Coire a’ Cheud‐chnoic,the ‘hummocky moraine’ of Glen Torridon

EUROPE

France; A Geographical Survey. By P. Pinchemel, translated by C. Trollope and A. J. Hunt. 454 pp. Illustrations, Tables, Bibliography. Bell, London, 1969. 100s.

Italy. By George Kish. 8 × 5 1/4. 125 pp. 12 figures and index. Van Nostrand, New York, 1969. $1.lb95.

AFRICA

A Historical Geography of Ghana. By Kwamima B. Dickson. 15#lb5 × 23.lb5 cms. xiv + 379 pp., 58 maps and diagrams, 7 tables, appendices, bibliography, index. Cambridge U.P., London, 1969. 150s.

The Soil Resources of Tropical Africa. Edited by R. P. Moss. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Cambridge University Press, 1968. £2.

ASIA

Afghanistan. By Ludolph Fischer. Geomedical Monograph Series No. 2, 12 × 8 1/2. Text (German and English), 16 plates and 10 maps. Springer‐Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg and New York, 1968. DM48, $12.lb00.

GEOLOGY AND GEOMORPHOLOGY

Readings in the Earth Sciences, Vols. 1 and 2. 11 1/4 × 8 1/2 Published W. H. Freeman, San Francisco, 1969. 94s. each.

Fife and Angus Geology. By A. R. MacGregor. 266 pp. Blackwood, Edinburgh and London, 1968. 21s.

METEOROLOGY

Essentials of Meteorology. By D. H. McIntosh and A. S. Thorn. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. xv + 239 pp., numerous illustrations, answers to problems. Taylor and Francis, London. 20s.

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

Industrial Britain: The North West. By David M. Smith. 10 × 6 1/4, 271 pp., 36 figures, 31 plates, bibliography and statistical appendix. David and Charles, Newton Abbot, 1969. 95s.

Industrial Demand for Water: A study of South East England. By Judith Anne Rees. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2 L.S.E. Research Monographs 3, xiv + 194 pp., Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1969, London. 65s.

CARTOGRAPHY AND MAPS

The Antonine Wall. Ordnance Survey 2 1/2 Inch Map. 1969. 11s.

Maps and Air Photographs. By G. C. Dickinson. 10 × 17 1/2. xiv + 286 pp. Edward Arnold, London, 1969. 45s.

Atlas Four. 10 1/2 × 8 1/2. 115pages, + index 60 pages. Collins/Longmans, 1969. 15s.

EDUCATIONAL

Learning Through the Environment. By Muriel F. S. Hopkins. 7 3/4 × 5 1/8. 151 pages, 26 figures. Longmans, London. 1969. 15s.

Investigating Geography. By J. Philip Dodd. 9 3/4 × 7 1/4. 214 pp., 192 figures. Heinemann, London, 1969. 15s.

The London Regional Geographies. Book 3: Asia. By Leonard Hadlow and Reginald Abbott. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. 294 pp., 145 figs. U. of London Press, 1969. 18s.

A Geography of Manufacturing. By H. R. Jarrett. 8 3/4 × 5 3/4. xvii + 349 pp. 67 illustrations. Macdonald &; Evans, 1969, London. 35s.

The Mediterranean Lands. By J. Brannigan and H. R. Jarrett. The New Certificate Geography Series: Advanced Level. 9 × 5l. xiv + 620, 150 illustrations. Macdonald and Evans Ltd., 1969. 38s.     

The nature of third-millennium settlement: The example of al-Tikha (Rustaq) an Umm an-Nar site on the Batinah coast of Oman

al-Tikha is a mid to large Umm an-Nar (c. 2700–2000 BC) settlement situated near Rustaq at the back of the Southern Batinah coastal plain in the Sultanate of Oman that was discovered (or rediscovered) in 2014. The site is unique because its layout and spatial organisation are very largely (possibly completely) visible on the surface. This includes two separate areas of stone-built housing, a large pottery scatter of varying density, three or four typical Umm an-Nar round towers and a small cemetery consisting of at least four tombs, along with a few other features. The layout of the site is described and discussed in detail, in particular, in relation to what it might tell us about the nature of Umm an-Nar settlement and social organisation more generally. The location of the site within a pattern of repeating Umm an-Nar settlement along Wadi Far (Wādī al-Farʿī) is also described and discussed.     

