Investigating links between ecology and bifacial tool types in Western Europe during the Last Glacial Maximum

We apply Eco-Cultural Niche Modeling (ECNM), using the Genetic Algorithm for Rule-Set Prediction, to reconstruct the ecological niches exploited by Middle Solutrean and Upper Solutrean populations during the latter stages of Heinrich Event 2 and the early part of the Last Glacial Maximum, respectively. We focus on the Upper Solutrean technocomplex and its regionally distinct styles of hunting weaponry to investigate whether regional cultural variability reflects a link between material culture and ecology. Our analytical approach uses archaeological and geographic data in conjunction with high-resolution paleoclimatic simulations and vegetation reconstructions for the two climatic phases in question. Our results indicate that cultural choices behind the production of specific projectile point types have at some level an ecological basis and are linked to particular environments. We also find that the identified pattern of Upper Solutrean territoriality has an ecological foundation, but that its stylistic expression in the variation of diagnostic armature types is likely a byproduct of cultural drift. We argue that ECNM is an effective means with which to evaluate the paleoecological pertinence of archaeologically defined artifact types and to identify the ecological and cultural mechanisms underlying material culture variability.     

Le principe de circulation et l'échec de la mythologie transeuropéenne

We have sought to identify an aspect of the repression of Enlightenment cosmopolitanism complementary to the creation of national identities in XIX^th-century Europe and the intervening war period. The idea of a common civilization would be maintained by the reciprocal capacity of translating national languages, because of their Indo-European common origins. The utopia of the language would replace the material route of the Enlightenment. It is the failure of the construction of European Indianist myth and not its success which explains the ideological diverting of the relations between language and nation. The missed promotion of the Gypsy language in the academic world illustrates this failure perfectly. After the First World War, the transformation of the principle of nationalities in ethnopolitics removed even the memory of this common ambition.     

Book reviews

Environmental Management: New Directions for the Twenty‐First Century. Geoff A. Wilson and Raymond L. Bryant. UCL Press (Taylor & Francis), London; 1997, 224 pp., £14.95, ISBN 1–857284–631 (pb)

Sustainable Development in Western Europe: Coming to Terms with Agenda 21. Tim O'Riordan and Heather Voisey (Eds). Cass, Ilford, Essex, 1997, 190 pp., £25.00 (hb) ISBN 0–7146–4830–2, £13.50 (pb) ISBN 0–7146–4376–9

Industrial Policies and Economic Integration. Patrizio Bianchi. Routledge, London; 1998, 228 pp., £45.00 (hb), ISBN 0–415–14910‐X

Economia, Espacio e Globalizacio. Georges Benko. Hucitec, São Paulo, 1996, 266 pp., ISBN 85–271 0348–6     

Examining Indigenous perspectives on the health implications of large‐scale agriculture in Jalisco,Mexico

In Mexico, as in many other parts of the world, industrial agriculture is dramatically changing rural landscapes and altering relationships with the land. This paper draws on community‐based research from a collaborative international research project that examined the perceived health implications of the agricultural industry for Indigenous peoples in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. Thirty interviews were conducted in a Nahuas community experiencing expanding agribusiness industries. The results of this study show that the implications of export‐oriented agricultural industry for this Nahuas community are complex and, at times, contradictory: employment in the agricultural industry provides community members with much‐needed sources of income, but it is precarious work. At the same time, community members are concerned about the long‐term health and environmental implications, such as increased exposure to chemicals, depletion of the soil and water, and loss of traditional food and lifeways. These results suggest that to better understand the costs and benefits of large‐scale agriculture for Indigenous health, a broad lens of health that is situated in the context of colonial legacies and the particularities of relationships with the land is required.     

Smart specialization policies: innovative performance models from European regions

ABSTRACT

This research seeks to identify the factors that best explain the performance of regional innovation in Europe, in the era of smart specialization. Data were collected from the Regional Innovation Scoreboard 2016 and a quantitative methodology was followed using linear regressions as statistical methods. The results allowed us to reach four explanatory models of performance innovation for Innovative Regions Leader, Strong, Moderate and Modest. Some policies have also been suggested as possible regional innovation measures that can help policy makers to clarify and improve the innovation performance of these regions.     

Isomorphism and legitimacy in Spanish contract archaeology: the free-fall of an institutional model and the caveat of change

Societies today face multiple challenges stemming from the conflict between ‘market efficiency’ and ‘social welfare’ that are, in turn, the result of neoliberal policies affecting institutional legitimacy. Complex institutional logics associated with organisational responses are part of the early sociological debate about how organisations cope with established institutionalism in order to maintain legitimacy and survive. By employing an institutional framework and historical event sequencing approach, we aim to understand whether normative pressures can be understood to exert an influence of embeddedness and change. The paper analyses the emergence of Spanish contract archaeology after the 1990s. This new organisational pattern in the field of archaeology was a complex institutionalised process that gave rise to a new labour market. The economic crisis starting in 2008 has impacted this sector severely, to the extent that it is, at the time of writing, on the brink of extinction.     

Plant remains and amphorae from the Roman harbour under Flacius Street in Pula (Istria,Croatia)

The aim of this archaeobotanical and archaeological research is to expand knowledge about Roman diet and plant cultivation in Istria and to compare it with similar localities on the Eastern Adriatic coast. We have also tried to find some new information about maritime trade routes in the Mediterranean area in ancient times. Out of 27 samples collected from an excavated Roman port in Flacius Street in Pula, in total, 9809 plant macrofossils were recovered, identified and analysed. The results of the analysis show that most of the plant remains belong to the group of fruit trees and nuts. The most abundant are the remains of Ficus carica, Pinus pinea, Vitis vinifera subsp. vinifera, Rubus fruticosus agg. and Olea europaea subsp. europaea. These are all species that are widespread in the Mediterranean area and have likely always been consumed by the local population. The number of ruderal and weed species found is relatively high (31) in comparison with other plant categories (fruit trees and nuts; fruit collected from the wild; cereals; condiments; oil crops; vegetables and tubers; plants of fresh water environments; elements of maquis), but as they came to the site accidentally and not by targeted human activity, there are far fewer macrofossils of such plants than those of cultivated species. There were a few elements of evergreen forest vegetation and plants of aquatic habitats at the site (2 + 1), which suggests the existence of this type of vegetation in the area of the site in Roman times. Archaeobotanical comparisons of the site in Flacius Street with similar coastal Roman sites—Verige Bay on Veli Brijuni (first-fifth century ad), the port of Zaton near Nin (first-third century ad) and Caska Bay on the island of Pag (first and second century ad)—reveal considerable similarities, confirming the uniformity in nutrition and plant growth in the wider coastal area. Together with the two Roman ships, during the archaeological excavations of the Roman harbour and its layers, we collected over 2000 different archaeological artefacts out of which a large number was almost perfectly preserved. Some of the mentioned artefacts include ceramic amphorae, ceramic table- and kitchenware, ceramic lamps, different usable objects made of glass, wooden use objects, parts of ship’s equipment and other wooden tools, architecture elements from the nearby port as well as residential structures and remains of stone monuments. Because of the large amount of artefacts found at the site, the analysis of the artefacts and data processing are still in progress. As a contribution for recognizing organic remains, we isolated the amphorae whose purpose was the storage and maritime transportation of different food products and ingredients.