The bovid third phalanx and prehistoric ploughing

Plough agriculture is the basis of southeast Asian rice cultivation, and has profound social implications. Yet little if anything is known of its development in prehistory. In the absence of fossil fields, remains of ploughshares or of ploughing scenes, attention is focused on the bones of potential draught animals. A multivariate analysis of exostosis development in the third phalanx indicates that cattle at the site of Ban Chiang were gracile, while water buffalo were as robust as modern draught animals.     

Hugh of St. Victor and the Authorship of In Threnos Ieremiae*

The great esteem in which Hugh of St. Victor (d. 1141) was held by his contemporaries and by subsequent theologians led to the false attribution of a number of works to the Victorine. The prophetic commentaries have been especially challenged, while In Threnos Ieremiae alone has remained unquestioned. This article questions the authenticity of that work, however, because it departs in both content and style from Hugh's authentic commentaries. A computer search on words and phrases using the Patrologia Latina Database turned up a number of polemical comments about Jews much at odds with Hugh's generally irenic attitude toward Jews. Moreover, the search revealed items unique to the Lamentations commentary, but not unique to the non-authentic works and the disputed prophetic commentaries. Although the literal explanations in Lamentations do generally resemble Hugh's style, the additions of allegorical and moral explanations are unusual. They may indicate that a second party added to an initial work by Hugh. The polemical use of the words perdy , blindness, Jew, and Judaism, however, suggests authorship by another, particularly since these expressions turn up in other works no longer credited to Hugh of St.Victor.     

REVERSE COMMUTATION IN A MONOCENTRIC CITY*

ABSTRACT. A general equilibrium multiperiod linear programming model of urban land use is used to identify reverse commutation as a rational response to economic change. Information about future economic conditions is complete, and capital is replaceable at finite cost. Export mixes are defined exogenously, and temporal shifts between activities of different land intensities are shown to induce reverse commutes as one way of avoiding the cost of land use change.     

The Rational Choice Paradigm and the Allocation of Agricultural Development Resources

Despite its analytic deficiencies and the doctrinaire purposes it has been made to serve, the rational choice approach to political analysis can have considerable explanatory value. Three examples are given of the utility of the sub-field of rent-seeking analysis in illuminating how public resources for agricultural development are allocated in developing countries: rural-urban relations, resource allocation among agricultural services, and irrigation policy.     

Pacific view: the meaning of governance and politics in the Solomon Islands

Based on the turmoil of the ‘crisis years’ (1998–2003) and the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Island (RAMSI) years (2003–2007), this paper explores epistemological issues that deeply divide the way that Solomon Islanders look at prosperity and good government and the way that foreign aid donors, RAMSI and Australia see the future for Solomon Islands. State-building or re-building is not the same as nation-building based on local concepts of the good life. The stakes are high, and as the Sogavare Government (2006–2007) indicated, substantial changes are needed to RAMSI, with a clear exit strategy or amalgamation of its central features into the central government structure. Unless RAMSI can come to terms with Solomon Islands’ epistemological and related political issues, there is no future for the Mission. The paper looks first at the post-RAMSI period, before concentrating on epistemological and political differences, and uses Malaita Province as an example of local circumstances that apply in all areas of the troubled nation. The argument on the epistemology of development is drawn from the writings of David Gegeo and Karen Watson Gegeo, and my personal experience.     

Labour in 'lean' times: geography, scale and the national trajectories of workplace change

In this paper we argue that far from being surpassed by globalization, the nation-state remains a key space for organized labour. However, labour geographers' focus on patterns of union organization and strategies of 'internationalism' underplays the enduring role of national institutions. Moreover, while labour geographers have recognized the significance of new forms of work organization, such as just in time and lean production, with some exceptions they have not examined how unions both formally and informally determine the trajectory of workplace change. Based on case studies of unions in the Canadian and German auto industries, we stress that the linkage between national and workplace scales remains critical to understanding how unions are responding to the challenges being presented by lean and just in time production. Finally, while there is a re-scaling of bargaining in the automobile industry to the firm or enterprise scale, the outcomes of decentralization depend largely on the national regulatory context.     

Demonstration Survey of Prehistoric Reef‐Net Sites with Sidescan Sonar,near Becher Bay,British Columbia,Canada

Sidescan sonar was deployed in challenging shallow‐water conditions to demonstrate the potential for recording anchor‐stones left on the sea‐bed from prehistoric fishing operations. In less than three hours the survey successfully mapped a reef‐net site originally recorded in 1985 by diving archaeologists over many hours. In addition, 8 km of coastline were surveyed, resulting in the discovery and recording of one new underwater reef‐net site. Our understanding of evolving subsistence practices of the Straits Salish, for whom reef‐net fishing was a critical activity, may be enhanced by this survey method which provides cost‐effective access to data not otherwise being recorded. © 2011 The Authors