The Archaeology of the Battle of Vuelta de Obligado,Buenos Aires Province,Argentina

Abstract

This paper presents the results of research carried out for more than a decade at Vuelta de Obligado, San Pedro, north-east of Buenos Aires province. The objectives were to understand the dynamics of the strategy followed on the 1845 battlefield by the two groups who fought (Anglo-French and Argentine), and to assess the impact of formation processes on the results produced. This has been achieved through the use of several sources of information: the archaeological record, written documents, Argentine and European plans and sketches, as well as data provided by the current population.     

Land Use Patterns in Central Asia. Step 1: The Musical Chairs Model

Herding and farming coexisted in Central Asia for several thousand years as main options of preindustrial economic production. The relationship between people practicing different variants of these modes of subsistence is known to have been dynamic. Among the many possible explanations, we explore this dynamic by modeling mechanisms that connect aggregate decisions to land use patterns. Within the framework of the SimulPast project, we show here the results from step 1 of our modeling program: the Musical Chairs Model. This abstract agent-based model describes a mechanism of competition for land use between farming and herding. The aim is the exploration of how mobility, intensity, and interdependence of activities can influence land use pattern. After performing a set of experiments within the framework of this model, we compare the implications of each condition for the corroboration of specific land use patterns. Some historical and archaeological implications are also discussed. We suggest that the overall extension of farming in oases can be explained by the competition for land use between farming and herding, assuming that it develops with little or no interference of climatic, geographical, and historical contingencies.     

Reviews of Books

THOMAS FIGUEIRA. Athens and Aigina in the Age of Imperial Colonization. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991. Pp. xii, 274. $29.95 (US). Reviewed by B. M. Lavelle

JUDITH LIEU, JOHN NORTH, and TESSA RAJAK, eds. The Jews among Pagans and Christians in the Roman Empire. London and New York: Routledge, 1992. Pp. xvii, 198. $39.95 (US). Reviewed by James E. Seaver

PAUL RATCHNEVSKY. Genghis Khan: His Life and Legacy, trans, and ed. Thomas Nivison Haining. Oxford and Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell, 1992. Pp. xvii, 313. $34.95 (US). Reviewed by Reuven Amitai-Preiss

RODERICH PTAK and DIETMAR ROTHERMUND, eds. Emporia, Commodities, and Entrepreneurs in Asian Maritime Trade, c.1400–1750. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1991. Pp. xi, 509. DM 102.00. Reviewed by Christine Dobbin

BERNARD COTTRET. The Huguenots in England: Immigration and Settlement, c.1550–1700. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Pp. xii, 317. $59.95 (US). Reviewed by Andrew Spicer

NICHOLAS B. DIRKS, ed. Colonialism and Culture. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1992. Pp. xiv, 402. $27.00 (US). Reviewed by Dane Kennedy

JOYCELYNE G. RUSSELL. Diplomats at Work: Three Renaissance Studies. Gloucester, UK: Alan Sutton, 1992. Pp. xiii, 190. £28.00. Reviewed by Denys Hay

RICHARD HARDING. Amphibious Warfare in the Eighteenth Century: The British Expedition to the West Indies, 1740–1742. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press (Royal Historical Society), 1991. Pp. x, 248. £35.00; $73.00 (US). Reviewed by Philip Woodfine

BILLIE MELMAN. Women's Orients: English Women and the Middle East, 1718–1918: Sexuality, Religion, and Work. London: Macmillan, 1992. Pp. xix, 417. £45.00. Reviewed by Afaf Lutfi Al Sayyid Marsot

H. V. BOWEN. Revenue and Reform: The Indian Problem in British Politics, 1757–1773. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Pp. xi, 204. $47.50 (US). Reviewed by John Derry

PETER D. G. THOMAS. Revolution in America: Britain and the Colonies, 1763–1776. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1992. Pp. x, 101. £5.95. Reviewed by Philip Lawson

