On the causes of perforations in archaeological domestic cattle skulls: New evidence

An example of ante‐mortem cranial perforations in the skull of a European wisent (Bison bonasus) from Armenia is presented. The implications for reinterpreting the possible causes of this condition in ancient domestic cattle (outlined in a previous paper) are briefly discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Bugiau Community at Eight‐Mile: An Urban Settlement in Port Moresby,Papua New Guinea

Contrary to the popular tendency to scapegoat and demonize urban settlements in Papua New Guinea the trend among academics has been to normalize their existence. There is however little detailed information upon which to base either view. This paper reviews existing studies of urban settlements in Papua New Guinea and finds a lacuna of information on basic livelihood functions. On the basis of a household survey and general observations made during a four‐week period of residence in an urban settlement in Port Moresby, it presents data on household composition, employment, income, expenditure and social identity for one urban settlement. The picture presented describes a way of life that does not support popular stereotypes.     

Cross-border mergers/acquisitions: a review and research agenda

Cross-border mergers/acquisitions account for the bulk of contemporaryforeign direct investment. Their significance, which is reinforcingthe position of transnational corporations as the dominant institutionalforce in the global economy, is related to the nexus of processesimplicated in international economic restructuring. Cross-bordermergers/acquisitions are, therefore, important influences uponthe evolution of the space economy, but this perspective onmerger/acquisition activity has been neglected in academic research.This review makes connections between disparate literaturesto identify potential lines of enquiry and attempts to situatethese lines of enquiry within current research agendas in economicgeography. On a basic level, mergers/acquisitions create newcorporate geographies which represent valid objects of researchin the geography of enterprise tradition. However, these corporategeographies are set within the institutional context of social,economic, and political relations. Many of the most interestingresearch questions derive from these contextual relations whichare addressed with reference to issues of embeddedness at variousgeographical scales and also by linking these issues to aspectsof employment and territorial development.     

Assessing the applicability of portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry for obsidian provenance research in the Maya lowlands

Recent innovations in portable energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (PXRF) spectrometry have increased its utility for the geochemical characterization of obsidian artifacts for archaeological provenance research. However, concerns over the utility of PXRF instrumental analyses have been raised, focused on the validity and reliability of the geochemical data produced. Here we adopt the framework of Richard Hughes (On Reliability, Validity, and Scale in Obsidian Sourcing Research, 1998), whereby reliability addresses instrument stability and issues of measurement while validity pertains to an instrument’s ability to discern geochemical source provenance. This is done in order to test the utility of PXRF instruments for archaeological provenance research. k-Means cluster analysis was used to test the accuracy of PXRF through statistical comparison of data acquired via laboratory and portable energy-dispersive XRF instruments. Multivariate analysis was employed to demonstrate obsidian source representation at two Classic Maya archaeological sites in southern Belize – Uxbenká and Ek Xux – and to test the validity of data obtained from a PXRF instrument in answering archaeological research questions pertaining to regional interactions between lowland Maya polities. Results suggest that portable XRF instruments produce internally consistent results. However, data acquired from a PXRF instrument are not statistically equivalent to other XRF instruments. This is to say that while PXRF is not a reliable technique, it is valid for questions pertaining to geochemical source representation.     

What Were We Thinking?

This article outlines the context in geography and statistics in the mid 1960s, at the height of geography's so-called "quantitative revolution," that led us into a long-term collaboration about spatial statistics, which has continued in surges and lulls for some 40 years. We focus upon problems in spatial autocorrelation, including the measurement of autocorrelation, distribution theory, and variable geographical lattices. This narrative may not describe how it was, but it does describe how we remember the events of the time.     

The use of multiple discriminant analysis in classifying prehistoric phytolith assemblages recovered from cooking residues

In the investigation of the dispersal of maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) from south-central Mexico to the northern and southern limits of agriculture in the Western Hemisphere archaeologists and paleoethnobotanists are increasingly turning to the microbotanical record. Recent analysis of phytolith assemblages from charred cooking residues on pottery sherds in central New York recovered using 209 rondel phytolith variables has identified maize as early as 2270 ± 35 B.P. In this article we use discriminant analysis to re-classify these rondel phytolith assemblages resulting in only seven variables. The results are consistent with those achieved earlier using many more variables and a less formal statistical approach in terms of classification and in similarity of the original and reduced data matrix as seen by the Mantel test and cluster analyses.