Settlement history in the eastern Rub al-Khali: Preliminary Report of the Dubai Desert Survey (2006–2007)

Regional archaeological survey in desert areas of Dubai, U.A.E., has identified numerous archaeological sites in this rapidly changing landscape. Subsurface geophysical surveys have been undertaken in concert with surface collection and test excavation to document the extent and chronology of each site. Contrary to expectations that deserts were permanently abandoned following the end of the mid-Holocene pluvial phase around 4000 BC, two sites, Al-Ashoosh and Saruq al-Hadid, show evidence of substantial occupation during the late third and early first millennia respectively. These findings suggest that the Rub al-Khali supported human settlement much later than is generally thought, challenging traditional understandings of the region's cultural and environmental histories.     

Laser scanning confocal microscopy: a potential technique for the study of lithic microwear

The key problem restricting lithic microwear analysis is the lack of quantitative analysis to support qualitative assessments of different wear traces. This paper presents the reflective laser scanning confocal microscope (LSCM) as a new technique for the study of lithic microwear that has the potential to resolve this problem. Firstly, an example is presented that shows how the LSCM compares with conventional reflected light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. This shows that images, rivalling that of the SEM, can be produced in similar timescales to conventional photomicrography and with no need for casting or sample preparation. The LSCM is also used to measure surface roughness of use-wear produced from working hide (dry, fresh and greasy), woodworking and antler working. This analysis demonstrates clear differences between the different wear polishes and the potential of the LSCM as a quantitative approach in lithic microwear research.     

South polar greenhouse insects (Arthropoda: Insecta: Coleoptera) from the mid-Cretaceous Tupuangi Formation,Chatham Islands,eastern Zealandia

Stilwell, J.D., Vitacca, J. & Mays, C., April 2016. South polar greenhouse insects (Arthropoda: Insecta: Coleoptera) from the mid-Cretaceous Tupuangi Formation, Chatham Islands, eastern Zealandia. Alcheringa 40, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518

Rare insect body fossils have been discovered for the first time after 175 years of research on the Chatham Islands, eastern ‘Zealandia’. The coleopteran (beetle) insects, dated to ca 95 Ma and extracted from fine-grained, upper delta plain facies in the lower Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian–lowermost Turonian) Tupuangi Formation at Waihere Bay on the remote Pitt Island, represent the most southern, polar-latitude (ca 70–80°S) faunal assemblage from the Cretaceous recorded to date. Three species are represented in the insect fauna: a portion of a segmented abdomen of a probable carabid? ground beetle and two distinct coleopteran elytra, one preserved with a brilliantly iridescent carapace upon discovery, comparable with Cretaceous taxa within the Buprestidae (metallic wood borers), but identification with the Chrysomelidae (leaf beetles) or Tenebrionidae (darkling beetles) can not be discounted entirely. Another specimen has more weakly preserved greenish iridescence and has a morphology consistent with Carabidae; given the preservational deficiencies and rarity of material, the specimens are attributed to Buprestidae? genus et species indeterminate and Carabidae? genus et species indeterminate A and B, respectively. These coleopteran fossils represent the only recorded iridescence in Mesozoic invertebrates from Zealandia. Importantly, these mid-Cretaceous insects existed in South Polar forests near the height of the ‘hothouse’ phase of relatively warm, alternating intervals of full daylight in the summer months and total darkness during the winter, before eastern Zealandia diverged at ca 83 Ma from the Marie Byrd Land region of West Antarctica, as part of the final break-up of Gondwana.

Jeffrey D. Stilwell* [jeffrey.stilwell@monash.edu], Jesse V. Vitacca [jesse.vitacca@gmail.com] & Chris Mays [chris.mays@monash.edu], School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Clayton VIC 3800, Australia. *Also affiliated with the Australian Museum, 6 College Street, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia.     

Firm networks,borders, and regional economic integration

Borders reduce interprovincial trade relative to intraprovincial trade. Using trade and firm ownership microdata over a 9-year period (2004–2012), we show firm ownership networks, like trade flows, diminish with distance and borders and that the estimated effect of provincial borders on trade may fall by almost 75% after accounting for firm networks. This suggests the weaker presence of firm networks across borders has a significant, although statistically imprecise, effect on interprovincial trade. These findings reinforce the view that understanding border effects require not only the identification of barriers to trade but also barriers to investment across borders.     

The Neoconservatives and the Pope: Misreading John Paul II in George Weigel's Biographies

With the recent release of his autobiographical narrative of the composition of the papal biography, Witness to Hope, prominent Catholic neoconservative George Weigel has invited a reexamination of the presentation of John Paul II to the world by Catholic neoconservatives. In his biographies, George Weigel crafts an often misleading portrait of Pope John Paul II as the pope of American liberalism and neoconservativism. Ironically, at the same time, the story of Weigel's biographies contains the story of the rise and fall of the Catholic neoconservative movement in America.     