STEPHEN HOWARTH. To Shining Sea: A History of the United States Navy, 1775–1991. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1991. Pp. xv, 620. £25.00. Reviewed by William S. Dudley

MIRON REZUN. Intrigue and War in Southwest Asia: The Struggle for Supremacy from Central Asia to Iraq. New York: Praeger, 1992. Pp. xiv, 149. $42.95 (US). Reviewed by M. E. Yapp

GERASIMOS AUGUSTINOS. The Greeks of Asia Minor: Confession, Community, and Ethnicity in the Nineteenth Century. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1992. Pp. x, 270. $39.00 (US). Reviewed by Stanford J. Shaw

JAVED MAJEED. Ungoverned Imaginings: James Mill's The History of British India and Orientalism. New York: The Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press, 1992. Pp. 225. $74.50 (CDN). Reviewed by Lynn Zastoupil

MICHAEL PARIS. Winged Warfare: The Literature and Theory of Aerial Warfare in Britain, 1859–1917. Manchester: Manchester University Press; dist. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Pp. 272. $59.95 (US). Reviewed by John Ferris

DAVID EDGERTON. England and the Aeroplane: An Essay on a Militant and Technological Nation. London: Macmillan, 1991. Pp. xx, 139. £14.99. Reviewed by John Ferris

MAARTEN KUITENBROUWER. The Netherlands and the Rise of Modem Imperialism: Colonies and Foreign Policy, 1870–1902, trans. Hugh Beyer. New York and Oxford: Berg Publishers; dist. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991. Pp. vii, 407. $71.50 (US). Reviewed by D. K. Fieldhouse

JOHN W. CELL. Hailey: A Study in British Imperialism, 1872–1969. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Pp. xv, 332. $47.95 (US). Reviewed by Robin J. Moore

HEINRICH WALLE, ed. Von der Friedenssicherung zur Friedensgestaltung: Deutsche Streitkräfte im Wandel. Herford and Bonn: Verlag E. S. Mittler und Sohn GmbH, 1991. Pp. 398. DM 34.80. Reviewed by Martin Kitchen

CHRISTOPHER J. WALKER, ed. Armenia and Karabagh: The Struggle for Unity. London: Minority Rights Group, 1991. Pp. ix, 162. £7.95. Reviewed by Michael B. Bishku

JOHN B. HATTENDORF, ed. The Influence of History on Mahan. Newport: Naval War College Press, 1991. Pp. vii, 208. NP. Reviewed by Bryan Ranft

RAYMOND F. BETTS. France and Decolonisation, 1900–1960. London: Macmillan, 1991. Pp. 152. £35.00. Reviewed by William B. Cohen

THOMAS B. STEPHENS. Order and Discipline in China: The Shanghai Mixed Court, 1911–1927. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1992. Pp. xiv, 159. $40.00 (US). Reviewed by Nicholas R. Clifford

PAUL LATAWSKI, ed. The Reconstruction of Poland, 1914–1923. London: Macmillan, 1992. Pp. xxi, 217. £45.00. Reviewed by Stefania Szlek Miller

JOHN TURNER. British Politics and the Great War: Coalition and Conflict, 1915–1918. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992. Pp. viii, 511. $40.00 (US) Reviewed by Trevor Wilson

PANIKOS PANAYI. The Enemy in Our Midst: Germans in Britain during the First World War. New York and Oxford: Berg Publishers; dist. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991. Pp. xii, 312. $66.50 (US). Reviewed by Trevor Wilson

DAVID M. ANDERSON and DAVID KIIXINGRAY, eds. Policing and Decolonisation: Nationalism, Politics, and the Police, 1917–1965. Manchester: Manchester University Press; dist. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Pp. xi, 227. $69.95 (US). Reviewed by John Flint

