Anatomical evidence for the antiquity of human footwear: Tianyuan and Sunghir

Trinkaus [Trinkaus, E., 2005. Anatomical evidence for the antiquity of human footwear use. J. Archaeol. Sci. 32, 1515–1526] provided a comparative biomechanical analysis of the proximal pedal phalanges of western Eurasian Middle Paleolithic and Middle Upper Paleolithic humans, in the context of those of variably shod recent humans. The anatomical evidence indicated that supportive footwear was rare in the Middle Paleolithic but became frequent by the Middle Upper Paleolithic. Based on that analysis, additional data are provided for the Middle Upper Paleolithic (∼27,500 cal BP) Sunghir 1 and the earlier (∼40,000 cal BP) Tianyuan 1 modern humans. Both specimens exhibit relatively gracile middle proximal phalanges in the context of otherwise robust lower limbs. The former specimen reinforces the association of footwear with pedal phalangeal gracility in the Middle Upper Paleolithic. Tianyuan 1 indicates a greater antiquity for the habitual use of footwear than previously inferred, predating the emergence of the Middle Upper Paleolithic.     

Dolní V stonice 15: Pathology and Persistence in the Pavlovian

Several lines of archaeological and human palaeontological data from the Moravian earlier Gravettian (or Pavlovian) indicate a high level of mobility among these earlier Upper Palaeolithic human populations. The congenitally abnormal young adult Dolní V stonice 15 human remains support this pattern. Dolní V stonice 15 suffered serious developmental abnormalities, most likely as a result of the X-linked dominant form of chondrodysplasia calcificans punctata, that included pronounced infantile and minor later childhood developmental defects of dental enamel (enamel hypoplasia), asymmetrical curvature and angular deformities of the proximal femora, asymmetrical shortening of the femora, a diaphyseal deformity of the distal right humerus, a probable healed left ulnar fracture with associated deformity of the radial diaphysis, elevated length asymmetries of the forearms, and an unusual pattern of anomalies of tooth position and number. These are combined with trivial intervertebral articular degenerations, plus localized pronounced osteoarthritis of the right glenohumeral joint and right second and fifth ray hand proximal interphalangeal joints. Yet, there is little asymmetry of the lower limbs distal of the mid-femora, and both diaphyseal hypertrophy of the humeri, femora and tibiae and relative arm and leg muscle attachment size and moment arms indicate a level of skeletal hypertrophy average to high for an earlier Upper Palaeolithic human. The severe upper limb osteoarthritis may indicate a pattern of pronounced and repetitive carrying or dragging of heavy loads. These data indicate the ability of the population to keep a severely affected individual alive through development, yet they also emphasize the necessity for all individuals to participate actively in the elevated mobility and overall activity levels of these earlier Upper Palaeolithic human populations.     

Human Remains from the Moravian Gravettian: Morphology and Taphonomy of Isolated Elements from the Dolní V stonice II Site

The excavation and palaeoanthropological analysis of the early Upper Palaeolithic site of Dolní V stonice II has yielded a series of incomplete and isolated human remains, comprising cranial vaults, teeth (including a series from an infant), ribs, arm bones, hand phalanges, leg bones, tarsals, metatarsals and pedal phalanges. Morphologically and morphometrically the elements are similar to those from buried individuals at Dolní V stonice I and II and Pavlov I, as well as to other European early Upper Palaeolithic human remains. They differ principally in the high percentage of cortical areas of the distal humerus and femur. The Dolní V stonice 36 infant's teeth may well derive from an undisturbed burial with in situ bone destruction. Geological processes are unlikely to have produced the taphonomic patterns observed, and the preservation and damage patterns of the elements (other than Dolní V stonice 36) suggest that the original bodies were processed by some combination of scavenging agents. Moreover, the original number of burials at Dolní V stonice II may have been greater than the four currently known.     

Regional inequality in China during its rise as a giant exporter: A value chain analysis

China's exports success has implications for regional income inequality, because most of its export products are manufactured in the coastal zone. We propose a value chain-based accounting framework to quantify the contributions of exports to regional income inequality. We employ newly developed interregional input–output tables for China, which distinguish between processing export activities and ordinary export activities. We analyze the period 2002–2012, the decade during which China became the “Factory of the World.” We find that an RMB of processing exports contributed much more to regional inequality than an RMB of ordinary exports or domestic final demand. Still, changes in regional inequality (increasing in 2002–2007 and decreasing between 2007 and 2012) are much more due to rising ordinary exports in the first subperiod and the growth of domestic final demand coupled with changes in the configuration of value chains in the second.     

ON THE INTERPRETATION OF FIXED INPUT COEFFICIENTS UNDER AGGREGATION*

ABSTRACT A fixed input coefficient is traditionally interpreted as the additional input from one sector that is required for an additional unit of output in another sector. It is shown that this ratio of increments is, in general, not fixed under aggregation. A tight upper and lower bound for its variation are derived. A necessary and sufficient condition for the ratio to be fixed is obtained. As a consequence, adopting the common assumption of fixed input coefficients implies that additional assumptions at any subaggregate level are required. Similar results are given for the Leontief inverse, whose typical element is usually interpreted as the additional output in one sector that is required for an additional unit of final demand in another sector.     

