Paleoparasitological results from coprolites dated at the Pleistocene–Holocene transition as source of paleoecological evidence in Patagonia

Coprolites attributable to humans, dated from the Pleistocene–Holocene transition, obtained from the archaeological site Cerro Casa de Piedra, Santa Cruz Province, were examined for parasites. The feces were processed by rehydration and spontaneous sedimentation using conventional parasitic procedures. Helminthic eggs recovered were identified as Trichuris sp., Calodium sp., other capilariids, and ancylostomid (Nematoda), probably Hymenolepis sp. and anoplocephalid (Cestoda); one oocyst attributable to Eimeria macusaniensis (Apicomplexa) was also found. According to the life-cycles and specificity of the parasites found, it is possible to suggest that some species (i.e., E. macusaniensis and Calodium sp.) represent parasites in transit or pseudoparasitism. Paleoparasitological results revealed the existence of an intensive relationship between parasites and humans in the Pleistocene–Holocene transition in Patagonia. Evidence suggests an early association among parasites, rock shelters and hunter–gatherers in the region. It is also postulated that the ancient lifestyles associated with caves and rock shelters were conductive to illness.     

科学发展观视野下政府职能转变的方向与途径

科学发展观是一种全新的政治诉求,蕴含着全新的价值取向,呼唤政府职能的进一步转换。科学发展观视野下我国政府职能转变的基本方向是强化公共服务职能以建设公共服务型政府,强化政府的可持续发展推动功能,在政府职能范围上注重收缩与扩展并举。应通过宣传教育在全社会推进政府观念的转型,通过促进公共职能履行主体的多元化来推进公共职能的转移,通过行政体制的完善和行政制度的健全促进政府职能的转变。     

Human corpse manipulation and the body as symbol: A case study from the Eastern Pampa–Patagonia transition (Argentina) during the Final Late Holocene

Human body manipulation and secondary burials are widespread funerary practices in many areas of the world. The archaeology of the Pampas and North-Eastern Patagonia, Argentina, is no exception. In this paper, archaeological case studies from the lower basin of the Colorado River during the Final Late Holocene (ca. 1000–250 years BP) are presented and discussed. Secondary burials were recovered that indicated an intentional manipulation of bodies. Evidences of cut marks and the coloring of bone surfaces were recorded. The bundles were composed of individuals of both sexes and diverse age categories. The Pampean region and North-Eastern Patagonia witnessed significant hunter–gatherer population dynamics during the last 1000 years BP. Climatic, ecologic, demographic, and economic explanations have been proposed as the background to these changes. In this paper, it is argued that accompanying these factors, as part of a broader socio-cultural scenario, were significant social interaction networks and processes of social complementarity between groups. In this context, it is proposed that the complexity observed in relation to the handling of bodies is part of a worldview in which the body was seen as material culture – as a symbol – that played an important role for the community in group identity maintenance in a cultural context undergoing significant organizational changes.     

城乡关系变迁中的大都市政区整合与转型——上海案例

在工业化、城市化相互交织的进程中,大都市区城乡之间的权益矛盾关系极其复杂,行政区划调整成为调节城乡权益配置的重要政策工具,由此为协调城乡关系的行政区划调整也很频繁。本文以城乡关系变迁为逻辑主线,分析了上海市行政区划变更所面临的国家宏观背景变迁、战略调整,总结得出上海市存在"市管县体制"、市辖区切块扩张、撤乡改镇、整县改区等行政区划调整模式,这些调整有利于国家推进工业化、都市化战略,并存在城市中心主义倾向,将在建构城乡一体化发展新格局中发挥重要的作用。     

Structural Change and Regional Disparities in Xinjiang,China

The paper by a noted American geographer and a specialist based in Germany examines and analyzes recent economic growth and structural change in the strategically significant and resource-rich (including oil and gas deposits) region of Xinjiang. The authors identify regional variation in the trajectory of economic development at the urban and county levels, employing conceptual approaches related to structural shifts in economic sectors and focusing on shifts in employment from agriculture to activities in the secondary and tertiary sectors. They also investigate the role of the tertiary sector using a labor transition model, examining its functioning in the context of the industrial sector's absorption of labor in the transitional economy of China. Calculations are based on the most recent official statistical data released by national and regional governments and available at present (mid-2006). Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: J21, J24, O18, R11. 9 figures, 4 tables, 45 references.     

