The Art of Geographical Analysis

Professor Arthur Getis was a prominent geographical analysis researcher and proponent. His research in geographical analysis was broad, with an eye on theoretical developments and application-oriented details. However, there was so much more. His active participation and engaged discussion at symposia and conferences, in sessions, during breaks and less formally over drinks or a meal, stand out, even postretirement. His service and mentoring in many forms too were invaluable. In what follows, an overview of his career and contributions are provided. Additionally, observations and broader significance are offered as a set of rules to live by based on my three decades of interaction with Professor Getis.     

A PROVENANCE STUDY OF POTTERY FROM ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES NEAR CANOSA,PUGLIA (ITALY)*

Studies have been carried out to assess the provenance of selected pottery excavated at archaeological sites near Canosa, Puglia (Italy). Sixty-six sherds, ranging in date from the mid-seventh century BC to the beginning of the third century BC, were analysed by atomic absorption spectroscopy and 16 elements were determined. The analysis data were subjected to multivariate classification procedures. Tests showed that the majority of the examined sherds came from ancient local kilns; a probable Ionian origin was established for some other sherds, while the rest were of unknown origin.     

Public Opinion,National Integration and National Identity in Spain: The Case of the Barcelona Olympic Games

Abstract. This article analyses the impact of the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games on national integration and national identity in Spain with respect to the conflict of interests that developed around the Games between the centre and Catalonia. We argue that polarisation along nationalist lines was limited in large part because national identity in Spain today is not predominantly a unitary and exclusive entity. Dual identity, loyalty to both Spain, on the one hand, and to one's region, or nation as in the case of Catalonia, on the other, and inclusive nationalism that does not aim at complete national independence, increasingly have tended to predominate in the last decade and a half. The Olympics, then, not only polarised relations between Catalonia and Spain, they also served to accommodate antagonisms between them and thus to maintain a delicate, fragile balance of power in the new España de las autonomías.     

A Potential Case of Social Bankruptcy: States' AFDC Payments and Their Teen Birth Rates

Based on a pooled time series analysis that covers a 30-year period at five different time points—1960, 1970, 1980, 1985, and 1990—this research examines the relationship between states' Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) payments and teen birth rates. Drawing on rational choice theories, we expected the effects of states' AFDC payments on their teen birth rates to be positive, taking into account states' divorce rates, population change rates, unemployment rates, racial composition, and poverty rates. The effects of states'AFDC payments were significant in a negative direction in Model 1, a random effects model; they also were significant in a negative direction in Model 2 when we controlled for the effects of year; however, when we controlled for the effects of year and state in Model 3, they were not significant. The findings do not support assumptions regarding the incentive effects of welfare that underlie rational choice theories in states where teen birth rates are higher. If anything, teen birth rates are higher in states where AFDC payments are lower. Implications for policy and further research are discussed in relation to the positive effects of states' poverty and population change rates on the state teen birth rate problem.     

The Terminal Pleistocene/Early Holocene archaeology of the Great Basin

The archaeological record of the Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene in the Great Basin consists largely of surface lithic artifacts, and consequently research has concentrated on typological and technological studies. The small suite of radiocarbon dates available suggests human presence in the Great Basin by at least 11,500 B.P., but evidence of subsistence is scanty. Technological analyses as well as artifact distributions suggest that the earliest occupants of this region subsisted primarily by hunting, possibly large terrestrial game. As elsewhere in North America, the earliest occupants of the Great Basin faced a rapidly changing environment, with the drying of shallow pluvial lake remnants and the creation of new habitats. Paralleling these changes, significant subsistence resource diversification coupled with expansion into new environments is evident by the close of the Pleistocene.