Policing paternity: historicising masculinity and sexuality in early-modern France

In early-modern working communities, masculinity for young lower-rank men was embedded in particular performances and practices of licit intimacy. This essay analyses the specific expectations and parameters for men as well as women through which communities acknowledged and validated expressions of youth sexuality while marking and policing boundaries beyond which youthful courtship could become threatening to household and neighbourhood stability. Young men and women were the focus of these efforts just as they themselves participated in the assessment of appropriate behaviour. These issues suggest an on-going negotiation and contestation about what was appropriate for single men and women in terms of intimacy, and a clear sense that a violation of the community norms carried consequences for men as well as women.     

Paleoclimates and the emergence of fortifications in the tropical Pacific islands

Paleoclimatic data from the tropical Pacific islands are compared to archaeological evidence for fortification construction in the Holocene. The results suggest that in some regions, people constructed more fortifications during periods that match the chronology for the Little Ice Age (AD 1450–1850) in the Northern Hemisphere. Periods of storminess and drought associated with the El Niño Southern Oscillation have less temporal correlation with the emergence of fortifications in the Pacific, but significant spatial correlation with the most severe conditions associated with this cycle. These temporal and spatial correlations require additional study to investigate possible causal relationships.     

Assessing the effects of conservation treatments on short sequences of DNA in vitro

Little is known about what effects conservation treatments used to preserve human and animal hard and soft tissues have on DNA preservation. We have developed a method to assess quantitatively the extent of lesions or strand breakage caused by conservation treatments on short sequences of DNA in vitro. The method developed enables the determination of the percentage of DNA preserved following exposure to a conservation treatment solution relative to control samples, thereby allowing the direct comparison of treatments based upon their preserving/damaging effects on a DNA sequence. Forty-three chemicals commonly used in the preparation and/or conservation of human and/or animal remains were examined. We found that the majority were damaging, in particular and as expected, acidic treatments and treatments carried out at elevated temperatures. A few, primarily organic solvents, were not damaging. The approach we have adopted can be applied to screen other treatments either used in the past or for future conservation applications as they are developed to assess their effects on DNA. How these results should be interpreted in terms of conservation and sampling is also discussed.     

Book reviews

The Geography of Europe's Futures. Ian Masser, Ove Sviden and Michael Wegener, London, Belhaven Press, 1992, 225 pp., £12.99, ISBN 1 85293 231/2 7/5.

Cities and Regions in the New Europe. Mick Dunford and Grigoris Kafkalas (Eds), London, Belhaven Press, 1992, 339 pp., £42.00, ISBN: 1 85293 221 X.

Regional Development and Contemporary Industrial Response: Extending Flexible Specialisation. Huib Ernste and Verena Meier (Eds), London, Belhaven Press, 1992, 256 pp., £35.00, ISBN: 1 85293 214 7.

Understanding Information: Business, Technology and Geography. K. Robins (Ed.), London, Belhaven Press, 1992, 207 pp., £37.50, ISBN: 1 85293 109 4.

Humanising the City? Social Contexts of Urban life at the Turn of the Millennium. Anthony P. Cohen and Katsuyoshi Fukui (Eds), Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 228 pp., £29.50 hb., ISBN 0 7486 0388 3.     

Book reviews

Regions Reconsidered: Economic Networks, Innovation and Local Department in Industrial Countries. Edward Bergman, Gunter Maier and Franz Tödtling (Eds), London: Mansell Publishing Limited, 1991, 312pp.

Travel Sickness: The Need for a Sustainable Transport Policy for Britain. J. Roberts, J. Cleary, K. Hamilton and J. Hanna (Eds), London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1992, 358pp.

Endogenous Development and Southern Europe. G. Garofoli (Ed.), Aldershot: Avebury Press, 1992, ISBN 1 85628 1310, 250pp., £37.50.