Geographical intelligence: American geographers and research and analysis in the Office of Strategic Services 1941–1945

The paper provides an interpretation of the role played by the Research and Analysis (R&A) Branch at the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during the Second World War, and, in particular, the contributions made by some American geographers. Richard Hartshorne was especially important because he held a key administrative position at R&A, Chair of the Projects Committee that oversaw all research publications. But other geographers were involved including Kirk Stone and Edward Ullman who produced strategic regional reports (the JANIS studies), and Arthur Robinson and Leonard Wilson who held key positions, respectively, in cartography and map intelligence. Conceptually, the paper is informed by Bruno Latour's writings on the history and sociology of scientific knowledge. Three of his ideas are especially pertinent: ‘centres of calculation,’ ‘translation,’ and ‘action at a distance.’     

Marine trophic levels targeted between AD 300 and 1500 on the Georgia coast,USA

The marine trophic levels targeted during Swift Creek (AD 300–700) and Savannah (AD 1200–1500) occupations at the Cathead Creek site (9Mc360) and at two sites from the Kings Bay Locality (9CAM171a, 9CAM177), coastal Georgia, USA, differ in a consistent temporal and spatial pattern. Vertebrate and invertebrate remains from these three coastal sites contain similar suites of estuarine animals. However, Swift Creek peoples at these distinct hydrological settings obtained more biomass from fishes and less from molluscs compared to the subsequent Savannah occupants. The two Swift Creek faunal collections are less rich, more diverse, and more equitable than the two subsequent Savannah collections regardless of location. Furthermore, the mean trophic level is higher in the Swift Creek collections compared to the Savannah ones at both locations. These observations apply to both biomass and Minimum Number of Individuals. These differences likely are defining characteristics distinguishing the Swift Creek and the Savannah economies. More research is needed to determine the extent to which these temporal and spatial patterns are attributable to environmental and cultural variables.     

The origins of lithic projectile point technology: evidence from Africa,the Levant,and Europe

Projectile weaponry is a human cultural universal, but its origins and antiquity remain poorly understood. Stone- and bone-tipped projectile weapons have long been treated as emergent features of the "Upper Paleolithic" behavioral revolution. Recently it has been proposed that projectile technology was in widespread use among Homo sapiens populations in Africa during Middle Stone Age (MSA) times. One obstacle to researching the origins of projectile point technology is that the criteria archaeologists employ for recognizing plausible and implausible stone projectile points are largely subjective (overall tool shape, microwear traces). Tip cross-sectional area (TCSA) is a ballistically significant dimension that works well at discriminating North American stone projectile points (spearthrower dart tips and arrowheads) from spear points. This paper compares the TCSA values of ethnographic North American stone projectile points to hypothetical Middle and Upper Paleolithic stone projectile points from Africa, the Levant, and Europe. The results of this comparison do not support the hypothesis of widespread use of stone-tipped projectiles in Africa, the Levant, or Europe prior to 40 Ka. In the New World and in Australia, where we have the richest ethnographic record of stone projectile point use, these implements are largely employed in big-game hunting and in warfare. One or both of these factors may have played a role in the widespread adoption of stone projectile point technology after 40 Ka.     

Oscar Heidenstam, The Mr Universe Contest, and the Amateur Ideal in British Bodybuilding

During Britain's so-called ‘golden age of bodybuilding’during the 1950s and 1960s, Oscar Heidenstam, through his NationalAmateur Bodybuilders Association (NABBA) and Health and Strengthmagazine, elevated the annual Mr Universe Contest in Londoninto the world's most prestigious physique competition. Whatmade this achievement so remarkable was Heidenstam's commitmentto the Victorian ideal of the gentleman amateur. Eventually,however, this outmoded approach prevented him from staying abreastwith the times and resisting countervailing societal forcesthat were commercial, American and modern. Tradition and parochialismprevailed as NABBA, the Mr Universe Contest, and British bodybuildingwent into ‘relative decline’ in the 1970s. And California,home of the rival Weider organization and Arnold Schwarzenegger,displaced London as center of the bodybuilders’ universe.     

Developing a framework of Holocene climatic change and landscape archaeology for the lower Gulf region, southeastern Arabia

Geomorphological and geoarchaeological studies from the lower Gulf region of southeastern Arabia are increasing our knowledge of hydrological, ecological, and aeolian changes during the Holocene. Preliminary analyses of sediment records from two palaeolakes in the United Arab Emirates are presented, highlighting the potential of these sediment sources for providing high-resolution decadal studies of climate change and landscape evolution over the past 10,000 years. In order to study the society-environment relationship in this marginal region, a framework of environmental change is being developed against which the archaeology of the region can be set.     

Phases in the postwar German reception of the "Euthanasia Program" (1939-1945) involving the killing of the mentally disabled and its exploitation by neuroscientists

The killing of disabled patients with mental diseases during 1939-1945 is regarded as the precursor to the Holocaust. Although known at least since the Nuremberg Doctors Trial (1946-1947), the reception accorded these crimes against humanity varied (and evolved through time) depending on the parties: the old establishment, the younger generation, the different political interests, and the jurists, the theologians, the historians, the medical authorities. I attempt to distinguish five phases in the debate in light of the political background between 1945 until the present.     

A Minimum-Impact Method for Measuring Corrosion Rate of Steel-Hulled Shipwrecks in Seawater

Current research on USS Arizona is focused on a minimum-impact technique for calculating corrosion rate of the battleship's steel hull by analysing physical and chemical properties of marine encrustation covering the exposed hull. An equation is derived that allows concretion thickness, density, and total iron content to be used to calculate corrosion rate of steel hull plate.
© 2006 The Authors