History,Chronology and Techno-Typology of the Upper Paleolithic Sequence in the Shuidonggou Area,Northern China

The timing and behavioral markers of the Upper Paleolithic in different parts of the world are of great importance to research on modern human dispersals. The pattern of behavioral developments in the Upper Paleolithic in northern China differs in important ways from the patterns observed in West Eurasia, Africa, and South Asia. Shuidonggou (SDG), a cluster of Paleolithic sites in northern China, contains several of the most important Upper Paleolithic sites in the region. Various localities yield evidence of three major cultural components dated by ¹⁴C, uranium-series, and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) methods to between roughly 46 ka and 10 ka. The oldest component, blade assemblages with western Eurasian early Upper Paleolithic characteristics, appears to be intrusive from Siberia and/or Mongolia, beginning at least 41 ka (e.g., SDG 1 and SDG 9). Advanced core and flake assemblages may mark the appearance of an indigenous Late Paleolithic of North China beginning at around 33 ka (e.g., SDG 2 and SDG 8). Finally, around 10.5 ka, microblade technology arrived in the area (SDG 12), although we are not sure of its origins at present. Other typical Upper Paleolithic cultural remains, such as bone tools and body decorations, have been found at various localities in the SDG area as well (e.g., ostrich eggshell beads from SDG 2, 7, and 8). Information from this cluster of occupations increases our understanding of cultural variability, adaptation, and demographic dynamics of modern humans in Late Pleistocene northern Asia.

     

The arts of memory revived: The re‐interpretation of old parliament house

Abstract

The authors discuss the interpretation of Old Parliament House in Canberra, which ceased being the site of the Australian Federal Parliament in 1988 and is now an historic building and open to the public. The challenge lies in a building, which is not only an historic piece of architecture, which contains the National Portrait Gallery, but also the site of all Australian federal political life for sixty years. How to tell such a plethora of stories to a variety of visitors remains a daunting proposition.     

The civic zeitgeist: nationalism and liberal values in the European radical right

This article examines the relationship between nationalism and liberal values and, more specifically, the redefinition of boundaries between national communities and others in the rhetoric of radical right parties in Europe. The aim is to examine the tension between radical right party discourse and the increasing need to shape this discourse in liberal terms. We argue that the radical right parties that successfully operate within the democratic system tend to be those best able to tailor their discourse to the liberal and civic characteristics of national identity so as to present themselves and their ideologies as the true authentic defenders of the nation's unique reputation for democracy, diversity and tolerance. Comparing the success of a number of European radical right parties ranging from the most electorally successful Swiss People's Party, the Dutch Pim Fortuyn List and Party for Freedom to the more mixed French Front National, British National Party and National Democratic Party of Germany we show that the parties that effectively deploy the symbolic resources of national identity through a predominantly voluntaristic prism tend to be the ones that fare better within their respective political systems. In doing so, we challenge the conventional view in the study of nationalism that expects civic values to shield countries from radicalism and extremism.     

Book reviews

Emilio Franzina (1995) Gli italiani al nuovo mondo; L'emigrazione italiana in America 1492‐1942 (Milan: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore), pp. 1‐644. 65,000 lire, ISBN 88‐04‐35977‐3.

Marta Petrusewicz (1996) Latifundium. Moral Economy and Material Life in a European Periphery, translated by Judith C. Green (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press), pp. i‐xx, 1‐289, ISBN 047‐2103423 hardback.

H. James Burgwyn (1997) Italian Foreign Policy in the Interwar Period, 1918‐1940 (Westport, Conn.: Praeger), pp. i‐xx, 1‐246, ISBN 0‐275‐94877‐3 hardback.

Lutz Klinkhammer (1997) Stragi naziste in Italia. La guerra contro i civili (1943‐44), translated by Suzanne Meyer (Rome: Donzelli), pp. i‐xii, 1‐165, 18,000 lire; Paolo Pezzino (1997) Anatomia di un massacro. Controversia sopra una strage tedesca (Bologna: Il Mulino), pp. 1‐243, 26,000 lire, paperback.

