Neutron activation analysis of some roman and islamic coarse wares of western cyrenaica and crete

Coarse wares from western Cyrenaica and southern Crete are similar in shape and workmanship and are not distinguished petrologically. It has been possible to identify three distinct groups by neutron activation analysis: (1) Keratokambos (Crete); (ii) Benghazi lime-rich ware; (iii) Benghazi shell-rich ware. The element ratios for (ii) and (iii) are 1·52 ± 0·16 (excluding Na) which suggests a dilution of clay from the same source by shell for example in the shell-rich ware.The element ratio for Na is only 1·01 and the Na concentration increases linearly with time. This could be Na absorption with time from the brackish water for which the region is renowned.     

Shifting stones and changing homes: using toolstone ratios to consider relative occupation span in the northwestern Great Basin

Like Paleoindian populations elsewhere in North America, Pre-Archaic groups in the Great Basin are assumed to have been highly mobile and far ranging. This view is commonly based on analyses of lithic technology and source provenance studies. While these approaches have added to our knowledge of Pre-Archaic lifeways, they have rarely focused on occupation span – an aspect of hunter–gatherer behavior directly related to mobility. Here, I use the proportions of local and nonlocal toolstone in Pre-Archaic and later Archaic assemblages to consider occupation span with the assumption that assemblages should become increasingly dominated by local materials as occupation span increases. The results suggest that residential mobility was high and occupations short before 7500 radiocarbon years ago. Conversely, between 7500 and 1300 radiocarbon years ago, residential mobility decreased and many locations were occupied for extended periods. Occupation span once again decreased as residential mobility increased after 1300 radiocarbon years ago. These trends were likely influenced by changes in the environmental and demographic climate of the Holocene.     

Indigenous biocultural rights and the Blue Mountains: Local and international policy challenges

Indigenous knowledges play a critical role in addressing the environmental crisis, and the United Nations system has adopted a suite of international treaties to protect and strengthen Indigenous peoples’ rights, which are often described as biocultural rights. Because World Heritage Areas are nominated and monitored by UNESCO, an initial hypothesis in this study was that such areas would be subject to higher than normal standards in regard to Indigenous people’s biocultural rights. By reference to the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, Australia, this research examined how the international legislative framework influences conservation practices. We held semi-structured interviews with conservation and Indigenous local experts and compared park management practices in the Area against those used in an Indigenous Protected Area. Findings align with the literature and suggest that Indigenous and scientific knowledge systems can generate new insights for the Area and other sites. Yet, Indigenous knowledges are only marginally applied in practice. Some barriers to full participation of Indigenous people are specific to the colonial history of the area. Yet, findings point to a lack of action by Australian governments and UNESCO, and that needs to be redressed. The study calls attention to the need to support and resource Indigenous people to enable collaborative partnerships to yield significant benefits for biodiversity and protection of Country.     

Through the High Rock and beyond: placing the Last Supper Cave and Parman Paleoindian lithic assemblages into a regional context

Based on source provenance data derived from Paleoindian artifacts in the Great Basin, most researchers agree that early groups were mobile and far-ranging; however, current explanations of the behavior reflected by those data differ. Some models portray Paleoindians as residentially-mobile foragers while others portray them as wetland-tethered collectors reliant upon logistical forays. We consider the types of hunter-gatherer behavior that could produce trends in the X-ray fluorescence data from three Paleoindian assemblages in northwest Nevada, where abundant high quality obsidian essentially allows us to hold the effects of raw material availability constant between sites. We conclude that while it is difficult to differentiate between residential and logistical mobility using technological and sourcing data alone, we can nevertheless begin to understand the relative time-averaged importance of particular locations on the landscape and why such places attracted Paleoindians.     

From Active Young Explorers to Passive Young Consumers: The Commercialization of Canada's OWL Magazine

This article provides a content analysis of OWL magazine, a popular Canadian children's periodical published initially by a non-profit organization and, after 1997, by a for-profit corporation. Researchers examined issues of OWL from 1982, 1992, and 2002 to assess changes in the magazine in response to commercial ownership. Quantitative and qualitative methodologies were used to show how OWL has shifted from a primarily science and animal-themed magazine to a general interest “consumer” magazine for children with features like video game reviews. This shift from 1982 to 2002 is discussed within larger changes in Canadian children's commercial media and marketing. Canadian and American children's commercial media “boomed” during the 1980s and 1990s, placing additional pressure on OWL to incorporate content that met advertisers' interests and emerging consumerist outlook of Canadian children. We conclude by discussing how this research informs ongoing theoretical debates about the commercialization of childhood.