The soils of an Iron Age farm site ‐bjellands⊘ynæ, SW Norway

Soil investigations have been carried out at an Iron Age farm site lying under natural vegetation. The soils of the area were mapped and described, and soil samples analysed for pH, organic carbon, total nitrogen, acid‐soluble phosphorus, and available sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium. Two soil types were distinguished on the mineral soils ‐ Brown Podzolic Soils and Iron Humus Podzols. The former are associated with a higher pH, higher phosphorus contents, and a lower carbon‐nitrogen ratio. These differences arc difficult to explain by natural causes, and arc ascribed to cultivation and manuring of the soil during the occupation of the site.     

THE SHEPHELAH IN THE IRON AGE: A NEW LOOK ON THE SETTLEMENT OF JUDAH

Abstract

The Shephelah was densely settled in the Late Bronze Age, but most of the settlements were gradually abandoned during the transition to the Iron I period. Only a few Iron I settlements existed in the eastern part of the region (excluding the Philistine sites at the northwestern edge of the Shephelah), forming a small Canaanite enclave. During the Iron II period the region was gradually resettled, and it became part of Judah. This process lasted until the 8th century BCE, when the region reached an unparalleled demographic peak. Sennacherib's campaign brought wide-scale destruction, and the region recovered only partially before being devastated by Nebuchadnezzar. After reconstructing the region's settlement history, the article reassesses its political and demographic history in comparison to the neighbouring regions of the Judean highlands and the southern coastal plain, it is concluded that the Shephelah had a lesser role in the history of Judah than some recent studies suggest.     

The Possible Advantage of Living in Turf Houses on Settlement Mounds

Abstract

Before timber and stone houses were introduced to northern regions, varieties of turf houses were the most commonly used architecture. These houses had a wooden structure encapsulated in a shell constructed of grass turf. The different ethnic groups of the north built their houses in different styles and constructions, but the general principle was the same. The Norse of North Norway and also on the North Atlantic islands had a tendency to build their houses on top of the ruins of previous houses. After a few centuries this arrangement produced a settlement mound of highly organic soil. In the research literature, both the turf architecture and the settlement mounds have been described as adaptations to and a function of marginality and lack of timber. This paper reports an effort to test the idea that turf houses on top of settlement mounds may have been a finely tuned ecological system that made use of the capacity of organic soil to produce heat.     

Roman Comedy in Humanities Courses

The article reviews the situation of the critical edition of the “entremeses” and other comic short plays of Calderon, highlighting numerous textual and interpretative problems in the current editions, and proposing solutions for establishing the correct text of many passages. It also provides a number of explanations that clarify other references.     

Technological successions in the Middle Stone Age sequence of Diepkloof Rock Shelter,Western Cape,South Africa

The southern African MSA comprises a series of phases of unique technological innovations that fuel current models on the evolutionary processes of Anatomically Modern Humans. However, the nature and variability of these technological phases remain poorly documented. This study reports on the previously unpublished sequence of Diepkloof Rock Shelter (South Africa) and investigates the main technological changes therein, particularly emphasizing the emergence, succession and disappearance of the Still Bay (SB) and the Howiesons Poort (HP). We argue for technological change that occurred at different rates and under the influence of variable driving factors. Our model implies that the SB and the HP are not related to the influx of new populations but have regionally specific origins. Unlike the other techno-complexes, the HP at Diepkloof is subdivided into different phases (Early, Intermediate and Late) but only the upper phases resemble the so-called “classic” HP. Finally, the technological sequence of Diepkloof questions the homogeneous picture which has been so far assumed for the southern African MSA and places emphasis on the importance of exploring long regional sequences.     

Variety in cereal cultivation in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages in relation to environmental conditions

The objective of this paper is to assess the relationship between the cereals cultivated in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages (ca. 1250–400 BC) within the area of the present-day Czech Republic, and their environmental settings. The various charred caryopses of cereal species represented in the archaeobotanical assemblages from 35 archaeological sites differ, especially in the proportion of wheat and barley. The cereal assemblages were compared regarding site altitude, weather conditions, soils and soil productivity. The most important environmental variable influencing the choice of a particular crop seemed to be altitude which is correlated with other variables such as the length of growing season, mean annual temperature, soil quality etc. Although the ecological requirements of cereals cultivated in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages are not known, they presumably thrived under similar conditions to present-day species/varieties, and the strategy of past crop husbandry was based on similar principles as today, e.g. flexible adaptation to local environmental conditions, in an effort to achieve optimal yields and reduce the danger of crop failure.