China's "Dash for Gas": Challenges and Potential Impacts on Global Markets

Two UK-based researchers examine the significant recent growth in China's demand for natural gas, a fuel not long ago considered of marginal importance but now viewed as critical for the country's future economic growth. Based on a range of databases as well as industry and media reports, the authors demonstrate how rapid demand growth since 2005 has transformed China from a minor, self-sufficient gas producer to a major buyer on international gas markets. They also analyze projections for future demand growth (25 years), showing China's demand for gas will grow faster that anywhere else in the world, and explore the potential for development of China's substantial domestic gas reserves to mitigate import demand over the short to medium term. The study concludes with an assessment of China's potential impact on global gas markets over short, intermediate, and long time horizons.     

Geopolitics of the Kaliningrad Exclave and Enclave: Russian and EU Perspectives

Two U.S. political geographers examine a range of geopolitical issues associated with the shifting sovereignty of Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast (a part of the former German province of East Prussia) during the 20th century, as well as the region's evolving geopolitical status as a consequence of the European Union's enlargement to embrace Poland and Lithuania. They argue that Kaliningrad today can be considered a "double" borderland, situated simultaneously on the European Union's border with Russia as well as physically separated from Russia, its home country, by the surrounding land boundaries of EU states. Although technically neither an exclave nor an enclave, they posit that in many ways it resembles both, and as such presents a unique set of problems for economic development and interstate relations.     

"革命局"辨析

据苏俄、共产国际的有关档案记载。1920—1921年间在上海和中国其他几个大城市曾出现过“革命局”(ревбюоро)。对于“革命局”究竟是什么组织。目前已有几位党史学者发表了不同的意见,分别视其为:中共上海发起组及各地共产主义小组、社会主义者同盟的领导机构、具有统一战线性质的机构和俄共在华组织。这几种看法均值得商榷。从档案原文和“革命局”的名称、组织系统、自身结构与功能任务等方面来看,1920年夏成立于上海的“革命局”实际上是直属共产国际东亚书记处的具体负责中国共产主义运动的机构,而在其他城市的“革命局”则是设于上海的“中央局”的分支机构。虽然革命局后来的隶属关系、组织机构有所变化,但其作为共产国际的在华一级机关的性质却始终如一,在指导建立共产党、推动各革命团体的活动、实施共产主义宣传等工作上发挥了重要作用。随其主要使命的基本完成和中共的成立,革命局也归于消失。     

网络、国家与亚洲地域秩序：华人研究之批判性反思

以华人网络、国家和亚洲地域秩序为切入点,分析和反思了海外华人研究中若干关键性的理论和方法论问题;探讨了华人网络与市场、社会与国家、地方化与全球化的互动关系;解构和重估了华人社会和商业网络的历史性、空间化、制度性和局限性,华人网络在与国家和市场的频密互动中发挥作用,并在这一进程中调适自身的机制和功能。     

Siberia at the Last Glacial Maximum: Environment and Archaeology

This article focuses on the presence of humans in Siberia and the Russian Far East at the coldest time of the Late Pleistocene, called the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and dated to c. 20,000–18,000 rcbp. Reconstruction of the LGM environment of Siberia, based on the latest models and compilations, provides a background for human existence in this region. Most of Siberia and the Russian Far East at c. 20,000–18,000 rcbp was covered by tundra and cool steppe, with some forest formations in the river valleys. Climate was much colder and drier than it is today. Eighteen Upper Paleolithic sites in Siberia are radiocarbon dated strictly to the LGM, and at least six of them, located in southern parts of western and eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East, have solid evidence of occupation during that time span. It seems clear that southern Siberia was populated by humans even at the height of the LGM, and that there was no dramatic decline or complete disappearance of humans in Siberia at that time. The degree of human adaptation to periglacial landscapes in the mid-Upper Paleolithic of northern Eurasia was quite high; humans coped with the cold and dry environmental conditions using microblade technology, artificial shelters, tailored clothes, and megafaunal bones as fuel. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Seventeenth-Century Vehicle of the Middle Passage: Archaeological and Historical Investigations on the Henrietta Marie Shipwreck Site

This study describes the archaeological investigations that have taken place at the wreck site of the English slave ship Henrietta Marie (1700) since its location in 1972. Information is provided on the methodology utilized during on-site archaeological data recovery, and the artifacts retrieved from the wreck site are described in detail. An account of complimentary documentary research on this wrecked slaver is also presented. Contemporary historical data gleaned from shipping lists, slaver’s logs, seamen’s wills and other sources are utilized to place Henrietta Marie within her proper context as a vehicle involved in the notorious transatlantic slave trade.     

