The ‘invisible’ hearths: a contribution to the discernment of Mesolithic non-structured surface hearths

In the cover sand area of the NW European plain very little is known about fireplaces within Mesolithic settlement areas. Yet the frequent occurrence of burnt ecofacts (hazelnut shells and bone) and artefacts (flint and quartzite) clearly indicates the presence of (surface) hearths on nearly every campsite. Most of these hearths are non-structured and are thus barely visible in the soil. Furthermore in most spatial studies minimal effort has been made to locate these ‘invisible’ hearths as accurately as possible. This paper discusses the potential and modalities of detailed spatial analysis of burnt artefacts and ecofacts, using recently obtained archaeological and experimental evidences. It is concluded that such an analysis can offer interesting insights into the dynamics of Mesolithic hearths.     

Territorial Cohesion of Tomorrow: A Path to Cooperation or Competition?

Explicit reference was made to “Territorial Cohesion” in the draft Constitution for Europe. The concept has recently been celebrated by many stakeholders of territorial development policies, including the European community of planners. Territorial Cohesion does not seem to have received any official definition, but it is clearly meant to aim at some sort of “spatial justice” while promoting integration between EU sector policies that have a territorial impact. Seemingly a consensual principle: who in Europe would object to a better coherence between various EU policies and the provision of reasonably equal standards of living to all EU citizens, regardless of their area of settlement? Yet a close examination of the current political debate suggests that very divergent views are being expressed as to what Territorial Cohesion exactly entails in practical terms. Two main different policy approaches seem to emerge in this debate. The first approach tends to equate Territorial Cohesion to a range of positive discrimination steps in favour of various penalised areas. Interest groups, in particular lobbies for specific regions, have proved influential in propagating this conception. In the area of regional policy, this approach embodies the neo-corporatist, depoliticised line of the contemporary political culture. It is primarily inspired by financial considerations and a competitive zero-sum game scenario: regions of a specific category should increase their share of the EU funding at the expense of the others. The opposite approach places much more emphasis on the need for integrated territorial planning strategies and the integration of EU policies. Its proponents are the heirs of the post-war urban and regional planning tradition. They strive to revive the politicised and rationalist ideology of the Enlightenment, based on the notion of public interest. They raise awareness about the steadily growing interdependence between regions and cities of Europe and advocate a cooperative approach focusing on issues of transnational relevance and win-win situations. This rather idealistic cooperative approach seems to be less influential than its rival, and currently confined to a relatively small group of planning professionals. The question remains: which of the two models—interregional competition or cooperation—will finally succeed in shaping the EU cohesion policy?     

Domesticating Barbie: An Archaeology of Barbie Material Culture and Domestic Ideology

A systematic examination of Barbie fashions, accessories, and playsets produced since 1959 reveals several distinct phases in the domestic symbolism associated with Barbie. Today, Barbie grocery shops, cleans house, cares for her young siblings, and assumes careers which fill nurturing and protective roles like those championed in traditional domestic ideology. Yet in the late 1950s, Barbie was conceived and marketed as a single career girl who did not do rough housework. This paper examines the range of clothing and accessories marketed alongside Barbie as a mechanism to trace the changes in Barbie's domestic image over nearly 40 years.     

Reviews

Buzkashi: Game and Power in Afghanistan , G. Whitney Azoy, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982. 147pp.

The Lion and the Gazelle: The Mammals and Birds of Iran , P. N. Humphreys and E. Kahrom, Nr. Abergavenny: Comma International Biological Systems, 1995, 224 pp., hardcover, £ 28.00

Le combat du colombophile. Jeu aux pigeons et stigmatisation sociale (Kashâ yâ nabard‐e kabutarbâz) , Aladin Goushegir, Tehran: Institut français des études iraniennes, 1997, Bibliothèque Iranienne, No. 47, Tehran, 168 p.

“Die Sportlichen Qualifikationen der altiranischesn Fürsten” Stadion 2 (1976), Wolfgang Knauth

Tarikh‐i Kushti‐yi Iran , Mahdi‘Abbasi, Tehran: Intisharat‐i Majid, 1377/1998, 2nd ed., Nashr‐i Sipas. Four volumes, 555, 458, 525, 532 pp., index and illustrations.

The Ball and Polo Stick or The Book of Ecstasy, Gūy va chawgan ya Halnama , ‘Arifi. A parallel Persian‐English text edited and translated with an introduction by Wheeler M. Thackston, Jr. and Hossein Ziai, Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda, 1999, xiii, 27 [=54] pp., notes pp. 29–33, ISBN 1–56859–090–3.     

