Earliest hunters and gatherers of South America

Traditional syntheses of the archaeology of the late Pleistocene period in South America have focused primarily on the peopling of the continent by North American cultural groups and on identifying associations among regional sites. This focus has tended to ignore the widespread culture diversity of the period and the possible effects of different paleolandscapes on human migration and colonization, such as the presence of unglaciated tropical and temperate environments in the northern lowlands, the gateway to the interior. The earliest known cultural assemblages are characterized by various unifacial and bifacial lithic industries that may represent regional processes reminiscent of an Archaic lifeway. The major archaeological sites and associated artifact assemblages are examined in terms of regional and continental patterns of environmental and cultural change. Results suggest that the Pleistocene archaeological record of South America must be explained in its own terms and that the events and processes producing this record either occurred earlier than previously thought or are very different from those in North America.     

Book reviews

Karl Kaiser, Winston Lord, Thierry de Montbrial, David Watt, Western Security: What Has Changed? What Should be Done? Council on Foreign Relations, Inc. (New York) and Royal Institute of International Affairs (London), 1981, pp. 48. No price given.

Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman, The Political Economy of Human Rights. Two volumes, Black Rose Books, Montreal, 1979. Volume I, The Washington Connection and Third World Facism, pp. xvii + 441; Volume II, After the Cataclysm: Postwar Indochina and the Reconstruction of Imperial Hegemony, pp. xx + 392.

Vanuatu. Institute of Pacific Studies, The University of the South Pacific and The South Pacific Social Sciences Association, 1980, pp. 291. $Fiji4.50

Walter Lini, Beyond Pandemonium. From the New Hebrides to Vanuatu. Asia Pacific Books, Wellington in association with the Institute of Pacific Studies of the University of the South Pacific, 1980, pp. 64. $NZ6.95 (cloth), $NZ4.50 (paper).

Jeremy MacClancy, To Kill a Bird with Two Stones. A Short History of Vanuatu. Vanuatu Cultural Centre Publications No. 1, 1980, pp. 158. 300 Vatu (plus postage).

Richard Shears, The Coconut War. The Crisis on Espiritu Santo. Cassell Australia, North Ryde, pp. 210. $6.95.

G. J. Crough, Foreign Investment and Transnational Corporations in Australia: An Annotated Bibliography. Alternative Publishing Co‐operative, Sydney, 1977, pp. xiii + 200. $14.95.

Michael T. Skully (ed.), A Multinational Look at the Transnational Corporation: An International Collection of Academic and Corporate Views on the Future of Transnational Enterprise. Dryden Press Australia, Sydney, 1978, pp. iv + 278. $24.95.

Francien van Anrooij et al., Between People and Statistics: Essays on Modern Indonesian History. Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1979, pp. 315. D.fl.39.50

Michael Brecher, with Benjamin Geist, Decisions in Crisis. Israel. 1967 and 1973. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1980, pp. xvii + 479. $34.95.

Desmond Ball, A Suitable Piece of Real Estate: American Installations in Australia. Hale and Iremonger, Sydney, 1980, pp. 180. $19.95 (cloth), $10.95 (paper).

W. J. Hudson, Billy Hughes in Paris. The Birth of Australian Diplomacy. Nelson in association with the Australian Institute of International Affairs, Melbourne, 1978, pp. 147. $8.95.

Charles R. Beitz, Political Theory and International Relations. Princeton University Press, 1979, pp. 199. $US21.00 (cloth), $US5.00 (paper).

J. H. Leurdijk (ed.), The Foreign Policy of the Netherlands, Sijthoff and Noordhoff, Alphen aan den Rijn, 1978, pp. ix + 356. D.Fl.85.00.

Shashikant Nair, Rural‐born Fijians and Indo‐Fijians in Suva: A Study of Movements and Linkages. Development Studies Centre, Monograph No. 24, The Australian National University, Canberra, 1980, pp. 97. $8.00.

Goran Hyden. Beyond Ujamaa in Tanzania: Underdevelopment and an Uncaptured Peasantry Heineman Education Books, London, 1980, pp. 270. £3.50.

Elizabeth Vallance, Women in the House: A Study of Women Members of Parliament, Athlone Press, London, 1979, pp. 212. $9.70.

G. H. Jansen, Militant Islam, Pan Books Ltd, 1979, pp. 224. $4.25.

David Elliott, Thailand: Origins of Military Rule, Zed Press, London, 1978, pp. 190 £5.95 (cloth), £2.95 (paper).

Joseph A. Camilleri, Australian‐American Relations: The Web of Dependence, Macmillan, Melbourne, 1980, pp. 167, $29.95 (cloth), $9.95 (paper).

