Compression and digestion as agents of vertebral deformation in Sciaenidae,Merlucidae and Gadidae remains: an experimental study to interpret archaeological assemblages

Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory - Fish taphonomy from archaeological sites provides considerable useful information about human behaviours and environmental contexts as potential food...     

After the Nicaraguan Non‐Payment Crisis: Alternatives to Microfinance Narcissism

This article argues against ‘microfinance narcissism’ and calls for a re‐politicization of the microfinance paradigm. The dominant verdict on microcredit has undergone a damning transformation, from ‘magic bullet for poverty reduction’ to ‘cause of suicide’. Nowadays, both radical critics and mainstream voices deplore microcredit's negative impact on micro‐entrepreneurs. They argue for a reorientation where credit is targeted at established small and medium‐sized enterprises, particularly in rural areas. The crisis in microfinance worldwide, including burgeoning protests, are viewed as proof of the commercial derailment and/or misplaced faith in microfinance's positive social and economic impact on the poor. This article engages with this debate through a study of the Nicaraguan micro‐finance crisis. It challenges existing analyses that pin the crisis on agricultural over‐indebtedness, lack of due diligence, or Sandinista populist politics. Illustrating the dangers of neglecting the diverse nature of microfinance, it reveals the paradoxical outcomes of the crisis: a refocus on the urban at the expense of agricultural credit for small and medium enterprises and a consolidation of the power of national processing elites. Nicaragua's Non‐Payment Movement is also shown to be both a product of elite manipulation and an expression of legitimate resistance to an industry that turns a blind eye to the manner in which markets and politics constrain clients’ potential.     

Dating problems in Icelandic archaeology

For many decades tephrochronology has been used as a scientific method for dating archaeological as well as geological remains in Iceland. Recently, parts of the tephrochronology for the eruptions of the famous volcano Hekla have been questioned by the author. This is due to obvious differences in dating results of archaeological artefacts from the valley of Thjórsárdalur in southern Iceland and the current tephrochronological dating of its devastation. While the devastation of the valley has been dated to AD 1104 and is thought to have been caused by a huge eruption of mount Hekla in that year, the artefacts from excavations and stray finds, as well as new ¹⁴C results, show somewhat later 12th‐13th century dates. The paper deals with this obvious discrepancy, which has hitherto been ignored, together with the results of archaeological excavations in 1983–86 at Stóng in Thjórsárdalur; it also gives a critical analysis of the historical methodology of the tephrochronologists.     

Landschaft,pueblo and altepetl: a consideration of landscape in sixteenth-century Central Mexico

In 1521, the Spanish conquistadors defeated the Nahuas of Central Mexico. Spain was ruled at the time by the House of Habsburg, and its administrators became familiar with the German concept of Landschaft. By 1570, they used this concept to prepare and launch a survey of the indigenous communities which called themselves—and their lands—altepetl. The purpose of this paper is to show to what extent the terms Landschaft and altepetl are equivalent since modern scholars have described both as organized “communities” subject to a customary “law” and possessing a specific piece of “land”. The main obstacle for this comparison is that in the sixteenth century the Spaniards did not have a word equivalent to landscape, and they used words like pueblo, pago and pintura instead, depending on the context. This paper describes the general characteristics of the altepetl in Central Mexico and focuses on its representation by analysing some maps made after the conquest in the area of Cholula, current State of Puebla. The comparison of Landschaft, pueblo and altepetl in historical context is pertinent for cultural geographers since it was during the sixteenth century that the concept of landscape, as we know it today, was taking shape.     

Book reviews

ATTARD‐MARANINCHI, M.‐F., Le Panier, village corse à Marseille, Autrement, 1997, 157 pp., 89 F., ISSN 0336 5816

CAYROL, R., Médias et démocratie: la derive, Presses de Sciences Po, 1997, 115 pp., 75F., ISBN 2 7246 0710 4

CLERC, D., Dictionnaire des questions économiques et sociales, Editions de l'Atelier, 1997, 315 pp., 85F., ISBN 2 7082 3284 3

C?URÉ, S. et al. (eds), Marcel Cachin: Carnets 1906–1947: Volume IV 1935–47, CNRS, 1997, 1190 pp., no price indicated, ISBN 2 271 05124 X

COOPER, F., Decolonisation and African Society. The Labour Question in French and British Africa, Cambridge University Press, 1996, 677 pp., £55 hbk, ISBN 0 521 56251 1; £19.95 pbk, ISBN 0 521 56600 2

DEBRAY, R., Transmettre, Odile Jacob, 1997, 204 pp., 120F., ISBN 2 7381 0461 4

ELKABBACH, J.‐P., 29 mois et quelques jours, Grasset, 1997, 346 pp., 126F., ISBN 2 246 54341 X

ESTABLET, R., Comment peut‐on être Français? 90 ouvriers turcs racontent, Fayard, 1997, 242 pp., 100F, ISBN 2 213 59962 9

FAURÉ, C. (ed.), Encyclopédic politique et historique des femmes, PUF, 1997, 885 pp., 498F., ISBN 213 048 316X

FILLIEULE, O., Stratégies de la rue, Presses de Sciences Po, 1997, 435 pp., 265F., ISBN 2 7246 0707 4

