One for the master and one for the dame: stable isotope investigations of Iron Age animal husbandry in the Danebury Environs

Stevens et al. (Oxford J Archaeol 29: 407–428, 2010) speculated that the extensive faunal intra-population isotopic variability at Danebury hillfort was due to the animals being husbanded within various ecological isozones (i.e. microenvironments with distinct natural or anthropogenic isotopic baselines) within the Danebury Environs, and subsequently brought to the hillfort. We test this hypothesis through isotopic analysis of 357 animals from five sites in the Danebury Environs (Suddern Farm, Nettlebank Copse, Houghton Down, New Buildings, Bury Hill). Our results demonstrate that the hypothesis is incorrect as the Environs animals also exhibited extensive intra-site isotopic variability. The observed patterns require considerable human management of herds and flocks, either through animal droving over long distances, or movement restriction through personal attendance or penning/corralling within a landscape containing a mosaic of isozones. Large-scale importation of animals to the Danebury sites from distant regions that have different isotopic baseline values is possible. However, the practical requirements of this model (i.e. long distance trade networks maintained in terms of frequency, proportion and source of animals over 500 years) make this improbable. Rather, we propose a model that includes distinct ecological isozones within the Danebury Environs landscape, with some animals from each of the sites consuming foodstuff from different isozones for most of their lives. This likely involves control of the landscape on a communal probably kinship basis, with individuals having access to certain parts of the landscape at certain times. The landscape could be seen as being made up of numerous interlocking activity-territories, defined in both space and time, remembered and inherited. Irrespective of which model proves to be the most accurate, these results paint a picture of complex land management during the Iron Age.     

Corporate social responsibility in tourism post-2015: a Development First approach

Most large tourism businesses have corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives that advance environmental, economic and social sustainability. Existing research shows that initiatives often tend to be ad hoc, however, and linked to cost-savings and the reputation of the business. We suggest that this approach equates with Tourism First planning. In response to the greater demands being placed on businesses to act responsibly in the post-2015 era, we propose a Development First framework for CSR that is adapted from Peter Burns’ tourism planning model. This framework has a holistic, sustainable and people-centred focus and enables geographers and other social scientists to analyse the potential for initiatives to lead to positive, long-term development outcomes in different localities.     

An Australian geography of unhealthy housing

Housing problems, such as affordability, poor quality of condition, or damp, are key determinants of health and wellbeing. Importantly, though, a growing body of research has shown that unhealthy housing is the combined result of multiple housing problems acting together. Although the spatial distribution of discrete housing problems is well established, little is known of Australia's geography of unhealthy housing. We have previously defined and validated an Australian Index of Housing Insults, which captures the multiple ways in which housing adversely influences individual health—including, but not limited to, people's tenure security, affordability, quality, and neighbourhood characteristics. Using the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) dataset, a nationally representative longitudinal survey of Australian households, this paper describes Australia's geography of unhealthy housing. The analysis examines the prevalence, characteristics, and distribution of the population who are vulnerable to unhealthy housing. Our findings reveal both a worsening landscape of households at risk because of their accommodation and a changing pattern of unhealthy housing in Australia over time. The paper considers how these findings may impact future policy settings and the potential to improve the health of Australia's population through targeted housing interventions.     

The Utility of Discourse Analysis to Heritage Studies: The Burra Charter and Social Inclusion

This paper reviews the methodological utility of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) in heritage studies. Using the Burra Charter as a case study we argue that the way we talk, write and otherwise represent heritage both constitutes and is constituted by the operation of a dominant discourse. In identifying the discursive construction of heritage, the paper argues we may reveal competing and conflicting discourses and the power relations that underpin the power/knowledge relations between expertise and community interests. This identification presents an opportunity for the resolution of conflicts and ambiguities in the pursuit of equitable dialogues and social inclusion.     

Biomechanical insights into activity and long distance trade in the south-central Andes (AD 500–1450)

Long distance trade has been attributed important social and economic roles in the pre-colonial south-central Andes, but how these trade networks were operated and organised, and the roles played by different populations and social groups (e.g. elites), remain uncertain. This study aims to offer new perspective on these questions through biomechanical analyses of human skeletal remains from a probable key site in these networks, San Pedro de Atacama (SPdA). Groups that were more intensively involved in long distance trade are expected to have been more habitually mobile, and thus to show greater robusticity and less circular lower limb bone cross-sections. Lower limb biomechanical properties of elite and non-elite Middle Horizon groups (MH, AD 500–1000) were compared with subsequent transitional MH-Late Intermediate Period (LIP, AD 1000–1450) and LIP groups from SPdA, and with LIP groups from Pica-8 and the Azapa Valley. The results indicate that MH populations from SPdA had less robust lower limbs and were by inference less mobile than their successors, with no differences between elite and non-elite, while robusticity was elevated in the MH-LIP transition group. Alternative explanations for the results, such as changes in herding activities, cannot be entirely discounted based on current evidence, but the results are consistent with hypotheses that SPdA may have served as a hub on long distance trade networks during the MH, before residents became more actively involved in long distance trade following the collapse of key links with the Tiwanaku polity. The results also indicate similar levels of robusticity among LIP populations at SPdA, Pica-8 and in the Azapa Valley, implying they may have been involved in trading activities to a similar extent, and perhaps to a greater extent than SPdA MH groups, as regional intergroup relationships changed.     

Instruments of authority: Tycho Brahe’s technological illustrations

ABSTRACT

The astronomical instruments of Danish astronomer, Tycho Brahe, were crucial to his intended reform of astronomy in the sixteenth century. Tycho represented these devices in a series of images that were circulated in range of contexts, thereby disseminating information about his technology to a wider audience. Through an analysis of the iconographical content of these images and a consideration of the ways in which they were circulated, this article argues that images of technology were in fact crucial to Tycho’s attempts to establish his authority as an astronomer. Embodying his claims to accuracy and recruiting trust in his innovative instruments, the images reinforced the validity of his astronomy and thereby played a central role in sustaining his reputation as an astronomer.     

The visual dehumanisation of refugees

Dealing with refugees is one of the most contested political issues in Australia. We examine how media images of asylum seekers have framed ensuing debates during two crucial periods over the past decade. By conducting a content analysis of newspaper front pages we demonstrate that asylum seekers have primarily been represented as medium or large groups and through a focus on boats. We argue that this visual framing, and in particular the relative absence of images that depict individual asylum seekers with recognisable facial features, associates refugees not with a humanitarian challenge, but with threats to sovereignty and security. These dehumanising visual patterns reinforce a politics of fear that explains why refugees are publicly framed as people whose plight, dire as it is, nevertheless does not generate a compassionate political response.

如何对待难民是澳大利亚一个最具争议的政治话题。我们考察了在过去十年中的两个关键时期中媒体的避难者形象是如何影响接下来辩论的。根据笔者对报纸的头版所做的内容分析,避难者主要被再现为中、大型群体,多集中在船上。我们认为,这样的视觉形象、尤其是缺少描画个体避难者脸部特征的形象,不会将避难者同人道主义问题联系起来,而只会同威胁主权及安全相链接。这类非人性化的视觉模式强化了恐惧的政治,这也解释了为什么公众认为难民境遇凄惨,却不给他们政治上的同情。