The Holocene Archaeological Sequence of Shum Laka Rock Shelter (Grassfields, Western Cameroon)

Until recently the Grassfields (western Cameroon), cradle of the Bantu languages, were an unknown zone from the archaeological point of view. The excavations of Shum Laka rock shelter by de Maret and his team brought the most complete sequence in West Africa, spanning the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene. After 20 millennia of microlithic tradition (Late Stone Age), a new culture, with macrolithic tools, polishing and pottery (Stone to Metal Age), slowly developed ca. 7000 B.P. onwards. From this early period on, forest hunting was associated with the exploitation of Canarium schweinfurthii. Around 4000 B.P., an industry with waisted axes, blades, and pottery had emerged. With a striking technological continuity, this culture survived throughout the Iron Age. Increasing importance and diversity of trees exploited through the Stone to Metal Age and the Iron Age suggests arboriculture. Regional comparisons show that, between 5000 and 2500 B.P., an original culture developed in the Grassfields and the Cross River basin.Jusqu'à récemment, les Grassfields (Cameroun occidental), berceau des langues bantoues, étaient inconnus d'un point de vue archéologique. Les fouilles de l'abri de Shum Laka par de Maret et son équipe permirent d'établir la plus complète séquence d'Afrique occidentale, embrassant la fin du Pléistocène et l'Holocène. Après 20,000 millénaires de traditions microlithiques (Age de la Pierre Récent), une nouvelle culture, caractérisée par l'apparition d'outils macrolithiques, de polissage et de poterie (Age de la Pierre au Métal), se développe lentement à partir de 7000 B.P. Dès le début, la chasse en forêt est associée à l'exploitation de Canarium schweinfurthii. Vers 4000 B.P. une industrie avec haches à gorge, lames et poterie a émergé. Dans une continuité technologique surprenante, cette culture survivra à l'Age du Fer. L'arboriculture est suggérée par l'importance et la diversification des arbres exploités durant l'Age de la Pierre au Métal et l'Age du Fer. Des comparaisons régionales montrent que, entre 5000 et 2500 B.P., une culture originale se développe dans les Grassfields et le bassin de la Cross River.     

Gender and environmental struggles: voices from Adivasi Garo community in Bangladesh

Based on an ethnographic field investigation conducted on the matrilineal–matrilocal Garo community of Bangladesh, this article provides a historical account of local environmental struggles to draw attention to the interconnections between gender, environment and sustainable resource management. From a feminist political ecology perspective, the article argues that interacting with traditional culture, forest ecology and changing processes of centric resource governance, gender remains a salient variable in environmental issues. Local contexts of gender dynamics help configuring local people's mode of participation in environmental struggles as well as being the consequence of those struggles. Findings suggest that Garo women and men have sustained gender specific roles and interests through their struggles to ensure control over forest lands and tree resources. Furthermore, they have developed a class-based relationship with forest ecology which must be acknowledged in forest policies.     

Harmony and Melody in Discourse on European Cohesion

From a corpus constituted by the five Cohesion Reports written by the European Commission, the article, using the methods of textual analysis, highlights the production of a European discourse on the territories participating to a process of institutionalization. Thus, starting from various authors analyses who validate the idea of institutionalization, the authors propose here to further explore this idea, using a method based on a lexical analysis software. The aim is then, on the one hand, to assess the extent to which the discourse of the Commission has elements of stability to justify the idea of institutionalization or, in the other hand, the elements of change over time that could compromise the very idea of institutionalization. The authors present the following results: the Commission discourse has important features of stability. Nevertheless, beyond this finding, there are changes at work. Their expression is rendered possible by the polysemy of the notions mobilized, and they are driven partly by a “rational” representation, but above all by the interplay of the succession of tensions and mind-shaping contexts in the construction of Europe.     

A new protocol for radiocarbon dating of hair and keratin type samples—application to an Andean mummy from the National Museum of Natural History in Paris

The protocol of preparation of keratinized samples (e.g. hair, furs …) for radiocarbon dating that we have developed is based on the selective extraction of keratin from the bulk part of the shaft (cortex). The aim of this method is to eliminate the cuticle which could contain exogenous carbon from external contaminations. The total treatment takes place as follows: a washing/dry cleaning, a soft treatment with diluted acidic and basic solutions (acid/alkali/acid method) similar to the protocol used for vegetal samples, extraction of keratin by reduction using dithiothreitol and precipitation with sodium deoxycholate and trichloroacetic acid. This method was applied on a hair sample from an Andean mummy, conserved in the collections of the Anthropology Laboratory of the National Museum of Natural History (Musée de l’Homme) in Paris, France. The results of two runs reveal that the mummy is dated to a period between the eleventh century and the first half of the twelfth century. It therefore belongs to the Late Intermediate period (900–1450?ad). The combination of historical research, the study of the body by computed tomography and the analysis of mineral deposits on the surface of the body provides clues to identify the geographical origin of the mummy. These investigations led to determine that the mummy comes from the region of Tarapacá in Chile and belongs to the cultural complex Pica-Tarapacá.     

Sailing virtual canoes across Oceania: revisiting island accessibility

Understanding sailing conditions is a basic requirement for understanding the two periods of settlement of the distant islands of Oceania, initially from the Bismarck Islands off New Guinea as far as Samoa and later from Samoa throughout East Polynesia. The question of a “navigational threshold” between these two worlds is the focus of this paper. A computer simulation is presented that quantifies the difficulty of sailing virtual canoes in the differing wind conditions in both areas. The model demonstrates substantial differences in ease of voyaging up to and beyond Samoa. That this measure is so markedly different between these two worlds gives support for the hypothesised pause between the discovery and settlement of islands West and East of Samoa.