Kings and commoners at Copan: Isotopic evidence for origins and movement in the Classic Maya period

Eight human interments were excavated in the 1990s beneath the Acropolis at the Classic Maya site of Copan in Honduras, which was the capital of a Maya kingdom from ca. AD 400 to 800. These human remains come from both royal tombs and less elaborate burials dating to the early part of this period and lie deep in the accumulated architectural layers of the Acropolis. We present a brief summary of the context, contents, and external links represented by these interments. Several lines of evidence point to connections between early Copan and Teotihuacan in the Central Highlands of Mexico, and Tikal in the central Maya lowlands of the Petén in Guatemala.     

Strontium and stable isotope evidence for diet and mobility in Roman Gloucester,UK

This paper presents the results of a multi-isotopic (oxygen, strontium, carbon and nitrogen isotopes) investigation of population and dietary diversity in Roman Gloucester, focusing on individuals found in a late 2nd century AD mass burial pit at London Road, and comparing them to those found in the nearby cemetery. There were no statistical differences in isotopic composition between mass grave and cemetery burials, suggesting, in agreement with the osteological evidence, that the mass burial was the result of a catastrophic event, probably an epidemic disease. Strontium and oxygen isotope analysis demonstrated considerable diversity in the origins of the Gloucester population, with evidence for both UK and non-UK individuals. Diet was predominately terrestrial and similar to that of other Romano-British populations. Elevated δ¹³C_dentine ratios in some individuals are correlated with raised δ¹⁸O_p values and are therefore probably due to childhoods spent in warmer climates, rather than dietary variation.     

Metamorphic and basin fluids in quartz–carbonate–sulphide veins in the SW Scottish Highlands: a stable isotope and fluid inclusion study

Metalliferous (Fe–Cu–Pb–Zn) quartz–carbonate–sulphide veins cut greenschist to epidote–amphibolite facies metamorphic rocks of the Dalradian, SW Scottish Highlands, with NE–SW to NW–SE trends, approximately parallel or perpendicular to regional structures. Early quartz was followed by pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, barite, late dolomite–ankerite and clays. Both quartz–sulphide and carbonate vein mineralisation is associated with brecciation, indicating rapid release of fluid overpressure and hydraulic fracturing. Two distinct mineralising fluids were identified from fluid inclusion and stable isotope studies. High temperature (>350°C) quartz‐precipitating fluids were moderately saline (4.0–12.7 wt.% NaCl equivalent) with low (approximately 0.05). Quartz δ¹⁸O (+11.7 to +16.5‰) and sulphide δ³⁴S (?13.6 to ?1.1‰) indicate isotopic equilibrium with host metasediments (rock buffering) and a local metasedimentary source of sulphur. Later, low‐temperature (T_H = 120–200°C) fluids, probably associated with secondary carbonate, barite and clay formation, were also moderately saline (3.8–9.1 wt.% NaCl equivalent), but were strongly enriched in ¹⁸O relative to host Dalradian lithologies, as indicated by secondary dolomite–ankerite (δ¹⁸O = +17.0 to +29.0‰, δ¹³C = ?1.0 to ?3.0‰). Compositions of carbonate–forming fluids were externally buffered. The veins record the fluid–rock interaction history of metamorphic host rocks during cooling, uplift and later extension. Early vein quartz precipitated under retrograde greenschist facies conditions from fluids probably derived by syn‐metamorphic dehydration of deeper, higher‐grade rocks during uplift and cooling of the Caledonian metamorphic complex. Veins are similar to those of mesothermal veins in younger Phanerozoic metamorphic belts, but are rare in the Scottish Dalradian. Early quartz veins were reactivated by deep penetration of low‐temperature basin fluids that precipitated carbonate and clays in veins and adjacent Dalradian metasediments throughout the SW Highlands, probably in the Permo‐Carboniferous. This event is consistent with paragenetically ambiguous barite with δ³⁴S characteristic of late Palaeozoic basinal brines.     

Book reviews—Comptes Rendus

Themes in medieval history—Aspects de l'histoire du moyen âge

Dianne WATT ed., Medieval Women in their Communities University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1997 ISBN 0–7083–1369–8(Hardback) £30.00 ISBN 0–7083–1361–2(paperback) £14.95.

Chris GIVEN‐WILSON ed., An Illustrated History of Late Medieval England, Manchester University Press, Manchester 1996 xi + 292 pp. ISBN 0–7190–4152‐X £35.00

Themes in Eighteenth‐Century History—Aspects de l'histoire du dix‐huitième siècle

Jeremy BLACK ed., An Illustrated History of Eighteenth‐Century Britain 1688–1793 Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1996, xv + 244 pp. ISBN 0–7190–4267–4. £25.00.

Jeremy BLACK ed., Culture and Society in Britain 1660–1800 Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1997, viii + 199 pp. ISBN 0–7190–4947–4. £35.00.

Themes in Russian History—Aspects de l'histoire Russe

Lionel KOCHAN and John KEEP, The Making of Modern Russia: From Kiev Rus’ to the Collapse of the Soviet Union, Third Edn., Penguin, London, 1997, xii + 603 p., ISBN 0–14–015715–8. £9.99.

Wendy R. SALMOND, Arts and Crafts in Imperial Russia: Reviving the Kustar Art Industries, 1870–1917, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996, xv + 270p., ill., ISBN 0–521–41576–4 £50.00.

Morgan Philips PRICE, Dispatches from the Revolution: Russia 1916–1918, Pluto Press, London, 1997, xii + 181 p., ISBN 0–7453–1210–1 £30.00.

John Lewis GADDIS, We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1997, x + 425p., ISBN 0–19–878070–2 £25.00.     

A Stake in Place? The Geography of Employee Ownership and its Implications for a Stakeholding Society

In recent years employee ownership has become a means by which some workers facing privatization, closure or takeover have attempted to defend their jobs and communities. Proponents of a 'stakeholding' society have advocated the widening of share ownership as a means of democratizing the economy, building partnerships and achieving consensus at work. But is employee ownership able to sustain local investment and industrial partnership? Through a detailed case study of a management and employee buyout in the railway industry, I suggest that the ability of employee ownership to fix investment in place may be enhanced by relations of 'stakeholding', increasing employee commitment to the firm and its future. In the case studied here, however, lack of employee power and finance effectively excluded most workers from the processes and philosophy of the buyout. The new ownership structure did little to reshape local relations between workers and those in control. While ownership cannot eradicate economic threats to community, it might, if used as a mechanism to promote new styles of management and employee commitment, foster long-term success. It is argued that government and trade unions can do more to promote wider employee ownership and participation at work in the future.     

Paracondylar process: Manifestation of an occipital vertebra

In the examination of over 1300 burials from medieval Canterbury, one individual displayed a well-defined paracondylar process. Four other adults and two children presented with small tubercles at the same site. The aetiology of the trait is discussed with reference to cranial base variants and the so-called manifestation of an occipital vertebra.