Camels and Arabian balîya and other forms of sacrifice: a review of archaeological and literary evidence

The paper surveys the recent archaeological information for the balîya immolation tradition of pre-Islamic Arabia, whereby a camel or other valued animal was slaughtered to accompany a person of status in death so that they had an animal to ride or to maintain their status in the afterlife. In contrast to the dhibh immolation, which is prescribed in the Holy Qur'ân in memory of the sacrifice of the Prophet Ibrâhîm, the balîya is forbidden in Islam. Unlike the dhibh immolation, the balîya sacrifice was interred whole and provides precise archaeological information about the circumstances of its slaughter and burial. Information about such immolations derives largely from excavations in southern and eastern Arabia.     

Hair today,gone tomorrow: Analysing potential mercury exposure in 19th-century New Zealand gold miners using Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry

Toxic metal or element exposure has the potential to cause significant negative health effects in human populations. During the goldrushes of the colonial period, mercury amalgamation was one of the most common methods of extracting gold from alluvial deposits or crushed ore, and exposure to mercury was an occupational health hazard. In this study we examine mercury exposure in mining populations from New Zealand’s first major goldrush, which began in Central Otago in 1861. We explore mercury toxicity through laser ablation inductively coupled mass spectrometric analysis of archaeological hair and sediment samples associated with the Tuapeka goldfields. Our analysis highlights ubiquitous low-level mercury exposure on the goldfields, as well as one individual with such high mercury concentrations in their hair that we suspect direct mercury intake, perhaps medicinally, rather than from environmental contamination.     

Record-Making,Research, and Removal: Mitigating Impacts on Rock Art in a CRM Context in Southern Africa—the Case of the Metolong Dam,Lesotho

African Archaeological Review - This paper reports on the steps taken to mitigate the impact of the Metolong Dam (Lesotho) on the rock art present within the catchment of its associated reservoir....     

Book reviews

James L. Peacock. Muslim Puritans: reformist psychology in Southeast Asian Islam. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1978. xii, 276 pp.

W. F. Schneeberger. Contributions to the ethnology of central northeast Borneo. Berne: University of Berne. Institute of Ethnology, 1979. 143 pp. (Studia Ethnologica Bernensia, 2.)

Mubin Sheppard. Taman budiman: memoirs of an unorthodox civil servant. Kuala Lumpur: Heinemann Educational Books Limited, 1979. ix, 278pp. £4.50.     

Book reviews

THE CAUSES OF WAR. Geoffrey Blainey. Macmillan, London, 1973. 333–14199–7. 278 pp. $9.50.

THE BASES OF INTERNATIONAL ORDER. Alan James (ed.) Oxford U.P., London, 1973. 0–19–215801–5. 218 pp. $10.10.

THE ABERYSTWYTH PAPERS: INTERNATIONAL POLITICS 1919–69. Brian Porter (ed.). Oxford University Press, London, 1972. 019 2151932. 390 pp. $17.10.

THE STUDY OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS: ESSAYS IN HONOUR OF KENNETH YOUNGER. Roger Morgan fed.). Oxford University Press, London, 1972. 019 214989X. 309 pp. $15.60.

FOREIGN POLICY FOR AUSTRALIA: CHOICES FOR THE SEVENTIES. Australian Institute of Political Science (Proceedings of the 39th Summer School). Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1973. 198 pp. $3.50.

IN THE SPIRIT OF THE RED BANTENG: INDONESIAN COMMUNISTS BETWEEN MOSCOW AND PEKING 1959–65. Antonie C. A. Dake. Mouton & Co., The Hague, 1973. 73–75520. 479 pp.

CANADA'S MARITIME FORCES. C. S. Gray. Wellesley Paper 1, Canadian Institute of International Affairs, Toronto, 1973. 79 pp. $2.00.

CANADIAN MILITARY PROFESSIONAL: THE SEARCH FOR IDENTITY. R. B. Byers and C. S. Gray (eds.). Wellesley Paper 2, Canadian Institute of International Affairs, Toronto, 1973, 84 pp. $2.00.

DEFENCE PERSPECTIVES. Ken Keith (ed.). Price Milburn, Wellington, for the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, 1972. 133 pp. 0–70 55367–4. $NZ2.00.

