Book reviews

The Devil in the New World: The Impact of Diabolism in New Spain. By FERNANDO CERVANTES. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994. Pp. x, 182.

An Evil Lost to View? An Investigation of Post‐Evangelisation Andean Religion in Mid‐Colonial Peru. By KENNETH MILLS. Liverpool: Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Liverpool, Monograph Series No. 18, 1994. Pp. 147.

The Limits of Racial Domination: Plebeian Society in Colonial Mexico City, 1660–1720. By R. DOUGLAS COPE. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1994. Pp. xiii, 220.

Memory, Myth, and Time in Mexico: From the Aztecs to Independence. By ENRIQUE FLORESCANO. Trans, by Albert G. Bork and Kathryn R. Bork. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994. Pp. ix, 282.

Fuentes manuscritas para la historia de Iberoamérica. Guía de instrumentos de investigación. Por SYLVIA L. HILTON e IGNACIO GONZALEZ CASASNOVAS. Madrid: Fundación Mapfre América‐Instituto Histórico Tavera, 1995. Pp. 617.

The Town of San Felipe and Colonial Cacao Economies. By EUGENIO PINERO. Philadelphia: Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 84, 1994. Pp. 189.

Imperial Panama: Commerce and Conflict in Isthmian America 1550–1800. By CHRISTOPHER WARD. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1993. Pp. xii, 272.     

Trafficking in US Agriculture

Based on a qualitative methodology that includes in‐depth interviews with 90 Mexican migrant smugglers and 45 Central American farmworkers, this article analyzes the three separate elements of trafficking in US agriculture, namely acts, means, and purposes. We conclude that some US employers participate in human trafficking by financing or helping to recruit and transport Mexican and Central American migrants to the US by means of “abuse of a position of vulnerability” for the purposes of involuntary servitude, debt bondage, and sex exploitation.     

Ancient Egypt in Brazil: A Theoretical Approach to Contemporary Uses of the Past

In this paper we consider archaeology as a product of social interaction, and discuss how ancient Egyptian materiality has been an important part of identity building in Brazil. We begin by reviewing our theoretical setting, and suggest that a postmodern approach is most helpful to our goal of understanding the social context of the public uses of archaeology. The paper then turns to the trajectory of “Egyptomania” in Brazil, from the 19th century onwards, highlighting the importance of cultural movements such as Kardecism and Masonry in this trend. We argue that the use of Egyptian subjects in Brazil has connections with social inequality, racism, and gender biases. Finally, we present a case study on positive recent trends in the presentation of ancient Egypt in school textbooks which highlights critical approaches to the use of ancient Egyptian subjects in contemporary Brazil.     

Stabilization of the Tlaltecuhtli monolith pigments

A painted monolith, as important as the Aztec Calendar or the Coyolxauhqui, has been discovered in the ritual Aztec center of Mexico City. It represents Tlaltecuhtli, the bisexual manifestation of the Earth from whom all life comes. Still, pigments, which have lost their conglomerating resins, have to be retained. In this study, the consolidation of ochre pigment on original fragments from the Aztec sculpture is presented. Several compounds were tested as consolidants, on the one hand natural polysaccharides, Funori and Slobber of Nopal exudate, on the other derivatives of cellulose, Methocel^® and Klucel^®, and also commercial consolidants as KSE 300^® and Paraloid B72^®. To simulate the ageing of consolidated samples, they were treated in an Accelerated Weathering Tester. Then, both sets of samples, fresh and aged, were characterized structural, morphological and texturally by using X-ray diffraction, electronic microscopy and nitrogen adsorption, respectively. A leaching test was performed on consolidated samples to evaluate the consolidant efficiency.     

Computer vision methods and rock art: towards a digital detection of pigments

A non-invasive procedure for assessing and interpreting the pigments of rock art paintings through computer vision and photogrammetric techniques is presented. The method is designed to document and interpret poorly preserved pigments by making use of advanced techniques of photogrammetry and computational imaging. Two different software solutions that were developed by the authors have been used for this purpose. Finally, two case studies of rock art paintings from Spain have been analysed, which show the reliability of the method.     

Corruption at the Border: Intersections between US Labour Demands,Border Control,and Human Smuggling Economies

Based on a qualitative methodology that includes in‐depth interviews conducted between 2008 and 2017 with 180 migrant smugglers from Mexico, the objective of this paper is to analyse the way US employers' interest in having access to cheap labour feeds migrant smuggling, and is connected to corruption in US border enforcement. We conclude that corruption on the US side of the border could be systematic and not a matter of a few bad apples. Corruption is manifested in selective enforcement, which is a pragmatic practice that justifies enhanced immigration enforcement, and benefits US immigration agents, US employers and Mexican smugglers, while undocumented border crossers suffer the monstrous effects of militarised border enforcement.     

Long-term land-use changes in small/medium-sized cities. Enhancing the general trends and local characteristics

Small and medium-sized cities represent the backbone of the European territory, promoting cohesion and an economic base for development. The study compares the spatial and temporal trajectories of land use in three small/medium-sized cities located in central Portugal, between 1958 and 2011. The cities of Viseu, Leiria and Castelo Branco were chosen because they are located in different urban sub-systems and because of the different factors that frame their alterations in land use, occupation and consequent urban development. The research evaluates the transformations, supported by indicators to explain the spatial dynamics of losses and gains and a principal component analysis compares the land-use trajectories for the three cities. The general results reveal an increase from the central part of the study areas to the periphery, contrasting with a continuous decrease of the agricultural parts, illustrating peri-urbanization and rururbanization processes. The study allows identification of the dynamics in the three analysed areas, highlighting the different rhythms of change and relating them to the particularities that exist in each city. The methodology represents an advantage for the analysis and evaluation of territorial dynamics related to land-use change, and made possible the identification of the different forces.     

The role of shellfish in hunter–gatherer societies during the Early Upper Palaeolithic: A view from El Cuco rockshelter,northern Spain

The role of coastal resources in the subsistence strategies of Palaeolithic human populations has only recently become an important topic in Old World archaeology. Information on the exploitation of these resources, both as foodstuffs and symbolic elements, can be used to infer the emergence of modern human behaviour as well as to track the diversification and intensification of human diet over time. The excavations carried out at El Cuco rockshelter, located in northern Spain have provided evidence for the exploitation of marine resources during the Early Upper Palaeolithic. The accumulation of Patella shells at El Cuco provides the largest accumulation and the first clear evidence of collection and consumption of molluscs during the Aurignacian on the Atlantic Façade of Europe. A deposit of ornamental shells appeared in a very homogeneous context dated to the Gravettian, suggesting that the shells belonged to the same item. The analysis of this evidence has allowed us to conclude that marine resources were systematically used at least from the beginning of the Upper Palaeolithic in the region. However, a comparison with the Mesolithic shows that intensive shellfish gathering did not occur until the end of the Upper Palaeolithic. Regarding the ornaments, it is interpreted that the identified shell beads were used as social or personal status markers.