The volcanic millstones from the archaeological site of Morgantina (Sicily): provenance and evolution of the milling techniques in the Mediterranean area*

The Morgantina archaeological area, inhabited from the Early Bronze Age, had its widest expansion from the fifth to the first century bc . The volcanic millstones found at Morgantina fall into three different groups on the basis of the milling technique: (i) saddle querns (known from the Middle–Late Bronze Age and Iron Age); (ii) rectangular hopper‐rubbers (Olynthian) millstones, the invention of which dates to the fifth century bc ; and finally (iii) Morgantina‐type rotary millstones (starting to be used from the fourth to the third century bc ). In order to determine the provenance of the raw materials (lavas) used for all these millstone types, we collected 38 very small rock samples for thin‐section modal mineralogy, petrography and major trace element composition. The results have contributed to classifying different lithotypes and distinguishing between provenance from Etna and the Hyblean Mountains, the two volcanic areas respectively north‐east and south‐east of Morgantina. Saddle querns are made of tholeiitic basaltic andesites from the Hyblean Mountains and transitional basalts, mugearites and hawaiites from Etna. The variety of sources of portable saddle querns, mostly used in households, indicate that there was no general preference for specific quarrying sites. By contrast, the rectangular hopper‐rubber and the Morgantina‐type millstones, which document the period of Morgantina's greatest prosperity, are almost completely made of hawaiites from Etna. The use of a specific lithotype (i.e., Etna hawaiite) for the more efficient rectangular hopper‐rubber and rotary millstones could be linked to the fact that these mills may have been operated in business establishments. It is worth noting that the Gornalunga river was, in antiquity, a waterway joining Morgantina to the final stretch of the Simeto river and then the Ionian coast. The best candidate areas for the millstone hawaiite quarrying sites from Etna are the far south‐western sectors of the volcano, along the Simeto Valley (i.e., the ‘Piano Provenzana’ Formation) or the inner suburb of present‐day Catania (i.e., the ‘Pietracannone’ Formation). The very efficient Morgantina‐type rotary millstones spread during the reign of Hieron II of Syracuse (275–215 bc ) in eastern Sicily and met the need for grinding large quantities of cereals during a relatively peaceful time and a period of agricultural development.     

Book reviews

Tocqueville and the Nature of Democracy. By Pierre Manent. Foreword by Harvey C. Mansfield; translated by John Waggoner.(Lanham, MD: Rowan and Littlefield, 1996) xviii + 148 pp. $15.50 paper.

The Measure of Reality: Quantification and Western Society, 1250–1600. By Alfred W Crosby. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997) xii + 245 pp. £19.95, $24.95 cloth.

Runaway Religions in Medieval England, c. 1240–1540. By F. Donald Logan, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1996). Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought 32, 301 pp., £35.00 cloth.

Fairy Tales and Fables from Weimar Days. Edited, translated, and introduced by Jack Zipes (1989; Madison and London: University of Wisconsin Press, 1997) ix + 211 pp. £13.50 paper.

Children, Childhood and English Society 1880–1990. By Harry Hendrick (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997) New Studies in Economic and Social History, vi + 114 pp. $44.95, £19.95 cloth/$12.95, £6.95 paper.

Political Parties and the European Union. Edited by John Gaffney (New York: Routledge, 1996) xvii + 340 pp. $18.95 paper.

Les Mots de Autres: Flaubert, Sarraute, Pinget. By Laurent Adert (Villeneuve d'Ascq, France: Presses Universitaires du Septentrion, 1996) 301 pp. 130FF paper.

La Citation et l'art de citer dans les Essais de Montaigne. By Michael Metschies, translated by Jules Brody. (Paris: Honoré Champion, 1997) 163 pp. n.p.g.

Art and the Roman Viewer: The Transformations of Art from the Pagan World to Christianity. By Jás Eisner (Cambridge, New York, and Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1995) xxvi + 375 pp. $69.95 cloth $24.95 paper.

Whom Gods Destroy: Elements of Greek and Tragic Madness. By Ruth Padel (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995) xviii + 276 pp. $42.50, £30.50 cloth/$14.95, £9.95 paper.

Classical Culture and the Idea of Rome in Eighteenth‐Century England. By Philip Ayres (Cambridge, New York, and Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1997) xix + 245 pp. £35.00, $54.95 cloth.

Revolutions in writing: Readings in nineteenth‐century French prose. Selected and translated by Rosemary Lloyd (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1996) 448 pp. $49.95 cloth $18.95 paper.

Playing the Other: Gender and Society in Classical Greek Literature. By Froma I. Zeitlin (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996) xx + 474 pp. $60.00, £47.95 cloth/$19.95, £15.95 paper.

The Racial Contract. By Charles W. Mills. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1997), xii + 171 pp. $19.95, £15.95 cloth.

