Paleodietary analysis of the prehistoric population of the Canary Islands inferred from stable isotopes (carbon,nitrogen and hydrogen) in bone collagen

Nitrogen and carbon isotope compositions were measured in the bone collagen from a total of 86 prehispanic samples of the Canary Islands, and hydrogen in 70, all of them with enough amount of bone collagen, and adequate N and C content. These samples belong to prehistoric population of El Hierro (n = 27), Tenerife (n = 18), and Gran Canaria (n = 41). Isotope compositions were also obtained for prehistoric and modern food resources that were likely consumed by these people. Marked differences were observed among the three islands regarding the three isotopes analyzed: the δ¹⁵N values were highest among the population of Gran Canaria (10.8‰ ± 0.9‰), who also showed the highest δD values (7 ± 8‰). The population of El Hierro showed the highest δ¹³C values (−18.6‰ ± 0.7‰). These data suggest a high consumption of marine products by the population from El Hierro, and also an important consumption of terrestrial meat or marine, piscivore fish, by the population from Gran Canaria, together with domesticated C₃ plants (barley and/or wheat), fruits of Ficus carica and other wild species, and goat products. Additionally, marked differences were observed between men and women, which suggest that women consumed a more vegetal-based diet, a finding which is in agreement with the higher proportion of teeth with carious lesions among women.     

‘Novy Svet Ware’, an Exceptional Cargo of Glazed Wares from a 13th‐Century Shipwreck near Sudak (Crimea,Ukraine)—Morphological Typology and Laboratory Investigations

Excavation of a medieval shipwreck at Novy Svet, Crimea, Ukraine, revealed an exceptional quantity of glazed ceramics with sgraffito decoration which, according to chemical analysis, correspond to a single production provisionally named ‘Novy Svet Ware’. Typological and analytical definitions are given. Its diffusion in the Crimea and extending to Turkey and the Levant, points to a main, as yet unlocated, workshop. The Novy Svet shipwreck suggests the persistence of large‐scale diffusion of ceramics in the late‐13th century, and demonstrates connections with the Black Sea, the Byzantine capital and territories, the Mediterranean and possibly the spice roads. © 2009 The Authors     

LEAD ISOTOPE APPROACH TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF EARLY JAPANESE BRONZE CULTURE

For several years, the authors have used lead isotope analysis to investigate extensively the provenance of ancient bronze or copper artifacts which had been excavated mainly from Japanese archaeological sites. The results have been published item by item in several relevant Japanese journals. This review is intended to give an account which will review the whole work relating early Japanese bronze culture to Chinese and Korean cultures through lead isotope study.     

Librarianship in Kuwait after the Gulf War

A general view of the field of librarianship in Kuwait is presented with special emphasis on the impact of the Iraqi aggression on libraries and information centers in the country. First, a review of the damages and future plans of the main library and information sectors is presented (school, public, academic, central libraries), followed by a summary of the effect of the Iraqi occupation on education in library and information science.     

Book reviews

CHINA

GILLIAN BICKLEY. The Golden Needle — The Biography of Frederick Stewart (1836–1889). Hong Kong: David C. Lam Institute for East‐West Studies, 1997. 308 pp. Index, illustrations. HK$168, paper.

ZHENG CHAOLIN. An Oppositionist for Life: memoirs of the Chinese Revolutionary Zheng Chaolin , ed. and trans, by Gregor Benton. New Jersey: Humanities Press, 1997. xxiii, 333 pp. Index, biographical reference list. US$49.95, hardcover; US$18.50, paper.

JOHN W. DARDESS. A Ming Society: T'ai‐ho County, Kiangsi, in the Fourteenth to Seventeenth Centuries. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1996. 322 pp. Maps, tables. US$45.00, hardcover.

LEO M. DOUW and PETER POST (eds). South China: state Culture and Social Change during the 20th Century. Amsterdam: Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1996. xvi, 253 pp. Figures, tables, glossary, introduction, bibliography, index. Dfl. 75, paper.

