Sustaining the energy: a celebration of the life of Judith Ennew

In October 2013 the world lost one of the leading lights of scholarship and advocacy for the human rights of children. Judith Ennew was an intellectual and an activist who shaped the global agenda for research with children, particularly in the Global South, for almost four decades. Judith was also a mentor and friend to many child researchers around the world. Here, we celebrate the incredible life of Judith Ennew as we remember the breadth and depth of her contribution to research and her unfailing commitment to improving the lives of children around the world.     

Flakes Crossing the Straits? <Emphasis Type="Italic">Entame</Emphasis> Flakes and Northern Africa–Iberia Contact During the Acheulean

The entame core method was defined after studying the Acheulean bifaces from the site of Ternifine, Algeria. This specialized core method for the production of larges flakes (>10 cm) used for biface blanks involves the detachment of primary large flakes from skillfully selected quartzite cobbles. While technologically simple, a competent selection of raw material and dexterous detachment of the flake resulted in a blank perfectly suitable for the production of bifaces, with minimal further shaping required. This core method resulted in high frequencies of entame blanks in the Ternifine lithic assemblages, as well as from the Iberian Peninsula Acheulean, but not in assemblages from other large flake Acheulean sites. It is suggested that the frequent use of the entame core method common to both North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula indicates similarity in lithic tradition during the Acheulean. This may support the view of North African origin for the Iberian Acheulean during the Middle Pleistocene.     

Reviews

Joseph Rykwert, The Dancing Column. On Order in Architecture, Cambridge, Mass. and London: The MIT Press, 1996. xviii + 598 pp., 316 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–262–18170–3. £49.95.

Janet Lang and Andrew Middleton (eds.), Radiography of Cultural Material, Oxford: Butterworth‐Heinemann, 1997. xii + 193 pp., 23 col. and 157 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–7506–2621–6. £45.00.

Chris Rojek and John Urry (eds.), Touring Cultures: Transformations of Travel and Theory, London and New York: Routledge, 1997. x + 214 pp., 11 b. & w. illus. and 1 fig. ISBN 0–415–111225–0. £13.99.

Peter Mandler, The Fall and Rise of the Stately Home, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1997. viii + 523 pp., 99 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–300–06703–8. £19.95.

Susan M. Pearce (ed.), Experiencing Material Culture in the Western World, London and Washington: Leicester University Press, 1997. xiv + 274 pp., 1 b. & w. illus. ISBN 9–7185–0022–9. £18–99.

Steven Parissien, Station to Station, London: Phaidon, 1997. 240 pp., 191 col. and 146 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–7148–3467‐X. £39.99.

David Phillips, Exhibiting Authenticity, Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1997. xi + 234 pp., 61 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–7190–4797–8. £16.99.

Phillip Lindley (ed.), Sculpture Conservation: Preservation or Interference?, Aldershot, England: Scolar Press, 1997. xxxii + 237 pp., 18 figs., 97 b. & w. and 65 col. illus. ISBN 1–85928–254–7. £35.00.

George (Rip) Rapp Jr. and Christopher L. Hill, Geoarchaeology: the Earth‐science Approach to Archaeological Interpretation, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1998. xiii + 274 pp., 80 figs. ISBN 0–300–07075–6. £28.00.

Brian J. Shaw and Roy Jones (eds.), Contested Urban Heritage: Voices from the Periphery, Aldershot, Brookfield USA, Singapore, Sydney: Ashgate, 1997. ix + 205 pp., 19 figs, 42 b. & w. illus. ISBN 1–85972–554–6. £37.50.

Dianne Sachko Macleod, Art and the Victorian Middle Class: Money and the Making of Cultural Identity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. xx + 530 pp., 8 col. and 76 b. & w. illns. ISBN 0–521–55090–4. £65.00.

Nicholas Barton, Stone Age Britain, London: B. T. Batsford in association with English Heritage, 1997. 144 pp., 7 figs., 16 col. and 113 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–7134–6846–7. £15.99.

