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.     

NRM Regions in Australia: the ‘Haves’ and the ‘Have Nots’

This paper identifies external factors affecting the capacity of Australia's now‐formalised 56 regional natural resource management (NRM) bodies and their community‐based Boards to meet planning and management responsibilities. It demonstrates that little is known about the basic capacity‐related characteristics of NRM regions, despite the lengthy and elaborate process of regionalism that Australia has embarked upon, with its associated and substantial devolution of responsibilities and resources. A suite of indicators is used to develop an ‘exploratory’ capacity typology of NRM regions. The ten regional ‘types’ identified are found to attract varying budget allocations under the Natural Heritage Trust Extension and National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality. There are indications that State and regional interests within and outside NRM can significantly influence the distribution of resources. An examination of resources allocated to capacity‐building activities shows significant differences between regions in the scale of resources allocated (0–96% of total budget). The paper argues the case for intervention to reduce the gap between ‘have’ and ‘have not’ regions, and for further exploration of disparities in the allocation of resources to capacity‐building activities. Clarification is needed of the extent to which capacity‐building activities adequately target regional NRM bodies and their Boards.     

Poverty and Agrarian‐Forest Interactions in Thailand

In this paper we address the often sterile and circular debates over relationships between poverty and deforestation. These debates revolve around questions of whether forest loss causes poverty or poverty contributes to forest encroachment, and questions of whether it is loss of access to forests or dependence on forest‐based livelihoods that cause poverty. We suggest that a way beyond the impasse is to set such debates within the context of agrarian change. Livelihoods of those who live in or near forests depend considerably on a rapidly changing agriculture, yet agrarian contexts receive only background attention in popular, political and academic discourse over poverty and forests. Moreover, to the extent that agriculture is considered, little heed is paid to social, technical and economic change. We therefore address agriculture's changing relationships with the wider economy, otherwise referred to as the agrarian transition, and with the natural resource base on which it depends. The paper draws on the experience of Thailand to illustrate our key argument, and more specifically addresses the situation on the resource periphery through a look at the agriculture‐forest interface.     

Negotiating the production of space in Tl'azt'en territory, Northern British Columbia

Societies produce the space in which they operate through social practices that visualize, administer, and use lands and resources. Because Native peoples have held relatively little political power, their ability to influence the production of space has received little attention. Yet the superimposition of Euro‐Canadian social practices onto Native spaces rarely erased native spatiality, but rather created a territory made up of shared and hybrid spaces which resulted from the interaction of Native and Euro‐Canadian societies. This paper suggests that the social processes involved in the production of space are perhaps most visible when two parties are negotiating the allocation and management of lands and resources. In the 1970s the Tl'azt'en engaged in negotiations over the construction of a railway through their territory. Through the negotiations Tl'azt'en social and economic goals were inscribed to a significant degree in the spatial organization of the territory. Like current treaty negotiations, the 1970s negotiations involved compromises by both parties, and resulted in the creation of new hybrid social spaces which reflected the goals and strategies of both groups. Les sociétés produisent l'espace dans lequel elles opèrent à travers des pratiques sociales qui visualisent, administrent et utilisent les terres et les ressources. Parceque les peuple Natifs ont eu relativement peu de pouvoir politique, leur capacitéà influencer la production de l'espace a reçu peu d'attention. Cependant, l'imposition de pratiques sociales Euro‐Canadiennes sur les espaces Natfs a rarement effacé la spatialité indigené, mais a plutôt crée un territoire composé d'espaces partagés et hybrides, résultat de l'intéraction des sociétés indigènes et Euro‐Canadiennes. Cet exposé suggère que les procédés sociaux impliqués dans lá production de l'espace sont peut‐être plus visibles quand deux partis négocient l'allocation et la gestion des terres et des ressources. Dans les années 70, le peuple Tl'azt'en s'est engagé dans des négociations au sujet de la construction d'un chemin de fer à travers leur territoire. Dans ces négociations, les buts sociaux et économiques du Tl'azt'en furent inscrits à un degré significatif dans l'organisation spatiale du territoire. Comme les présentes négociations de traité, les négociations des années 1970 ont impliqué des compromis par les deux partis, et ont résultéà la création de nouveaux espaces sociaux hybrides qui reflétaient les buts et stratégies des deux groupes.     

THE HISTORY AND THEORY OF EMPIRES

Contemporary histories and theories of empire generally remain within boundaries inspired by varieties of liberalism, and by Marxian theory and its hybrids, in which changing modes of production determine the forms of power, including empire. Liberal theorists and historians of empire generally trace a complex process in which expanding imperial power systems led ultimately to nation‐states, democracy, and market economies. For Marxists and postmodern theorists, the formal aspects of empire remain unimportant compared to the broader workings of modes of production and particularly, the global power of capitalism. Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri use the word “empire” to describe the workings of contemporary capitalism and its myriad forms of power. Whether they rely upon the formal definitions of empire or the Marxian‐postmodern one, theories of empire often descend from modern utopian visions: perhaps the Kantian variety emphasizing a peaceful union of states and collective learning, or the Marxian one, although now taking into account changes in the mode of production and victims unattended to by Marx and Engels. New technologies and communications networks impress all contemporary theorists. Some proclaim the end of modern power systems and empire; others find empire in a new, postmodern form. Nonetheless, there are stubborn continuities with the modern in the very persistence of modern utopias, the dominance of nation‐states, the pursuit of democracy, and the durability of capitalism. Theorists of power and empire have to explain these and other continuities, alongside the disappearance of the more than 400‐year‐old balance‐of‐power system in which imperial powers in the European core finally delivered vast power to the United States and the Soviet Union, and created new technologies that strengthen human connection as well as threaten vast destruction. The question of the power of the United States and its imperial status commands the center of attention.     

THE COMPOSITION OF IRON AGE STRUCK 'BRONZE'COINAGE IN EASTERN ENGLAND

EDXRF was used to analyse the composition of 88 Iron Age copper and copper alloy coins excavated from the site of a pre-Roman shrine and Roman temple at Harlow, Essex. Most of the coins are local to the Essex-Hertfordshire region, with a few of Kentish origin. The earliest struck base metal issues were struck from almost pure copper, but from the late first century BC, their composition shows more variety. Particularly interesting are a group of types belonging to the Romanizing phase of Tasciovanus'coinage, which were struck in brass and possibly represent a distinct denomination. Roman coinage and other metalwork imports from the Roman world presumably provided the initial impetus, and the ultimate source of the brass. However, this experiment was relatively short lived. Cunobelinus, who ruled eastern England during the earlier first century AD, mainly employed bronze to strike his abundant base metal coinage. The products of his Colchester mint reveal a consistently different composition from those struck at his unlocated second mint in the Hertfordshire area, although the precise alloy does vary, sometimes within the same type. This suggests that unlike gold and silver issues, the source and purity of the metal used for minting base metal coinage was not always critical.