Context, curation, and bias: an evaluation of the Middle Paleolithic collections of Combe-Grenal (France)

The site of Combe-Grenal is arguably the reference site for the Mousterian of southwest France. Bordes excavated the site over a period of 13 years and generated a large collection of lithics and fauna from a deep series of 64 Lower and Middle Paleolithic levels. Though Bordes only partially published his work at the site, its long stratigraphic sequence and particularly its collections have been subjected to numerous studies over the years and have figured prominently in several long-running debates concerning the Mousterian. Recently, the authors undertook a project to inventory and analyzed these collections along with the documentation of their archaeological context. In so doing, however, a number of serious problems became apparent with the collection in its current state, problems that cannot easily be resolved given the state of the available documentation. These problems have important implications not only for results of studies based on these collections, but more generally, they also point to problems in terms of how archaeological collections are curated.     

Speaking of Books: Christian Marriage

Book reviewed in this article:
Glenn W. Olsen (ed.), Christian Marriage: A Historical Study     

Building Barricades: the Political Transfer of a Contentious Roadblock

This article traces the origins of the barricade as one of the most widespread and powerful political symbols of the international socialist labour movement. As a practical instrument of urban revolt barricades have a long history that seems indissolubly linked with Paris. The Paris Commune of 1871 marked the end of an ‘Age of Revolution’ in France. At the same time, however, the Commune constituted a crucial factor for the international transfer of the barricade as a political symbol that would be used and understood by socialists and their opponents worldwide. Socialist international remembrance and veneration of the Paris Commune became the key factor in the international dissemination of the barricade, not only as a symbol but also as an instrument of battle. The mythical representations of the Parisian barricades, in images, in speeches by party officials, in political literature and poetry, informed urban rioters in places were the barricade hitherto had been an unknown phenomenon.     

Book reviews

CHINA

CHRISTOPHER I. BECKWITH. The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia: a History of the Struggle for Great Power among Tibetans, Turks, Arabs, and Chinese during the Early Middle Ages. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987. xxii, 281 pp. First paperback edition with a new Afterword, 1993. No price given, paper.

GREGOR BENTON. China's Urban Revolutionaries: explorations in the History of Chinese Trotskyism, 1921–1952 . (Revolutionary Studies) New Jersey: Humanities Press, 1996. 269 pp. US$55.00, hardcover; US$19.95, paper.

GUANLONG CAO. The Attic: memoir of a Chinese Landlord's Son. Translated by Guanlong Cao and Nancy Moskin. Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press, 1996. 245 pp. US$24.95, hardcover.

JOHN FITZGERALD. Awakening China: politics, Culture and Class in the Nationalist Revolution. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996. 461 pp. US$69.95, hardcover.

MELVYN GOLDSTEIN, WILLIAM SIEBENSCHUH and TASHI TSERING. The Struggle for Modern Tibet: the Autobiography of Tashi Tsering. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1997. xi, 220 pp. Photographs, map, index. US$27.95, hardcover.

DAVID S. G. GOODMAN and GERALD SEGAL (eds). China Rising: nationalism and Interdependence. London and New York: Routledge, 1997. xi, 196 pp. Contents, list of tables, notes on contributors, index. A$33.95, paper.

KEUN LEE. Chinese Firms and the State in Transition: property Rights and Agency Problems in the Reform Era. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1991. xi, 210 pp. Tables, foreword, acknowledgments, notes, bibliography, index. No price given, hardcover.

LILY XIAO HONG LEE. The Virtue of Yin: studies on Chinese Women. Broadway, Sydney: Wild Peony, 1994. 117 pp. A$18.95, paper.

JOHN MAKEHAM. Name and Actuality in Early Chinese Thought. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1994. 286 pp. US$17.95, hardcover.

EDWIN E. MOISE. Modern China, A History. 2nd ed. London and New York: Longman, 1994. 250 pp. Index, illustrations, maps. £14.99, paper.

MAYSING H. YANG (ed.). Taiwan's Expanding Role in the International Arena. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1997. 216 pp. Foreword, preface, index. US$52.95, hardcover; US$24.95, paper.

