Circum-mortem damage to some ancient African hominid crania: a taphonomic and evolutionary essay

Close examination of three early hominid crania from Africa yields taphonomic information long after they were excavated, and can contribute information relevant to their dating and taxonomic status. The condition of the bone and breaks and markings are reviewed in the Florisbad, Saldanha and Broken Hill (Kabwe) crania, indicating animal biting while the bone was still fresh in the first and last of these specimens. However, the damage to the base of the Kabwe cranium indicates that there may also have been breakage by hominids, including scorings near the margin of the squamous suture. No tooth marks are observed on the Saldanha cranium, but a depressed fracture and other lesions indicate hominid damage to fresh bone. Postmortem weathering indicates cranial thickness even greater than the original measurements, which implies a more primitive evolutionary status for Saldanha than for Kabwe. This view is supported by other morphological evidence, and suggests a considerably earlier date for Saldanha and a classification asHomo erectus.

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Résumé L'examen à fond de trois crânes d'hominidés anciens de l'Afrique fournit des données taphonomiques longtemps après la fouille, et peut livrer informations quant à leur date et à leur statut taxonomique. L'état de l'os et les cassures et d'autres traces sont étudiés dans les crânes de Florisbad, Saldanha et Broken Hill (Kabwe); dans ceux de Florisbad et de Broken Hill on constate que l'os a été mordu par des animaux lorsqu'il était encore frais. Cependant les dégâts à la base du crâne de Kabwe—y compris des stries près du bord de la suture squameuse—indiquent qu'il peut aussi avoir été cassé par des hominidés.Il n'y a pas de traces de morsures sur le crâne de Saldanha, mais on y observe une fracture aplatie et d'autres lésions qui indiquent que l'os frais a été endommagé par des hominidés. A cause des altérations survenues après la mort, on constate que le crâne original était même plus épais que les premières mésures l'indiquaient, ce qui implique un statut évolutionnaire plus primitif pour Saldanha que pour Kabwe. Cette idée, renforcée par d'autres indices morphologiques, suggère que Saldanha est beaucoup plus ancien que l'on ne croyait, et doit être classifié commeHomo erectus.

     

The Revolutionary Imperative

Abstract: In the last three decades in the advanced capitalist world, the idea of revolution has largely slipped from political view. The neoliberal moment seemed to smother any political possibility other than capitalism, but with that historical phase now itself fading, it may be a good time to revive the idea of revolution if for no other reason than that revolutions do happen. Certainly, the political right is concerned about the possibility of revolts resulting from the social privation resulting, in turn, from the global economic crisis. This essay attempts to explore and reanimate the notion of revolution, both historically and in the present context.     

European cultural diplomacy: diaspora relations with Kazakhstan

Abstract

Cultural diplomacy using diasporic communities as facilitators of interaction between states has long been important. This article suggests a typology of networks of communication derived from a case study of long-established diasporas living in post-independence Kazakhstan and their relationship with their European ‘homelands’. The typology juxtaposes the official stance of homeland governments expressed in formal and legal provisions with the lived experience of the diaspora communities. The study highlights the benefits of developing vibrant ‘valued’ networks of communication embracing both local diasporas and homeland embassies and agencies. In such cases, diplomatic benefits accrue to the homeland and local communities are empowered. Similarly, failing to capitalise on positive sentiment with some infrastructural support may leave an ‘expressive’ network as one of neglected potential.     

The invention of the basset hound: breed,blood and the late Victorian dog fancy, 1865–1900

In this article the authors explore the practices and conceptualisations of British dog breeding and the showing of pedigree dogs by the ‘the dog fancy’, focusing specifically on the story of a single breed: the basset hound. This was not simply a story of British dog fanciers appropriating a French dog breed; indeed, this was impossible because the very notion of a dog ‘breed’, defined by conformation and legitimated by pedigree, was in the process of invention. They show how the British dog-show fancy chose one, from many and varied types of French hound, to be the basset hound, and how this choice was legitimated by reference to an imagined history, where the British dog fancy rescued a noble animal from French indifference to breed and blood. The chosen physical form was standardised to arbitrary ideal, but was by means no static. In the spirit of the times, it was ‘improved’, first by the empirical methods of animal breeders, using pedigrees to secure good and pure ‘blood’, and then by the application of science, particularly artificial insemination and hereditarian theories.