A rallying point for different predators: the avian record from a Late Pleistocene sequence of Grotte des Barasses II (Balazuc,Ardèche,France)

The presence of processed birds in the archeological faunal record is considered key to assessing human dietary evolution. Taphonomic studies on birds from sites older than Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 2 have become relevant in the last few years, leading to the proposal of more complex scenarios of human subsistence. Several works have demonstrated direct evidence of bird consumption by Homo prior to anatomically modern humans in Europe; however, others support the hypothesis of non-anthropogenic bird accumulations. This has led to the necessity of determining what elements or factors cause the human exploitation of birds in some archeological sites before the end of the Pleistocene. The Grotte des Barasses II site is located within this framework. Short-term human occupations have been attested by the presence of lithic tools and processed macrofaunal remains. Additionally, a small assemblage of bird bones has also been recovered. Here, we present a detailed taphonomic study with the aim of exploring possible relationships between these avian taxa and human occupations. Despite the fact that Neanderthals inhabited the cave, avian specimens show damage pointing to different causative agents. Direct evidence (digestion, gnawing) indicates that mammalian carnivores and nocturnal raptors were mainly involved in the accumulation of bird bones. We propose some factors that might determine whether or not small game was exploited in this specific locality and emphasize the importance of such analytical approaches in the general interpretations of the Pleistocene sites.     

Dietary patterns in human populations from northwest Patagonia during Holocene: an approach using Binford’s frames of reference and Bayesian isotope mixing models

The goal of this paper is to assess the variation in the proportional contribution of diverse resources to the diet of human populations from northwest Patagonia (Argentina) throughout the Middle-Late Holocene. Particularly, we assessed the variation among three geographic areas and two periods. We first estimated the expected proportions of terrestrial animals and plants and aquatic resources for each area according to the Binford’s frames of references approach. A Bayesian mixing method was then applied to calculate the proportion of plants and animals in the diets from stable isotopes (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N) of human bone collagen. The isotope values suggest that the composition of diets differed spatially and temporally. Diets of South Mendoza were mainly composed of terrestrial animals (Rhea-Lama and rodents) with a greater incorporation of C₃ plants towards the later Late Holocene; in North Neuquén, Rhea and Lama represent a proportion of 0.84 of the diet consumed; and finally, the sample of Center Neuquén is the only one with high values of Araucaria in the diet. The isotopic values obtained for the three studied areas did not fit to the expectations of Binford’s model, North Neuquén being the area that departs most from the predicted proportions of terrestrial animals and plants and aquatic organisms in the diet. These findings open up new questions about the local conditions that influenced regional variation in the diet of prehistoric hunter-gatherers.     

文化记忆视角下乡村旅游地的文化研究进展及框架构建

乡村旅游地的文化研究一直是旅游地理学关注的重点领域,而乡村文化的恢复与重构更是亟需解决的科学问题。本文从乡村旅游的概念内涵、文化表达与测度、文化保护利用、地方认同、乡村记忆及文化重构等方面对相关文献进行梳理,提出文化记忆理论和旅游人地关系理论视角下乡村旅游地文化的研究框架、内涵和内容。针对已有研究的不足,本文将乡村文化记忆作为分析乡村旅游地文化时空过程的逻辑起点,立足于文化记忆理论关注的文化记忆识别、地方身份认同和文化连续性等核心内容,构建了“时间维度、空间维度、社会维度”的三维研究框架,并据此提出了乡村文化记忆在时间、空间和社会维度的研究内容。为今后进一步丰富文化记忆与旅游地理学的融合,深化乡村旅游地文化研究的理论构建和方法创新,寻求乡村旅游地的文化研究新视角、新方向和新方法提供指导。     

Rethinking the metaphor of light: María Zambrano in dialogue with Jacques Derrida and Hans Blumenberg

ABSTRACT

The notion of metaphor has been broadly discussed during the twentieth century as an essential and necessary part of language and history. This article examines the theoretical dialogue that links the centrality of the metaphor of light in the work of María Zambrano with reflections on this topic by Jacques Derrida and Hans Blumenberg. Through various formulations of this metaphor across different works, Zambrano presents the metaphor linked to poetic reason as not reducible to a mere rhetorical ornament or to a concept. By articulating alternative metaphors to the imperative of clarity as the blinding light of Occidental reason, Zambrano introduces a solid critique to rationalism and introduces the metaphor of the Dawn as a new form of knowledge. This new intonation of the metaphor of light opens up an unexplored direction in Spanish thought not only by thinking the metaphor of light through poetic reason and its critique to the philosophical tradition, but also by assuming the political implications of this metaphor and criticizing its heliopolitical configuration. Indeed, Zambrano states the significance of the metaphor of the sun linked to the sacrificial structure of history, particularly of Spain, and its necessary overcoming as the possibility of a radical democracy.     