Mabel Berezin (1997) Making the Fascist Self: the Political Culture of Interwar Italy (Ithaca, NY, and London: Cornell University Press), pp. 1‐267, ISBN 0‐8014‐8420‐9 paperback; Simonetta Falasca‐Zamponi (1997) Fascist Spectacle: the Aesthetics of Power in Mussolini's Italy (Berkeley and London: University of California Press), pp. 1‐314, $40.00, ISBN 0‐520‐20623‐1 hardback.

David Ward (1996) Antifascisms: Cultural Politics in Italy, 1943‐46. Benedetto Croce and the Liberals, Carlo Levi and the ‘Actionists’ (Madison, NJ: Farteigh‐Dickinson University Press), pp. 1‐244, ISBN 0‐8363‐3676‐4.

David Forgacs and Robert Lumley (eds) (1996) Italian Cultural Studies: an Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 1‐368, $19.95, ISBN 0‐19‐871509‐9 paperback.

Maurizio Degl'lnnocenti (1995) La società unificata, Associazone, sindacato, partito sotto il fasdsmo (Manduria: Piero Lacaita Editore), pp. 1‐216, 25,000 lire, paperback.

Nello Ajello (1997) Illungo addio, intellettuali e PCI dal 1958 al 1991 (Rome‐Bari: Laterza), pp. 1‐425, 35,000 lire, ISBN 88‐420‐5323‐6.

Tom Behan (1997) The Camorra (London and New York: Routledge), pp. i‐vii, 1 ‐225, ISBN 0‐415‐09987‐0 hardback.

Sandro Setta (1995) La Destra ndl'Italia del dopoguerra (Bari: Laterza), pp. i‐xi, 1‐242, 35,000 lire, ISBN 88‐420‐4591‐8.

Manuela Gieri (1995) Contemporary Italian Filmmaking: Strategies of Subversion ‐Pirandello, Fellini, Scola and the Directors of the New Generation (Toronto: University of Toronto Press), pp. 1‐301, ISBN 0‐8020‐0556‐X hardback; ISBN 0‐8020‐6979‐7 paperback.     

Probable oribatid mite (Acari: Oribatida) tunnels and faecal pellets in silicified conifer wood from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian–Turonian) portion of the Winton Formation,central-western Queensland,Australia

Fletcher, T.L. & Salisbury, S.W., XX.XX. 2014. Probable oribatid mite (Acari: Oribatida) tunnels and faecal pellets in silicified conifer wood from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian–Turonian) portion of the Winton Formation, central-western Queensland, Australia. Alcheringa 38, 541–545. ISSN 0311-5518.

Tunnels and faecal pellets likely made by oribatid mites have been found in silicified conifer wood from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian–Turonian) portion of the Winton Formation, central-western Queensland, Australia. Although this is the first identified and described record of oribatid mites in the Mesozoic of Australia, other published, but unassigned material may also be referable to Oribatida. Current understanding of the climatic significance of mite distribution is limited, but the presence of oribatids and absence of xylophagus insects in the upper portion of the Winton Formation are consistent with indications that the environment in which this unit was deposited was relatively warm and wet for its palaeolatitude. Such traces may provide useful and durable proxy evidence of palaeoclimate, but more detailed investigation of modern taxa and their relationship to climate is still needed.

Tamara L. Fletcher [t.fletcher1@uq.edu.au] and Steven. W. Salisbury, [s.salisbury@uq.edu.au] School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Australia, 4072. Received 28.1.2014; revised 1.4.2014; accepted 3.4.2014.     

Majority Party Bias in U.S. Congressional Conference Committees

This article examines the representativeness of conference committees in the U.S. Congress by measuring the difference in observed policy preferences between the conference delegations and the parent bodies. We predict and find significant differences between the House and Senate in terms of the partisan bias of conference delegations. House conference delegations are systematically biased in favor of the majority party and away from the chamber median. We take the additional step of exploring the source of this bias. In particular, we examine whether majority party bias in conference is a function of partisan processes at work directly in the selection of conferees. We find evidence that the conditions of majority party influence in the House are consistent with some existing theoretical models of party influence in legislating. There is less conclusive evidence of partisan processes in the Senate, which is consistent with institutional differences in appointment practices.