ITALIAN TERRA SIGILLATA: A SOPHISTICATED ROMAN INDUSTRY

Summary: The fine red terra sigillata pottery of Italy, associated in both ancient and modern times with the Etruscan town of Arezzo, is now known to have been produced in many different parts of the peninsula. Indeed, it is clear that some of the largest factories were capable of setting up distant manufacturing subsidiaries in order to take advantage of particular markets. It is also becoming apparent that the potters working at Arezzo itself might supply their products to quite distinct provincial or regional markets from one another. It is hoped that research now under way will clarify such complex patterns of manufacture and trade.     

GENERATION OF SYNTHETIC EARTHQUAKE ACCELEROGRAMS USING SEISMOLOGICAL MODELLING: A REVIEW

A stochastically based seismological model is described in this paper and used to generate synthetic accelerograms that are considered representative of intraplate earthquake events recorded on rock. The model, whilst well publicised in the seismological literature, is discussed and reviewed in this paper from an engineering perspective. The key factors influencing the frequency properties of the Fourier spectrum of the earthquake ground motion are presented and the differences observed between regions such as between eastern and western USA axe discussed. A procedure to generate representative artificial accelerograms from the Fourier spectrum is described. Average response spectra derived from these synthetic accelerograms are then compared with a selection of response spectra derived from recorded accelerograms to test and substantiate the model. The application of the seismological modelling approach to regions outside North America and the implications of the Displacement Based prinicples on the future development of seismological modelling have been addressed and discussed in the paper.     

Voting across ethnic lines in late Imperial Austria1

ABSTRACT. The Austrian party system, following the introduction of universal manhood suffrage in 1907, has conventionally been characterised as being divided along ethno‐national lines, reinforcing perceptions that politics within the Habsburg Empire was overwhelmingly driven by nationalism. However, the electoral results in a number of districts only make sense if one assumes that voters cast ballots for their alleged ethnic opponents. A systematic analysis of election results, utilising a simple process of elimination and drawing on the highly detailed statistical records available, strongly suggests that such voting was commonplace. Furthermore, alternative explanations based on differential voting qualification rates, errors in the census, and electoral fraud do not withstand close scrutiny. One must therefore conclude that although ethnic conflict did occur, it was paralleled by inter‐ethnic bargaining and compromise, thereby supporting more positive appraisals of Austrian electoral and parliamentary politics and of representative political institutions in ethnically divided societies.     

Reviving Agrarian Studies in South‐East Asia: Geography on the Ascendancy

This paper examines the recent revival of agrarian studies in the social science scholarship of South‐East Asia following a period of decline from the 1980s onward. The hiatus provides an opportunity to examine the changed empirical contexts and theoretical framings of agrarian change in the intervening period. Renewed interest in rural agricultural and social change is also marked by a disciplinary shift, with the centre of gravity moving away from anthropology and political science and towards a geographical focus. This is explained both by institutional factors, as a large international research programme based in (but not limited to) geography has taken the lead on the revival, and also by the substantive shift in agrarian studies away from narrowly local village ethnographies or broad‐based scholarship inspired by Cold War concerns, towards a multi‐scale and contextualised approach in which environment, globalisation, migration, territorial expansion, spatial inequality, and other key geographical themes have framed explorations of agrarian change.     

The Multiple Meanings of Troy in Early Modern London's Mayoral Show

Abstract

This paper examines the cultural, scientific and poetic life of ambergris in the seventeenth century, in the context of contemporary theories about smell, and changing attitudes to style and expression. Most widely used as an ingredient in perfumery, this mysterious substance (now known to be the pathological secretion of a sperm whale) attracted significant interest: natural philosophers speculated on its origin, and imaginative writers used it as a trope for the exotic and the powerfully ephemeral. In surveying the appearance of ambergris in natural philosophical writings (including the proceedings of the Royal Society, and works by Browne and Boyle), as well as in botanical treatises, recipe books, travellers’ narratives, and lyric poetry, this paper seeks to recover a sense of the forgotten olfactory codings of the past. It ends with an attempt to place ambergris within the highly nuanced vocabulary of scent employed by Robert Herrick, the most distinguished nose of the early modern age.     

REPLY TO J.T. SMITH'S SUGGESTED RE-INTERPRETATION OF BARNSLEY PARK VILLA

Summary. A different interpretation of the social significance of the excavation evidence from Barnsley Park has been advanced by Mr J. T. Smith, and the excavators now compare this with the conclusions at which they themselves arrived. They ask to what extent archaeological evidence is capable of settling a hypothesis about social structure, and proceed to re-examine the evidence for the house and for the paved and stone-walled area immediately surrounding it to see which alternative is less strained. Doubt is expressed about seeing many of the very minor nearby structures as other than animal pens. The house is re-examined for original occupation by more than one household, in response to Mr Smith's main point. Multiple occupation is perceived in its later history, but not at the commencement. The excavators conclude that their interpretation is clearer as a result of this very useful reconsideration, but essentially unchanged. Barnsley Park does not provide support for Mr Smith's suggestion of kin-groups in Romano-British villas.     

Neoliberalism and the Institutions for Regional Development in Australia

This paper examines some effects of the pursuit of neoliberalism on regional development policy and practice in Australia, and in particular on the activities and effectiveness of regional development organisations. The paper interprets data from a survey of 505 regional development organisations across Australia through the framework of Jessop's contribution to state theory and his identification of four key trends in economic management under neoliberalism. Regional development policies are seen as a response of governments to electoral pressure from regions, but a response that is constrained by the dominance of neoliberal ideology. The objectives of regional development are predominantly economic, but are often limited to the role of facilitation and the provision of information. Some responsibility for regional development has been shifted downwards to regions, but the effectiveness of the organisations given this responsibility is reduced by the short‐term and competitive nature of much of their funding, the lack of coordination between regional development actors at the local level, the proliferation of agencies and the competition between them. The paper concludes that regional development agencies in Australia are in many ways a product of neoliberalism, since they represent one way in which governments can be seen to be responding to regional pressure for assistance but they can do so without incurring significant costs. Yet regional development bodies are also a victim of neoliberalist thinking, since it denies them the resources and the powers they need to be more successful in their work.     

The Evolution of Biotechnology in Three Continents: Schumpeterian or Penrosian?

This Editorial introduces the Special Issue on ‘Biotechnology Clusters and Beyond’. Drawing on the interventions of five commissioned articles from Canada, Germany, Israel, the UK and the US it suggests that biotechnology clusters are interesting and important intellectually and for policy deliberation. They pose questions about basic cluster theory because localized networks, though intense, may not be as extensive as global ones in firm practices, especially as these evolve over time. Moreover, innovation is more deeply embedded in the publicly funded science base than for ‘Porterian’ clusters. Regarding innovation, biotechnology is also less obviously Schumpeterian, there being little market-driven ‘creative destruction’, and is arguably, with its strong emphasis on both large- and small-firm ‘capabilities’—Penrosian—an emphasis in clustering research and applications that warrants further investigation. Finally, at the specific technology-exploitation phase, market interactions assert themselves over milieu characteristics because scientists know the value of their discoveries and there is accordingly high appropriability associated with such knowledge capabilities.