Paul Bidwell, Roman Forts in Britain, London: B. T. Batsford in association with English Heritage, 1997. 128 pp., 12 col. and 80 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–7134–7100‐X. £15.99.

Peter Marsden, Ships and Shipwrecks, London: B. T. Batsford in association with English Heritage, 1997. 128 pp., 11 col. and 85 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–7134–7536–6. £15.99.

Trevor Rowley, Norman England, London: B. T. Batsford in association with English Heritage, 1997. 144 pp., 12 col. and 94 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–7134–8060–2. £15.99.     

Using spatial analysis to estimate depopulation for Native American populations in northeastern North America,AD 1616–1645

Eight years ago, Ramenofsky et al. (2003) characterized the discussion of the impact of Old World diseases on Native American populations as almost exclusively historical in nature. They specifically argued for the application of more evolutionary, genetic, and epidemiological theory to research into this topic. We agree with their assessment and further suggest that such research would greatly benefit from spatial analyses of disease spread as well. Using trend surface analysis of existing ethnohistorical and archaeological data pertaining to population sizes and disease events, we examine the spatiotemporal dimensions of 17th century depopulation in northeastern North America. The subsequent results allow us to predict possible depopulation rates for populations with very little demographic data. Further, our use of biological, historical, and cultural data to interpret the results represents an attempt to provide a more complex explanation for the variability in cultural survivability across the region and several possible avenues for productive future research. We believe research like this can significantly improve our understanding of how Old World diseases affected historic Native American populations and cultures and continue to impact them today.     

Stature and frailty during the Black Death: the effect of stature on risks of epidemic mortality in London,A.D. 1348–1350

Recent research has shown that preexisting health condition affected an individual's risk of dying during the 14th-century Black Death. However, a previous study of the effect of adult stature on risk of mortality during the epidemic failed to find a relationship between the two; this result is perhaps surprising given the well-documented inverse association between stature and mortality in human populations. We suggest that the previous study used an analytical approach that was more complex than was necessary for an assessment of the effect of adult stature on risk of mortality. This study presents a reanalysis of data on adult stature and age-at-death during the Black Death in London, 1348–1350 AD. The results indicate that short stature increased risks of mortality during the medieval epidemic, consistent with previous work that revealed a negative effect of poor health on risk of mortality during the Black Death. However, the results from a normal, non-epidemic mortality comparison sample do not show an association between stature and risks of mortality among adults under conditions of normal mortality. Fisher's exact tests, used to determine whether individuals who were growing during the Great Famine of 1315–1322 were more likely to be of short stature than those who did not endure the famine, revealed no differences between the two groups, suggesting that the famine was not a source of variation in stature among those who died during the Black Death.     

Organic geochemical analysis of archaeological medicine pots from Northern Ghana. The multi-functionality of pottery

Sherds from pots found layered under a granite boulder in the Tong Hills of the Upper East Region of Northern Ghana seem, based on their deposition context to have been used for the preparation of medicines. Organic geochemical and isotopic analyses of these sherds and a modern day analogue reveal an n-alkanoic acid composition that is consistent with their being used in the preparation of plant derived substances. Isotopic analyses of the modern medicine pot indicate a contribution of n-alkanoic acids derived from plants that use C₄ carbon fixation, most likely maize, sorghum and/or millet suggesting that this pot was used for cooking C₄ based plant substances, perhaps, based on current analogy, staple porridge type food. The modern medicine pot could thus have had a prior use. The absence of C₄ plant residues in the archaeological sherds suggests that either staple foodstuffs differed radically to today, or, more likely, were not prepared in vessels that were to be used for medicinal purposes.     

The technology and significance of the Acheulian giant cores of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov,Israel

The presence of very large lithic artifacts at the Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov is one of the site’s most distinctive and enlightening features. Basalt giant cores and their products, modified by a variety of core methods and found in association with different hominin activities, occur throughout the stratigraphic sequence of the site.