Soviet children of occupation in Austria: The historical,political and social background and its consequences

Soviet children of occupation were born between late 1945 and mid-1956 in Austria, some following voluntary sexual relations between local women and Red Army soldiers, others as a result of rape. They were considered by many to be ‘children of the enemy’ and encountered various forms of discrimination and stigmatisation. The children involved were largely a ‘fatherless’ group of war children. By the time of their births even fathers who wanted to stay in touch had generally either been sent home or transferred to another barracks in line with the Kremlin's view that intimate relations between Soviet soldiers and Austrians were politically and ideologically reprehensible. Even after the signing of the Austrian State Treaty and the end of the occupation in 1955, the political situation largely ruled out further contact. This situation was exacerbated by the onset of the Cold War. In many cases, the children of occupation were hemmed in by a wall of silence that in some cases persists to this day. This has led to widespread questions about personal identity and searches for their ‘roots’. Against this background, the article analyses the impact of the specific historical, political and social background of the lives of Soviet occupation children.     

Preliminary U-series and Thermoluminescence dating of excavated deposits in Liang Bua sub-chamber,Flores, Indonesia

We report the results of a test excavation of deposits in a limestone cave sub-chamber located beneath the main chamber of Liang Bua, Flores, Indonesia; the discovery site of the small hominin species, Homo floresiensis. Well-preserved remains of extinct Pleistocene fauna and stone artefacts have previously been identified on the surface of a sediment cone within the sub-chamber. Our excavation of the deposits, at the base of the sediment cone in the sub-chamber (to 130 cm depth) yielded only a few fragmentary bones of extant fauna. Uranium/Thorium (U-series or U/Th) dating of soda straw stalactites excavated from 20 to 130 cm in depth demonstrates that the excavated sediments were deposited during the Holocene. Red Thermoluminescence (TL) dating of the sediments at the base of the excavation (130 cm depth) indicates these sediments were last exposed to sunlight at 84 ± 15 ka (thousand years), similar to red TL ages of cave sediments from the main chamber. Together, these results indicate that the surface faunal remains, which are morphologically analogous to Pleistocene finds from the main chamber excavations, were transported to the sub-chamber relatively recently from the main chamber of Liang Bua and probably originated from conglomerate deposits at the rear of the cave and from deposits around the front entrance. There is no evidence for hominin occupation of the sub-chamber, instead it seems to have acted as a sink for cultural materials and fossil remains transported from the surface via sinkholes. Despite the small number of finds from the test excavation, it is possible that more extensive excavations may yield additional transported cultural and faunal evidence at greater depths.     

Inter-imperial Humanitarianism: The Macau Delegation of the Portuguese Red Cross during the Second World War

ABSTRACT

Focusing on the history of the wartime Macau Delegation of the Portuguese Red Cross (1943–46), this article aims to shed light on interactions between Macau and the occupied British colony of Hong Kong during the Second World War. It argues that the Macau Red Cross branch was a concrete example of Portuguese collaborative neutrality with the Allies, most particularly the British. In coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross, this local branch played an important role in humanitarian assistance to many victims of the war, particularly refugees and POW dependants, in Hong Kong and Shanghai when British authorities were unable to negotiate an exchange with Japan or provide direct assistance in those occupied cities.

The wartime Red Cross in Macau was a small-scale and temporary endeavour but, nevertheless, a multi-dimensional one: it was a local creation, a delegation integrated in a national and colonial context, an inter-imperial institution and part of a transnational organisation with global reach.     

Refining the Quadratic Crown Height Method of age estimation: do elk teeth wear quadratically with age?