Socio‐cultural innovations of the Final Umm an‐Nar period (c.2100–2000 BCE) in the Oman peninsula: new insights from Ra's al‐Jinz RJ‐2

The Early Bronze Age site of RJ‐2, located close to the coastal village of Ra's al‐Jinz on the eastern Omani coast (Niyabat Ra's al‐Hadd), was the focus of archaeological investigations for over two decades. The latest campaigns of excavation unearthed an architectural complex (Building XII) dated to the very end of the Umm an‐Nar period (Final UaN, c.2100–2000 BCE), previously attested on site by poorly preserved remains. This paper presents the remains explored during the most recent fieldwork, focusing on the stratigraphic‐structural sequence and the spatial layout. It also considers the transformations affecting structural evidence and material culture during this period, at both local and regional level, highlighting their significance for a comprehensive assessment of the last occupations related to the Early Bronze Age in south‐eastern Arabia. The paper concludes by showing how the Final Umm an‐Nar phase represents an age of substantial socio‐cultural innovations, which most likely shaped the transition towards the following Wadi Suq period.     

Megaliths, Agriculture, and Social Complexity: A Diet Study of Two Swedish Megalith Populations

This paper tests the relationship between the erection of megaliths and agriculture in Neolithic Scandinavia. A dietary change in two Swedish megalith populations was tested by analyses of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes extracted from human bone collagen. Carbon isotopes show that marine resources still were utilized in the coastal area and nitrogen isotope indicates that the major part of the protein came from a high trophic level, i.e., animals. It is concluded that a change in diet, and hence subsistence, took place from a hunter—gatherer-based subsistence toward one based on pastoralism, not horticulturalism. The prerequisite for social complexity is discussed and the author favors sedentism as the major determinant.     

Prospective study of the Atlantic regions

The present study is part of the European Community's Europe 2000 programme, which aims to provide prospective reflection on the future of Community territories. Its contents are in no way binding upon the European Community.     

A Kingdom of this world: Religion,politics, power,and the Church in Spanish America

Church and State in Bourbon Mexico: The Diocese of Michoacán, 1749–1810. By D. A. BRADING. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Pp. 300.

Ideología y sociedad en Guadalajara (1788–1853). By BRIAN CONNAUGHTON. Mexico: UNAM‐CONACU, 1992.

La venida del reino. Religión, evangelización y cultura en América. Siglos XVI‐XX. Compiled by GABRIELA RAMOS. Cuzco: Centro de Estudios Regionales Andinos “Bartolomé de las Casas”, 1994.

Autobiografía de una monja venerable. By JERONIMA NAVA Y SAAVEDRA (1669–1727). Study and introduction by ANGELA INES ROBLEDO. Bogotá: Centro Editorial Universidad del Valle, 1994. Pp. 187.

El crédito eclesiástico en la Nueva España: Siglo XVIII. By GISELA VON WOBESER. Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1994. Pp. 275.     

Book reviews

The Devil in the New World: The Impact of Diabolism in New Spain. By FERNANDO CERVANTES. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994. Pp. x, 182.

An Evil Lost to View? An Investigation of Post‐Evangelisation Andean Religion in Mid‐Colonial Peru. By KENNETH MILLS. Liverpool: Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Liverpool, Monograph Series No. 18, 1994. Pp. 147.

The Limits of Racial Domination: Plebeian Society in Colonial Mexico City, 1660–1720. By R. DOUGLAS COPE. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1994. Pp. xiii, 220.

Memory, Myth, and Time in Mexico: From the Aztecs to Independence. By ENRIQUE FLORESCANO. Trans, by Albert G. Bork and Kathryn R. Bork. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994. Pp. ix, 282.

Fuentes manuscritas para la historia de Iberoamérica. Guía de instrumentos de investigación. Por SYLVIA L. HILTON e IGNACIO GONZALEZ CASASNOVAS. Madrid: Fundación Mapfre América‐Instituto Histórico Tavera, 1995. Pp. 617.

The Town of San Felipe and Colonial Cacao Economies. By EUGENIO PINERO. Philadelphia: Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 84, 1994. Pp. 189.

Imperial Panama: Commerce and Conflict in Isthmian America 1550–1800. By CHRISTOPHER WARD. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1993. Pp. xii, 272.