GEORGE C. S. LIN. Red Capitalism in South China: growth and Development of the Pearl River Delta. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1997. xii, 219 pp. C$75, hardcover.

KAM LOUIE (ed). Strange Tales from Strange Lands: stories by Zheng Wanlong. Ithaca, NY: Cornell East Asia Series, East Asia Program, Cornell University, 1993. vii, 133 pp. US$18.00, hardcover; US$12.00, paper.

JAPAN, KOREA

PURNENDRA C. JAIN (ed). Distant Asian Neighbours: Japan and South Asia. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers Private Ltd, 1996. xii, 235 pp. Appendices, index. Rs400, hardcover.

B. McVEIGH. The Nature of the Japanese State: rationality and Rituality. London and New York: Routledge, 1998. xx, 251 pp. Index. No price given (reviewed from proofs).

SOUTH ASIA

SEKHAR BANDYOPADHYAY. Caste, Protest and Identity in Colonial India: the Namasudras of Bengal, 1872–1947. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, 1997. xii, 325 pp. Abbreviations, table, map, bibliography, index. £40.00, hardcover.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

LEE TING HUI. The Open United Front: the Communist Struggle in Singapore 1954–1966. Singapore: The South Seas Society, 1997. xi, 417 pp. Preface, abbreviations, select biography, index. No price given, paper.

GENERAL ASIA

JACQUELINE S. ISMAEL and ENID HILL (eds). Social Welfare and Social Development. Calgary: Detselig Enterprises Ltd, 1997. v, 195 pp. Contents, preface, contributors, articles, tables, endnotes. No price given.     

TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY: DETERMINANTS OF HOME OWNERSHIP AMONG GHANAIAN IMMIGRANTS IN TORONTO

Using information collected in a questionnaire survey, this study investigates the factors influencing the housing tenure of Ghanaian immigrants in Toronto. The study finds that Ghanaian immigrants have a low home-ownership rate compared to the Canadian-born population and other immigrant groups. This is partly attributable to the recency of their migration, their relatively low incomes, and their small household sizes. Analysis also shows that social and personal factors, notably the initial motives of the immigrants, their back-home ties, their desire for home ownership back home, and their intention to return there permanently, are critical in shaping their decisions with respect to home ownership in Canada.
Dans cette étude, nous examinons, à l'aide d'un sondage, les facteurs portant sur les modes de logement des immigrants ghanéens à Toronto. Nous démontrons que les Ghanéens sont propriétaires de leurs logements moins souvent que ne le sont les personnes nées au Canada ou les membres d'autres groupes d'immigrants. Le sondage révèle que la taille inférieure des ménages, les faibles revenus, et les dates d'immigration récentes des immigrants ghanéens sont parmi les causes principales de ce phénomène. L'analyse démontre aussi que des éléments sociaux ou personnels, tels les raisons initiales de l'immigration, les liaisons avec le lieu d'origine, le désir d'être propriétaire dans le lieu d'origine et l'intention ou non des immigrants de retourner au Ghana, sont d'une importance fondamentale lorsque les immigrants ghanéens prennent une décision à l'égard de l'achat d'un logement.     

A PROVENANCE STUDY OF THE GILGAMESH FRAGMENT FROM MEGIDDO

A Late Bronze Age fragment of a clay cuneiform tablet with the Gilgamesh Epic was found in the 1950s on the surface at Megiddo. The presence of scribes in Megiddo is evident from the el‐Amarna letters. This is the only first‐class literary Mesopotamian text ever to be found in Canaan. The aim of the present study was to examine the origin of this tablet, by mineralogical and elemental methods. The petrographic and NAA results indicate that the tablet was not Mesopotamian, but was written in southern Israel. The implications of this result in view of the small corpus of scholarly cuneiform texts discovered in Egypt and the southern Levant in the second millennium bce are discussed.