New archaeozoological evidence for the introduction of the guinea pig to Europe

The remains are described of a guinea pig dated to the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th c. AD. The animal was discovered at a site in Mons, Belgium, and is the first European archaeozoological find dated with certainty on the basis of both the archaeological context and a radiocarbon dating of its bone. This find confirms that the guinea pig was introduced to Europe soon after the conquest of South America. The morphological and metrical analyses performed on the skeletal remains are in agreement with the iconographic and literary sources indicating the domestic status of the animals imported to Europe. While a previous discovery in England suggested that the guinea pig was a prestigious animal, the present study argues that it was accessible to several classes of the population which may be related to the rapid spread of this prolific animal after its introduction in Europe.     

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.     

Maps,Mapping, Modernity: Art and Cartography in the Twentieth Century

While the history of cartography has freed itself from debilitating debates over the scientific and artistic status of maps, considerations of the relationship between art and cartography have continued to focus largely on pre‐modern maps, avoiding critical examination of twentieth‐century art and science in cartography and leaving intact the impression that these followed distinct paths in the modern period. In this paper, however, I have drawn on theoretical work in Science Studies and taken account of modern art's separation from aesthetics to suggest that an examination of art and cartography in the twentieth century should focus on mapping practices rather than on maps as such. A summary overview of modern‐art movements and selected works indicates a continued, if critical, engagement of avant‐garde artists with cartography, and the examination of more popular newspaper artwork produced in the context of the intensely modern visual culture of mid‐twentieth century Los Angeles indicates a similarly close connection between modernity, art and cartography.     

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.