A sequence of inland desert settlement in the Oman peninsula: 2008–2009 excavations at Saruq al‐Hadid,Dubai, UAE

The 2008–2009 excavations conducted by the Dubai Desert Survey at Saruq al‐Hadid, Dubai, have transformed our interpretation of the site from an Iron Age bronze production centre to a site with multiple occupations over the course of more than three millennia; they underline the importance of this site for understanding land use and settlement patterns in the deserts of the Oman peninsula. Saruq al‐Hadid probably began as an oasis site where nomadic pastoralists during the Umm an‐Nar and Wadi Suq periods camped and took advantage of a relatively well‐watered landscape. In contrast, Iron Age remains at the site do not bear any definite signs of settlement per se; instead, the material culture suggests that Saruq al‐Hadid may have been one of several sites in south‐east Arabia that were dedicated to a snake cult. The site is capped by waste from an intensive metalworking operation that appears to have taken place during the later first millennium BC. Iron age and later remains from the site tie Saruq al‐Hadid to a regional network of settlement and trade centres and suggest that, like the mountain piedmont and coasts, the sandy desert expanses of the Oman peninsula held economic and ritual importance in the overall landscape.     

Defensibility of large prehistoric sites in the Mid-Fraser region on the Canadian Plateau

Based on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis, this paper assesses the defensibility of winter village sites in the Mid-Fraser region on the Canadian Plateau during the Late Prehistoric Period (ca. 3500–200 B.P.), particularly the Plateau and Kamloops Horizons (ca. 2400–200 B.P.). Although there is variability in prehistoric village locations in terms of defensibility, highly defensible prehistoric sites in the Mid-Fraser region are concentrated in two localities. The high defensive values of these village sites indicate that the threat of intergroup conflict had a significant impact on choice of settlement location. The approach used in this paper demonstrates the importance of past defensive considerations in the decision making processes pertaining to settlement locations. As conflict is a common feature of many cultures and time periods throughout the world, this approach has potential applications to other defensive sites globally.     

Theorizing Access: Forest Profits along Senegal's Charcoal Commodity Chain

The questions at the centre of this article are: who profits from commercial forestry, and how? Through access mapping with commodity chain analysis, this study examines the distribution of benefits from Senegal's charcoal trade and the multiple market mechanisms underpinning that distribution. Benefits from charcoal are derived from direct control over forest access, as well as through access to markets, labour opportunities, capital, and state agents and officials. Access to these arenas is based on a number of inter-related mechanisms including legal property, social identity, social relations, coercion and information control. A commodity chain is the series of relations through which an item passes, from extraction through conversion, exchange, transport, distribution and final use. Access mapping involves evaluating the distribution of benefits along the chain, and tracing out the mechanisms by which access to benefits is maintained. It sheds light on the limited role of property, the embedded nature of markets, and the role of extra-legal structures and mechanisms in shaping equity and efficiency in resource use. It does so in a socially situated, multi-local manner, spanning the geographic spread of production and exchange. It also illuminates the practical issues surrounding establishment of community participation in benefits from and control over natural resources.     

It Doesn't Matter: Some Cautionary Findings About Sex and Representation From School Committee Conversations

One of the most important findings in the field of gender and politics is that women elected officials at the state and national levels do a better job than men of representing the interests of women, children, and families. This paper uses school committees to ask the same question about women elected officials at the local level. Thus the question that guides this paper is: Does it matter for women if women are elected to this local political institution? If it does matter, then we should “hear” women's distinct ways of participating through their discussions at committee meetings. The study finds, in contrast, that in this political institution women and men behave in remarkably similar ways when separated by committee roles, and that women elected officials in this political institution spend very little time addressing issues affecting girls in public education.     

Authority over Forests: Empowerment and Subordination in Senegal's Democratic Decentralization

Senegal's 1998 forestry code transfers rights to control and allocate forest access to elected rural councils, ostensibly giving the elected authorities significant material powers with respect to which they can represent the rural population. But the Forest Service is unwilling to allow rural councils to exercise these powers. To retain control, foresters use pressure, bribes and threats while taking advantage of the inability of the rural representatives to influence actors higher up in government. They justify themselves with arguments of national good and local incompetence. The foresters ally with urban‐based forest merchants and are supported by the sub‐prefect. Despite the transfer of forest rights, the foresters continue to allocate access to lucrative forest opportunities — in this case charcoal production and exchange — to the merchants. Despite holding effective property rights over forest, such as the right to exclude others, rural councils remain marginal and rural populations remain destitute. The councils cannot represent their populations and therefore cannot gain legitimacy: they have no authority. Despite progressive new laws, the Forest Service helps to maintain Senegal's healthy urban charcoal oligopsonies, while beating back fledgling local democracy.