From Fierce to Adorable: Representations of Polar Bears in the Popular Imagination

From the late 1950s to the early 1980s, technology in the form of aircraft, high-powered rifles, and tranquilizers changed the relationship between humans and polar bears. Whereas the polar bear had been conceptualized as a fierce beast in early-modern expeditionary literature, in the second half of the twentieth century the bear was depicted as vulnerable due to overhunting and in need of scientific study, a process that in itself portrayed the helplessness of the animal when confronted with postwar technologies. Popular American and Canadian periodicals conveyed this shift in the bear’s image. This article examines the polar bear’s image as depicted by the media and argues that the use of certain technologies by sport hunters, wildlife biologists, and conservationists enabled a domination of the bear that altered the animal’s placement within the popular imagination.     

Bidirectional blade technology on naviform cores from northern Arabia: New evidence of Arabian-Levantine interactions in the Neolithic

Discovered in March 2015, the sites of DAJ-112 and DAJ-125 in the Al-Jawf province of northern Saudi Arabia consist of a large collection of surface lithic artefacts that can be compared to well-known Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) B technology from the Levant: the two sites include bidirectional blade technology with naviform core preparation and opposed platforms surface exploitation, as well as burin production at a wide scale. Other surface scatters have been identified during the 2013 and 2015 surveys, showing these two sites are not isolated in Al-Jawf, as rather important occurrences of Early Holocene technology have been identified across the region. Although the sites from Al-Jawf are surface occurrences and not radiometrically dated, the finds have proven to be extremely significant, representing a southward incursion of classic naviform cores-based technology, thus expanding the geographical distribution of this technology beyond the Levant. By addressing the lithic evidence from northern Arabia, the expansion and/or influence of PPN populations and cultural elements will be discussed.     

First Obsidian in the Northern French Alps during the Early Neolithic

An exceptional discovery was made in 2013 in the northern French Alps, at the Grande Rivoire site in Sassenage (Isère department): an obsidian bladelet from Sardinia was found in a cultural horizon dated to about 5360–5210 cal b.c. The abundant arrowheads found with it are characteristic of the Early Neolithic in the South of France (Cardial/Epicardial). Yet there was no pottery or domestic fauna, and only discrete markers of farming. The typological, technological and micro-wear analysis of this bladelet, as well as the determination of the origin of the raw material, open new avenues of reflection for the neolithization of the northern Alps, in particular concerning the role played by the Early Neolithic cultures of northern Italy.     

Strengthening Innovation Through Closer Bilateral Integration

While the Canadian economy has outperformed the US economy over the past decade by several macroeconomic indicators, both economies have been characterized by relatively slow real economic growth and relatively high unemployment rates. One focus of bilateral cooperation that could promote improved economic, social, and environmental conditions in both countries over time is scientific and technological (S&T) innovation. It is widely acknowledged that technological change associated with innovation has been the single most important contributor to productivity growth, and it is also the likely source of success in meeting major public policy challenges facing both countries in areas such as renewable energy and health care.     

ENGINEERING SPATIAL FIXES: RELATIONAL SPATIAL PRACTICES,STRATEGIC‐TOPOLOGICAL APPROACH AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF A FINNISH SCIENCE‐TECHNOLOGY DISTRICT

It can be argued that the relational approach, and especially the so‐called relational economic geography, would benefit from deeper engagement with the practical and strategic dimensions of spatial relations. The article proposes a notion of engineering spatial fix as a way to conceptualize these dimensions. The idea is to widen the conceptual sphere of relationality from spontaneous ties or abstract networked power effects towards relational spatial practices. Theoretically, the article aims to bridge the strategic‐relational and the network‐topological approaches through a stylized meso‐level practice‐oriented approach. It is suggested that in economic geography, relations can be grasped through two basic perspectives: relations as analytical lenses and relations as spatial practices. The article proposes that the relational spatial practices can be divided into two dimensions: topological and strategic. The article presents a case study of a science‐technology district of Turku in 1985–2001, which fleshes out the theoretical elaborations. In the process, the relational concept of synergy is utilized as a context‐specific strategic resource as the district evolves from an initial separate building to a distinct and materialized geographical structure.     

Microdebitage analysis: Initial considerations

Microdebitage is defined as all stone flaking residue less than 1 mm in maximum dimension. Experimental replication indicates that it is produced in great quantities by stone tool manufacture and can permeate site matrices as a permanent signature of past cultural activity. Initial sampling studies suggest that microdebitage analysis may have considerable utility as a means of lithic site surveying.     

Jebel Kareem (TH.68): Techno-typological characteristics of a distinctive lithic assemblage from Dhofar,southern Oman

The lithic sample from TH.68 in Southern Oman is characterised by a set of techno-typological features: (a) the variety of blank production strategies employed to produce flakes, blades and bladelets; (b) the level of standardisation of tools, including backed bladelets, end scrapers, burins on truncation, unifacial and bifacial plano-convex points, etc.; and (c) a previously unknown technique that produced specific flakes presenting uniform morphological traits and high incidence of retouch. Here a comprehensive account of the lithic production systems employed by prehistoric human bands and the formal retouched tools that they made is provided.