Excavations at Muweilah. Preliminary Report on the First Two Seasons

Two seasons of excavation have been completed at the site of Muweilah in the United Arab Emirates. The excavation is prompted by a desire to examine the manner in which humans inhabited arid regions in the past. The project seeks to understand the subsistence practices at this site within the broader context of settlement patterns in late prehistoric southeastern Arabia and to examine some of the biases and prior assumptions concerning human occupation of environments which are often considered hostile and marginal. The results obtained in the first two seasons of excavations are presented below and they indicate that a positive contribution will be made towards achieving these objectives.     

Politicians versus Historians: Lord Avon's 'Appeasement Battle' against 'Lamentably, Appeasement-Minded' Historians

In retirement, Sir Anthony Eden, seeking to safeguard the anti-appeaserimage cultivated following his resignation as Neville Chamberlain'sForeign Secretary in 1938, proved extremely sensitive to theway in which his political career was presented in memoirs,biographies, and histories. Eden, who accepted the earldom ofAvon in 1961, saw himself as refighting old politcal battles,except that by the 1960s his attack was directed increasinglyagainst what he described as ‘lament-ably, appeasement-minded’history professors rather than former politicians. During 1966–7objections to Frederick Northedge's The Troubled Giant evenled him at one stage to consider legal action for defamationof character. The ensuing dispute, highlighting Lord Avon'spreoccupation with the verdict of history, illuminated alsothe varying, often conflicting, perspectives adopted towardsthe past by historians and politicians. ^*Earlier versions of this paper were presented to the BISA BritishInternational History Group Conference at the University ofExeter, September 1996, and the Millennium after 25 Years Conferenceat the LSE, October 1996. I am grateful to the Countess of Avon,the Marquess of Salisbury, the Borthwick Institute of HistoricalResearch at the University of York, the Master and Fellows ofChurchill College at Cambridge, and the Archivist of CarmarthenshireRecords Service at Carmarthen, for permission to quote fromthe papers of the first Earl of Avon, The Marquess of Salisbury,the Earls of Halifax, Lord Strang, and Viscount Cilcennin respectively.I am particularly indebted to Muriel Grieve, Professor Northedge'swidow, for assistance in my research and permission to quotefrom her husband's correspondence and publications, as wellas to Sir Bryan Cartledge, who helped Lord Avon with his memoirs.     

New evidence for specialised ceramic production and exchange in the southeast Arabian Iron Age

Results from a programme of PIXE-PIGME analysis of Iron Age ceramics from southeastern Arabia are presented. Compositional analysis indicates the existence of two discrete Iron Age II ceramic assemblages. A combination of geological and archaeological evidence suggests that one of these was produced in the inland oasis of al-Ain. Geological evidence in combination with previously published data on the elemental composition of southeast Iranian ceramics suggests Iran as a possible source for the other group.     

Satisfaction with Sunbelt Migration

Migration to non-metropolitan areas of high environmental amenity and low population is a lifestyle choice made by a small percentage of people on or about the age of retirement from the workforce Although the proportion of older people involved is low, their numbers are significant to host towns. An aspect of retirement migration which has received little attention by researchers in Australia is the extent to which such moves realise hoped for benefits for the migrants. This paper reports results of interviews undertaken in 1986 with 146 people who had migrated, on or about retirement, to the New South Wales north coast town of Port Macquarie. Several indicators of life and place satisfaction were used They all showed high absolute and relative levels of satisfaction. Although there was tittle dissatisfaction with the results of moves, search behaviour undertaken prior to moving and a number of personal characteristics of migrants, are analysed to explain some variance in satisfaction levels.