Arable in England and Wales: estimates from the 1801 Crop Return

This study is based on the 1801 Crop Return for England and Wales, an inquiry which took the form of an arable crops census. Over 75% of the county areas of 12 English and Welsh counties is represented in the surviving Return but under 25% for 13 others. For England and Wales together nearly 50% of the total area is represented. The national distribution of the main grain crops is investigated; and an aggregate analysis of arable England and Wales in 1801 is made. The main result is to produce two different estimates to suggest that arable England and Wales was something over 7 million acres and something under 8 million acres in 1801, the higher estimate comparing very favourably with contemporary ones. Finally, since the Return is extant at parish or township level, it is suggested that it can be subjected to further investigation and to sampling, to break free from the constraints imposed by the county approach by studying or identifying farming regions.     

Health geography in New Zealand and Australia: global integration or Antipodean exceptionalism?

This paper examines the hallmarks of an emergent and distinctive Australian and New Zealand health geography over the last 30 years. Building on an assessment of the early development of the sub‐discipline in the two countries, a review of published work reveals the co‐presence of local themes alongside connections to more global perspectives associated notably with health behaviour. Further common themes are the influence of year‐round exposure to outdoor spaces and the proximity of “blue spaces” to urban centres. However, there are divergences in the evolution of the sub‐discipline. A comparison of attendance at the biennial International Medical Geography Symposia (held since 1985) with publications in the journal Health & Place reveals differentially globalised characters. A steady flow of international visitors and appointments to New Zealand universities as well as more apparent connections to the wider discipline of geography contrast with more applied geospatial and public health connections in Australian health geography.     

Engagement in a Public Forum: Knowledge,Action, and Cosmopolitanism

Facing challenges to the civic purpose of higher education, some scholars and administrators turn to the rhetoric of engagement. Simultaneously, the political philosophy of cosmopolitanism has gained intellectual favor, advocating openness to the lived experiences of distant others. We articulate linkages between these two discourses in an extended case study, finding that a cosmopolitan ethos of engagement in a rural context can improve (1) understanding among people ordinarily separated by spatialized social‐ecological differences, (2) prospects for longer term environmental sustainability, and (3) the visionary potential of collaborative inquiry. Despite globalization of food systems and neoliberal shifts in fishery management, an annual fisheries forum facilitates coalitions that overcome dichotomies between technocratic and local knowledge, extending benefits to fishing communities, academia, and public policy. Iterative and loosely structured capacity building expands informally through affective processes of recognition and care, as decentralized leadership supports collective mobilization toward alternate futures.     

时间预算与狩猎采集技术

在史前研究中,我们会发现不同地区的技术会有明显差异。比如在整个更新世,华北地区的旧石器显示不断精致化的趋势,在旧石器时代晚期出现了细石器,并扩散到青藏高原以及整个东北亚和西北美。而华南地区的旧石器技术和类型一直很少变化,以粗大的砾石工业为主。对于这种现象,我们常常从文化传统角度来解释,认为是不同的人群和技术传统造成了这种差异。还有,随着全新世初定居和农耕经济的开始,全球范围内的史前石器技术显示出一种普遍衰退的迹象,比较精致的打制技术被砸击技术所取代。托伦斯这篇文章从时间预算的角度为石器技术差异和变化的解释提供了一个崭新的视角,认为精致技术的发展是在时间压力之下,狩猎采集者为了减少觅食失败而加大技术投入的结果。这种具有时间压力的生存方式一般以狩猎为特点,因为猎物迁徙季节性强或转瞬即逝,所以必须加大技术投入确保狩猎成功,以免空手而归所造成的灾难性后果。这种技术精致的现象往往随纬度升高而越发明显,这是因为随着纬度的升高,猎物资源越趋单一,于是生存的希望完全仰仗技术工具的有效性,所以必须加大技术投入以提高工具的功效。而在南方,食物种类多,互补性强,而且大部分食物为植物,在采集利用上没有时间压力,所以缺乏改善技术和工具的动力。同样,随着人类的定居和流动性减少,生存方式和食物资源发生变化,以前那种要求精致技术的时间压力也随之消失,人们自然也就转向权宜性的石器技术。从这篇文章我们可以体会到人类学理论在考古材料解释上的价值,从生态适应来研究史前技术的差异和变迁,能够使我们从类型学的分析转向对人类行为的深入了解,从而能更好地进行历史的重建。     

Zooarchaeological perspectives on the Chinese Early and Late Paleolithic from the Ma’anshan site (Guizhou,South China)

Ma’anshan is a Paleolithic cave site in the Guizhou province of southern China. The total area of the excavations is ca. 48 m², and the cultural deposit is divided into two layers representing the Chinese Late Paleolithic and the later part of the Early Paleolithic. The upper layer dates between 19,295  BP and 31,155 BP by AMS technique, and the lower layer is dated to around 53,000 BP by U-Series technique. Thousands of bone fragments were recovered from the two layers. Species abundance, bone surface modifications, skeletal element representation, and mortality patterns were studied in an investigation of assemblage formation history and patterns of prey selection and meat consumption by hominins. Interpretations of the faunal data are strengthened by reference to experimental studies and ethnoarchaeological data. The zooarchaeological data indicate that the later occupants of Ma’anshan Cave hunted mainly medium and small game animals, while the earlier occupants tended to prey upon larger animals. In the later period, hominins also made fuller use of the carcasses. The breadth of the meat diet increased with time, due to the inclusion of quick small animals (bamboo rats and birds) in the later period. The differences between the two faunal assemblages are consistent with the chronologic boundary currently drawn between the Chinese Early and Late Paleolithic ca. 30–27 ka BP, based on technological and other evidence.