A humerus story: Albatross element distribution from two northwest coast sites,North America

The distribution of the skeletal elements of albatross from the Maple Bank site is compared with those for ducks and gulls at that site and others on the northwest coast of America. The element distribution was very different between species and between sites. The proportions of albatross bones found suggest that there was a cultural reason for the elements present, probably the curation of wing bones for toolmaking and other uses. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

“An Irregular and Inconvenient Pile of Buildings”: The Destitute Asylum of Adelaide, South Australia and the English Workhouse

The Destitute Asylum of Adelaide, South Australia, was the subject of a rescue excavation in 1983. This paper seeks to explore the possibilities for further archaeological research that can arise from a reconsideration of reports generated by such excavations. Using documents, plans, photographs, and the Asylum buildings as material culture in much the same way as artifacts are used, the research focuses on the questions of space and room use within the Destitute Asylum.     

Book reviews

CHINA

JUSTIN JON RUDELSON. Oasis Identities, Uyghur Nationalism along China's Silk Road. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997. xv, 209 pp. Acknowledgments, maps, illustrations, bibliography, index. US$42.50, hardcover; US$16.50, paper.

ROSS TERRILL. Mao: a Biography. Sydney: Hale and Iremonger, 1995. 524 pp. Bibliographic note, reference notes, index. A$24.95, paper.

ROSS TERRILL. Madame Mao: the White‐Boned Demon. Sydney: Hale and Iremonger, 1995. 466 pp. Bibliographic note, reference notes, index. A$24.95, paper.

JAPAN, KOREA

EIJI OGUMA. Tan'itsu minzoku shinwa no kigen [The origins of the myth of the homogeneous nation]. Tokyo: Shinyosha, 1995, 1997. 450 pp. ¥3800, hardcover.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

H. Th. CHABOT. Kinship, Status and Gender in South Celebes. Leiden: KITLV Press, 1996. 291 pp. Author's biography, author's bibliography, appendix, bibliography, three indexes, photographic illustrations. No price given, paper.

GREG POULGRAIN. The Genesis of Konfrontasi: Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia 1945–1965. Bathurst: Crawford House Publishing; London: C. Hurst and Co Ltd, 1998. xxvi, 322 pp. Foreword by Pramoedya Ananta Toer, introduction, map, photographs, index. A$29.95, paper.

M. J. C. SCHOUTEN. Leadership and Social Mobility in a Southeast Asian Society: Minahasa, 1677–1983. Leiden: KITLV Press, 1998. xiv, 334 pp. Index. No price given, paperback.

GENERAL ASIA

KERRIE L. MACPHERSON (ed). Asian Department Stores. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, 1998. x, 309 pp. Preface, introduction, notes, references, index. £40.00, hardcover.

PETER P. ROGERS, KAZI F. JALAL, BINDU N. LOHANI, GENE M. OWENS, CHANG‐CHANG YU, CHRISTIAN M. DUFOURNAUD and JUN BI. Measuring Environmental Quality in Asia. Cambridge: Harvard Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Asian Development Bank's Office of Environment and Social Development, distributed by Harvard University Press, 1997. vii, 368 pp. Foreword, preface, acknowledgments, notes on contributors, abbreviations and acronyms, appendices. US$30.00, paper.     

Native Yucatán and Spanish influence: The archaeology and history of chikinchel

Researchers interested in developing long-term social histories are faced with myriad difficulties rising from the biased and fragmentary nature of various available sources of information on the distant past. Understanding the crucial centuries surrounding the Spanish invasion of the northern Maya lowlands is hindered by uncritical mixing of the written and material records. This case study from the Chikinchel region in northeast Yucatán is focused on economic issues. Relevant data from each register first are considered separately in order to preserve the integrity of each source. The resulting synthesis offers a new, well-informed interpretation of late prehispanic economic organization and its alteration under Spanish authority.