Book reviews

The Political Environment of Planning in Iran, 1971–83: From Monarchy to Islamic Republic. By Hossein Razavi and Firouz Vakil. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1984. xi + 194 pp.

An Historical Geography of Iran. By W. Barthold. Translated by Svat Soucek. Edited with an Introduction by C. E. Bosworth. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1984. xv + 285 PP.

The Soviet Union and Iran: Soviet Policy in Iran from the Beginning of the Pahlavi Dynasty until the Soviet Invasion of Iran in 1941. By Miron Rezun. Alphen aan den Rijn: Sijthoff and Noordhoff International Publishers; Geneva: Institute Universitaire de Hautes Etudes Internationales, 1981. xi + 390 pp. Illustration, Notes, Tables, Appendices to p. 395. Bibliography to p. 419. Index to p. 425.

Iran: Politics and Government under the Pahlavis: An Annotated Bibliography. By Dariush Gitisetan. Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press, 1985. 201 pp.

Artisans and Guild Life in the Later Safavid Period. By Mehdi Keyvani. Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 1982. xii + 339 pp. No price indicated. Paperback.

The Reign of the Ayatollahs: Iran and the Islamic Revolution. By Shaul Bakhash. New York: Basic Books, 1984. x + 250 pp. Notes to p. 262. Index to p. 276. Cloth, $18.95.

The Path of God's Bondsmen from Origin to Return (Mersad al‐'ebad men al‐mabda’ ela ‘1‐ma'ad); A Sufi Compendium by Najm al‐Din Razi, Known as Daya. Translated from Persian, with introduction and annotation, by Hamid Algar. Persian Heritage Series, edited by Ehsan Yarshater, No. 35. Delmar, New York: Caravan Books, 1982. 537 pp.

Cities & Trade; Consul Abbott on the Economy and Society of Iran, 1847–1866. Edited with an Introduction by Abbas Amanat. London: Ithaca Press, 1983. xliv + 256 pp. £14.50.     

Chronology of the Khartoum ‘Mesolithic’ and ‘Neolithic’ and related sites in the Sudan: statistical analysis and comparisons with Egypt

Assessment of radiocarbon measurements from the central Sudan provides the following calendrical age estimates:Early Khartoum >7000-ca 5000 BC.Early Neolithic Groupca 4900-4450 BCMiddle Neolithic Groupca 4400-3800 BCLate Neolithic Groupca 3500-2700 BCThese estimates indicate that the early Neolithic settlements in the central Sudan were established at about the same time as those at Merimda Beni Salama in the Nile Delta and the Fayum. The Predynastic sites of Upper Egypt are later in age. The Badarian at Hemamieh is probably coeval with Shaheinab. Available dates on the Badarian are younger than those for some Khartoum Neolithic sites, but the Badarian is poorly dated.

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Résumé L'evaluation de datations au radiocarbone du Soudan Central a fourni les âges absolus suivants:Early Khartoum >7000 c. 5000 BCGroupe du Néolithique inférieur c. 4900-4450 BCGroupe du Néolithique moyen c. 4400-3800 BCGroupe du Néolithique supérieur c. 3500-2700 BCCes résultats indiquent que les habitations néolithiques au Soudan Central furent établies à peu près à la même époque que celles à Merimda Beni Salama dans le Delta du Nil et au Fayoum. Les gisements prédynastiques de la Haute Egypte sont plus récents. Le Badarien à Hemamieh est probablement contemporain de Shaheinab. Les datations disponibles pour le Badarien sont plus récentes que celles de certains gisements néolithiques de Khartoum, mais le Badarien est mal daté.

     

The Process of Famine: Causes and Consequences in Sudan

In the Sudan, where 200,000 children can die from diseases like diarrhoea and measles in a ‘normal’ year, the toll jumped to somewhere between 350,000 and 700,000 [in 1984]; in the next twelve months one million more could die — out of a total child population of only 6 million. UNICEF estimates that over six million sub-Saharan infants and children are endangered by famine.     