DAVID G. WILLIAMSON. The British in Germany, 1918–1930: The Reluctant Occupiers. New York and Oxford: Berg Publishers; dist. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991. Pp. xv, 374. $59.95 (US). Reviewed by John Hiden

JOHN MORISON, ed. Eastern Europe and the West. London: Macmillan, 1992. Pp. xix, 271. £40.00. Reviewed by Kay Lundgreen-Nielsen

MARK MAZOWER. Greece and the Inter-War Economic Crisis. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. Pp. xii, 334. $65.00 (CDN). Reviewed by Dimitri Kitsikis

JONATHAN HASLAM. The Soviet Union and the Threat from the East, 1933–41. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1992. Pp. vii, 208. $49.95 (US). Reviewed by Paul Dukes

DAVID R. MARPLES. Stalinism in Ukraine in the 1940S. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 1992. Pp. xix, 228. $34.95 (CDN). Reviewed by David Saunders

JUDITH A. STOWE. Siam Becomes Thailand: A Story of Intrigue. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1991. Pp. xii, 394. $39.00 (US), cloth; $16.95 (US), paper. Reviewed by Anthony Short

DAVID DAY. Reluctant Nation: Australia and the Allied Defeat of Japan, 1942–45. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. Pp. x, 366. $45.00 (CDN). T. B. Millar

KLEMENS VON KLEMPERER. German Resistance against Hitler: The Search for Allies Abroad, 1938–1945. New York: The Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press, 1992. Pp. xvi, 487. $49.95 (US). Reviewed by Katharine Sams

SAMUEL W. MITCHAM, JR. and GENE MUELLER. Hitler's Commanders. Lanham, MD: Scarborough House, 1992. Pp. 320. $23.95 (US). Reviewed by L. H. Gann

HARRY A. GAILEY. Bougainville: The Forgotten Campaign, 1943–1943. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1991. Pp. 237. $27.00 (US). Reviewed by Thomas M. Huber

ROY PALMER DOMENICO. Italian Fascists on Trial, 1943–1948. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1992. Pp. xvii, 295, $43.95 (US). Reviewed by Richard Bosworth

GRANT K. GOODMAN, ed. Japanese Cultural Policies in Southeast Asia during World War Two. London: Macmillan, 1991. Pp. xi, 223. $35.95 (US). Reviewed by Ricardo T. Jose

DONALD R. BAUCOM. The Origins of SDI, 1944–1983. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1992. Pp. xix, 276. $29.95 (US). Reviewed by Edward Rhodes

STEIN TØNNESSON. The Vietnamese Revolution 0/1945: Roosevelt, Ho Chi Minh, and De Gaulle in a World at War. London: Sage, 1991. Pp. xiv, 458. $60.00 (US). Reviewed by Ralph Smith

LOWELL DITTMER. Sino-Soviet Normalization and Its International Implications, 1945–1990. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1992. Pp. viii, 373. $35.00 (US) Reviewed by Dennis J. Dunn

BEATRICE LEUNG. Sino-Vatican Relations: Problems in Conflicting Authority, 1976–1986. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Pp. xix, 415. $74.95 (US). Reviewed by Dennis J. Dunn

ROGER BUCKLEY. US-Japan Alliance Diplomacy, 1945–1990. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Pp. xiv, 225. $49.95 (US). Reviewed by Akira Iriye

JEFFREY GREY. Australian Brass: The Career of Sir Horace Robertson. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Pp. xxi, 249. $59.95 (US). Reviewed by G. C. Bolton

SALLIE PISANI. The CIA and the Marshall Plan. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1991. Pp. x, 188. $25.00 (US). Reviewed by Lawrence S. Wittner

ANUSON CHINVANNO. Thailand's Policies towards China, 1949–54. London: Macmillan, 1992. Pp. xiv, 200. £40.00. Reviewed by Arlene B. Neher

THOMAS-DURRELL YOUNG. Australian, New Zealand, and United States Security Relations, 1951–1986. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1992. Pp. xxii, 284. $35.00 (US). Reviewed by Ann Trotter

