Book reviews

Converging Cultures: Art and Identity in Spanish America. Edited by DIANA FANE. Brooklyn: Brooklyn Museum, 1996. Pp. 320.

New World Orders: Casta Painting and Colonial Latin America. By ILONA KATZEW, Curator. New York: Americas Society Art Gallery, 1996. Pp. 144.

Iglesia, Estado y economía. Sighs XVI al XIX. Edited by MARIA DEL PILAR MARTINEZ LOPEZ‐CANO. Mexico: UNAM/Instituto José María Luis Mora, 1995 Pp. 314.

El crédito a largo plazo en el siglo XVI. Ciudad de México (1550–1620). By MARIA DEL PILAR MARTINEZ LOPEZ‐CANO. Mexico: UNAM, 1995. Pp. 208.

The Darker Side of the Renaissance: Literacy, Territoriality, and Colonization. By WALTER D. MIGNOLO. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1995. Pp. xxii, 426.

Entre la retórica y la insurgencia: las ideas y los movimientos sociales en los Andes, Siglo XVIII. Compilado por CHARLES WALKER. Cuzco: Centra “Bartolomé de Las Casas”, 1996. Pp. 362.

Saberes andinos. Ciencia y tecnología en Bolivia, Ecuador y Perú. Editado por MARCOS CUETO. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, 1995. Pp. 215.     

Radiometric dates and micromorphological evidence for synchronous domestic activity and sheep penning in a Neolithic cave: Cueva de El Toro (Málaga,Antequera, Spain)

We present radiocarbon dates and preliminary micromorphological information from the Neolithic cave site of Cueva del Toro (Antequera, Málaga, Spain). This site has yielded a rich early and late Neolithic archaeological record. The late Neolithic assemblage reflects specialized handcraft activity including in situ ceramic manufacture, textile production, and food processing along with sheep and goat penning, suggesting that the cave occupants and their domestic animals shared the same living space. Until now, dating of the stratigraphic sequence was incomplete, and the function of the combustion activities carried out at the cave remained unclear. New absolute dates from the main late Neolithic domestic activity area, corresponding to the most intense Neolithic occupation of the cave, allow us to place the entire sequence between 5320 and 5170 BP (or 4250–3950 to 2σ Cal BC). Micromorphological results show that many combustion features from this site represent recurrently burnt episodes on sheep/goat stabling deposits all along the sequence, corroborating human-goat/sheep cohabitation. This practice had not been previously documented in southern Spain for such early dates. Our results exemplify the importance of characterizing archaeological deposits at a microstratigraphic scale of observation.     

A Context for Concealment: The Historical Archaeology of Folk Ritual and Superstition in Australia

Are there traditions of folk ritual practice in Australian historical contexts, and are they observable in the archaeological record? Studies from the US and UK have documented a range of practices suggesting the persistence of British and European traditions of folk magic well into the twentieth century and previous historical work has identified numerous examples of ritual concealments in Australian buildings. In examining over 4,500 Australian historical archaeological sources, however, we found very few examples of possible folk ritual practices. This raises the question of why such practices are not being captured by current archaeological recording methods. As counterpoint, a general model is constructed from US, UK and Australian work that raises intriguing possibilities for the situating of superstitious behavior in Australian historical archaeology, including the contexts in which people might be more prone to practise such behaviors and how they might be materially identifiable.     

Producer Services, Economic Geography, and Services Tradability

We investigate how the incorporation of producer services linkages affects the outcome of an economic geography model. We specify the production of manufactures such that a variety of producer services is needed to transform tradable unfinished goods into final consumption goods. We find that service linkages promote the concentration of economic activity in a single region, but whether full concentration is achieved depends on the costs and mode of services trade. Applying the model to a multiregion world shows that incorporating producer services may also give rise to regions that specialize in different economic activities.     

西汉早期出土金缕和丝缕玉衣部分玉料材质及其加工工艺特征管窥

广州西汉南越王墓和徐州狮子山汉墓是我国汉代最重要和出土玉器数量最多的两个王侯级墓地,两墓出土的丝缕和金缕玉衣是当时南方和中原汉王朝最重要的墓葬玉器之一。通过上手观察、显微镜拍照并利用环境扫描电镜和漫反射红外光谱、拉曼光谱技术对广州南越王墓及徐州狮子山汉墓出土玉衣部分玉片的质材和加工工艺进行了观察测试和对比分析。结果显示,两地玉衣的玉料均主要为透闪石质,从现存玉衣颜色及玉质结构上看,徐州狮子山汉墓出土玉衣玉料来源单一且玉质明显好于南越王墓,南越王墓玉料具有多来源的特征,玉衣中的“假玉”可能来自粤西。从南越王墓玉衣片部分切割痕迹判断,南越王墓所使用的切割工具可能接近当时的最高水平,也可能存在中原交换来源的玉材,无法排除南越王墓玉衣全部或部分在当地制作的可能;南越王墓和徐州狮子山汉墓出土玉衣加工工艺特征明显不同,显示两地玉衣系由不同 “玉作”体系加工完成,汉代可能存在多个不同的玉作体系,工艺水平参差不齐。     

Taxonomic, anatomical, and spatio-temporal variations in the stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions of plants from an African savanna

Stable carbon (δ¹³C) and nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) isotope ratios are commonly used to reconstruct palaeodiets and palaeoenvironments. The method is based on our knowledge of isotopic patterns in plants, which are subject to taxonomic and environmental variability. While previous researchers have addressed isotopic variability amongst plants, no studies have looked extensively at a broad suite of taxa over multiple temporal scales from within the savanna biome so as to provide baseline data for palaeodietary and palaeoenvironmental studies. Here we document variations in the isotopic compositions of plants collected over two years from the Kruger National Park, South Africa, with respect to species and anatomical differences, and the influences of geological substrate and spatio-temporal shifts in climate. Results show that environmentally-induced carbon isotopic variations in plants within this region are generally smaller than 2‰, which is lower than what has been previously reported for plants compared across multiple habitat-types. These data suggest that δ¹³C differences of 2‰ or more (or 1‰ if the diet is predominantly C₄) between animals from a given area reliably indicate real dietary differences. Plant δ¹⁵N values vary greatly between different microhabitats (by up to 4‰), responding to a range of environmental influences that may, in turn, significantly influence variation in animal δ¹⁵N values.