The ‘walking’ megalithic statues (moai) of Easter Island

Explaining how the monumental statues (moai) of Easter Island were transported has remained open to debate and speculation, including their resource expenditures and role in deforestation. Archaeological evidence including analysis of moai variability, particularly those abandoned along ancient roads, indicates transport was achieved in a vertical position. To test this proposition we constructed a precise three-dimensional 4.35 metric ton replica of an actual statue and demonstrate how positioning the center of mass allowed it to fall forward and rock from side to side causing it to ‘walk.’ Our experiments reveal how the statue form was engineered for efficient transport by a small number of individuals.     

Formal analyses and functional accounts of groundstone “plummets” from Poverty Point, Louisiana

Groundstone plummets of magnetite or hematite are commonly found artifacts of the Late Archaic period in Louisiana. While often assumed to have functioned as weights for fishnets or as thrown objects used to catch waterfowl, relatively little empirical evidence has been generated to explain their form and features relative to hypothesized performance in prehistoric behavior. To address this deficiency, we provide a morphometric analysis of the variability in plummet shape as a means for studying the performance constraints inherent to their use. Based on our analyses, we find that plummet form is well explained as a component of weighted looms, supporting the early use weaving technology in the Late Archaic of Eastern North America.     

An Institutional Analysis of Property Development,Good Governance and Urban Sustainability

It can be argued that creating a reputation for sustainable development for the benefit of a competitive advantage resonates with institutional theory. In principle, this opens up the possibility to relate a given sustainability agenda with theoretical frameworks based on old institutional economics (OIE) and/or new institutional economics. This is particularly true in arenas where qualitative factors cause a discontinuous change from the previous structure, such as amid urban regeneration. Using empirical evidence from three very different European cities, Budapest, Amsterdam and Trondheim, it is shown that OIE has plenty to offer for a “patchy” and evolving problem area such as the analysis of planning and property development in an urban setting. The position taken here is that good community governance needs the support of the private sector too. Smart policies, regulations and especially incentives set at the local and regional levels are an imperative to meet the sustainability goals set out in the Rio-1992 agenda. This international comparison attempts to provide some guiding answers to the empirical question as to how sustainable the three cases of country- and city-specific governance are in terms of their property development.     

The Belgammel Ram,a Hellenistic‐Roman Bronze Proembolion Found off the Coast of Libya: test analysis of function,date and metallurgy,with a digital reference archive

The Belgammel Ram was found off the coast of Libya in 1964, and examined during 2008–9. The following techniques were used: surface non‐contact digitizing using a laser scanner, reflectance transformation imaging using polynomial texture mapping and hemi‐spherical harmonics, digital photogrammetry with dense surface modelling, structured light optical scanning, and X‐ray fluorescence analysis. For internal structure the ram was examined by X‐radiography and 3‐D X‐ray tomography. Metallurgical composition was studied by micro‐drilling and subjecting the samples to scanning electron microscope X‐ray micro‐analysis, micro X‐ray fluorescence and X‐ray backscatter. The lead isotope composition was analysed. The alloy has average percentage composition Cu = 86.9, Sn = 6.3, Pb = 6.6, and Zn = < 0.10. The Belgammel Ram is probably a Hellenistic‐Roman proembolion from a small military vessel or tesseraria. The archived data are at the Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Engineering Sciences, Material Data Centre, University of Southampton ( muvis@soton.ac.uk ).     

The Authoritative Medium: George Eliot,Ruin, and the Rationalized Market

This essay analyses the competing dynamics that shaped the formation of market relations in mid-nineteenth-century Britain: abstraction and rationalization, on the one hand, and embeddedness and personalism, on the other. It takes as its central case the mid-century debates over bankruptcy reform, focusing in particular on two textual representations of ‘ruin’: the system of certificates classifying bankrupts according to their culpability of character, established in 1849 and abolished in 1861; and Eliot's 1860 novel The Mill on the Floss, with its account of financial and sexual ruin. I argue that the debates surrounding the character certificates' intervention in market relations, and Eliot's explorations of abstract and embedded or sympathetic modes of knowledge were part of a larger concern to negotiate the tensions produced by the contemporary impulse toward market rationalization. Eliot's mode of omniscient narration – her construction of a simultaneously interested and disinterested, authoritative and sympathetic narrative voice – represented, I suggest, a novelistic instance of a broader cultural fantasy that an approach to character representation could be found that would mediate the changing marketplace. At the same time, her narration of the story of debt through familial and sexualized representations highlights the way that the personal continued to pose a challenge to the establishment of market rationality. However, despite the generic distinctions that can be traced, I argue that their shared interest in character provides grounds for the project of reading across genres, and suggest that the cultural history of the Victorian credit economy requires attention to what different genres have in common, as much as how they have diverged.     

Geography at the British association 1956

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

Geology and Scenery in Ireland. By J. B. Whitlow. 7 ¾ × 5, 301 pp., 38 plates, 46 figures Index. Penguin, London, 1975. £1.00.

Periglacial Processes and Environments. By A. L. Washburn. 320 pp. Maps, figures andnumerous plates. Edward Arnold, 1973. £6.75.

Global Climate. By Keith Boucher. 6 ½ 9 ¼, 326 pp. 31 plates, figures, glossary, bibliography. English Universities Press, London, 1975. £2.85.