THOMAS W. ZEILER. American Trade and Power in the 1960s. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992. Pp. xiv, 371. $45.00 (US). Reviewed by Philip J. Funigiello

RAMESH THAKUR and CARLYLE A. THAYER. Soviet Relations with India and Vietnam. London: Macmillan, 1992. Pp. xi, 315. £45.00. Reviewed by Rajan Menon

EFRAIM KARSH. Soviet Policy towards Syria since 1970. London: Macmillan, 1991.Pp.ix, 235. £35.00 Reviewed by Michael Graham Fry, Tamara Bitar

OLES M. SMOLANSKY with BETTIE M. SMOLANSKY. The USSR and Iraq: The Soviet Quest for Influence. Durham, NC and London: Duke University Press, 1991. Pp. xi, 346. $55.00 (US), cloth; $24.95 (US), paper. Reviewed by Michael Graham Fry, Tamara Bitar

JOHN NORTON MOORE, ed. The Arab-Israeli Conflict: Volume IV: The Difficult Search for Peace (1975–1988). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991. Part One: Pp. xxvii, 1,066. $99.50 (US); Part Two: Pp. xvii, 1,072–1,960. $99.50 (US). Reviewed by L. Carl Brown

KATHLEEN BURK and ALEC CAIRNCROSS.‘Goodbye, Great Britain’: The 1976 IMF Crisis. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1992. Pp. xix, 268. $30.00 (US). Reviewed by John McDermott

RICHARD EDMUND WARD. India's Pro-Arab Policy: A Study in Continuity. New York: Praeger, 1992. Pp. x, 172. $39.95 (US). Reviewed by Anita Inder Singh

MARTIN VAN CREVELD. On Future War. London and New York: Brassey's, 1991. Pp. x, 254. £24.00. Reviewed by Geoffrey Blainey

MURRAY WOLFSON. Essays on the Cold War. London: Macmillan, 1992. Pp. x, 244. £45.00. Reviewed by Dietrich Fischer

ADAM WATSON. The Evolution of International Society. New York: Routledge, 1992. Pp. viii, 337. £14.99. Reviewed by Richard Langhorne     

Feasting and Building an Urban Society at Cerro Jazmín,Oaxaca, Mexico

Here we present new excavation data from the urban site of Cerro Jazmín, Oaxaca, Mexico. Based on a comparative analysis of ceramic, faunal, botanical, and architectural evidence collected from a prominent city sector and a contemporary residence, we argue that feasting took place in the Sunken Patio Sector in the Late and Terminal Formative periods. Feasting strategies in an earlier occupation of the city sector employed a largely exclusionary strategy, giving way to a more corporate strategy in a later occupation. We take the findings from the Sunken Patio feasting complex as evidence of the formalization of Cerro Jazmin’s urban, regional role as a site of civic-ceremonial activity. Participation in this meaningful act of food consumption may have served to cement communal ties in a nascent urban society.     

Ethics of care,emotional work,and collective action of solidarity: the Patronas in Mexico

In this paper, we examine the mobilization of the Patronas, a group of Mexican women who have fed thousands of Central American migrants over the past two decades. We argue that the Patronas’ work of feeding and caring for migrants goes beyond essentializing these women’s work as just housewives, mothers, and caregivers. Furthermore, we assert that through these care activities, the Patronas exert a feminist ethic of care that is understood as a set of practices based on trust, reciprocity, and solidarity. The Patronas’ praxis of caring for the migrants resonates with people and attracts hundreds of volunteers to join these women’s emotional and nurturing work leading these women and volunteers to participate in a political practice of solidarity. In this paper, we articulate three key findings: (1) the interplay between the Patronas’ emotional work and the ethics of care, (2) the emergence of a collective act of solidarity around the Patronas’ caring work that leads hundreds of volunteers to visit these women and join them, and (3) the kitchen as a place where the collective act of solidarity begins and where the Patronas experience their personal transformation. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, this study contributes to further our understanding of the interplay between Latin American women’s participation in social movements, emotional work in these movements, and the ethics of care.     

