Strauss,Anastaplo, and Crosskey on "One Hard Nut to Crack": The Declaration of Independence

Abstract

What liberal arts and science faculty's regalia must and must not represent, and why liberal education should endure.     

From environmentalism to sustainability

Abstract

Environmentalism is giving way to sustainability in a process that is aided by complementary shifts in economic, social and political arenas. Environmentalism was always a necessary first step. The shift towards sustainability is beginning to take place because the mood of the times is now ready to promote its early stages. However, as we contemplate more fully the fuller significance of sustainability, the very ethos of livelihood and lifestyle enters the frame of enquiry. Livelihood and lifestyle are part of the same set of phenomena defining personal and social identity, and economic well-being. But we can stillask two complementary questions. Are we seriously prepared to metamorphose into a sustainable life style? Can we devise ways to cope by drawing on multiple livelihoods? This will be one of the key issues for human geographers to examine in the coming decade.     

Rice or millets: early farming strategies in prehistoric central Thailand

Ancient seeds from archaeological sites can provide clues that are crucial for understanding and characterizing subsistence strategies. This in turn contributes to our understanding of, and explanations for, the relationship between socioeconomic systems and organization of craft production. This article will examine the relationship between rice and millets at three prehistoric sites from a regional copper-producing center in central Thailand to provide new insights into the subsistence strategy of these communities and to better understand the relationship between these crops and their introduction and use in Southeast Asia.     

An Analysis of the Gut Contents of Five Well-Preserved Human Bodies from Tarapacá, Northern Chile

The detailed microscopic analysis of the gut contents from five well-preserved desiccated human bodies, dated between 540 BC and AD 600, from the Tarapacá quebrada, Northern Chile, has been undertaken. This analysis indicated that local wild resources such as the seeds of Chenopodium sp., pods of Prosopis sp. and the underground organs of Schoenoplectus/Scirpus sp. made up a substantial part of the diet even after the presence of domesticated species can be demonstrated for the area. Evidence for the consumption of fish was also recovered but the identification of larger mammals such as the Andean camelids in the diet is only tentative. This stands in contrast to the data recovered from other classes of archaeological remains and highlights the need to correlate as many different classes of complementary data as possible if a more complete picture of ancient diet is to be forthcoming.     

Sedentism and economic change in the Balkan Neolithic

The effects of sedentism on economic behavior, with special reference to the activities involved in the exploitation of ceramic and lithic resources, are discussed. The context of the study is the late Neolithic of Southeast Europe. It is argued that the widespread establishment of sedentary communities in the Balkans was followed by changes in the production of pottery and stone tools, entailing the routine investment of increasing amounts of labor in most phases of production, increased complexity in the organization of production, and a more selective approach to resource exploitation. Ceramic and lithic production form an important part of the nonsubsistence side of the Neolithic economy, and an understanding of changes in this sphere of activity is crucial to a comprehension of the wider effects of sedentism on economic behavior.     

A Shift in Values

Quantitative indicators of change for non-commodity resource management were examined, to assess whether the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service has been changing its on-the-ground management practices to give more emphasis to non-commodity resources. Specifically, data on recreation management and on wildlife and fish habitat management were analyzed to determine whether any shifts in the agency's management priorities had occurred. All data examined indicate that the Forest Service has been increasing its activities in non-commodity resource management over historic levels. When viewed in context with other recent studies suggesting that the Forest Service is moving away from traditional commodity production, the results of this study provide evidence that a significant shift has occurred, or presently is occurring, in Forest Service management practices.     

Gao and Igbo-Ukwu: Beads, interregional trade, and beyond

Recent excavations in the city of Gao in eastern Mali have uncovered a sizable assemblage of imported and locally produced beads which are similar in many ways to the beads excavated at the site of Igbo-Ukwu in Nigeria. The similarities between the two assemblages suggest that they are indicative of interregional trade along the River Niger. As the likely source of many of the beads is Fustat in Egypt, Gao may well have been the middleman between Igbo-Ukwu and the former site. This route, it is argued, is more satisfactory than a direct east-west trade across the Sudannic zone, which has been argued for previously as a channel of international trade for Igbo-Ukwu.