Epistemologías transculturales: prácticas y producción de conocimientos en zonas de contacto colonial en los Andes y Paraguay

It is proposed that there is an iconographic and epistemological relationship between some drawings in Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala’s Nueva corónica y buen gobierno and the images recorded in several colonial wood vessels (qeros) which circulated widely during the time that Guaman Poma was writing his letter to the King of Spain. This connection shows that the work of Guaman Poma was not an isolated or singular act in the colonial context and that both communicative and creative processes, that of the Nueva corónica and that of the qeros, formed part of a process of shared colonial semiosis through which Andean societies maintained a certain autonomy in the production and circulation of their own discourses. Secondly, the article discusses the epistemological tension that results from the coexistence of different narratives (European and Andean) that used their own temporal and spatial categories to account for new colonial conditions.     

‘M GLOW BLUE’: ARCHAEOMETRIC RESEARCH AT MICHIGAN'S FORD NUCLEAR REACTOR

The Ford Nuclear Reactor operated from 1957 to 2003 on the University of Michigan's North Campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Over its 45‐year lifespan, the facility played a key role in archaeometric research, fostering early methodological studies using INAA and supporting archaeological materials science investigations of lithics, ceramics, metals and bone. One small part of the FNR's abundant legacy was the initiation of trace‐element studies of Oaxacan ceramics, which are now beginning to shed light on early exchange interactions and the origin of the Monte Albán state in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, between 500 bce and 200 ce .     

A study of parametric versus non-parametric methods for predicting paleohabitat from Southeast Asian Bovid astragali

Studies of the African members of the family Bovidae have demonstrated the feasibility of using linear discriminant analysis to predict paleoenvironment based on measurements from postcranial skeletal elements. The use of discriminant analysis depends upon adherence to certain assumptions about the data set. In certain cases, these assumptions are violated, thus reducing the confidence of the results. The research presented here introduces the use of the non-parametric recursive partitioning method as a test of the linear discriminant method for predicting habitat from a collection of modern Bovid astragali from Southeast Asia. This study also provides a critique of the previous African studies. The results indicate that a combination of the parametric and non-parametric methods provides the highest prediction accuracy for Southeast Asian Bovids, though the independent methods do test favorably; thus providing an additional tool for archaeologists and paleoanthropologists in this region.     

Evolution of Expenditure in the Budget of the European Union (1957–2002)

This article analyses the evolution of Community expenditure, on the basis of the data given in the budget and in the EDF, from the origin of the process in 1957 until the year 2002, the last definitive figures. The technique of principal component factor analysis has been applied to these variables. The basic objective of this study is to detect the interrelationships among the policies of the Union and to effect a classification of them, in order to detect the priorities of the European project and to estimate the dimension of the impact of its policies during the period.     

Neolithic case of metastasizing carcinoma: Multiple approaches to differential diagnosis

The remains of the fragmented skeleton of a mature male individual from a Neolithic mass burial (ca. 5000 years BP) are presented. The lesions consist of osteoblastic proliferation and replacement of previously normal haematopoietic tissue. The most affected area seems to have been the iliac blade. So-called ‘seeding’ of tumour tissue has been found in different loci in the femoral neck, sacrum, L4 and scapula. Differential diagnosis points to metastatic carcinoma, most likely from the prostrate gland. In order to support the observations, radiological and histological analyses have been performed. Trace element analyses of tumour and control samples have shown the limited contribution of these data to ascertain the aetiology of secondary neoplasias in buried material.     

Shape matters: assessing regional variation of Bell Beaker projectile points in Central Europe using geometric morphometrics

Despite the large-scale expansion of Bell Beaker phenomenon, there is a tension between the normative Bell Beaker material culture categories and their local objectification in the form of real artefacts. Stone projectile points provide an opportunity to evaluate how much was the general category of such a point influenced by regional and local factors. The aim of this paper is to explore shape and size variation of Central European Bell Beaker projectile points from Moravia (Czech Republic) to elucidate factors responsible for this variation. The sample consists of 194 projectile points from 54 Central European Bell Beaker sites (2500–2300/2200 BC) distributed in Morava River catchment. The size and shape of projectile points were studied by landmark-based geometric morphometrics and expressed as shape groups, which have been assessed in terms of their spatial distribution, raw material, and reutilization. Although several shape categories of points were identified, there is a strong degree of uniformity in the research sample. The dominant shape category (75.4 % of points) was pervasive across geographic space and was not significantly affected either by raw material or reutilization. A lower degree of reutilization of points is interpreted as a consequence of a non-utilitarian role of projectile points, which represented a critical component of Bell Beaker mortuary practices.