Ross Terrill, Mao: A Biography. Harper and Row, New York, 1980, pp. 481. $19.95     

Alma Söderhjelm and Hilma Granqvist

This essay examines two outstanding Finnish scholars, the historian Alma Söderhjelm (1870–1949) and the social anthropologist Hilma Granqvist (1890–1972). The article investigates their social background, the obstacles they faced in becoming qualified and in advancing within the university system, their scholarly ambitions and the particular personal qualities they brought to their task. Although a generation apart and coming from different social milieux, their stories have much in common, both with each other and with many other pioneers of womenà s history in a variety of societies.     

COVID-19 in Chihuahua,Mexico: Assessing its spatial behaviour through the inverse distance weighted interpolation technique

This study focused on the spatial evolution of COVID-19 in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. Data were retrieved from governmental databases and analyzed by means of GIS, applying the inverse distance weighted (IDW) method. The period of December 2019 through November 2021 was split into eight seasons. The root mean square error (RMSE) was used to assess the reliability of the interpolations, showing acceptable values (RSME < 25). During the period, the municipalities of Juarez and Chihuahua reached the highest number of confirmed cases and deaths, Juarez being the main hotspot of contagion (37.2% of confirmed cases; 46.9% of deaths). Four waves of contagion were identified during the evaluated period, with Fall 2020 being the strongest season. Since Fall 2020, the spread of the disease was more often observed in municipalities with the highest human mobility. Although the spread of COVID-19 decreased after Spring 2021, in Fall 2021 records indicated a continuous increase in cases in the state. That could be due to a relaxation of the implementation of sanitary measures, as well as to the propagation of novel COVID-19 variants having an elevated infectious level. Geospatial techniques allowed for an understanding of the spatial spread of COVID-19 and could be useful for its control.     

Language,Science and Globalization in the Eighteenth Century**

Asia, America, and Europe have been intellectually intertwined for centuries. Several studies have been published revealing European scholars’ interest in the “exotic” languages of Asia and America, as well as in ethnographic and anthropological aspects. Some scholars such as Polymath Leibniz (1646–1716), were interested in these languages in an attempt to construct a universal language, while others tried to establish language families, like the Jesuit Hervás y Panduro (1735–1809). However, all acknowledge the importance of language and the circulation of knowledge. This paper analyzes the dissemination of the compilation of eighteenth-century multilingual lexical compilations for comparative purposes as an early globalized project. These compilations were designed by European scholars and subsequently elaborated in different languages by missionaries, explorers, and scientists in the Philippines and America. Taking the correspondence and relations between botanist Mutis (1732–1808) and bureaucrats, European scientists such as polymath Humboldt (1769–1859) and Botanist Linnaeus (1707–1778) among others, and navy officers of the scientific exploration commanded by Malaspina (1754–1809) and Bustamante y Guerra (1759–1825) into consideration, I will analyze how simultaneous projects followed a unified aim, and illustrate their substantial contribution to the study of language in the late eighteenth century.     

TWO BRONZE AGE MINIATURE WAGON AND WHEEL BURIALS IN ENCS (NORTH-EASTERN HUNGARY)

During an excavation of a Bronze Age, Füzesabony-culture cemetery at Encs (north-eastern Hungary), a clay wagon model with spoked wheels (grave 1290) and three miniature solid clay wheels were found (grave 1389). Miniature wagon and wheel models in burials began to appear in the Late Copper Age and lasted until the Iron Age in Central Europe. Their presence allows of several interpretations. These spoked wheels of grave 1290 provide early evidence about the appearance of such in the Carpathian Basin. Focussing on the two graves from Encs, this article reports AMS radiocarbon dates that suggest the spoked wheels belong to the early second millennium BC. The implications of these finds are interpreted though a comparative review of both wagon models from the Füzesabony culture and the evidence for early spoked wheels in the Carpathian Basin.     

Rock-art and the transition to farming. The Neolithic landscape of the central Mediterranean coast of Spain

Summary. This paper deals with the analysis of stylistic variation between the different rock‐art traditions that coexisted in the central Mediterranean coastal area of Spain in the Neolithic period – the Macro Schematic tradition, the Schematic tradition and the Levantine tradition. The stylistic variation is analyzed in different scales from the panel with its compositions and superimpositions, to the shelter – shared or exclusive – and the landscape, focussing on patterns of distribution and relationships with settlement sites. This stylistic analysis enables us to study the chronological aspects of the process of Neolithization; while the symbolic character of these marks on the landscape offers an insight into the perception and use of space by the communities who made them.