The Predynastic of Egypt

The Predynastic of Egypt, spanning an interval from ca. 4000 to 3050 B.C., was an eventful period. After the inception of food production in the Nile Valley at least a millennium before, it was the time when the identity of Egyptian society was forged. Egypt was settled by refugees from the deserts of the eastern Sahara and the southern Levant, fleeing from mid-Holocene droughts, and became a melting pot of indigenous Nilotes and desert herders, part-time cultivators, and hunters. Within a millennium, an increasing dependence on agriculture led to sedentary life and, in some cases, to the development of sizable communities. By 4000 B.C., the settled communities had also developed a distinct division of labor between men and women and ritual and religious beliefs in which women, grain, fertility, and death were salient and interrelated elements. The Predynastic communities were also faced by the most destabilizing factor of agricultural economy, namely, fluctuations of yield. Attempts to dampen the fluctuations through interregional integration led to the emergence of community representatives and eventually chiefs. Legitimation of the status of chiefs through affiliation with the traditional and supernatural power associated with women, fertility, and death and the acquisition of exotic goods stimulated trade and an industry in funerary goods. Enlargement of economic units through alliances, with occasional incidences of fighting, especially after 3600 B.C., led to the rise of a state society governed by supreme rulers. The wedding of the funerary cult of Late Predynastic Egypt with political power and military might was the basis for the most fascinating aspects of Ancient Egypt—religion and kingship.     

First record of Homoctenus (Tentaculitoidea,Homoctenida) from the Late Devonian of northwest Peninsular Malaysia

Meor, H.A.H., Yong, A.M., Zakaria, M.Z.Z. & Ghani, A.A., 2.6.2015. First record of Homoctenus (Tentaculitoidea, Homoctenida) from the Late Devonian of northwest Peninsular Malaysia. Alcheringa 39, 550–558. ISSN 0311-5518.

The homoctenid tentaculitoid genus Homoctenus is reported for the first time from Peninsular Malaysia. The fossils derive from the Upper Devonian Sanai Limestone, exposed in the state of Perlis, northwest Peninsular Malaysia. The fossils are closely related to Homoctenus tenuicinctus tenuicinctus and are described as Homoctenus sp. cf. H. tenuicinctus. The homoctenids were recovered from an interval containing a rich conodont assemblage, indicating a Frasnian age (Palmatolepis linguiformis Zone).

Meor Hakif Amir Hassan [meorhakif@um.edu.my], Yong Adilah Mustafa [yongadilah@gmail.com], Mohamad Z.Z. Zakaria [zulhafiszariq@siswa.um.edu.my], Azman A. Ghani [azmangeo@um.edu.my], Geology Department, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Received 12.4.2015; revised 27.5.2015; accepted 2.6.2015.     

Palestinian Water: Resources,Use, Conservation,Climate Change,and Land Use

This article addresses the future of freshwater resources in the Palestinian West Bank through a discussion of contemporary issues that each plays a vital role in determining the long‐term sustainability of freshwater reserves, such as water resource availability, trans‐boundary water issues, water reuse and conservation, changes in land use, and the potential impact of climate change on long‐term water management. Climate change and changing land use patterns are already altering this region's water resources. Future predictions regarding the long‐term effects of these changes are complex and therefore inherently uncertain. However, the consensus among most studies on this subject indicates that currently water‐poor regions such as the Middle East will experience even greater water stress in the future. Nearly all of the freshwater consumed in the West Bank is obtained from local groundwater supplies that are suffering overdraft as well as decreasing water quality. Climate change will exacerbate water stress by increasing overall temperatures, decreasing and fluctuating precipitation, and reducing overall aquifer replenishment. Expanding urbanization will continue to strain freshwater supplies by negatively impacting the quality and quantity of available freshwater. Water management in the West Bank is further complicated by total Israeli control over water resources, which often causes water delivery to Palestinians in this region to be marginalized. This article finds that Palestinian and Israeli water managers must plan for future water crises, which will likely be a result of the combined effects of increasing urbanization and climate change coupled with exponential population growth.     

Differentiation between Seizure and Hysteria in a Tenth-Century Persian Text: Hidāyat of al-Akhawayni (d. 983 AD)

Although hysteria is associated largely with the nineteenth century, we find the subject treated in a tenth-century Persian medical text, the Hidayat al-Muta`allemin Fi al-Tibb [A Guide to Medical Learners] by al-Akhawayni Bukhari (d. 983 AD), a prominent physician in the Persian history of medicine. In this article, we discuss al-Akhawayni’s views on seizure and hysteria and his differentiation between the two conditions, and we place it in a historical context.     

Landlord Villages of Iran as Landscapes of Hierarchy and Control

This paper analyses the walled landlord villages of the Tehran Plain in terms of hierarchy and control, and how these structures are created and expressed through the spatial landscape of the villages. Drawing on original fieldwork, the ways in which landlords used the physicality of the villages to maintain and reinforce control over farmers is explored. We suggest that the “success” or at least longevity of the land tenure system in Iran prior to the later twentieth century can be attributed at least in part to the buildings and spaces of the villages themselves.