Approaches to Prehistoric Diet Breadth, Demography, and Prey Ranking Systems in Time and Space

Zooarchaeological data on small game use hold much potential for identifying and dating Paleolithic demographic pulses in time and space, such as those associated with modern human origins and the evolution of food-producing economies. Although small animals were important to human diets throughout the Middle, Upper, and Epi-Paleolithic periods in the Mediterranean Basin, the types of small prey emphasized by foragers shifted dramatically over the last 200,000 years. Slow-growing, slow-moving tortoises, and marine mollusks dominate the Middle Paleolithic record of small game exploitation. Later, agile, fast-maturing animals became increasingly important in human diets, first birds in the early Upper Paleolithic, and soon thereafter hares and rabbits. While the findings of this study are consistent with the main premise of Flannery's Broad Spectrum Revolution (BSR) hypothesis (Flannery, K. V. (1969). In Ucko, P. J., and Dimbleby, G. W. (eds.), The Domestication and Exploitation of Plants and Animals, Aldine Publishing Company, Chicago, pp. 73–100), it is now clear that human diet breadth began to expand much earlier than the Pleistocene/Holocene transition. Ranking small prey in terms of work of capture (in the absence of special harvesting tools) proves far more effective in this investigation of human diet breadth than taxonomy-based diversity analyses published previously. Our analyses expose a major shift in human predator–prey dynamics involving small game animals by 50–40 KYA in the Mediterranean Basin, with earliest population growth pulses occurring in the Levant. In a separate application to the Natufian period (13–10 KYA), just prior to the rise of Neolithic societies in the Levant, great intensification is apparent from small game use. This effect is most pronounced at the onset of this short culture period, and is followed by an episode of local depopulation during the Younger Dryas, without further changes in the nature of Natufian hunting adaptations. An essential feature of the diachronic and synchronic approaches outlined here is controlling the potentially conflating effects of spatial (biogeographic) and temporal variation in the faunal data sets.     

Reviews

ARMS CONTROL AND THE ATLANTIC ALLIANCE. Karl W. Deutsch. John Wiley & Sons, 1967. Pp. 167. $5.95.

THE STRATEGY OF CIVILIAN DEFENCE. NON‐VIOLENT RESISTANCE TO AGGRESSION. Adam Roberts (ed.). Faber and Faber, 1967. Pp. 320. £Stg. 2.2.0.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: A GENERAL THEORY. J. W. Burton. Cambridge University Press, reprinted 1967. Pp. 288. £Stg. 0.12.6.

GOVERNMENT AND REVOLUTION IN VIETNAM. Denis J. Duncanson. Oxford University Press for R.I.I.A., 1968. Pp. 442. $9.50.

BIG VICTORY: GREAT TASK. Vo Nguyen Giap. Introduction by David Schoenbnm. Pall Mall, 1968. Pp. xvii + 120. $6.15.

PAPERS ON MODERN JAPAN 1968. D. C. S. Sissons (ed.). Department of International Relations, Research School of Pacific Studies, ANU, 1968. Pp. 137. $2.10.

THE JAPANESE SOCIALIST PARTY AND NEUTRALISM. A STUDY OF A POLITICAL PARTY AND ITS FOREIGN POLICY. J. A. A. Stockwin. Melbourne University Press, 1968. Pp. xv + 197. $6.50.

JAPAN'S RADIO WAR ON AUSTRALIA 1941–45. L. D. Meo. Melbourne University Press, 1968. Pp. 300. $6.75.

AUSTRALIA SINCE FEDERATION. Fred Alexander. Nelson, 1967. Pp. 323; 46 illustrations and 4 maps. $4.95.

RUSSIA 1917. THE FEBRUARY REVOLUTION. George Katkov. London, Longmans, 1967. Pp. 489. $6.30.     

It's the Lungfish,stupid: knowledge fights,activism, and the science–policy interface

Since the post‐positivist turn in the 20th century, many scholars and philosophers have argued for the importance of Other Ways Of Knowing – including local, embodied, situated, partial, and indigenous knowledges – in developing a better understanding of the world. This argument has been further stressed by a large subset of scholars working in the fields of geography, policy, planning, natural resource management, and community development, yet in practice, positivism retains its epistemological dominance. Drawing from a case study of a dam proposal at Traveston Crossing, Queensland, Australia, this paper will explore these epistemological tensions from the perspective of those whose first/primary ways of knowing about the issue were marginalised, namely the local activists who opposed the proposal. Using data gathered from document analysis and interviews, the paper will explore how these activists implicitly understood this epistemological marginalisation, how they adopted and employed positivist knowledge and language to further the exposure and credibility of their campaign, how this credibility was mediated by their identities, how they strategically deployed different forms of knowledge at local, national, and international scales, and how their successful navigation of these epistemological tensions was critical to the ultimate success of their campaign.     