ON THE BIAS OF MULTIPLIER ESTIMATES*

ABSTRACT. This paper considers the bias of the matrix of multipliers when the underlying data are random. The traditional approach is to specify the stochastic nature of the input coefficients directly. It is shown that this approach implies a transactions table which is biased in a most unbalanced way. Next the practitioner's point of view, i.e., taking the transactions table as the source of random errors, is adopted. One of the results states that, within each row of the multiplier matrix, either the biases are zero, or positive biases are canceled out by negative biases in the sense that their weighted average is zero. The conditions are based on the idea that information on aggregates is more exact than information on their details. The usual asumptions of independence and unbiasedness of the individual errors are avoided. The results are shown to have a direct interpretation in connection with the RAS-updating procedure.     

FOR A COMPARATIVE HISTORY OF EARLY MODERN DIPLOMACY

This paper compares the role of mercantile reporting in French and Swedish emissarial correspondence during the first half of the 17th century. The comparison suggests that accounts of a uniform ‘society of princes’ or a homogenous European elite culture requires modification, and proposes a style in which historians of diplomacy and political culture can incorporate and yet go beyond current semiotic and linguistic historical concerns. Commercial information occupied a prominent position in Swedish embassy practice and correspondence; in France, the reporting of prices, the activities of merchants and the movements of goods was almost entirely absent from the correspondence of diplomats. Explaining these differences requires not only scrutiny of economic structure, fiscal and diplomatic institutions, and the available political languages, but also consideration of the role of contingency and the historical factors that constrain and enable the deployment of language.     

Reviews

Troels Fink, Estruptidens politiske historic 1875–1894, I‐II (The Political History of the Estrup Era 1875–1894, vol. 1: The Struggle Between the Two Chambers 1875–85; vol. 2: The Period of Decree Legislation 1885–94) (Odense, 1986), 621 pp., ISBN 87 7492 581 4.

Poul Thestrup, Nærbutik og Næringslov‐omgåelse. En unders?gelse of brugsforeningerne og deres placering i innovationsprocessen i Danmark mellem 1850 og 1919 (The Consumer Co‐operatives in the Innovation Process in Denmark 1850–1919), Odense University Studies in History and Social Sciences, vol. 95 (Odense Universitetsforlag), 549 pp., ISBN 87 7492 595 4, DKK 240+moms.

Tuomo Polvinen, Valtakunta ja raijamaa. N. I. Bobrikov Suomen kenraalikuvemöörind 1898–1904 (The Empire and a Borderland. N. I. Bobrikov as Governor General of Finland 1898–1904) (Helsinki, 1984), 432 pp., ISBN 951 0 12660 8.

Danske Handelskompagnier 1616–1843. Oktrojer og interne Ledelsesregler (Charters and By‐Laws of Danish Trading Companies, 1616–1843), edited by Ole Feldbæk, Selskabet for Udgivelse af Kilder til Dansk Historie (Copenhagen, 1986), 779 pp., ISBN 87 7500 159 4, DanKr 300.

Kalle Bäck, Harald Gustafsson, Jon Herstad, Jens Holmgaard, Markku Kuisma, Maud Molander, Illka Mäntylä, Øjstein Rian and Gustav Grunde Sætra. Skog och Brännvin. Studier i näringspolitiskt beslutsfattande i Norden på 1700‐talet (Wood and Spirits. Studies in Economic Policy‐Making in the Nordic Countries in the Eighteenth Century), Nordic Research Project on Central Power and Local Communities ‐ Decision‐making in the 1700s (Det nordiska forskningsprojektet Centralmakt och lokal‐samhalle ‐ beslutsprocess på 1700‐talet), publication 3 (Oslo University Press, 1984), ISBN 82 00 07053 0 (English summary).

Karl‐Gustaf Anderson, Inger Diibeck, Birgitta Ericsson, Gfsli Agust Gunnlaugsson, Per‐Arne Karlsson, Markku Kuisma, Anne‐Hilde Nagel, Oscar Nilula and Gustav Grunde Sa;tra, Industri og Bjergvarksdrift. Privilegering i Norden i det 18. arhundrede (Industry and Mining. Studies in the Granting of “Privilegia” to Industrial Enterprises in the Nordic Countries in the Eighteenth Century). Nordic Research Project on Central Power and Local Communities ‐ Decision‐making in the 1700s, publication 5 (Oslo University Press, 1985), ISBN 82 00 07694 6 (English summary).

Christian Wichmann Matthiesen, Danske Byers Vaekst (Urban Growth in Denmark). Det Kgl. Geografiske Selskab, Atlas over Denmark, Serie II, vol. 3 (C. A. Reitzels Forlag, K?benhavn, 1985), 142 pp., 245 Dkr. (English summary).

I?rn Pi?, Nye veje til Folkevisen (New Approaches to the Ballad) (Copenhagen, 1985), 344 pp., ISBN 87 00 93582 4 (English summary).