Miliacin in palaeosols from an Early Iron Age in Ukraine reveal in situ cultivation of broomcorn millet

During the archaeobotanical investigation of Scythian–Sarmatian period (Early Iron Age), pits with crop processing waste, discovered in the floodplain of Donets River, eastern Ukraine, and charred remains of cereal grains, dominated by broomcorn millet, were recorded. The grains from the pits were radiocarbon dated to the fifth to first century BC. Those pits are distant from any known contemporaneous settlement. The apparent disconnection of these pits from any local settlement suggests that (1) millet was brought from other locations by mobile groups, or (2) millet was cultivated locally by populations whose settlements have left no discernible archaeological trace. The analysis of molecular biomarkers preserved in palaeosols that are stratigraphically connected to the pits revealed high levels of miliacin, a molecule that can be preserved in ancient soils and sediments, and that is consistent with broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum). High levels in miliacin in soils stratigraphically connected to the pits are interpreted as the result of a large biomass of P. miliaceum produced at time of soil formation. Our biogeochemical results applied to a palaeosol thus attest to the in situ cultivation of crops dominated by the broomcorn millet during the early Iron Age in the floodplain of Donets River. Biochemical examination of soils and palaeosols can thus provide useful information on past dynamics of land-use by ancient population, especially when settlements or macrobotanical remains are absent.     

A Snow-Push Mechanism for Ridge Formation in the Cairngorm Mountains,Scotland

Observations are presented of a newly deposited snow-push ridge superimposed on a Holocene moraine in Coire an Lochain in the Cairngorm Mountains. The ridge formed when a sliding snow slab was thrust up the proximal slope of the moraine, entraining till gravel and redepositing it on the moraine crest. The process was a late-stage event during the complex wastage of a large snowfield resting on a rock slab, involving basal sliding, avalanching and melting. Snow-push landforms appear to be rare in Scotland. Nevertheless, these observations suggest that fresh material may be added to relict moraine crests in the present-day climate, with implications for exposure-age dating of moraines. However, in this case the addition of debris by snow push to a late Holocene moraine crest does not affect the interpretation of moraine age.     

Evolutionary Theory of History

Several attempts have been made recently to apply Darwinian evolutionary theory to the study of culture change and social history. The essential elements in such a theory are that variations occur in a population, and that a process of selective retention operates during their replication and transmission. Location of such variable "units" in the semantic structure of cognition provides the individual psychological basis for an evolutionary theory of history. Selection operates on both the level of cognition and on its "phenotypic" expression in action in relation to individual preferred sources of psychological satisfaction. Social power comprises the principal selective forces within the sociocultural environment. Sociocultural evolution takes place both as a result of the unintended consequences of action and through the struggle of individuals and groups in pursuit of opposing interests. The implications for historiography are methodological in that evolutionary theory of history sharpens the focus of explanatory situational analysis, and interpretive in that it provides a paradigmatic metanarrative for the understanding of historical change.     

The Basis of Union: New Zealand Baptists forge a Denomination in the 1940s

This essay examines a crucial period in New Zealand Baptist life. During the 1940s Baptist leaders sought to establish a more centrally organised denomination than had previously existed. Motivated by a desire to position Baptists closer to the mainstream of Protestant religious life, this centripetal dynamic was tested by a cluster of crises and debates. Some of these reflected theological tensions that had been present in the denomination for decades. Others, more immediate and linked to particular personalities, exposed key issues of control and authority. The leadership of the largest church, Baptist involvement in the Ecumenical movement, and the principalship of the theological college were contested. Despite the considerable potential for division, the outcome was a more connectional denomination, able to maintain unity under stress, though one not as centrally driven as some in the Executive desired.     

Kant and the scientific study of consciousness

We argue that Kant's views about consciousness, the mind-body problem and the status of psychology as a science all differ drastically from the way in which these topics are conjoined in present debates about the prominent idea of a science of consciousness. Kant never used the concept of consciousness in the now dominant sense of phenomenal qualia; his discussions of the mind-body problem center not on the reducibility of mental properties but of substances; and his views about the possibility of psychology as a science did not employ the requirement of a mechanistic explanation, but of a quantification of phenomena. This shows strikingly how deeply philosophical problems and conceptions can change even if they look similar on the surface.     

Researching African Statehood Dynamics: Negotiability and its Limits

A focus on ‘negotiating statehood’ offers an alternative set of lenses on evolving transitions and transformations in African state–society relations to other more teleological perspectives. Notions of ‘negotiation’ and the ‘negotiability’ of authority structures allow recognition of the pliability of emerging state forms and may help in focusing on the dynamic processes through which statehood may be refounded and rationalized. This article presents a preliminary assessment of the analytical and empirical scope for employing the notion of ‘negotiating statehood’. The main argument is that although one can conceive of many processes as being negotiated, in (empirical) reality these particular lenses will be more appropriate for some situations than for others. The article therefore seeks to explore the limits of the conceptual framework associated with the idea of ‘negotiated’ statehood. It will do so through a review of selected historical and empirical contexts within which one might expect such particular dimensions to be highlighted, in contrast to situations where for one reason or another no such interactions (can) take place. In this connection the article also highlights the limitations the broader context places on the scope for realizing various state‐building designs.