Book reviews

STRENGTHENING THE FRAMEWORK OF PEACE. A Study of Current Proposals for amending, developing, or replacing present International Institutions for the Maintenance of Peace. By Alan de Rusett. (London and New York, Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1950. xiii +225 pp.)

VOTING AND THE HANDLING OF DISPUTES IN THE SECURITY COUNCIL. By Eduardo Jiménez de Aréchaga. Carnegie Endowment, N.Y., 1950. This is a lawyer's study of the operations of the Security Council. The author, a Uruguayan, was an officer in the U.N. Secretariat for some time and is now Under Secretary of Foreign Relations in Uruguay.

IMMIGRATION. By W. D. Borrie, 1949. Sydney and London, Angus and Robertson, pp. 105 + viii.

THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH SINCE 1815. By C. H. Currey. 2 vols. Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 1950–51. Vol. I, pp. viii +471; Vol. II, pp. viii +287.

DEFENCE IN THE COLD WAR. By a Chatham House Study Group. London: R.I.I.A. 1950, pp. viii +123.

ASPECTS OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. A Symposium edited by Sidney Bailey. London: The Hansard Society. 1950.     

Still Bay and serrated points from Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter,Kwazulu-Natal,South Africa

Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter is a long-sequence Middle and Later Stone Age site in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Jonathan Kaplan excavated the site and analysed the material in the 1980s as a rescue project. For many years thereafter the collection remained untouched, partly because of doubts raised about the stratigraphic integrity of the site. Using single-grain OSL dating we show that post-depositional mixing of sediment was restricted to time-specific, small-scale events. The OSL ages obtained for the Howiesons Poort and pre-Howiesons Poort are comparable to those of other southern African sites with unambiguous Howiesons Poort and Still Bay Industries. Based on morphological and other characteristics, we reason that the Still Bay is represented at Umhlatuzana, and announce the presence of a serrated point assemblage closely associated in time with the Still Bay points.     

Wine and olive oil permeation in pitched and non-pitched ceramics: relation with results from archaeological amphorae from Sagalassos,Turkey

Pitch compounds are frequently identified inside archaeological ceramic vessels. As their presence might affect the permeation of oil or wine into the ceramic fabric, experiments were conducted in which the diffusion of lipids or polyphenols into pitched and non-pitched modern vessels was followed by chemical analysis. Results show that the polyphenols of wine can intrude into the ceramics even through a pitch layer. Consequently, the absence of polyphenols in archaeological sherds is not due to their inability to reach the ceramic matrix under the pitch layer. By contrast, a pitch layer is quite effective to avoid oil intrusion into the ceramic matrix. Thus, it seems logical that oil amphorae would have been coated with pitch at the inside prior to use. Experiments in which the pitched ceramic was simultaneously exposed to oil and wine, show that the wine makes the pitch more permeable for the lipid compounds. These experimental data are confronted with residue analysis results obtained on amphorae fragments excavated in Sagalassos, Turkey. Pitch and oil were frequently found together. Based on a polyphenol test, indications for wine storage could only be obtained for two vessels. Against this background, the possible uses of the Sagalassos amphorae are discussed, and the traditional association of pine pitch with wine storage in archaeological amphorae is critically assessed.     

Luminescence characteristics and dose distributions for quartz and feldspar grains from Mumba rockshelter,Tanzania

Mumba rockshelter is a key archaeological site for the Middle and Later Stone Age occupation of East Africa, but its chronology has remained unresolved. We report the results of a dating study, focussing on the characterisation of the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) properties of quartz- and potassium-rich feldspar grains. Quartz has previously proven troublesome for dating in East Africa. We identified five general types of quartz grain behaviour, based on the shapes of their OSL decay and dose–response curves. Dose recovery experiments and measurement of the natural samples revealed particular problems with quartz grains that had hyperbolic dose–response curves, low characteristic saturation doses and anomalously large changes in sensitivity between regenerative-dose cycles. The use of pulsed irradiation during measurement and standard and additional quality-assurance criteria during data analysis reduced the number of grains that suffered from these problems. We applied these procedures to individual grains of quartz from eight samples and, using appropriate statistical models, identified post-depositional mixing in three samples. The remaining samples had scattered equivalent-dose distributions typical of quartz grains that had received variable beta dose rates during burial. Stratigraphically consistent OSL ages were obtained for all but the deepest sample. Feldspar ages were estimated for the latter sample and three other samples, using the elevated temperature IRSL signal that exhibited low rates of anomalous fading. Fading-corrected feldspar ages for the latter three samples are consistent with their single-grain quartz ages, but single-grain dating is needed to address problems of post-depositional mixing.     

John stuart mill on the tyranny of the majority

For an idea so central to the thought of a figure so prominent in the history of political philosophy, John Stuart Mill's ‘tyranny of the majority’ has been badly neglected. In this paper examination of strategic texts leads to the conclusions that Mill developed different conceptions of majority tyranny focussed on the middle class and the labouring class respectively, and that with regard to such tyranny he contrasted the situations of different societies. The United States had succumbed to it, he believed, while England might yet be spared it.