Technology, Modernity and the Restructuring of the Present in Historical Geographies

The following essay attempts to illuminate the production of "presences" in the course of European modernity. It argues that the disintegration of a stable and local presence is one of the defining, albeit largely ignored, characteristics of modernity. The consequences of what could rightly be called an "exploded" presence are then examined with the help of particularly illustrative innovations which originated within European modernity: paper money, iron and glass architecture and photography. In conclusion, the essays attempts an outline for a new geography of technology.     

A preliminary report on new Ediacaran fossils from Iran

Vickers-Rich, P., Soleimani, S., Farjandi, F., Zand, M., Linnemann, U., Hofmann, M., Wilson, S.A., Cas, R. &; Rich, T.H. November, 2017. A preliminary report on new Ediacaran fossils from Iran. Alcheringa 42, 231–244. ISSN 0311-5518.

Recent exploratory field mapping of marine sedimentary sequences in the Koushk Mine locality of the Bafq region in Central Iran, and on the northern slopes of the Elborz Mountains south of the Caspian Sea, has yielded large complex body and trace fossils of Neoproterozoic–early Cambrian age. The recovered specimens resemble the previously documented Precambrian discoidal form Persimedusites, and a the tubular morphotype Corumbella, which is a novel occurrence for Iran and otherwise only recorded before from Brazil and the western USA. Additional enigmatic traces can not yet be interpreted unequivocally, but suggest that future work may uncover more unusual Ediacaran fossils from various localities in Central Iran.

Patricia Vickers-Rich* [prich@swin.edu.au, pat.rich@monash.edu], Faculty of Science, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne (Hawthorn), Victoria 3122, Australia; Sara Soleimani [sara_soleimani@yahoo.com], Palaeontology Department, Geological Survey of Iran, Tehran, Iran; Farnoosh Farjandi [farnooshfarjandi@gmail.com], Department of Geochemical Exploration, Geological Survey of Iran, Tehran, Iran; Mehdi Zand [zand.mehdi.geo@gmail.com], Geology Department, Bafq Mining Company, Koushk Mine, Yazd, Iran. Ulf Linnemann [ulf.linnemann@senckenberg.de], and Mandy Hofmann [mandy.hofmann@senckenberg.de], Senckenberg Naturhistorische Sammlungen, Dresden, Museum für Mineralogie und Geologie, Sektion Geochronologie, Koenigsbruecker Landstrasse 159, D-01109, Dresden, Germany; Siobhan A. Wilson [sasha.wilson@monash.edu], School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Melbourne (Clayton), Victoria 3800, Australia; Raymond Cas [ray.cas@monash.edu], School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Melbourne (Clayton), Victoria 3800, Australia; Thomas H. Rich? [trich@museum.vic.gov.au], Museum Victoria, Exhibition Gardens, PO Box 666, Melbourne, Victoria, 3001 Australia. *Also affiliated with: School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Melbourne (Clayton), Victoria 3800, Australia; School of Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Melbourne (Burwood), Victoria, Australia 3125; Palaeontology Department, Museum Victoria, Carlton Gardens, PO Box 666, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia. ?Also affiliated with: School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Melbourne (Clayton), Victoria 3800, Australia; Faculty of Science, Swinburne University of Science and Technology, Melbourne (Hawthorn), Victoria 3122, Australia.     

Reviews and book notes

Penelope Hetherington, British Paternalism and Africa 1920–1940. Frank Cass, London, 1978, pp. xvi + 196. Price not stated on review copy.

Agnes Heller, The Theory of Need in Marx, London, Allison and Busby in association with Spokesman Books, August, 1976, pp. 135. Cloth and paper, price as yet unavailable.

P. Loveday, A. W. Martin and R. S. Parker (eds.), The Emergence of the Australian Party System, Sydney, Hale & Iremonger, 1977, pp. xviii + 538. $9.95 paper.

Robin Evelegh, PEACE‐KEEPING IN ADEMOCRATIC SOCIETY; The Lessons of Northern Ireland. 1978, pp. 240, $7.50.

Tony Bunyan, The History and Practice of the Political Police in Britain, J. Friedmann, 1976.

Abraham Ashkenasi, Modern German Nationalism. Schenkman, 1976. $20.00.

Northern Ireland 1968–74 A Chronology of Events. (Blackstaff Press, Belfast). Volume 1 1968–71, (£3.95); Volume 2 1972–73. (£6.50); Volume 3 1974, (£7.50). All three volumes compiled by Richard Deutsch and Vivien Magowan.

Peter Gibbon, The Origins of Ulster Unionism, Manchester U.P., 1975, pp. 163. £6.00.

Nancy Kinghan, United We Stood, Appletree Press, Belfast, 1975, pp. 95. £1.90.

Halliday, R. J., John Stuart Mill, George Allen and Unwin, London 1976, pp. 151. $9.70 paper, $19.50 cloth.

Anthony Carew, Democracy and Government in European Trade Unions, George Allen and Unwin Ltd., London, 1976, pp. 207 + appendices. $24.80.

Charles McCarthy, Trade Unions in Ireland. 1894–1960, Institute of Public Administration, Dublin, 1977, pp. 587 + appendices. £15.00.     

The Artifice of Conviction,or, An Internal Geography of Responsibility

This essay addresses one of the defining characteristics of debates within human geography and across the social sciences during the last ten years: the encounter between traditional and postmodern discourses. It is argued that at least one issue has been unduly neglected: the material fact of groundless arguments. Alternatively portrayed as the father of all evils or celebrated as the liberation of scientific creativity, the groundlessness of arguments has to happen before it can be interpreted. The essay discusses examples of texts that accept the groundless happening of their claims head on. Through these examples, it is argued that possible lessons from the encounter with the so-called “postmodern challenge” include reconsidered notions of both scientific responsibility and argumentative materiality.     

Paleo-Eskimo kitchen midden preservation in permafrost under future climate conditions at Qajaa,West Greenland

Remains from Paleo-Eskimo cultures are well-documented, but complete preservation is rare. Two kitchen middens in Greenland are known to hold extremely well-preserved organic artefacts. Here, we assess the fate of the Qajaa site in Western Greenland under future climate conditions based on site characteristics measured in situ and from permafrost cores. Measurements of thermal properties, heat generation, oxygen consumption and CO₂ production show that the kitchen midden can be characterized as peat but produces 4–7 times more heat than natural sediment. An analytical model from permafrost research has been applied to assess future thawing of the midden. Results show that the preservation conditions are controlled by freezing temperatures and a high water/ice content limiting the subsurface oxygen availability. Threats to the future preservation are related to thawing followed by drainage and increasing subsurface oxygen availability and heat generation. The model predicts that the unique 4000-year-old Saqqaq layer below more than 1 m of peat is adequately protected against thawing for the next 70 years.