KOREA AND MANCHURIA BETWEEN RUSSIA AND JAPAN, 1895–1904: THE OBSERVATIONS OF SIR ERNEST SATOW, BRITISH MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY TO JAPAN (1895–1900) AND CHINA (1900–1906). Selected and Edited with a Historical Introduction by George Alexander Lensen. Sophia. University Tokyo in cooperation with The Diplomatic Press, Tallahassee, Florida, 1968. 296 pp. $US12.50.

JAPANESE FOREIGN POLICY ON THE EVE OF THE PACIFIC WAR: A SOVIET VIEW. Leonid N. Kutakov. Edited with a Foreword by George Alexander Lensen. The Diplomatic Press, Tallahassee, Florida, 1972. 241 pp. $US15.00.

PORTRAITS OF THAI POLITICS. Jayanta Kumar Ray. Orient Longman, New Delhi, 1972. 225 pp. RS. 20.

HET EKONOMISCH BELEID IN NEDERLANDSCH‐INDIE, CAPITA SELECTA (Economic Policy in the Netherlands Indies, Selected Subjects), Part I. P. Creutzberg (ed.). Publication No. 5 of the ‘Committee for the Publication of Primary Sources Concerning the History of the Netherlands‐Indies 1900–1942’, Wolters‐Noordhoff, Groningen, The Netherlands, 1972. 756 pp.

MODERNIZATION IN EAST MALAYSIA 1960–1970. James P. Ongkili. Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur, 1972. 123 pp. $4.80.

FOCUS ON WEST BENGAL. Shiresh Bhattacharyya (ed.). Samatat Prakashau, Calcutta, 1972. 207 pp. Deluxe Rs. 30.00, Popular Rs. 20.00.     

Presidential Leadership of Congressional Civil Rights Voting: The Cases of Eisenhower and Johnson

Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lyndon B. Johnson presented dramatically contrasting styles of leadership in their relationships with Congress. Yet each was successful in securing passage of monumental civil rights legislation in very different political environments. Focusing on the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, we show that both Eisenhower and Johnson attracted support from the opposition party's faction at the far end of the ideological spectrum while retaining support from his own party's dominant faction. The analysis suggests that it is not the president's leadership style alone that produces legislative results, but a proper mixture of leadership style and the political environment.     

Aspekte angewandter Wissenschaften in Moscheen und Klöstern (Teil I)

Only recently have the abundant sources relating to the application of astronomy to the needs of religious ritual in medieval Islam been studied, and it is now possible to write a new chapter in the history of Islamic astronomy. Simple techniques were advocated by the scholars of the religious law, highly sophisticated and complicated solutions were proposed by the Muslim scientists. It is not without interest to compare and contrast this activity, which lasted over a millennium, with that of the monks of the Christian Middle Ages. The history of the latter has not yet been written, and cannot be written from textual sources alone, as is clearly shown by some of the astronomical instruments presented here. The present essay, in which both the Islamic and Christian traditions are discussed side by side for the first time, is very much a preliminary venture, primarily intended to point to the inherent interest of the available materials for the history of science as well as for several other disciplines.     

An experimental ethnoarchaeological approach to understanding the development of use wear associated with the processing of river cane for split-cane technology

Southeastern Indians have been using cane (Arundinaria spp.) for basketry and matting for thousands of years. Unfortunately, it is only under extraordinary preservation conditions that such items survive archaeologically. Inferring the production of split-cane technology requires an understanding of prehistoric manufacturing and processing techniques. It is hypothesized that stone tools were once used to process cane for use in split-cane technologies. In the Southeast, it is not uncommon to find stone tools with traces of plant use; however attributing wear to specific plants has been problematic. Pilot experiments, grounded on ethnoarchaeological observations, were conducted with river cane (Arundinaria gigantea) in collaboration with expert basket weavers in the Cherokee Nation. The experimental ethnoarchaeological program was designed to test the efficiency of stone tools in cane processing and document use wear through microscopic observations. The results found that non-retouched flakes were efficient for processing river cane and that the different stages of splint preparation resulted in the differential development of use-related wear. Additional experimentation with river cane is necessary to better define use wear and establish criteria for identification in archaeological contexts. Nonetheless, the collaborative and experimental approach undertaken demonstrated the utility of combining traditional archaeological methods with experimentation, ethnoarchaeology, and tribal knowledge.