Children's language and maternal control

Jenny Cook‐Gumperz. Social Control and Socialization: A Study of Class Differences in the Language of Maternal Control. Primary Socialization, Language and Education Series. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973. xii + 290 pp. Figures, appendix, bibliography, and index. $16.95.     

SOME HISTORICAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE “DOWN EAST” ROUTE

For over three centuries, explorers and privateers, fishermen and planters, job seekers and tourists have plied the “Down East” route–bearing witness to the close connection between New England and Atlantic Canada. Today the traditional “good neighborliness” is threatened by a series of complex issues: American ownership of recreational land, environmental problems and jurisdictional disputes. This article seeks to place these present controversies in perspective by a historical overview of some key factors which have contributed to the interdependence of the two regions.     

Protecting historic Hanoi in a context of heritage contestation

Abstract

Since the introduction of the doi moi (renovation) policies in 1986, economic liberalisation and modernisation have led to redevelopment pressures on the cultural heritage of Vietnam's cities. A lively debate has ensued, most notably in the capital. Hanoi, about what is worth keeping. The views of international and local developers are opposed to the ‘Vietnamese heritage only’ of the most narrowly nationalistic of politicians and planners. The complicated decision‐making environment is made more difficult by the presence of Western planning advisers who argue for the protection of the French and Russian layers in Hanoi's cultural landscape. This is part of a long history of heritage contestation and redefinition in Hanoi which largely reflects the succession of political regimes controlling the city. Consideration of key philosophical and practical issues is timely given the current intervention by the Australian Hanoi Planning and Development Control Project team which is helping shape the future of a variously‐defined ‘historic Hanoi’.     

Cacao consumption during the 8th century at Alkali Ridge,southeastern Utah

Theobroma cacao was detected in the ceramic assemblage at the 8th century Site 13, Alkali Ridge, southeastern Utah. The presence of this Mesoamerican beverage during the Pueblo I period is the earliest reported use of cacao in the northern American Southwest, coming centuries earlier than the recently documented Pueblo II consumption of cacao in cylinder jars, sharp-shouldered pitchers and shallow bowls at Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon. Analogous to the situation at Chaco, cacao was found at Site 13 in a new vessel form decorated with a distinctive design system that contrasted markedly with designs and vessel forms in the local black-on-white ceramic assemblage. We postulate that Abajo R/O at Site 13 represents a ceramic tradition brought by one of the many groups moving into the northern Southwest. The detection of cacao in their ceramic vessels represents new evidence for the migration model that for centuries brought people with Mesoamerican beliefs, ritual practices and a new subsistence lifeway into the American Southwest.     

Heat treatment in the South African Middle Stone Age: temperature induced transformations of silcrete and their technological implications

It was recently found that silcrete raw material was heat-treated during the South African Middle Stone Age (MSA) for altering its flaking properties. This finding led to hypotheses about the implications for the MSA hunter-gatherers such as the cost of thermal treatment in terms of investment and firewood. To date, these hypotheses lack a solid basis, for data on the thermal transformations of South African silcrete and, hence, the necessary heating procedure and heating environment, is missing. In order to produce such data, we conducted an experimental study within the framework of the Diepkloof project. This work is based on the petrographic, mineralogical and structural analysis of South African silcrete from the West Coast and its thermal transformations. Our results shed light on the nature of these transformations, the ideal heating temperatures and the tolerated heating speed. The processes occurring in silcrete are comparable to flint, i.e. the loss of chemically bound ‘water’ and the formation of new Si–O–Si bonds, but their intensity is less pronounced. Effective heating temperatures are significantly higher than for flint and the heating speed tolerated by South African silcrete is relatively fast. These findings imply that silcrete heat treatment cannot be directly compared with flint heat treatment. Unlike flint, heating silcrete does not require the setup of a dedicated heating environment and may have been performed in the same time as other fire related activities. This would represent only a minor supplementary investment in time and firewood. These results have broad implications for the discussion about technological evolution and the acquisition of specialised knowledge in the MSA.     

Stone-boiling maize with limestone: experimental results and implications for nutrition among SE Utah preceramic groups

Groups living on Cedar Mesa, SE Utah in the late Basketmaker II period (Grand Gulch phase, AD 200–400) were heavily maize-dependent, but lacked beans as a supplemental plant protein, and pottery vessels for cooking. Common occurrence of limestone fragments in their household middens suggests 1) limestone may have been used as the heating element for stone-boiling maize and 2) this practice might have made some maize proteins more available for human nutrition. Experiments examined these possibilities; results indicate that stone-boiling with Cedar Mesa limestone creates an alkaline cooking environment suitable for nixtamalization of maize kernels, and that maize cooked in this fashion shows significant increases in availability of lysine, tryptophan, and methionine. Archaeological limestone fragments from a Grand Gulch phase site show amounts of fragmentation and changes in density consistent with repeated heating. While not conclusive, these data indicate that further research (e.g., examination of archaeological limestone fragments for maize starch grains or phytoliths) is warranted. It is suggested that greater attention be paid to archaeological indications of stone-boiling with limestone among maize-dependent but pre-pottery societies.     

Titans with Feet of Clay

The Two Cultures debate of the early 1960s was initiated by C. P. Snow and by F. R. Leavis. Snow's understanding of the nature of science was fashionable but defective, while Leavis's views were those of a literary coterie, quaint and lacking the universality he wished to claim. Between them, as a result, they created an ill-conceived dichotomy, leading to a nugatory debate. Snow's profound lack of understanding of the nature of science and technology was in line with views popular in his time, but was all too likely to be seriously damaging to those whom he wished to champion.