Diet and mobility in Middle Archaic Florida: stable isotopic and faunal evidence from the Harris Creek archaeological site (8Vo24), Tick Island

We explore diet and mobility in Middle Archaic Florida using human burials and faunal remains from the Harris Creek archaeological site (8Vo24) on Tick Island. We conducted stable carbon and oxygen isotopic (δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O) analyses of 50 human enamel samples and strontium isotopic (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) analysis of a subset of 10. Most individuals (46/50) subsisted on local freshwater and terrestrial resources, with relatively depleted δ¹³C values (C₃) and δ¹⁸O values matching those of central and north Florida water resources within the St. Johns River valley. Eight of 10 burials have local, within valley ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values. Two human burials yield marine δ¹³C and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values, which we interpret as evidence for across valley movement from the coast. Another two individuals show depleted δ¹⁸O values, likely obtained from northern rivers. We also identified potential food resources and non-local foods from the Harris Creek faunal assemblage. We found six species with estuarine and marine habitat preferences; two of which, whelk and quahog, indicate that people of Harris Creek traveled to or traded with coastal areas.     

Age of the final Middle Palaeolithic and Uluzzian levels at Fumane Cave,Northern Italy,using C,ESR, U/Th and thermoluminescence methods

This article presents and discusses the chronological layout of the final Mousterian and Uluzzian levels of Fumane Cave in northern Italy using ¹⁴C, ESR and TL methods. Given its complex sedimentary and cultural succession, Fumane is a key site to assess the Middle–Upper Palaeolithic transition in Southern Europe and to explore Neanderthal behaviour and to compare it with the first Aurignacians. Large ranges defined by the ESR and TL dates cover the radiocarbon ages for units from A11 to A4, respectively, from 42.8 to 32.5 ka BP become progressively younger in agreement with the stratigraphy, despite high dispersions within the same unit. Our estimates using chronometric data seem to support the hypothesis that the sequence may cover almost 10,000 radiocarbon yr and that from comparison with the sedimentological and palaeoecological data, the late Middle Palaeolithic and the early Upper Palaeolithic at Fumane occur in sediments formed under moderately cool to mild climatic conditions correlated to the Hengelo-Interstadial, shifting towards cooler and drier conditions. Finally, comparisons between the Fumane data set and other sites in the North-Adriatic region are discussed.     

New ages for the post-Howiesons Poort,late and final Middle Stone Age at Sibudu,South Africa

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) measurements are reported for single grains of quartz from deposits within Sibudu rock shelter. Such measurements enable rejection of unrepresentative grains and application of the finite mixture and central age models to obtain the most reliable age estimates. Three types of single-grain equivalent dose (D_e) distributions were observed: one sample represented a single dose population, three samples indicated mixing between Iron Age (IA) and Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposits, and 10 samples (in addition to the three mixed samples) showed scattered distributions. The latter type resulted from differences in the beta dose received by individual grains. For these samples, the beta doses were modelled and adjusted accordingly. Ages for the 14 samples collected from MSA deposits post-dating the Howiesons Poort (HP) resulted in three age clusters, which are stratigraphically consistent with the three informally named cultural phases at Sibudu: namely, the post-HP, late MSA and final MSA. Weighted mean ages of 58.5 ± 1.4 ka, 47.7 ± 1.4 ka and 38.6 ± 1.9 ka were calculated for these phases, respectively. The three phases were separated by two occupational hiatuses with durations of 10.8 ± 1.3 ka and 9.1 ± 3.6 ka. We hypothesise that the punctuated presence of humans at Sibudu was determined by large-scale fluctuations in climate during oxygen isotope stage (OIS) 3, which resulted in alternating wet and dry periods. Phases of occupation correspond to wet periods when fresh water was available in the Tongati River, whereas intervals of site abandonment correspond to dry periods when people were forced to migrate in search of a reliable source of fresh water. Where people migrated to, remains unresolved.     

Big Game and Small Prey: Paleolithic and Epipaleolithic Economy from Valencia (Spain)

This study analyzes the faunal assemblages corresponding to the Middle and Upper Paleolithic and the Early Epipaleolithic for the central Spanish Mediterranean Region dated from between 135,000 and 9,000 B.P. To interpret these data, we employ a zooarchaeological and paleoeconomic perspective. Human large and small game hunting systems are analyzed through the identification of the origins of faunal assemblages, bone breackage patterns, and prey selection patterns. Our study shows that hunting systems changed significantly through time, which may be related to the characteristics of the Mediterranean ecosystem and, above all, to cultural changes.