Calving seasonality at Pool,Orkney during the first millennium AD: an investigation using intra-tooth isotope ratio analysis of cattle molar enamel

The identification of dairying is essential if we are to understand economies of the past, particularly in northwest Europe, where a high degree of lactose tolerance suggests that fresh milk has long been a significant food product. This paper explores a possible link between economic focus and seasonality of calving. Although cattle (Bos taurus) can breed throughout the year, animals living in temperate regions with minimal or no human management tend to breed seasonally, their breeding behaviour being strongly influenced by the availability of food. In order to achieve a year-round supply of fresh milk in the past, it is likely that multiple-season calving was necessary, which would have required additional husbandry effort. Alternatively, for meat-focussed economies or those based on storable dairy products, a strategy of single-season calving in spring may have been favoured to maximise the utilisation of spring and summer vegetation. Cattle birth seasonality is investigated through isotope ratio analysis (δ¹⁸O, δ¹³C) of tooth enamel. Results for cattle from Pool, Orkney dating to the latter part of the first millennium AD suggest that calving occurred during at least three seasons implying that the continuous provision of fresh milk was of economic importance.     

Enclosing Ethnic Minorities and Forests in the Golden Economic Quadrangle

Ethnic minority farmers in the infamous Golden Triangle were first incorporated into the nation states of China, Laos and Thailand, and later into the economic region called the Golden Economic Quadrangle. This article traces policies in each country for minorities, development and the environment, followed by an analysis of agrarian transitions under economic regionalization. Using the framework of powers of exclusion and racialization, our findings show the changes for ethnic minorities who, with the exception of those in the lowlands, face environmental enclosures that dispossess them from lands on which livelihoods are based. Ideological legacies from the Golden Triangle, including ‘backward’ minorities, the fight against drugs, and threats to national security, continue to inform policies and development projects. While some farmers have become entrepreneurs planting cash crops, most face increasing marginalization under deepening regional capitalism.     

The other cold war: the United States and Greenland’s ice sheet environment, 1948–1966

During the early Cold War, no part of the Arctic was as important to the United States’ strategic interests as Greenland: situated on the shortest straight-line route between the industrial centers of the two superpowers, Greenland was integral to North American continental security. The US desire to control Greenland, however, was complicated by the island’s isolated geography, harsh climate and barren landscape. Between 1948 and 1966, US forces in Greenland were entrenched in the ‘other cold war’: the struggle with the ice sheet environment which threatened to impede American capabilities in the region. This paper explores the ‘other cold war’ through two case studies: US scientific efforts to understand and cope with polar whiteouts and the plastic deformation of ice. These case studies illuminate a struggle between two philosophical approaches to nature: a brash, aggressive approach which aimed to conquer the Greenland environment, and a more nuanced approach which aimed to collaborate with that environment. I show that the second approach won out as Greenland’s exceptional geography and environment forced the US military to reassess its relationship with nature: rather than striving for control over the island space, US military personnel ultimately chose strategic cooperation with that space.     

A matter of privilege: infant mortality in the Garrison Town of Gibraltar, 1870-1899

The British colony of Gibraltar offers an opportunity to compare the infant mortality rates of the civilian and military populations inhabiting a small-scale urban setting from 1870 to 1899. Both groups shared the same poor-quality housing, the same sanitary infrastructure, and the same environmental inseparability. Sufficient water supply, in particular, proved to be a daily struggle for the families living on the Rock. Privilege for the military meant that service families had preferential access to a pure water supply after the installation of a water-condensing plant as well as to a better quality supply of water and milk. The availability of these privileges to one group, and not the other, is associated with a marked decline in infant mortality in the second half of the study period.     

The role of morbidity in the mortality decline of the nineteenth century: evidence from the military population at Gibraltar 1818-1899

The causes of the nineteenth-century decline of mortality, characterized by lower mortality rates and increased longevity, have been the subject of debate among researchers for the past half-century. Because of a paucity of reliable data, little is understood about the role of morbidity, or illness episodes, in the mortality decline. This article introduces the results of a study that looks at the relationship of morbidity in the mortality decline during this portion of the epidemiological transition. The data are comprised of hospital admissions and deaths collected by the British army on the soldiers of the Gibraltar garrison from 1819 to 1899. Morbidity dropped during this period, but at a slower rate than mortality, and all categories of disease did not fall in concert; in some categories, morbidity rose as mortality dropped. Statistical modeling is used to analyze the categories of diseases that were most influential in the decline of mortality in this group. This research shows that there are discernible relationships between morbidity and mortality and that the two parameters are responding to different driving forces. Because changes within the military medical system may have had an effect on the relationship of the morbidity and mortality rates of the soldiers, surviving medical reports are used to reconstruct the medical care of the troops during the study period.     

SOME PROBLEMS OF BROAD DELEGATION OF LAWMAKING POWER: REFLECTIONS FROM AN EMPIRICAL STUDY1

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