Rethinking ‘safe spaces’ in children’s geographies

ABSTRACT

In this editorial, we provide a preliminary definition of ‘safe spaces’ before exploring how the collected authors have taken a fresh approach to understanding ‘safe spaces’ though a geographical lens. Until now, the material ‘location’ of safe spaces have remained under theorised, but by turning attention to how children and young people co-produce and bring safe spaces into being through their situated practices, this Special Issue provides rich ground for re-evaluating why places ‘matter’ in children’s lives. This editorial maps out those common threads that are uncovered across a diverse collection that spans playful protest in Johannesburg, family food struggles in Warsaw, to the theatrical parodies of second generation Somali youth in London.     

An insect fauna from a modern cesspit and its comparison with probable cesspit assemblages from archaeological sites

The insects recovered by sampling a present day disused cesspit located in south Shropshire are compared with similar assemblages from two sites in 16th century Worcester, and, as controls, with faunas from a modern compost heap and garden soil. A simple experiment is described designed to test whether stored product pest species could have arrived in archaeological deposits considered to be the sites of cesspits after having been eaten with the foodstuffs they were infesting.     

Patterns of pastoralism in later Bronze Age Kazakhstan: new evidence from faunal and lipid residue analyses

Current research themes relating to prehistoric Central Asian pastoralism are discussed, and the Neolithic to Bronze archaeological sequence in Kazakhstan is briefly outlined. The results of new faunal analyses of six later Bronze Age sites in Central and Northern Kazakhstan are presented. These studies are based upon the analysis of 63,529 bone fragments, of which 27,023 were identifiable to species and element. These assemblages are compared with 16 other sites in Central and Northern Kazakhstan, and the Trans-Ural region. The herd structures at the final Bronze Age site of Kent are discussed in detail. Analyses of absorbed lipid residues from four sites are also presented. In total, 140 pottery sherds were analysed, of which 73 provided sufficient residues for stable isotope ratio determinations. It is concluded that species proportions are highly variable regionally. Cattle are most prevalent in the forest steppe zone, whilst caprines become more common in semi-arid steppe regions. Proportions of horse are particularly variable, even within environmentally similar areas. Lipid residue results indicate the high prevalence of ruminant dairy products in pottery vessels, whilst faunal data from Kent suggests that cattle husbandry might have been particularly focussed on milk, in comparison with sheep and goats. The significance of horses within prehistoric pastoralism is discussed.     

Popular Italian cinema,the media,and the economic miracle: rethinking commedia all’italiana

This article seeks to reposition the popular cinematic genre commedia all’italiana within the context of the rapid expansion of the media industries which accompanied Italy's postwar economic miracle. The article looks at three distinct aspects of the relationship between commedia all’italiana and other media. First, it outlines the important role played by the media during the boom in disseminating images of consumer lifestyles, and highlights the way in which commedia all’italiana participated in this process. Second, through a discussion of media appearances by Vittorio Gassman and Nino Manfredi, the article emphasises the extent to which their commedia all’italiana star personas were constructed and circulated in a multimedia context. Finally, it examines how the genre represented other media, focusing in particular on the representation of gender in advertising scenes. Through close readings of commedia all’italiana advertising scenes, the article notes points of continuity with and difference from advertising imagery that was circulating at the time. The article argues that in order to further our understanding of commedia all’italiana and its relationship to Italian society, it is essential to understand the genre's relationship to other media production of the period, which both influenced the comedies’ representations and was influenced by them in turn.     

An Ethnographic and Space Syntax Analysis of Benin Kingdom Nobility Architecture

The Benin kingdom is noted for its sophisticated brass art, large earthwork system, and complex political hierarchy. The kingdom style of nobility architecture has endured for hundreds of years, and a few structures may still date to ca. ad 900–1200. The complex floor plans of these large compounds appear to be based upon traditional kingdom social organization that is fast changing, however. Since most structures are still residences, some renovated, a study utilizing both ethnographic fieldwork and the technique of space syntax analysis proved useful to examine historical room meanings and functions and room access. This paper discusses a particular World Heritage site, Ogiamien’s Palace, and other Benin kingdom chieftaincy sites. It describes the symbolic and ritual meanings of residential room use and room plans that on observation show seemingly wide layout variation. The results of the cultural analysis are then compared against the permeability plans and the quantitative formulas of space syntax analysis, to confirm the traditional social nature of spatial use in chieftaincy palaces of the former kingdom and suggest an adherence to an underlying ideological paradigm. This paper takes the additional step of employing the software GraphPad Prism to determine real correlations among calculated values; the results indicate a strong cognitive consistency of design and use for the structures over time in spite of visible layout variability.