figures, list of tables, landscape glossary, bibliography, and index, xv+199 pp. $24.95 paper. ISBN: 0-340-76268-3.

Landscapes of Privilege: The Politics of the Aesthetic in an American Suburb . By James S. Duncan and Nancy G. Duncan. New York: Routledge, 2004. List of figures and tables, acknowledgments, notes, bibliography, and index, xiv+261 pp. $22.95 paper. ISBN: 0-415-94688-3.

Transformation of the Mormon Culture Region . By Ethan R. Yorgason. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003. Preface, acknowledgments, notes, works cited, and index, xii+261 pp. $32.50 cloth. ISBN: 0-252-02853-8.

America's New Downtoivns: Revitaiization or Reinvention? By Larry R. Ford. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. Preface, introduction, notes, and index, vii+340 pp. $45.00 hardback. ISBN: 0-8018-7163-8.

Signs in America's Auto Age: Signatures of Landscape and Place . By John A. Jakle and Keith A. Sculle. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2004. Foreword, preface, acknowledgments, introduction, epilogue, notes, bibliography, and index. xxxiii+219 pp. $24.95 paper. ISBN: 0-87745-890-1.

Extracting Appalachia: Images of the Consolidation Coal Company, 1910-1945 . By Geoffrey L. Buckley. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2004. Acknowledgments, notes, bibliography, and index, xxiii+215 pp. $22.95 paper. ISBN: 0-8214-1556-5.

Cumberland Island National Seashore: A History of Conservation Conflict . By Lary M. Dilsaver. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2004. List of illustrations, acknowledgments, notes and index, x + 323 pp. $35.00 cloth. ISBN: 0-8139-2268-2.     

Original DocumentsRoyal Letters and other Documents Amongst the Municipal Records of the City of Exeter

Four-post buildings were found in the Outer Camp on a 1 in 6 slope, facing north-east. They had been rebuilt several times since their foundation c. 900 B.C. and were burnt c. 420 B.C. The village was then reduced to the Inner Camp but within a hundred years the Outer Camp was probably re-occupied. The hillfort was finally abandoned following a fire at about the time of the Roman advance C.A.D. 50.     

Archaeological Site or Natural Marine Community? Excavation of a Submerged Shell Mound in Ninigret Pond,Rhode Island

ABSTRACT

Submerged shell midden sites and natural shell deposits can have similar characteristics and can be difficult to distinguish archaeologically. We excavated two test units from a large (at least 35 m×70 m) submerged shell mound in Fort Neck Cove in southern Rhode Island to assess whether it was natural or cultural in origin. This mound had been recognized as a potential archaeological feature as early as the 1970s. Excavation, radiocarbon dating, and subsequent laboratory analysis of excavated materials suggest that the mound was a natural oyster reef rather than a submerged archaeological site. No artifacts were found; there was no clear evidence for human modification of any shells; small species that would not have been targeted as food were present; and δ¹³C values of oyster shells from the mound were consistent with freshwater input into their growth environment, suggesting that they grew in an estuarine environment that did not exist prior to the inundation of the ponds. The stratigraphically oldest radiocarbon date we could obtain (430–190 cal BP, 2σ range), from 70 cm below the pond floor, placed deposition of shells at least 3,000 years after the inundation of the pond. The excavation methods that we used and the process of testing, irrespective of whether the feature is cultural, are valuable contributions to the methodological literature on submerged site archaeology and help provide insight for other researchers working to discern natural from cultural shell midden sites.