The bovids from Elandsfontein,South Africa,and their implications for the age,palaeoenvironment, and origins of the site

The bovid fossils from Elandsfontein, south-western Cape Province, South Africa, comprise 7257 individually numbered specimens from 18 species. Taxonomic comparisons with Olduvai Gorge and other African sites and the high percentage of extinct forms imply that the bones accumulated in the earlier part of the Middle Quaternary, probably sometime between 700,000 and 400,000 years ago. By extension, this is also the most likely age for the skull cap of archaicHomo sapiens (Saldanha Man) and for the occasional late Acheulean stone artifacts that accompany the animal bones. In keeping with geomorphological observations and other aspects of the fauna, the bovids indicate a relatively grassy and moist environment, apparently during an interglaciation that differed significantly from the Holocene. Geomorphological context, the frequent occurrence of partial skeletons, bone damage, and skeletal part representation suggest that carnivore feeding on carcasses scattered across a Mid-Quaternary land surface was probably the main factor shaping the Elandsfontein bone assemblage. Porcupines may also have played a role, but there is little evidence for human activity. The Elandsfontein assemblage thus provides a useful control for comparison with bone accumulations where context, associations, and bone damage indicate that people were heavily involved. For example, there are very few young animals in the otherwise attritional profile of giant buffalo from Elandsfontein, probably because carnivores often rapidly and completely consumed young carcasses. This suggests that few young carcasses would be available for human scavenging and thus that archaeological attritional profiles in which young individuals are common probably reflect active human hunting, at least of young animals.

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Résumé Les fossiles de bovidés d'Elandsfontein, sud-ouest de la Province du Cap, Afrique du Sud, comportent 7257 spécimens numérotés appartenant à 18 espèces. Les comparaisons taxonomiques avec Olduvai Gorge et d'autres sites africains, ainsi que le haut pourcentage de formes éteintes, indiquent que les os ont dû s'accumuler durant la partie la plus ancienne du Quaternaire moyen, probablement entre 700,000 et 400,000 ans. Par extension, il semble que ce soit aussi l'âge le plus probable de la calotte cranienne d'une forme archaïque d'Homo sapiens (l'homme de Saldanha) ainsi que des quelques outils de l'Acheuléen récent qui accompagnaient les ossements d'animaux. En accord avec les observations géomorphologiques et d'autres aspects de la faune, les bovidés indiquent un environnement relativement humide et herbeux, évidemment durant un interglaciaire qui differe de façon significative de l'Holocène. Le contexte géomorphologique, la présence fréquente de squelettes incomplets, les os endommagés et les parties du squelette représentées suggèrent que des carnivores se nourrissaient des carcasses dispersées sur un terrain du Quaternaire moyen sont le principal facteur de la formation de l'assemblage osseux d'Elandsfontein. Les porc-épics ont peut-être aussi joué un rôle, mais il y a peu de signes de l'activité humaine. L'assemblage d'Elandsfontein est donc un témoin utile pour des comparaisons avec d'autres accumulations de faune, dans lesquelles le contexte, les associations et l'état des os indiquent que les hommes y ont joué un rôle important. Par exemple, très peu d'animaux jeunes sont représentés dans le profil par ailleurs attritionel du buffle géant d'Elandsfontein, probablement parce que les carnivores dévoraient souvent rapidement et entièrement les carcasses jeunes. Ceci indique que très peu de carcasses jeunes étaient disponibles pour les charognards humains et que les profils archéologiques attritionels dans lesquels les animaux jeunes sont fréquents reflètent probablement une chasse humaine active, tout au moins d'animaux jeunes.

     

GLOBAL CHANGE: THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA PERSPECTIVE

Geological processes are fundamental to the understanding of Global Change and the geological record provides a baseline against which to assess the nature and significance of contemporary global change (Price 1986)     

Reviews

Iranian Politics and Religious Modernism: The Liberation Movement of Iran Under the Shah and Khomeini , Houchang E. Chehabi, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990, xiv + 342 pp.

