Cranioskeletal Size Variation in San Francisco Bay Prehistory: Relation to Calcium Deficit in the Reconstructed High-seafoods Diet and Demographic Stress

An osteometric–statistical study of residual rickets (RR) skeletal plasticity has been made of a time-ordered sequence of 11 series of adult skeleton sets (n=251) from shellmound sites around San Francisco Bay (the Bay) spanning the three archaeological horizons of Central California Indian prehistory in this region: Early (EH), Middle (MH) and Late (LH). To control for major differences of subsistence ecology and ethnolinguistic affiliation, the Bay sequence was further subdivided into four subregions: East (EB, Costanoan), South (SB, Costanoan, high acorns), West (WB, Costanoan, low acorns) and Northwest (NWB, Coast Miwok). In the eight EB series, a non-linear downward trend in cranioskeletal size was observed between EH and LH2, coinciding with a modest upward trend in the RR-15B score. To ascertain if food calcium deficit (CADEF) can explain the observed secular decline in cranioskeletal size, the evolving aboriginal Bay archaeodiet—relatively high in marine mammals, birds, fish and calcium-rich mollusks—was reconstructed by the diet grid method: in the three subregions with large stands of oaks (EB, SB, NWB), CADEF rose from negligible in the EH to moderate in the LH, as the subsistence base became more dependent on leached acorn meal for energy. Temporal and areal variation in Bay cranioskeletal size relates mostly to CADEF, demographic stress in females (DS), and the ‘male nutritional advantage interaction co-factor’ (MNAIC), in descending order of importance. This study has also confirmed the existence of the San Francisco Bay Indian physical type.     

Adam,Pre‐Adamites,and Extra‐Terrestrial Beings in Early Modern Europe

This article examines the question of the existence of non‐Adamic persons — both terrestrial and extra‐terrestrial — in early modern Europe. More particularly it looks at how the existence of non‐Adamites seriously called into question the credibility of the central themes of the Christian story of the creation, fall and redemption in Jesus Christ in early modern Europe. It analyses the impact on the Christian view of history caused by the discovery of the inhabitants of the New World, speculations about the polygenetic origins of the human race, and discussions about the plurality of worlds. It concludes with some reflections on the monogenetic and polygenetic accounts of the origin of humans in a post‐Darwinian context.     

THE EARLY CHRONOLOGY of ALET, and ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR HENGISTBURY HEAD and CROSS-CHANNEL TRADE IN the LATE IRON AGE

The port of Alet (Saint-Malo) plays a key role in models of cross-Channel trade prior to the conquest of Gaul. It is argued here that the bulk of the archaeological evidence from this site may however be more correctly assigned to the decades following the Gallic War, and consequently it is necessary to reassess the nature of the connection between Alet and Hengistbury Head in the first half of the first century BC. the evidence of amphorae and recent work on Armorican pottery, combined with a consideration of the problems of navigation in this region, indicates that a coastal route was preferred to a cross-peninsular journey via Alet; it is suggested that Guernsey may have been an important point on this route, and that Alet and the gulf of Saint-Malo were usually avoided. the evidence presented seems to support Caesar's comment that the Veneti controlled cross-Channel trade at this period.     

Mapping Local‐Scale Ecological Research to Aid Management at Landscape Scales

Natural resource management is typically defined by landscape‐scale management zones, such as the Catchment Management Authority boundaries of the southern Murray‐Darling Basin in Australia. Ecological research generally deals with local‐scale phenomena, with studies at the scale of such landscape management units arising only recently. We developed a method that links local‐scale ecological research to landscape‐scale management zones, which is presented here as a geographical bibliographic database. This research proceeded in four phases. First, we assessed three decades of ecological research in the Goulburn‐Broken Catchment in Victoria, Australia, using this method, revealing the locations where research has taken place across the landscape, and the research themes dominant in different bioregions. Second, we assessed the purposes to which the method could be applied. Third, we tested the method against one of these potential purposes to review ecological research in a subcatchment case study. Last, we interrogated the method to answer an ecological question. This methodological analysis demonstrated that mapping ecological research in this way allows the user to identify geographic gaps in research coverage, assist in limiting search results to a location of interest and to address location‐specific ecological questions. In combination with landscape classification methods, such as biogeographic regionalisation units, this method can be used to evaluate research coverage across similar ecological communities.     

IDENTIFICATION OF JET AND RELATED BLACK MATERIALS WITH ESR SPECTROSCOPY

Recent studies of the thermal histories of archaeological materials with electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy have been extended to black materials encountered in archaeology and in the conservation of antiquities. The ESR parameters of jet. charcoal and lampblacks are reported and comparisons made with a range of related materials Discrimination and characterization is achieved by simultaneous consideration of the three main parameters of the ESR signal due to radical carbon. This study is the first attempt using ESR spectroscopy to discriminate between jet and related coal-like substances.     

Patterns of Forest Settlement in Western Thailand

Most studies of land settlement are concerned with planned schemes. This is despite the fact that unplanned settlement has more often been the major process by which agricultural land is settled in many countries. In this local study of spontaneous forest settlement in western Thailand, the recent history of two communities is traced in order to shed light on the process of settlement Common assumptions about frontier communities are examined critically. It is suggested that many aspects of the post-settlement community, in particular social differentiation, can best be understood in light of the process of settlement     

THE DIFFUSION OF GRAIN CORN PRODUCTION THROUGH SOUTHERN ONTARIO, 1946–1971

The diffusion of grain corn production is described and its spatial form considered in light of innovation diffusion theory. A model is developed to examine the covariance of changes in rate of adoption and selected independent variables representing spatial and aspatial hypotheses. The results suggest that the structure of this diffusion process changes over time. Up to 1956, the process conforms at least in part to the geographer's conceptualization of spatial diffusion dependent upon distance-sensitive information flows. After 1956, however, changes in county levels of adoption appear to be determined primarily by other, aspatial factors.
Dans cet article, nous entendons décrire la diffusion agricole du grain de maïs et nous en étudions la configuration spatiale à la lumière des innovations en théorie de la diffusion. Nous avons produit un modèle qui nous permet d'examiner la convariance des changements dans le taux d'adoption et nous avons adopté un choix de variables indépendantes, représentant des hypothèses spatiales et aspatiales. Les résultats indiquent que la structure de ce processus de diffusion change avec le temps. Jusqu'en 1956, le processus est conforme, au moins en partie, à la conceptualisation, chez les géographes, d'une diffusion spatiale dépendante d'une information influencée par les distances. Toutefois, après 1956, les changements de niveaux d'adoption dans les comtés semblent déterminés surtout par d'autres facteurs aspatiaux.