Restructuring of Beijing's Social Space

Four China-, U.S.-, and UK-based senior specialists on the urban geography of Beijing team up to present the results of their investigation of the change in the city's social landscape on the basis of restricted subdistrict-level data covering the period from 1982 to 2000. Adopting a factor ecology approach, the authors seek to identify the extent to which factors that shape urban social landscapes in Western countries have played a role in Beijing during a period of economic transition (e.g., from administrative toward market allocation of housing). Similarly, they investigate the relative strength of processes of social differentiation vis-à-vis mixing accruing from the restructuring of Beijing's physical space (e.g., housing cost differentiation and accelerated in-migration that lead to the emergence of concentrated areas inhabited by migrants and/or minorities, and of relatively low density suburbs) revealed by the 2000 Census. The paper includes a section on developments since 2000, citing data (through 2006) on population, scarcity of affordable housing, traffic congestion, and industrial and residential relocation, relating in part to the forthcoming Olympic Games in 2008. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: I31, O15, O18, P20. 6 figures, 7 tables, 93 references.     

‘DOING FAMILY’

Drawing on a case study of married female migrants from two rural villages of Hung Yen province to Hanoi City, Vietnam, this paper investigates the implications of female migration on gender roles and relations within families. The paper shows that wives' migration changes gender roles and relations within the family. Being on the move, migrant wives become the main breadwinners while their husbands left behind take on the role of carers. The migrant wives acquire a stronger voice in family matters and a strong sense of pride, worthiness and earned respect, whereas their husbands experience a loss of power. However, these changing gender roles and relations rarely result in family fragmentations; instead, families are still being sustained as migrant wives ‘do family’. By ‘doing family’, they can exploit their increasing power in an acceptable manner, so that patriarchal family ideals are not openly confronted. This paper provides a more nuanced understanding of the implications of female migration on families, i.e. the simultaneity of the reproduction of and the change in gender roles and relations within families.     

“Punching Above its Weight”. The Mafikeng Anti-Repression Forum (Maref) and the Fall of Bophuthatswana

Abstract

This article traces the history of the Mafikeng Anti-Repression Forum (Maref) that operated in the former homeland of Bophuthatswana from early 1990 to late 1994. It was the only human rights organisation in Bophuthatswana. Maref's work was in five areas. Firstly, it monitored human rights abuses as a consequence of political repression in the homeland. Secondly, it responded to these abuses by means of disseminating the facts behind them. Thirdly, it attempted to defend the interests of the victims by means of seeking legal redress and relief from suffering and deprivation. Fourthly, it agitated for political change in Bophuthatswana in accordance with the changing nature of political reform in South Africa as a whole. Lastly it collated and published the information that formed an essential component of the negotiations that led to the new dispensation in 1994. For these activities, Maref members were severely harassed. The role the organisation played generally has received little analysis or comment, and is deserving of a place in the annals of human rights activities and activists during this period of transformation and upheaval in South Africa.     

Forest transition theory and the reforesting of Scotland

During the 20th century, the forest area in Scotland expanded threefold, after many centuries of decline. Similar trends of forest expansion following deforestation have operated in many other developed countries. The passage from net deforestation to net reforestation is defined as the forest transition, and over the last few years a body of theory relating to its drivers has evolved. The case of Scotland is considered in order to contribute to this growing body of theory.     

An empirical test of the relative frequency of bipolar reduction in Beds VI,V, and III at Mumba Rockshelter,Tanzania: implications for the East African Middle to Late Stone Age transition

Mumba Rockshelter, Tanzania, is the only East African site spanning a continuous record of more than 100,000 years, including the Middle Stone Age (MSA) to Late Stone Age (LSA) Transition. Rather than examine the presence or absence of traditional markers of “behavioral modernity”, we have endeavored here to respond to the calls of Shea (2011) and Basell (2008) by examining the proportional similarity of a trait present throughout the MSA–LSA sequence at Mumba Rockshelter: the bipolar technique of lithic reduction. We use a quantified, experimentally derived proxy to track the relative amount of bipolar percussion among Mumba's Beds VI, V, and III, namely, waste shatter. Our examination of Mehlman's previously unanalyzed collections from Mumba demonstrates that in terms of bipolar production Bed V is statistically indistinguishable from the Late Stone Age (LSA) Bed III, but significantly different from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) Bed VI. Given that Bed V dates to 56.9 ± 4.8 − 49.1 ± 4.3 ka cal BP, this result is consistent with other evidence that the origins of the LSA in East Africa began well before 40 kya, and that Mumba Bed V represents one of the earliest manifestations of the LSA in East Africa. We conclude with a discussion of factors that may have influenced the increased dependence of bipolar production at the site.