Carbon and nitrogen isotope signals in eel bone collagen from Mesolithic and Neolithic sites in northern Europe

Carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis was undertaken on collagen extracted from eel bone from six Mesolithic and Neolithic sites in northern Europe. The results were compared with data obtained on other archaeological fish remains and modern eel caught in fresh and brackish water and from the sea. The possibility of discriminating between freshwater, brackish and marine signals in archaeological eel bone is evaluated and the implications for archaeology discussed. Our data suggest that eel found at coastal Mesolithic and Neolithic sites have carbon isotope signals consistent with a marine origin with no evidence of freshwater residency. The sample of eel bone from one inland site is small but indicates carbon isotope values more consistent with freshwater residency or at least values intermediate between freshwater and marine carbon pools.     

The Danish St Croix Project: Revisiting the Lincoln Colonization Program with Foreign-language Sources

Working from previously unknown sources in Danish archives, this article establishes for the first time the important role that the island of St Croix played in the Lincoln administration's considerations on colonizing African Americans abroad. This article argues that U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward, commonly viewed as an anti-colonizationist, was at least a mild proponent of colonization in its earliest stages. The article demonstrates further that in the summer of 1862, the St Croix colonization project was an important stepping stone in the Lincoln administration's legal justification for emancipation, and that it was recognized as such by high-ranking Confederates. The negotiations failed for reasons that had little to do with Lincoln or his opinion on the matter. Rather, the plan fell through because the Danes slowly turned against it for economic and political reasons. The substantial conclusion of this article is that, contrary to earlier perceptions in the historiography, African American colonization during the Civil War was not led and directed entirely from Washington. Rather, in this case, the Danish minister proposed a colonization plan and then worked with the U.S. Government to attempt to see it through.     

Outsiders? A sociological study of Norwegian artists with minority background

Why are there relatively few successful artists from a migrant background in Norway? Based on a study of artists of known migrant backgrounds, we explore this question from the artists’ points of view. We analyze both their social and cultural background, and the mechanisms of exclusion and inclusion at work in Norway’s art world, and especially the interaction between the two. We have concentrated on the dramatic arts: theater and dance. The article presents a theoretically informed analysis of the qualitative material using the sociology of art on the one hand and the sociology of migration and ethnic relations on the other. Further, the empirical analyses are in constant dialog with other Norwegian studies of the art field and the artists themselves. The article presents original findings on the relationship between barriers in young migrants’ backgrounds and impediments to entering and navigating at the field of dramatic arts.     

The House Member as Teacher: An Analysis of the Newsletters of Barber B. Conable,Jr.

Scholars agree that postreform House majority leadership strategies distinguish contemporary leaders from their predecessors. One such strategy is leaders' use of media to fulfill personal and member goals. Commonly presented evidence of this strategy is the increase in the number of times leaders appear in national evening newscasts. Yet most studies do not investigate the kind of media coverage leaders receive over time. Hence they do not show whether leaders have been successful in generating the sort of television attention consistent with the incentives that the literature identifies as driving them to adopt a media-oriented strategy. This article begins to address this gap in our understanding. Conducting a content analysis of network news accounts, we find that while postreform leaders have received more attention than their predecessors, coverage of them declined and leveled off in the 1990s. We also find that despite the drop in levels of attention accorded House majority-party leaders, they have maintained a plateau of higher news visibility relative to their primary competitors in the House, committee chairs, though there have been some recent exceptions to this trend that are highly suggestive.     

Making Better Use of Monitoring Data

This paper addresses the knowledge gap that exists in relation to understanding and quantifying the sensitivity of organic-rich archaeological deposits with respect to changes in the soil environment. Based on two case studies we demonstrate that it is possible to quantify the current decay rate in unsaturated archaeological deposits by combining decay rates measured in the laboratory with on-site monitoring data in a simple decay model. The decay of organic archaeological deposits is highly sensitive to variations in soil temperatures and soil water content. Measurements of soil water content cannot always stand alone as a representative measurement of oxygen availability; which suggests that in situ measurements of oxygen content or redox potential are needed in order to understand the preservation conditions at a site. The results of this study emphasize the advantage of combining monitoring data with laboratory studies, in order to document in more detail where and when degradation takes place.     

Winning back more than words? Power,discourse and quarrying on the Niagara Escarpment

This paper explores the controversy and public hearing on the proposed extension of the largest limestone quarry in Canada, operated by Dufferin Aggregates at Milton, Ontario. The quarry constitutes an important source of construction material for the nearby Greater Toronto Area. However, the quarry is protected by the provincial Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act and located inside the UNESCO-designated Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Reserve. The proposal has therefore attracted considerable opposition from the public institution charged with its protection, the Niagara Escarpment Commission, as well as environmental groups and local residents. To make sense of the tensions, conflicts and outcome of the Dufferin case, we consult and apply several critical literatures. We see the conflict as part of a transformation of the countryside from a space of production to a space of consumption, where there is a shift in emphasis from resource extractive to scenic and ecological landscape values, and the displacement of productive classes, farmers and workers, in favour of a service class of professionals and retirees. Within this transformation, we identify a 'power geometry' of actor networks of different coalition groups that form allegiances and engage in struggles at different geographic scales. These actor networks operate within the set frames of a dominant development discourse and a popular environmentalist discourse that both include and exclude other ways of seeing and managing the escarpment.