Principles of Applied Climatology. By Keith Smith. 9 ½ × 8 ½, 283 pp. Diagrams, references, index. McGraw‐Hill, Maidenhead, 1975. £5.25.

Plant Geography. By Martin C. Kellman. 9 ½ × 6 ½, 135 pp. 25 figures, 12 plates, biblioography, glossary, index. Methuen, Andover, 1975. £3.20.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL GEOGRAPHY

The Mineral Resources of Britain: A Study in Exploitation and Planning. By John Blunden. 9 ¼ × 9, 545 pp. 17 plates, index, bibliography. Hutchinson, London, 1975. £12.50.

Locational dynamics of manufacturing activity. Ed. L. Collins and D. F. Walker. 23.5 × 16 cms, 402 pp. Diagrams and tables, index. Wiley, Chichester, 1975. £10.00.

People on the move: Studies on internal migration. Ed. L. A. Kosinski and R. M. Prothero. 9 ½ × 6 ¼. 393 pp. Illustrations, Index, Bibliography. Methnen, 1975. £8 50.

Rural Recreation in the Industrial World. By I. G. Simmons. 9 ¼ × 6, 310 pp. Tables, plates, index, bibliography. Edward Arnold, Maidenhead, 1975. £9.95.

REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY

Eastern Europe: A Geography of the COMECON Countries. By Roy E. H. Mellor. 9 ½ × 6 ¼, 358 pp., illustrations, bibliography, index. Macmillan, 1975. £7.90 (paperback £3 95).

An Economic Geography of Romania. By David Turnock. 8 ¾ × 5 ¾. Pp. xiii + 319. Illustrations, index, bibliographical note. G. Bell, London, 1974. £6.25.

Rhodes. By Brian Dicks. 8 ¾ × 5 ½. 200 pp. Illustrations, Bibliography, Index. David, and Charles, Newton Abbot, 1974. £3 75.

EDUCATIONAL

Oxford Geography Project: (1) The Local Framework, 126 pp., (2) European Patterns, 130 pp. and (3) Contrasts in Development, 164 pp. By J. Rolfe, C. Rowe, M. Grenyer, et al. 9 ½ × 9, illustrated, O.U.P., London, 1974‐5. £1.25 each.

Patterns in Geography One. By W. R. Rice. 92 pp. + 30 worksheets. Longman, 1973. 85p. The Elements of Geography in Colour. By Dobson ant Virgo. 204 pp. E.U.P., 1974. £1.35. A Geography of Natural Landscapes. By R. Andrews. 138 pp. George Philip, 1975. £3.90.

Aspects of Geography Series: General Editors: Keith Clayton and T. H. Elkins. Energy: Needs and Resources: Peter Odell; Resource Systems: Ian and Caroll Simmons; Weathering and Landforms: Cliff Olier; Recreation and Environment: Peter Toyne; Regional Disparities: Morgan Sant; Slope Development: Anthony and Doreen Young. Macmillan Education Ltd., 1974.     

Morphology and Significance of Transverse Ridges (De Geer Moraines) Adjacent to the Moray Firth,NE Scotland

Abstract

High-resolution NEXTMap digital surface models and aerial photographs are used to map suites of transverse ridges at Tarbat Ness and to the west of Elgin, along the margins of the Moray Firth in northeast Scotland. Based on their morphology, configuration and location, interpret these landforms as De Geer moraines which formed at or near former grounding line positions of the Moray Firth palaeo-ice stream. The Tarbat Ness De Geer moraines almost certainly formed at a marine margin. Reaching altitudes of 55 m above present OD, these landforms may provide one of the highest geomorphological indicators for former relative sea level in mainland Britain. Evidence from surrounding landforms and sediments suggest that the ridges formed between c. 15 000–18 000 cal yrs BP, indicating that a significant fall in relative sea level may have taken place prior to an ice margin re-advance in the Moray Firth, known as the Ardersier Oscillation.     

Continuity or Discontinuity in the Recent History of the Australian Labor Party?

Recent characterisations of the Australian Labor Party as a ‘cartel party’ suggest that there was, after the 1970s, a fundamental discontinuity in Labor's history. We assess this contention not only in terms of the ALP's policies but also the mechanisms which link it with different classes and social groups: Labor's electoral support, membership and local branches, the backgrounds of the Party's parliamentarians and leaders, the role of trade unions inside the ALP, and its sources of funding. While there have been some quantitative changes in these characteristics, we conclude that Labor remains, on balance, a ‘capitalist workers party.’     

Spatial diversity in invention: evidence from the early R&D labs

This article uses historical data on inventor and firm researchand development (R&D) lab locations to examine the technologicaland geographic structure of corporate knowledge capital accumulationduring a formative period in the organization of United Statesinnovation. Despite the localization of inventive activity aroundthe labs, one-quarter of inventors lived outside a 30 mile commutingradius of the nearest facility of the firm they assigned theirpatents to. A strong positive effect of distance from a labon technological importance is identified, especially for inventorsfrom large cities that were geographically separated from afirm's; labs. A patent case–control method helps explainspatial sourcing by showing that the average quality of externallyavailable inventions was high. Firms selected complementary,not substitute, inventions from non-lab urban locations, suggestinga link between the organization and the geography of innovation.