Selection and Exploitation of Macro‐Vertebrate Resources During the Upper Palaeolithic in Northern Spain. New Evidence from Coímbre Cave (Peñamellera Alta,Asturias)

The exploitation of ungulates in the Cantabrian region during the Upper Palaeolithic is characterized by the appearance of progressively specialized hunting strategies, especially during the Magdalenian. This specialization focused on either Iberian ibex or red deer, depending on environmental or topographic features. Red deer, for instance, was hunted mostly on the plains while ibex and/or chamois was hunted in rocky and mountainous areas. Here we present new zooarchaeological and taphonomic evidence from Coímbre cave (northern Spain), a site located in the rugged region between the Picos de Europa and Sierra del Cuera (Asturias) which has evidence for specialized ibex hunting. We discuss the possible reasons for such a selective hunting pattern. While the predominance of mountain species such as Iberian ibex or chamois in the Magdalenian levels suggests prey selection based on topographic or environmental criteria, the predominance of large bovids in the Gravettian level could imply that other alternatives were available. We also provide evidence of a pattern of rabbit exploitation which is unusual by comparison with other Upper Palaeolithic sites of northern Spain, and which taphonomic evidence suggests was due to human activity.     

The Radiocarbon Chronology of Southern Spain's Late Prehistory (5600–1000 cal BC): A Comparative Review

This paper is the first updated review of the scope, depth and problems related to the current radiocarbon chronology of the late prehistory of southern Iberia. The aim is twofold. First, it critically analyses the quantity and quality of radiocarbon dates used to interpret the diverse trajectories of western Mediterranean societies throughout more than four millennia. Secondly, it reviews a set of three different and prominent archaeological phenomena from an inter‐regional comparative perspective: primary and secondary burial practices, domestic stone architecture and ditched enclosures. Our long‐term, geographically wide‐ranging approach locates similarities while highlighting the effects of local and historical conditions in certain divergent circumstances.     

Crossroads of Identities in Women Religious in Spain. Catholicism,Society and Second Vatican Council (1953–69)*

This article examines the evolution and transformation of female religious life in Spain under Franco's regime, which began after the Spanish Civil War in 1939 and ended with the dictator's death in 1975. During the dictatorship, the public stance towards Catholicism made consecrated religious life one of the potential social undertakings for women at that time. The Concordat of 1953 corroborated National Catholicism, and women religious abided by a heritage sanctioned by this ideology. The Second Vatican Council parted ways with this tradition, and some women religious reassessed their role as females and consecrated women in their society. This article analyses how the renewal doctrine of the Council was received in Spain, particularly regarding female religious life, revealing the commonalities and differences of opinions and practices resulting from the break with National Catholic schematism, as well as the first manifestations of renewal among women religious.     

The costs of putting Valencia on the map: the hidden side of regional entrepreneurialism, ‘creative city’ and strategic projects

ABSTRACT

Strategic projects based on culture and sports have been one of the vectors of regional development since the 1990s. Accordingly, local and regional governments have drawn up entrepreneurial strategies to project their image internationally and foster investment and tourism. These developments have been described in Spain as ‘The Calatrava Model’ for putting a city/region on the map and for boosting tourism. However, from the study of the case of Valencia and four strategic projects (The Fifth World Meeting of Families, The America's Cup, Formula 1 and The City of Arts and Sciences), we will show how there is a hidden side to this paradigm, which boils down to an unsustainable, top-down system whose sole purpose is to gain and maintain political hegemony. We will also assess the medium and long term impacts of these projects in terms of: opportunity costs, snowballing debt, corruption, and an utter breakdown of democratic controls as a result of Valencia’s poor regional governance.