Gender differences in children's pathways to independent mobility

This paper presents some empirical findings relating to the independent mobility of children in two parts of south-east England – one a south London borough, the other a suburban county north of London. In both locations boys appear to enjoy greater mobility than girls, and become independent much earlier. But closer analysis suggests that girls manage to attain similar levels of independence from adults by travelling more in groups. This collective independence achieved through peers is often overlooked, and may compensate modern children to some extent for their loss of individual freedom.     

Interview with Stephen J. Pyne

Born in California in 1949, reared and educated in Arizona, Pyne earned his bachelor's degree in English at Stanford University and his master's and doctoral degrees in American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Pyne has written about fire on earth as none did before him. He has fought fires on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, collected a unique library on how different cultures have used and misused fire in the past, and consulted on fire management for many agencies throughout the world. He has published seven books, three monographs, fourteen reports, and over fifty articles and essays. A MacArthur Fellow from 1988 to 1993, Pyne is a professor of American Studies at Arizona State University West. He and his wife, Sonja Sandberg, were married in 1977 and have two daughters. They live in Glendale, Arizona, where this interview was conducted in September 1994 by Roger Adelson.     

Two Sides to Every Story: Bout Coupé Handaxes Revisited

Bout coupé handaxes are widely considered to be a cultural and typological marker for the Middle Palaeolithic in Britain, and are traditionally dated to around the end of the Last Interglacial or the beginning of the Devensian glaciation. Much debate has surrounded the typological validity of this form, but relatively little attention has been paid to the stratigraphical integrity of the sample. This paper takes a fresh look at the bout coupé problem using a select sample of better provenanced pieces and employs the most current chronological frameworks. We conclude that there is a temporally restricted bout coupé phenomenon in the British Isles, but contrary to previous claims these handaxes cannot be regarded as an unequivocal marker for the Mousterian and nor do they belong to the early Upper Pleistocene. Rather the bout coupé phenomenon marks the recolonization of Britain by Neanderthal populations during OIS 3 (59–41 ka). This further suggests a bipartite division of the British Middle Palaeolithic, each period having a quasi-distinctive lithic signature.     

Safe Places in Domestic Spaces: Two-Year-Olds at Play in their Homes

This paper contributes to the growing research literature on children's ‘intimate geographies’ by focusing on two-year-old children's explorations and play within the domestic spaces of their homes. It draws on video data showing three young girls playing in selected home spaces i.e. a family grocery shop in Peru, the upstairs rooms of a house in America, and the balcony of an apartment in Italy. Through analysis of short video sequences the paper describes the way children use and invest meaning in these spaces. It is argued that the three domestic locations can be seen as ‘safe places’, in both material and personal senses; and that they enable children's sense of belonging, foster their ‘emplaced knowledge’ and build on their confidence to explore spaces further afield.     

An Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Greenbank,Darlington

NORTH of the R. Tees pagan Anglo-Saxon cemeteries are only conspicuous by their virtual absence; and, from the ten undoubted examples known,¹ both the quality and quantity of the objects recovered do little to illuminate the Anglo-Saxon element in the culture of Bernicia—a kingdom which probably owed much of its numerical strength to native British survival.² In view of the scant evidence available, it is surprising that the finds from Darlington, the richest cemetery N. of the Tees, have never been fully published before.³ This paper seeks to make good this omission.