Small firm finance and economic geography

This paper argues that firm finance is something of a ‘black-box’in economic geography, a largely take-for-granted aspect ofproduction. Focusing on small firms, the paper argues that firmfinance warrants analysis, not simply to ‘add’ toknowledge and to form another sub-discipline of economic geography,but in order to further develop and refine our understandingof uneven development. The paper explores the neglect of firmfinance in economic geography and highlights some of the contributionsof literatures in eco-nomics and business. Finally, the paperoutlines three points of intersection between these disparate,usually disciplinary-bound, literatures in business, economics,and economic geography: the place-bound nature of firms, thesocial character of economic relations, and third, the powerrelations and asymmetries inherent in financial relationships.These intersections are used to critique existing small firmfinance literatures and to outline the contours of an emergingresearch agenda in economic geography.     

A multi-technique characterization and provenance study of the pigments used in San rock art, South Africa

During the course of a conservation project at the rock shelter known as RSA TYN2 (Eastern Cape, South Africa), a sample of 33 painted fragments that had become detached from the wall were collected. They have been studied using a multi-technique approach (optical microscopy, SEM-EDS, Raman spectroscopy and FTIR), with the aim of achieving a better understanding of their paint stratigraphy, composition, and provenance. The paintings are on a Clarens Formation sandstone and are embedded in calcium sulphates and oxalates. The red pigments show two different ‘hues’, corresponding to two different compositions. The light red is a red ochre, possibly pure, which is probably a degradation product of the Clarens Formation sandstone. The dark red contains more iron oxides and may be a mixture between the red ochre and pure haematite. Because of the presence of crystals which may be identified as augite we suggest this haematite came from the basaltic upper part of the Drakensberg, at least 4 km away from the rock shelter. The black pigments have been identified as carbon black, that is to say, incomplete combustion products of organic compounds, and are radiocarbon dated to between 2120 and 1890 cal BP, making these samples the oldest directly dated South African rock art.     

From Bells to Cannon – The Beginnings of Archaeological Chemistry in the Eighteenth Century

This paper attempts to track the history of the chemical analysis of archaeological copper alloys back beyond the accepted origins of archaeometallurgy, and even before the pioneering work of Martin Heinrich Klaproth, as identified by Earle Cayley. It would appear that the chemical analysis of copper metal was developed in Revolutionary France around 1790 to enable the estimation of the amount of tin in the alloy as a response to the need to convert church bells into cannon. What is perhaps remarkable to our eyes, however, is that this group of scientists (including Mongez, Darcet and Dizé), who were the leading chemists of their day, were also interested in the analysis of archaeological metals. This is further evidence for the blossoming of the age of scientific enlightenment, when, shortly after the development of gravimetric methods of analysis, the entire contents of the ‘cabinets of curiosities’ were the subject of scientific study by the leading savants of the day.     

Isotopic and technological variation in prehistoric Southeast Asian primary copper production

The ‘Southeast Asian Lead Isotope Project’ (SEALIP) is intended to provide reliable geochemical proxies for late prehistoric through early historic (2nd/1st millennium BCE and 1st millennium CE) local, regional, and inter-regional social interactions, in an archaeological arena lacking established ceramic typologies with which to cross modern national boundaries. We present lead isotope characterisations of the three currently known Southeast Asian prehistoric primary (mining/smelting) copper production centres: Phu Lon and the Khao Wong Prachan Valley in Thailand, and the recently discovered Xepon complex in Laos. Kernel Density Estimation shows that these production centres can be clearly distinguished isotopically, as such fulfilling the core tenet of the ‘Provenance Hypothesis’ (Wilson and Pollard, 2001: 508) and permitting SEALIP to proceed as a research programme tracing regional copper/bronze/lead exchange and provenance patterning. In addition we provide a provisional technological reconstruction of copper smelting processes at Phu Lon to complement our more established understanding of the Khao Wong Prachan Valley. Combined lead isotope and technological datasets allow us to tentatively identify trends in the evolution of Southeast Asian metal technologies and of regional social perceptions of metal exchange.     

‘The sword that was broken …’: The detection of recycled iron in the archaeological record

Although the recycling of materials such as copper and glass is widely known and generally well understood within archaeological contexts, far less is known about the recycling of iron. Iron recycling is more complex than that of other metals for two reasons. First, normal manufacturing processes, which include forging several components to make a composite object, offer the opportunity to include recycled iron. Second, the material itself is more complex than Cu alloys. The alloys of Fe, depending primarily on C content, are very different in terms of properties and can be interconverted by (normally) removing C such as decarburizing cast iron to make wrought iron. Thus, recycling practices are potentially intimately combined with such processes. These factors, combined with the poor preservation of archaeological iron and the consequent reluctance to carry out extensive studies (which often require destructive analysis via metallography), mean that there are no clear criteria for identifying recycled iron. However, limited historical documentation suggests, at least indirectly, that such recycling was common. This paper is neither comprehensive nor definitive, but merely intends to promote discussion and awareness of iron recycling by hypothesizing several possible mechanisms and providing a few illustrative archaeological examples.