Assessing mussel shell diagenesis in the modern vadose zone at Lyon's Bluff (22OK520), Northeast Mississippi

This study considers the chemical alteration of archaeological freshwater shell above the water table at the Lyon's Bluff site (22OK520), a single-mound and village complex located in east-central Mississippi, and the changes in trace element concentrations between unfired and fired shell. Thin-section petrography, X-ray diffraction, cathodoluminescence, and scanning electron microscopy analyses were conducted on archaeological shell from four natural layers from Unit 20N20W, over a depth of 80 cm and spanning 450 years. ICP–MS analysis also was conducted on a modern freshwater shell subjected to kiln firing. Microscopy results indicate a pristine aragonite crystal structure in the archaeological samples. ICP–MS data show that certain trace elements within the modern shell maintain their concentration after firing at 500 °C. The broader implications are: 1) that diagenetic alteration does not hinder chemical sourcing of shell at Lyon's Bluff, and 2) that certain trace elements are more reliable than others, namely Sr²⁺, Al²⁺, Ba²⁺, and Mn²⁺, when conducting trace element provenance studies on fired-shell temper.     

The vague nouvelle and the Nouvelle Vague: The Critical Construction of le jeune cinéma français

One of the commonplaces in critical writing on the 1990s movement known as le jeune cinéma français is the idea that it constituted a new ‘New Wave’. At the same time, the critical reception of the 1990s and 1960s ‘new waves’ could not be more different, with le jeune cinéma français being seen invariably as aesthetically inferior to its 1960s ‘antecedent’. This article examines the two key discursive mechanisms used to link le jeune cinéma français to the Nouvelle Vague, those of political commitment and ‘auteur’ cinema. It is argued that the mechanisms used to construct le jeune cinéma français as a distinct cinematic category become increasingly divorced from the kinds of films actually being made and that it is this discursive disjuncture which is, in part, responsible for its negative critical reception.     

ON THE IMPACT OF LABOR MARKET MATCHING ON REGIONAL DISPARITIES*

ABSTRACT We propose a model where imperfect matching between firms and workers on local labor markets leads to incentives for spatial agglomeration. We show that the occurrence of spatial agglomeration depends on initial size differences in terms of both number of workers and firms. Allowing for dynamics of workers' and firms' location choices, we show that the spatial outcome depends crucially on different dimensions of agents' mobility. The effect of a higher level of human capital on regional disparities depends on whether it makes workers more mobile or more specialized on the labor market.     

Latitudinal variation in a photoperiod response gene in European barley: insight into the dynamics of agricultural spread from ‘historic’ specimens

Between ca. 6000 BC and ca. 500 BC, barley cultivation spread across the continent of Europe from the extreme south to the extreme north. Carbon-dating would suggest that this spread, and indeed the spread of crop cultivation generally, varied in its pace, with ‘delays’ at certain points along its route. Such delays in the spread of agriculture have been explained as resulting from the slow assimilation of agricultural practices by existing indigenous human populations or as the time taken for the crops to adapt to novel climatic conditions, such as altered temperature regimes and day-lengths. A mutant form of the photoperiod response gene, Ppd-H1, causes barley to be non-responsive to long days, while the wild-type responsive form allows plants to flower in response to long days. We sequenced this gene in 65 ‘historic’ barley accessions, from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, in order to explore the potential role of environmental adaptation in the spread of agriculture. We chose to use ‘historic’ material, to complement the richer patterns in extant genetic lines, by spreading the data range in both time and space. Our ‘historic’ barley data shows a latitudinal divide in the Ppd-H1 gene similar to that found in extant lines, but with clearer geographical resolution, and extending northwards into the Arctic Circle. We discuss the implications of our results in relation to the dynamics of agricultural spread across Europe.     

Community consultation in public policy: The case of the Murray-Darling Basin of Australia

Community consultation is widely employed in contemporary Australia as a means of improving the formulation and implementation of public policy. However, little is known about the optimal expenditure of effort required for any given consultation. This article develops a rational choice model of community consultation that seeks to encapsulate the major elements involved in optimising consultation effort. The framework is particularly useful for understanding and explaining why actual community consultation processes may be sub-optimal. The rational choice model is then applied to the Living Murray debate over water resources in the Murray-Darling Basin of Australia.