Debating Muslims: Cultural Dialogues in Postmodernity and Tradition , Michael M. J. Fischer and Mehdi Abedi, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1990, xxxvi + 564 pp., cloth $49.75, paper $23.50.

Gnoseologiia sufizma , A. Mukhammedkhodzhaev, Dushanbe: Donish, 1990, 112 pp., 1.50 rubles.

Liberal Nationalism in Iran: The Failure of a Movement , Sussan Siavoshi, Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1990, 196 pp., bibliography and index to p. 214, $24.50.

The Iranian Revolution: Its Global Impact , ed. John L. Esposito, Miami: Florida International University Press, 1990, viii + 346 pp.

Iran and the World: Continuity in a Revolutionary Decade , Shireen T. Hunter, Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1990, pp. 254, $35.00 cloth, $14.95 paper.

Miniature Painting in Ottoman Baghdad , Rachel Milstein, Islamic Art and Architecture No. 5., Costa Mesa, Calif.: Mazda publishers, 1990, 132 pp., 16 color plates, b & w illus., drawings, index, bibliography, no price listed.

The Great Mosque of Isfahan , Oleg Grabar, London: I. B. Tauris and Company Ltd., 1990, 156 pp., £24.95.

The State, Bureaucracy, and Revolution in Iran: Agrarian Reform and Politics , Ali Farazmand, New York: Praeger Publishers, 1989, 289 pp., $41.85.

Acta Iranica: Encyclopédie permanente des études iraniennes 30, Iranica Varia: Papers In Honor of Professor Ehsan Yarshater , ed. D. Amin, M. Kashef, and A. S. Shahbazi, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1990, xxxii + 291 pp., with maps and photographs.

Women of Deh Koh: Lives in an Iranian Village , Erika Friedl, Washington and London: Smithsonian Institute Press, 1989, 237 pp., no bibliography or index.

Le Discours populaire de la révolution iranienne (2 volumes), Paul Vieille and Farhad Khosrokhavar, Paris: Contemporanéité, 1990, 275 pp.

Iranian Drama, an Anthology , trans. from Persian, comp. and ed. M. R. Ghanoonparvar and John Green, Costa Mesa, Calif.: Mazda Publishers, 1989, xxix + 302 pp., $24.95.

Labor Transfer and Economic Development: Theoretical Perspectives and Case Studies from Iran , Hassan Hakimian, Herefordshire, England: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1990, pp. xii + 206, $60.00.

Iranian Jewry During the Afghan Invasion: The Kitab‐i Sar Guzasht of Babai b. Farhad — Text Edition and Commentary , Vera B. Moreen, Freiburger Islamstudien, Band XIV, Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1990, x + 178 pp.

Persian Literature , ed. Ehsan Yarshater, Columbia Lectures on Iranian Studies, no. 3, New York: The Persian Heritage Foundation; Bibliotheca Persica, 1988, xi + 562 pp.

Oil, State and Industrialization in Iran , Massoud Karshenas, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990, pp. xviii + 308.

On Islam and Shi'ism , Ahmad Kasravi, trans. M. R. Ghanoonparvar, intro. and ed. M. A. Jazayery, Costa Mesa, Calif.: Mazda Publishers, 1990, paper $14.95.

Neither East Nor West: Iran, the Soviet Union, and the United States , ed. Nikki R. Keddie and Mark J. Gasiorowski, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1990, ix + 295 pp.     

The symbolic purposes of sanctions: Australian and Canadian reactions to Afghanistan

Academic and political debates about international sanctions tend to focus on the instrumental purposes of these measures—their ability to hurt a target state sufficiently to cause it to change its behaviour. By contrast, the symbolic purposes of sanctions are commonly assumed not to be as important. Such assumptions are appropriate for states which have the capabilities necessary to achieve these ends—great powers or regional powers targetting very weak neighbours, for example. But are these assumptions useful in explaining the sanctions policies of non‐great powers, particularly those which impose sanctions against great powers? This paper explores the case of Australian and Canadian sanctions against the USSR after the invasion of Afghanistan and demonstrates the fallacy of such assumptions, and argues that symbolic purposes were much more important than the instrumental utilities normally associated with sanctions theory.