Testing child-woman ratios and the own-children method on the 1900 Sweden census: Examples of indirect fertility estimates by socioeconomic status in a historical population

Focusing on the Swedish census of 1900, the child-woman ratio and own-children method have been applied to assess socioeconomic differences in fertility. These indirect estimates of fertility have been compared to the vital statistics at the national level to assess their reliability. This comparison demonstrated that the estimated results suffered from few errors. Even if these indirect estimates of fertility could be affected by possible socioeconomic differences in mortality, the tests show that at least in the Swedish case, the impact of mortality on the indirect measures is limited. As infant mortality differences by socioeconomic status are relatively small, indirect fertility estimates are mainly affected by differences in reproductive behavior.     

Developing trainee teacher practice with geographical information systems (GIS)

There is general agreement that geographical information systems (GIS) have a place within the geography classroom; they offer the potential to support geographical learning, exploring real-world problems through student-centred learning, and developing spatial thinking. Despite this, teachers often avoid engaging with GIS and research suggests that the lack of GIS training in initial teacher education is partially to blame. In response to this, this article explores how 16 trainee geography teachers were supported to develop their use of GIS across a one-year, postgraduate teacher training course in England. The project, an interpretive case study underpinned by a constructivist epistemology, used questionnaires and interviews to elicit trainees’ understandings of the nature of GIS, and to explore their engagement with it across their training year. Results suggest a programme of embedded training developed in trainees a more nuanced understanding of the value of GIS for supporting geographical learning and, thereby, increased self-efficacy towards and engagement with it in their teaching practice. However, not all trainees embraced GIS as a pedagogical tool and the study raised several key issues for geography teacher education, including the knowledge culture within schools in the teacher training partnership, and the importance of trainee self-efficacy towards GIS.     

Butchering and cooking of birds in the palaeolithic site of Grotta Romanelli (Italy)

Grotta Romanelli is one of the most important sites of the Italian palaeolithic. It contains a lithic industry from the Final Epigravettian, examples of rock and mobiliary art and numerous bone remains, among which were abundant remains of birds. Approximately 32 000 bird bones from over 3650 individuals and 109 species were identified. The most common species were bustards, Otis tetrax and O. tarda, and three species of goose, Anser fabalis, A. albifrons and Branta bernicla. Traces of butchering and burning were evident on numerous bones. The nature and location of the cut marks and burning is described here. The analysis has involved mostly the hind limbs and the shoulder girdle where traces are most numerous. The cut marks reflect a codified sequence of actions of disarticulation and dismemberment. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

'Real Services': A Re-appraisal

This paper deals with 'real services' to manufacturing companies, nowadays an integral part of the toolbox of industrial policies in all advanced countries, both at regional level and within major nationwide programmes. Policy relevance is indeed the main criterion to identify concretely those services, based on their capacity to trigger learning processes and to have positive 'externalities of consumption'. The paper discusses the main problems concerning the management and evaluation of real services and outlines the key issues for the policy agenda (selection, coordination and networking; the transfer of success models; the practice of subsidiarity between different levels of government). The paper concludes by arguing the undiminished relevance of real services for contemporary industrial policies, notwithstanding the growing awareness of their limited impact.     

Pigments from the Middle Palaeolithic levels of Es-Skhul (Mount Carmel,Israel)

Discovery of pigments at Middle Palaeolithic sites is of interest in the context of the ongoing debate about the tempo and mode of the emergence of modern human behaviour. Here we analyse four previously undescribed fragments of pigmental material from Es-Skhul shelter, layer B, Israel, McCown excavations, identified at the Department of Palaeontology, Natural History Museum, London. One of them is still partially embedded in the hard breccia characteristic of this layer. Inspection of breccia fragments from layer B has led to the identification of small pieces of red and orange pigmental material still enclosed in large clasts, further corroborating the attribution of the larger pieces analysed in this study to layer B. The four objects are studied using optical microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-ray micro-diffraction (μ-XRD), Particle-Induced X-Ray Emission Spectrometry (PIXE), and Proton-Induced Gamma-ray Emission (PIGE). The specimens display various hues of yellow, orange, red, and one of them presents a gradual variation of shade from yellow to dark orange. SEM/EDX analysis identifies two specimens (Skhul 1 and 2) as being composed of iron-rich calcium phosphate, the third (Skhul 3) of potassium-rich clay with titanium-rich iron oxide inclusions, and the fourth (Skhul 4) of pure iron oxide crystals. TEM/EDX and μ-XRD analysis demonstrate that three pieces (Skhul 1, 2 and 4) were heated to at least 300 °C, a process that has partially or completely dehydrated goethite into haematite and changed their pristine yellow colour into orange or red. Skhul 3 shows no sign of heating, suggesting that its haematite content has a geological origin. The different mineral composition of the pieces suggests that they must come from a variety of sources. This implies that the associated collection strategies included the selection of materials that differed not only with respect to colour but also with respect to other physical and chemical properties. Although no formal proof exists that these lumps of pigmental material were deliberately heated, results obtained are consistent with this explanation.     

Parenting the Profligate Son: Masculinity, Gentility and Juvenile Delinquency in England, 1791–1814

This case study of fatherhood in early nineteenth-century England examines the conflict between a wealthy East India Company merchant and his increasingly wayward adolescent son, who was transported to Australia in 1814. It argues that fatherhood was often necessarily a reactionary process, that did not conform to a static, historically specific model of ideal or dysfunctional fatherhood. It also traces the origins of much of the disagreement to conflicting ideals of masculinity between father and son, which were exacerbated by their rise in wealth and social status. Since both aspired to the elite status of gentleman, the article demonstrates that competing and compatible ideals can co-exist within different generations of the same family. Thus a study of male family experience suggests that hegemonic masculinity is subject to short-term shifts of emphasis on those values adopted by men of different ages and social status.     

Women's Devotional Bequests of Textiles in the Late Medieval English Parish Church,c. 1350–1550

This article examines evidence of self‐determination and independent action in the practice, among a significant group of late medieval English women, of donating their own clothing and household linens to parish churches for use in sacred ritual.
The argument is presented that clothworking in a domestic environment was a highly valorised activity closely connected with women, for which the spindle and distaff acted as an index, and that against this background women used textiles as a site for expressing their personal, social and religious concerns.