A 6000 Year‐old Fossil Dugong from Botany Bay: Inferences about Changes in Sydney's Climate,Sea Levels and Waterways

The excavation in the 1890s of a skeleton of the warm‐water marine mammal Dugong dugon, associated with Aboriginal artefacts, from a Botany Bay salt marsh, marked the beginning of speculation about climate and sea level change in Australia over the period of human occupation. The dugong bones have recently been dated, giving a conventional ¹⁴C age of 5520±70 years BP, which is consistent with three older ¹⁴C dates for a layer of buried trees that underlies much of the north Botany sediments. The carefully drawn cross‐sections of depositional strata produced by the original discoverers allow further interpretation of the pattern of Holocene sea‐level fluctuations in the Sydney region. Layers of estuarine sediment, such as the one containing the dugong skeleton, are inter‐bedded with peat layers containing in situ roots and stumps, suggesting that the site alternated between sub‐aerial exposure and submergence throughout the Holocene. The presence of the dugong is suggestive of warmer conditions, and its inland location indicates a more extensive Botany Bay in the recent past. This is in agreement with other work from southern New South Wales describing both warm‐water marine species and higher sea levels several thousand years ago.

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HOUSING RENOVATION BY RECENT MOVERS INTO THE CORE NEIGHBOURHOODS OF SASKATOON

One hundred and eighty-five homeowning households who had moved into core neighbourhoods during 1975–80 were surveyed about their completed and planned interior and exterior home renovations. It was found that expenditures of less than $500 for cosmetic and minor repairs to the interior and exterior predominate. Discriminant analyses of subgroups of 'no' maintainer, normal maintainer, and large-scale renovator households identify financial constraints as the primary hindrance to renovating. Policy implications of the low levels of home renovation in these inner-city neighbourhoods are discussed.
Cent quatre-vingt cinq ménages propriétaries de maison ayant emmnagé dans les quartiers du centre-ville au cours de la période 1975–80 furent interrogs au sujet de leurs rénovations intérieures et extérieures, achevées et en projet. Les résultats montrent que les dépenses de moins de $500 pour réparations mineures et d'ordre esthétique prédominent. L'étude, effectuée a l'aide d'analyses discriminantes, de sous-groupes comprenant respectivement, des ménages qui ne pratiquent aucun entretien, ceux qui pratiquent un entretien normal, et ceux qui effectuent des rénovations majeures, identifie les constraintes financières comme etant l'obstacle le plus important pour la rénovation. Les implications des deux niveaux de rénovation résidentielle pour les politiques de planification urbaine sont discutées.     

Book reviews—Comptes Rendus

Themes in medieval history—Aspects de l'histoire du moyen âge

Dianne WATT ed., Medieval Women in their Communities University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1997 ISBN 0–7083–1369–8(Hardback) £30.00 ISBN 0–7083–1361–2(paperback) £14.95.

Chris GIVEN‐WILSON ed., An Illustrated History of Late Medieval England, Manchester University Press, Manchester 1996 xi + 292 pp. ISBN 0–7190–4152‐X £35.00

Themes in Eighteenth‐Century History—Aspects de l'histoire du dix‐huitième siècle

Jeremy BLACK ed., An Illustrated History of Eighteenth‐Century Britain 1688–1793 Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1996, xv + 244 pp. ISBN 0–7190–4267–4. £25.00.

Jeremy BLACK ed., Culture and Society in Britain 1660–1800 Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1997, viii + 199 pp. ISBN 0–7190–4947–4. £35.00.

Themes in Russian History—Aspects de l'histoire Russe

Lionel KOCHAN and John KEEP, The Making of Modern Russia: From Kiev Rus’ to the Collapse of the Soviet Union, Third Edn., Penguin, London, 1997, xii + 603 p., ISBN 0–14–015715–8. £9.99.

Wendy R. SALMOND, Arts and Crafts in Imperial Russia: Reviving the Kustar Art Industries, 1870–1917, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996, xv + 270p., ill., ISBN 0–521–41576–4 £50.00.

Morgan Philips PRICE, Dispatches from the Revolution: Russia 1916–1918, Pluto Press, London, 1997, xii + 181 p., ISBN 0–7453–1210–1 £30.00.

John Lewis GADDIS, We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1997, x + 425p., ISBN 0–19–878070–2 £25.00.     

Short notices—notes de lecture

Richard BRITNELL, The Commercialisation of English Society, 1000–1500 2nd edn, Manchester Medieval Studies, Manchester University Press, Manchester & New York, 1996, xvi + 281 pp., ISBN 0–7190–5042–1.

Desmond SEWARD, Richard III: England's black legend Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1997, ISBN 014–026634–8 £8.99 (paperback).

David GATES, The Napoleonic Wars 1803–1815, ’Modern wars’ series, Arnold, London, 1997, xx+304 p., ISBN 0–340–61447–1 (paperback, £16.99); 0–340–69184–0 (hardback, £45–00).

Sheila PERRY, ed., Aspects of Contemporary France, Routledge, London, 1997, xviii + 258 p., ISBN 0–415–13180–4 (paperback, £13.99); 0–415–13179–0 (hardback, £45.00).