The Possibility of Provenancing A Series of Bronze Punic Coins Found At Tharros (Western Sardinia) Using the Literature Lead Isotope Database

A sample set of 42 bronze Punic coins dating from the third century bc and excavated in the Phoenician, Punic and then Roman town of Tharros (western Sardinia) has been used to test the performance of the literature lead isotope database and to establish a well defined provenancing procedure. A selection from the available database, including Cypriot, Sardinian and Spanish ore deposits, has been used. The complete assignment has been carried out twice, using both statistical methods (linear discriminant analysis) and the conventional raw data plots. Three major and one minor disagreements have been found, suggesting that the two procedures, when properly employed, may be acceptably compatible. Almost one third of the coins exhibit a characteristic Cypriot signature, whereas only very few samples are compatible with Sardinian ores. However, the majority of the coins (c. 60%) cannot be associated with any known source, which suggests the possibility of extensive metal recycling.     

Exploring the Canadian‐U.S. Unemployment and Nonemployment Rate Gaps: Are There Lessons for Both Countries?

The Canadian and U.S. economies are very similar. Yet, beginning in the 1980s, Canada experienced much greater relative unemployment rates followed in the 1990s by a declining share of population employed. Using state- and provincial-level data this study assesses why U.S. labor markets have recently performed relatively better than their Canadian counterparts. The empirical results indicate that more rapid U.S. employment growth explains a relatively small proportion of its lower joblessness. Structural causes including lower U.S. unionization and less generous unemployment insurance appear to be more important, at least in the long run. The Canadian labor market also appears to be less flexible to regional economic shocks.     

Economic Interdependence Within the Chicago Metropolitan Area: A Miyazawa Analysis

The present study explores the nature and strength of economic interdependence between inner-city communities and suburbs within the Chicago metropolitan area. Employing Miyazawa's extended input-output framework, a multiregional model is used to investigate the interdependence of income formation and output generation. The metropolitan area is divided into four regions and particular attention is directed to predominantly minority areas on the south and west sides of the city of Chicago. The region-to-region impacts of trade flows and their associated multipliers proved to be far less important in determining the strength of interregional interdependence in contrast to income flows derived from journey-to-work movements. The interrelational income multiplier revealed considerable interdependence between regions although the strength of this interdependence was asymmetric.     

Clay‐shoveler's fracture: an uncommon diagnosis in palaeopathology

An archaeological case of clay‐shoveler's fracture was observed in an adult male exhumed from a Roman necropolis dated to the 1st–3rd century AD and located in the city of Barcelona, Spain. Clay‐shoveler's fracture is a breakage of a lower cervical or upper thoracic spinous process as a result of mechanical stress. Different mechanisms have been related to this injury, generally in labour‐related contexts. This paper reviews the literature concerning this uncommon finding, focusing especially on its mechanism and on activity‐related lesions. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Trauma in the Crusader period city of Caesarea: a major port in the medieval eastern Mediterranean

Caesarea is the first fortified city to undergo palaeopathological analysis of its Crusader period inhabitants. This study of the 12th and 13th century population aims to determine the major types of trauma present, whether from weapon injuries or accidents. Since the Crusades were known for the significant number of battles and raids that took place, weapon injuries were expected to be common. Thirteen cases of trauma are described and a highly unexpected pattern has come to light. These cases do not include one single example of weapon‐related trauma. Every fracture is of a type expected from accidents or interpersonal violence without weapons. Possible explanations include the location of the city deep within Frankish territory and the robust city walls giving effective protection to the inhabitants, and also that the population were involved in activities that left them prone to accidents but not weapon injuries. The other important finding from this study was that the cases of lower limb long bone spiral fractures had healed in a near‐anatomical alignment. This is not what we would expect, as a proportion of these injuries would normally have been unstable and tend to heal poorly aligned. The good position could have resulted from surgeons' use of splints to immobilise the bones while they healed. This suggestion is supported by laws of the kingdom of Jerusalem, which stated that surgeons were to be punished if they allowed such fractures to heal at an angle. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

South American camelid palaeopathologies: examples from Loma Alta (Catamarca,Argentina)

This paper summarises the results of an osteological analysis of two pathologically afflicted South American camelid second phalanges. These come from the occupation level at Loma Alta archaeological site (Catamarca, Argentina) assigned to the local Formative Period (ca. 500 BC–AD 600). Analyses were performed in order to identify the elements to species level and their degree of pathological affliction. A discussion on the probable origin of these pathologies is given. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.