The Northern Iranian Central Plateau at the End of the Pleistocene and Early Holocene: The Emergence of Domestication

Journal of World Prehistory - Until recently, the Iranian Central Plateau (ICP) was considered to have been unoccupied at the end of the Pleistocene (Marshall 2012 in ‘Missing Links: Demic...     

Sustained Organizational Influence: American Legislative Exchange Council and the Diffusion of Anti‐Sanctuary Policy

Building upon existing literature, we offer a particular model of network policy diffusion—which we call sustained organizational influence. Sustained organizational influence necessitates an institutional focus across a broad range of issues and across a long period of time. Sustaining organizations are well‐financed, and exert their influence on legislators through benefits, shared ideological interests, and time‐saving opportunities. Sustaining organizations' centralized nature makes legislators' jobs easier by providing legislators with ready‐made model legislation. We argue that sustaining organizations uniquely contribute to policy diffusion in the U.S. states. We evaluate this model with a case study of state‐level immigration sanctuary policy making and the role that the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) played in disseminating model legislation. Through quantitative text analysis and several negative binomial state‐level regression models, we demonstrate that ALEC has exerted an overwhelming influence on the introduction of anti‐sanctuary legislative proposals in the U.S. states over the past 7 years consistent with our particular model of network policy diffusion. Implications are discussed.     

Clusters and Industrial Districts: Where is the Literature Going? Identifying Emerging Sub-Fields of Research

The industrial district and cluster literature has generated an extraordinary quantity of articles, debates and topics for discussion, and encompasses one of the most vibrant lines of research in the field of economics, geography, management and related disciplines. The literature, however, is fairly fragmented. In this paper, “bibliometric” methods are used to analyse the cluster literature published between 1957 and 2014 in order to explore “prospective” research priorities through the method of “bibliographic coupling”. Beyond focusing on foundational works in the past, this approach shifts the focus away from the practice of analysing co-citations and seminal contributions to one of looking at current and emerging trends in the literature. Using the ISI Web of Knowledge (Web of Science) as a database, an examination of two samples of 3955 and 2419 articles is made. Results reveal the existence of sub-fields of inquiry that follow their own particular research agendas, which remain distinct yet interconnected to one another.     

The way we wear makes the difference: residue analysis applied to Mesolithic personal ornaments from Hohlenstein-Stadel (Germany)

Research conducted by Newell et al. (1990) has lead to propose that during the Mesolithic, the Upper Danube region was inhabited by a “Fish Teeth Band”, characterized by the use of carp fish teeth and exogenous fossil shells as ornaments. However, technological data on these personal ornaments drastically lacked and especially for the fish teeth associated to the Mesolithic burial of Hohlenstein-Stadel that remained completely undescribed until now. The aim of this paper is to establish how the carp teeth from Hohlenstein-Stadel were modified and worn before being deposited in the burial. High-resolution microscopic analysis identifies use-wear traces and a red compound adhering to the surface of the teeth. Structural and elemental analysis of the residue combining light and scanning electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and Raman analysis identify a suspension technique that uses an adhesive composed of an organic binder mixed with charcoal and minerals including hematite, dolomite, and quartz. Ethnological inquiry reveals that this system of suspension, commonly used in traditional societies, is for the first time documented, at Hohlenstein-Stadel, in an archaeological context.     

The Most Discreet Favourite: Baltasar de Zúñiga and Early Modern Spanish Statecraft

The historiographical term “the favourite” has proved to be very successful in explaining this figure in many monarchical regimes in Early Modern Europe. However, there is much discussion about the limits of the favourite’s power and the extent to which he shared power with other relevant individuals. Micro-political research on power dynamics in Habsburg Spain leads us to the figure of Baltasar de Zúñiga (1561–1622), the Count-Duke of Olivares’s uncle and eminence grise. The more or less civilised struggle between Olivares and Zúñiga for royal favour provides a relevant case study of power management and its impact on public opinion at the time.     

Traditional Retail Markets: The New Gentrification Frontier?

This paper presents traditional retail markets in the UK caught between a narrative of decline and revival, on the edge of a gentrification frontier. Traditional indoor and outdoor markets have become somewhat residual in many British cities but essential for many low‐income citizens that rely on their affordability. At the same time, the market is being reinvented for a wealthier type of customer interested more in local, environmentally friendly, ethical and “authentic” shopping experience. We take the case of Kirkgate Market in Leeds, the largest of its kind in Britain to analyse the process of disinvestment by the local authority, displacement of traders and customers and rebranding of the market for a new wealthier customer base. The paper is based on an action‐research project on which one of the authors is involved alongside traders and other campaigners to defend the public nature of Kirkgate Market in Leeds.     

The organizers and the organized

Bryan R. Roberts. Organizing Strangers: Poor Families in Guatemala City. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1973. xviii + 360 pp. Tables, bibliography, and index. $12.50.