Intimate Encounters: Love and Domesticity in Eighteenth‐Century France. By Richard Rand et al. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997) xii + 220 pp., $65.00, £50.00 cloth/$35.00, £25.00 paper.

William of Ockham: A Letter to the Friars Minor and Other Writings. Edited by Arthur Stephen McGrade and John Kilcullen, translated by John Kilcullen (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995) Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought, xl + 390 pp. $64.95, £45.00 cloth/$24.95, £16.95 paper.

Intellectual Origins of the English Revolution: Revisited. By Christopher Hill (Oxford: Clarendon, 1997) xv + 422 pp. £25.00.

The Problem of Humanity: The Blacks in the European Enlightenment. By Kaija Tiainen‐Anttila (Helsinki: Finnish Historical Society, 1994) Studia Historica 50, xii + 367 pp. n.p.g. paper.

Sickness and the State: Health and Illness in Colonial Malaya, 1870–1940. By Lenore Manderson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996) xix + 315 pp. $64.95, £40.00 cloth.

Charles Follen's Search for Nationality and Freedom. Germany and America, 1796–1840. By Edmund Spevack (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997) viii + 312 pp. $39.95 cloth.

American Space, Jewish Time: Essays in Modern Culture and Politics. By Stephen J. Whitfield (Armonk, NY: Sharpe, 1996) xi + 226 pp. $16.50 paper.

Shingwauk's Vision: A History of Native Residential Schools. By J. R. Miller (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996) xii + 582 pp. $70.00, £52.00 cloth, $29.95, £22.00 paper.

Shakespeare and National Culture. Edited by John J. Joughin (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1997) ix + 351 £40.00 cloth £14.99 paper.

Tensions of Empire: Colonial Cultures in a Bourgeois World. Edited by Frederick Cooper and Ann Laura Stoler (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 1997) xii + 470 pp. n.p.g.

Bardic Nationalism: The Romantic Novel and the British Empire. By Katie Trumpener (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997), xv + 426 pp. $55.00, £50.00 cloth, $ 19.95, £17.50 paper.

The Politics of Irish Education, 1920–1965. By Sean Farren. (Belfast: Queen's University of Belfast, Institute of Irish Studies, 1995), xii + 296 pp. £16.50 cloth.

British Idealism and Social Explanation: A Study in Late Victorian Thought. By Sandra M. den Otter, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996). x + 250 pp. n.p.g.

Disruption. By David Appelbaum (New York: SUNY Press, 1996) xiv + 186 pp. $ 19.95 paper.

Carved in Stone: Holocaust Years—A Boy's Tale. By Manny Drukier (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996) 254 pp. $35.00 £26.00 cloth.

The Origins and Development of the European Union, 1945–95: A History of European Integration. By Martin J. Dedman (London: Routledge, 1996) xii + 145 pp. £6.99 paper.

Building European Union: A Documentary History and Analysis. Edited by Trevor Salmon and Sir William Nicoll (Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1997) xiv + 297 pp. £45.00 cloth, £14.99 paper.

Narrative and Meaning in Early Modern England: Browne's Skull and Other Histories. By Howard Marchitello (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), xiv + 229 pp. £37.50, $59.95 cloth.

Samuel Johnson: Literature, Religion and English Cultural Politics from the Restoration to Romanticism. By J. C. D. Clark (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994) xiv + 270 pp. £30.00, $49.95 cloth/£12.95, $17.95 paper.

The Private Science of Louis Pasteur. By Gerald L. Geison (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995, 1997) 378 pp. $16.95, £14.95 paper.

The Economics of Post‐Communist Transition. By Olivier Blanchard (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997) xiii + 149 pp. £18.99.

Latifundium: Moral Economy and Material Life in a European Periphery. By Marta Petrusewicz (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1996) xvii + 289 pp. $52.50 cloth.

Russian Society and the Greek Revolution. By Theophilus C. Prousis (DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 1994) xi + 259 pp. n.p.g.

Three Eras of Political Change in Eastern Europe. By Gale Stokes, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997). 240 pp. + xiii £13.99 paper.

Sex in Public: The Incarnation of Early Soviet Ideology. By Eric Naiman (Princeton: Princteon University Press, 1997) 307 pp. £27.50, $39.50 cloth.

Stillborn Crusade: The Tragic Failure of Western Intervention in the Russian Civil War, 1918–1920. By Ilya Somin (New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 1996) 244 pp. $32.95 cloth.     