JAPAN, KOREA

WINSTON DAVIS. The Moral and Political Naturalism of Baron Kato Hiroyuki (Japan Research Monograph no. 13). Berkeley: Center for Japanese Studies, Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, 1996. x, 125 pp. Contents, abbreviations. No price given, paper.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

WILLIAM CASE. Elites and Regimes in Malaysia: revisiting a Consociational Democracy . Clayton, Melbourne: Monash Asia Institute, 1996. xiv, 268 pp. A$29.95, paper.

D. D. MEARNS and C. HEALEY (eds). Remaking Maluku: social Transformation in Eastern Indonesia. Darwin: Centre of South East Asian Studies, Northern Territory University. 1996. 185 pp. No price given, paper.

PANIVONG NORINDR. Phantasmatic Indochina: French Colonial Ideology in Architecture, Film, and Literature. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1997. x, 205 pp. US$44.95, hardcover; US$16.95, paper.

SAYA S. SHIRAISHI. Young Heroes: the Indonesian Family in Politics (Studies on Southeast Asia no. 22). Ithaca, New York: Southeast Asia Program Publications, Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University, 1997. 183 pp. Bibliography. No price given.     

Book Reviews

Guilain P. Denoeux, The United States and the Challenge of Democratization in the Arab World. Washington, DC: Occasional Paper, Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University, 1996. 38 pp. npg.

Walid Khalidi, Islam, the West and Jerusalem. Washington, DC: Occasional Paper, Center for Contemporary Arab Studies and Center for Muslim‐Christian Understanding, Georgetown University, 1996. 24 pp. npg.

Rick Fawn and Jeremy Larkins (eds), International Society after the Cold War: Anarchy and Order Reconsidered. London: Macmillan, 1996. 302 pp. $39.95 (paper).

Mark Turner and David Hume, Governance, Administration and Development: Making the State Work. London: Macmillan, 1997. xv + 272 pp. $34.95 (cloth).

Michael Pugh (ed.), The UN, Peace and Force. London: Frank Cass, 1997. 209 pp. £29.50 (cloth), £15.00 (paper).

Kent E. Calder, Asia's Deadly Triangle: How Arms, Energy and Growth Threaten to Destabilize Asia Pacific. London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 1996. xi + 253 pp. npg.

Joseph M. Siracusa and Yeong‐Han Cheong, America's Australia, Australia's America: A Guide to Issues and References. Claremont, CA: Regina Books, 1997. 160 pp. US21.95 (cloth), US$12.95 (paper).

Phillip Darby (ed.), At the Edge of International Relations: Postcolonialism, Gender and Dependency. London: Pinter, 1997. £45.00 (cloth).

Peter Stirk, A History of European Integration Since 1914. London: Pinter, 1996. vii + 308 pp. £42.50 (cloth), £16.99 (paper).

Philip J. Eldridge, Non‐Government Organizations and Democratic Participation in Indonesia. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995. $55.00 (cloth).

Dewi Fortuna Anwar, Indonesia's Strategic Culture: Ketahanan Nasional. Wawasan Nusantara and Hankamrata. Griffith University: Centre for the Study of Australia‐Asia Relations, Australia‐Asia Papers No. 75, May 1996. x + 49 pp. $10.00 (paper).

Garry Rodan, Kevin Hewison and Richard Robison (eds), The Political Economy of South‐East Asia: An Introduction. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1997. xiv + 299 pp. $29.95 (paper).

Curtis Andressen and Keichi Kumagai, Escape from Affluence: Japanese Students in Australia. Griffith University: Centre for the Study of Australia‐Asia Relations, Australia‐Asia Papers no. 79, December 1996. vi + 116 pp. $16.00 (paper).

Kim Richard Nossal and Carolynn Vivian, A Brief Madness: Australia and the Resumption of French Nuclear Testing. Canberra: Canberra Papers on Strategy and Defence No. 121, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University, 1997. $15.00 (paper).

William H. Lewis and Stuart E. Johnson, Weapons of Mass Destruction: New Perspectives on Counter Proliferation. Washington, DC: National Defense University Press, 1995. npg.

Hendro Subroto, Eyewitness to Integration of East Timor. Jakarta: Pustaka Sinar Harapan, 1997. 279 pp. 29,000 Rupiah.