GAFAITI, H., Les Femmes dans le roman algérien: histoire, discours et texte, L'Harmattan, 1996, 350 pp., 180F., ISBN 2 384 4039 8

GEISSER, V., Ethnicité républicaine. Les élites d'origine maghrébine dans le système politique français, Presses de Sciences Po, 1997, 261 pp., 149F., ISBN 2 7246 0732 5

GRANGE, J., La Philosophie d'Auguste Comte, PUF, 1996, 447 pp., 198F., ISBN 2 1304 7277X

HAUT CONSEIL DE LA FRANCOPHONIE, Etat de la Francophonie dans le monde: données 1995–1996 et 5 études inédites, La Documentation française, 1997, 629 pp., 150F., ISBN 2 11 003683 4

INSEE, La France et ses régions: Edition 1997, INSEE, 1997, 226 pp., 89F., ISBN 2 11 066 505 X

KALYVAS, S., The Rise of Christian Democracy in Europe, Cornell University Press, 1996, 300 pp., £15.95, ISBN 0 8014 3241 3

KNIGHT, D., Barthes and Utopia. Space, Travel, Writing, Clarendon Press, 1997, 287 pp., £35, ISBN 0 19 81 5889 0

KOFMAN, S., Rue Ordener, Rue Labat, University of Nebraska Press, 1996, 85 pp., £11, ISBN 0 8032 7780 6

LEVY, S. (ed.), Surrealism: Surrealist Visuality, Keele University Press, 1996, 173 pp., £35, ISBN 1 8533 1 170 7

LLOYD, M. and THACKER, A. (eds), The Impact of Michel Foucault on the Social Sciences and Humanities, Macmillan, 1997, 186 pp., £42.50 hbk, ISBN 0 333 63126; £15.99 pbk, ISBN 0 333 68432 X

LYNCH, F. M. B. France, and the International Economy, Routledge, 1997, 227pp., £45, ISBN 0 415 142 199

MINISTERE DE LA JUSTICE, Les archives contemporaines de l'administration centrale. Guide de recherches, La Documentation française, 1997, 312 pp., 300F., ISBN 2 11090 299 X

MUXEL, A., Individu et mémoire familiale, Nathan, 1996, 226 pp., 139F., ISBN 2 09 190420 1

NEBOIT‐GUILHOT, R. and DAVY L. (eds), Les Français dans leur environnement, Nathan, 1996, 382 pp., 199F., ISBN 2 09 190369 8

REYNOLDS, S., France between the Wars: Gender and Politics, Routledge, 1996, 280 pp., £16.99, ISBN 0 415 12737 8

RITCHIE, A.C., Media French. A Guide to Contemporary French Idiom, with English Translations, University of Wales Press, 1997, 268 pp., £20, ISBN 0 7083 1399 X

RONCAYOLO, M., Les grammaires d'une ville. Essai sur la genèse des structures urbaines à Marseille, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, 1996, 508 pp., 380F., ISBN 2 7132 1195 6

ROUGELET, P.R.G., La machine à scandales, Albin Michel, 1997, 261 pp., 98F., ISBN 2 226 09274 9

SHERINGHAM, M. (ed.), Parisian Fields, Reaktion Books, 1996, 200 pp., £12.95, ISBN 0 948462 85 X

SHLAPENTOKH, D., The French Revolution in Russian Intellectual Life, 1865–1905, Praeger, 1996, 202 pp., £46.50, ISBN 0 275 95573 7

The French Revolution and the Russian Anti‐Democratic Tradition. A, Case, of False Consciousness, Transaction Publishers, 1997, 324 pp., £20.95, ISBN 1 56000 244 1

TERRIER, D., Les deux âges de la proto‐industrie: les tis‐serands du Cambrésis et du Saint‐Qucntinois, 1730–1880, Editions de I'EHESS, 1996, 311 pp., 150F., ISBN 2 7132 1203 0

TOPPIA, J.‐M., Function politique et délit d'ingérence, L'Aube, 1996, 381 pp., no price indicated ISBN 2 87678 270 7

TREMOIS, C.‐M., Les Enfants de la liberté. Le jeune cinéma français des années 90, Seuil, 1997, 282 pp., 120F., ISBN 2 02 032309 5

TUCK, P., The French Wolf and the Siamese Lamb. The French Threat to Siamese Independence, 1858–1907, White Lotus, distributed by Liverpool University Press, 1995 434 pp., £24.95, ISBN 1 879155 44 3

VANDERVORT, B., Victor Griffuelhes and French Syndicalism, 1895–1922, Louisiana State University Press, 1996, 278 pp., $50, ISBN 0 8071 2045 6     

Power and rural landscapes in early medieval Galicia (400–900 ad): towards a re‐incorporation of the archaeology into the historical narrative

This paper aims to bring together hitherto neglected archaeological data about the early medieval landscapes of Galicia (north‐west Spain), in order to understand the social transformations this ‘peripheral’ region underwent between the fifth and the ninth centuries and to frame them in the context of wider European debates. Despite its many limitations, the archaeology reveals that until the middle of the seventh century, the late antique society of Gallaecia experienced a previously unsuspected vitality. At this point a socio‐political fragmentation occurred, which was characterized by the strengthening of local power, until a further change took place with the progressive incorporation of Galicia into the Asturian kingdom in the ninth century.