Book reviews

Economies of Signs & Space. Scott Lash and John Urry, London, Sage Publications, 1994, IV + 360 pp, £45.00 hb, ISBN 0 8039 8471 5; £13.95 pb, ISBN 0 8039 8472 3

Housing Policy in Action: The New Financial Regime for Council Housing. Peter Malpass, Matthew Warburton, Glen Bramley and Gavin Smart, SAUS Study 8, School for Advanced Urban Studies, University of Bristol, 1993, pp. XV+ 115, £9.75, ISBN 1 873575 47 5

Glasgow: The Forming of a City. Peter Reed (Ed.), Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, V+ 233 pp., £25.00, ISBN 0 7486 0246 1

Urban Land and Property Markets in Germany, European Land and Property Markets 2. H. Dietrich, E. Dransfeld and W. Voss, London, UCL Press, 288 pp, £40.00, ISBN 1 85728 049 0

The Politics of Local Economic Policy: Problems and Possibilities of Local Initiative. Aram Eisenschitz and Jamie Gough, London, Macmillan 1993, XIV + 309 pp, £14.99 pb, ISBN 0 33352 175 7

Planning at the Crossroads. James Simmie, London: UCL Press, 1993, 208 pp, £35.00, ISBN 1 85728 024 5, hb; 1 85728 025 3, pb; £12.95

The Political Culture of Planning: American Land Use Planning in a Comparative Perspective. J. Barry Cullingworth, New York and London, Routledge, 1993, XVII – 350 pp, £45.00, ISBN 0 415 08812 7, hb     

Book reviews

THE STUDY OF POLITICS: A COLLECTION OF INAUGURAL LECTURES. Preston King (ed). London, Cass, 1977, pp 322.

JAPAN AT THE POLLS: The House of Councillors Elections of 1974. Michael K. Blaker (ed.), American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, Washington, D.C. 157 pp. ISBN 0–8447–3213–3, $US3.00.

MANKIND'S FUTURE IN THE PACIFIC. R.F. Scagel (ed.), Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1976, $10.50 paperback.

THE EEC AND AUSTRALIA. J.D.B. Miller. Nelson, in association with A.I.I.A., Melbourne, 1976. pp. x, 137.

UNEQUAL ALLIES. AUSTRALIAN‐AMERICAN RELATIONS AND THE PACIFIC WAR. Roger J. Bell. M.U.P., 1977, 278 pp.

WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION AND THE ENVIRONMENT. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Taylor & Francis Ltd., London, 1977 pp. 95. L5.     

Deserving to Whom? Investigating Heterogeneity in the Impact of Social Constructions of Target Populations on Support for Affirmative Action

The social construction of target populations has emerged as an influential framework for understanding the public policy process. In particular, target populations have been shown to shape the allocation of benefits and burdens by political elites. However, existing studies focus on the elite level, which overlooks whether public preferences are aligned with the allocation of policy benefits and burdens by political elites. Moreover, many studies treat social constructions as homogenous, which this paper calls into question. Using a nation‐wide survey experiment, I investigate variation in public support for affirmative action policies with randomly assigned target populations. The findings indicate that the public formulates policy preferences on the basis of perceived deservingness of target groups similar to political elites. In addition, the findings uncover heterogeneity in the effect of targeting on public opinion based on ideology and racial/ethnic group identity.     

Mapping Submerged Landscapes Using Multibeam Bathymetric Data: a case study from the north coast of Ireland

This paper outlines work currently being undertaken to reconstruct submerged archaeological landscapes off the north coast of Ireland. This research uses the recently‐completed Joint Irish Bathymetric Survey (JIBS), which has provided full‐coverage high‐resolution multibeam bathymetric data for the sea‐bed off the north coast. This data has been examined for evidence of past sea‐level change and been used to produce palaeo‐geographic reconstructions of the past landscape, which in turn have facilitated the identification of ten areas of high archaeological potential. The results presented here will form the basis of a future programme of archaeological survey and prospection. © 2010 The Authors     

Probabilistic Regional Population Forecasts: The Example of Queensland, Australia

The variability of demographic trends at the subnational scale, particularly internal and international migration, renders subnational population forecasting more difficult than at the national scale. Illustrating the uncertainty of the demographic future for subnational regions is therefore a crucial element of any set of subnational population forecasts. However, subnational forecasts are currently prepared using deterministic models, which fail to properly address the issue of demographic uncertainty. The traditional high, medium, and low variants approach employed by many national statistical offices poses a number of problems. Probabilistic population forecasting models have the potential to overcome many of these problems, but these models have so far been limited to national-level forecasts. This article reports a first attempt to implement a probabilistic approach to subnational population forecasting using a biregional projection framework. The article sets out the forecasting framework, outlines the approach adopted to formulate each of the assumptions, and presents probabilistic forecasts for 2002–2051 for Queensland and the rest of Australia. The forecasts show a two-thirds probability that Queensland's population in 2051 will be between 5.4 and 7.7 million while the same range for the rest of the country is 18.6 and 22.7 million. The forecasts quantify to what extent greater uncertainty exists about the demographic future at the subnational compared with the national scale.