The Limits of Influence: Australia and the Future of New Caledonia, 1975 to 1988

From the late 1970s Australian governments (led in turn by Malcolm Fraser and Bob Hawke) expected New Caledonia to become independent. France responded with suspicion. From 1983, however, reformist governments in Australia and France took apparently converging views. But tensions rose because of unrest in New Caledonia and conflict over French nuclear testing. Australia’s limited capacity to influence developments waned further in 1986 when Jacques Chirac became French prime minister and countered the Kanak nationalist movement. Foreign Minister Bill Hayden favoured moderating Australia’s position, but the issue became moot in mid-1988 when the rival forces in New Caledonia agreed to the truce embodied in the Matignon Accords. The different approaches of the Fraser and Hawke governments reflected philosophical differences, the personal stance of key players, influences from their political movements, and the challenges of changing circumstances. Decades later, with a referendum due by November 2018, Australia’s approach is likely to be cautious.     

Provenance Analyses of the Volcanic Rock Grinding Stones from the Greek Colony of Selinunte,Sicily (Italy)—Constraints and Possibilities

The petrography as well as the major and trace element compositions of the Selinunte grinding stones, made of grey vesicular lava, were analysed. By comparison with geochemical data from volcanic rocks in the Mediterranean, we were able to determine that only a minor number of the tools were extracted from the nearest volcanics of Mount Etna and the Hyblean Mountains, while the majority of the grinding stones were most probably imported from the Aeolian Islands, although an origin from the Aegean cannot be excluded entirely. The results are important in order to scrutinize trading connections, especially for the earlier times of settlement during the sixth century bc .     

Landesque capital as an alternative to food storage in Melanesia: Irrigated taro terraces in New Georgia,Solomon Islands

Abstract

In the Pacific islands, subsistence diversity made possible continuous production of food while well-developed exchange networks redistributed these foodstuffs as well as items within the prestige economy. All these were aspects of the ‘storage structures’ that enabled social and nutritional value to be saved, accumulated and later mobilised. In addition, there were investments in the land, landesque capital, which secured future food surpluses and so provided an alternative to food storage, in a region where the staple foods were mostly perishable, yams excepted, and food preservation was difficult. Landesque capital included such long-term improvements to productivity as terraces, mounds, irrigation channels, drainage ditches, soil structural changes and tree planting. These investments provided an effective alternative to food storage and made possible surplus production for exchange purposes. As an example, in the New Georgia group of the western Solomon Islands irrigated terraces, termed ruta, were constructed for growing the root crop taro (Colocasia esculenta). Surplus taro from ruta enabled inland groups to participate in regional exchange networks and so obtain the shell valuables that were produced by coastal groups. In this paper, we reconstruct how this exchange system worked in New Georgia using ethno-archaeological evidence, we chart its prehistoric rise and post-colonial fall, and we outline the factors that constrained its long-term expansion.     

Paleoclimates and the emergence of fortifications in the tropical Pacific islands

Paleoclimatic data from the tropical Pacific islands are compared to archaeological evidence for fortification construction in the Holocene. The results suggest that in some regions, people constructed more fortifications during periods that match the chronology for the Little Ice Age (AD 1450–1850) in the Northern Hemisphere. Periods of storminess and drought associated with the El Niño Southern Oscillation have less temporal correlation with the emergence of fortifications in the Pacific, but significant spatial correlation with the most severe conditions associated with this cycle. These temporal and spatial correlations require additional study to investigate possible causal relationships.     

《旧金山对日和约》再研究--关于其对西沙群岛、南沙群岛的处理及后果

西沙群岛、南沙群岛主权本属中国,第二次世界大战期间被日本占领,日本战败后理应由中国收回,但1951年美国起草和主导签署的<旧金山对日和约>只表明日本放弃这些岛礁,未明确主权归属问题,为的是防止中国(大陆)从<对日和约>中得出对中国主权有利的结论来.<对日和约>如此处理主权问题为日后两群岛"主权未定"论埋下了祸根.     

从欧洲共同体看亚太地区经济合作的发展趋势

本文以欧洲共同体的形成、发展为背景,对亚太地区经济合作的条件和前景进行初步探讨,并对中国在地区合作中的地位和作用进行初步分析。     

福建省海岛旅游的特点与开发利用设想

福建省具有十分丰富的海岛旅游资源,其开发利用近年来越来越为人们所重视。本文在实地调查的基础上,阐述了福建海岛旅游资源的基本类型和主要内容,从规模、功能、分布、组合等方面对其主要特点进行了分析和评价,指出了其开发利用中存在的主要问题,提出了以开发海滨沙滩为核心,以度假旅游为主要方向的福建海岛旅游资原开发利用的总体设想和对策措施。     

The View from the Verandah: Levuka Bungalows and the Transformation of Settler Identities in Later Colonialism

The residential architecture of Levuka, Fiji, contains a diverse and well-preserved sample of what architectural historians have called the British tropical bungalow. Dating to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, these small frame structures bear witness to the in situ development of a descendant colonialist identity amongst the European settlers of the port town. Analysis of the degree to which these houses conform to, and diverge from, the normative traits of the global bungalow style provides insight into the material processes of later colonialist communities and their increasingly complex cultural and social identities.     

Craniofacial trauma in the Prehispanic Canary Islands

The current project is a study of craniofacial trauma in a large sample (n = 896) of Prehispanic Canary Islanders (PCIs). The possible causes and social implications of the trauma found are considered, with reference to archaeological and historical data. Variables include the island, period and ecology, the sex and age of the individuals, the distribution of lesions across the skull (by side and by individual bone) and ante‐mortem tooth loss. The results show a fairly high trauma rate (16%), a low prevalence of peri‐mortem trauma (3.8% of all lesions), higher prevalence of trauma in males than in females (25% vs. 13% of all individuals), more cranial than facial lesions (8.9% vs. 3.5% of all elements) and more lesions on the left side of the skull (6.7% vs. 4.5% of all elements) which suggests that the lesions were sustained through intentional rather than accidental agency. There was no correspondence between trauma prevalence and ecology. The archaeological and historical data support the assertion that the lesions may be the result of skirmishing between groups, using weapons such as slingshots, stones and staves. The presence of edged‐weapon lesions on some individuals suggests that these may have been the victims of contact‐period European groups. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.