Teeth are the basis for the best methods for estimating the age-at-death of archaeological and paleontological faunal remains, because they change by eruption and wear throughout an individual's life and because they preserve well. However, age-at-death can be difficult to estimate when teeth are isolated or when no known-age reference sample is available. For these reasons, researchers developed the Quadratic Crown Height Method (QCHM), a set of quadratic formulae that can be used to predict age-at-death from tooth crown height, when unworn crown height and the ages when the tooth erupts and when its crown height should reach zero can be estimated. Previous tests of the QCHM suggest that modified equations could improve the method. Here, we use crown height measurements on a sample of 226 known-age Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus) to perform such modifications. We adjust the age at which each tooth type's crown height reaches zero from the species' potential ecological longevity or average maximum life span to an age that we empirically estimate for each tooth type. We also empirically assess whether for different elk teeth the exponent in the QCHM formula is actually equal to 2; it is for M1, but for P4 it is about 1, indicating a roughly linear relationship. The exponents for M2 and M3 are intermediate, being closer to 1.5. Because different teeth wear at different rates and wear completely away at different ages, we recommend that researchers use the modified equations provided here to estimate age-at-death for samples of Cervus elaphus.     

From security blanket to security risk: scientists in the decade after Hiroshima

Aside from a number of early prophesies of abundant and cheap nuclear power, and increased supplies of isotopes for medical research, diagnosis and therapy, visions of the Atomic Age were overwhelmingly troublesome in the aftermath of Hiroshima. Not only did nuclear Armageddon seem likely to many observers, the steps taken to enhance national security in the United States cast classes of citizens into the doleful category of “security risk.” Scientists were among those feared—a stunning (and almost instantaneous) change from their perception in August 1945 as the nuclear wizards who brought World War II to an end. National security was the dominant factor in this transformation, but there were nuances to it. This article attempts a taxonomy of the ways in which scientists were viewed in the United States.     

Notes on Contributors

The author contends that Leonardo Sciascia's L’affaire Moro is not a work of non-fiction, as Sciascia proposed, but of historical fiction, and that Sciascia's Moro is a literary character, more a spokesperson for Sciascia's political views than a reflection of the historical figure. Sciascia's Moro embodies the same qualities as many of Sciascia's other protagonists, such as a radical individualism and willingness to sacrifice all in order to protect their dignity and liberty. What emanates from the text is a ‘postmodern’ blend that interprets and imposes a narrative hierarchy on events, and conveys a mental reality that need not necessarily coincide with what can be proven with evidence. In fact, Sciascia combines factual information and his own ‘conjectural knowledge’ to convince his reader of the ‘moral truth’ of his argument. Sciascia's is indeed a strong narrative in that it succeeded in shaping how the Italian public views to this day a critical juncture in its recent history.     

民国前期红十字会皖北救援活动管窥

民国前期,中国红十字会在救死扶伤的同时,不断拓宽人道主义服务领域。通过对这一时期中国红十字会皖北人道救助行动的考察,可以看出中国红十字会及其所属分会广泛参与兵灾、自然灾害及其他意外之灾的救助,减轻了民众疾苦,为保障民生,发挥了不能小视的作用。     

Roman Rigging Material from the Red Sea Port of Myos Hormos

Excavation of the Roman port of Myos Hormos on the Egyptian Red Sea coast has revealed both the extent of the Roman harbour and a significant corpus of maritime artefacts. These include a relatively large quantity of rigging material such as brail-rings and sailcloth dating from the late-1st century BC to the middle of the 3rd century AD. These finds are important for our understanding of ancient shipping in the Mediterranean, Red Sea and Indian Ocean regions.
© 2007 The Author     

Post-flood assessment of emergency evacuation policies in the Red River basin, Southern Manitoba

A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was used as a part of a post‐flood survey among the residents of four small urban communities on the Red River ‐ Emerson, Morris, Ste. Agathe, and St. Adolphe ‐ to assess their preferences for emergency evacuation policies. The respondents were asked to choose repeatedly among three hypothetical evacuation policies described in terms of (a) the type of evacuation (mandatory, voluntary, no evacuation), (b) notification time for evacuation (1, 2, 4 days), (c) post‐evacuation flood relief (75%, 80% current, 90%), and (d) an overall evaluation of the risk of hazardous flooding, i.e. chances of over‐dike flooding or breaching through dikes (99%, 75%, and 50%). The survey results indicated that, despite significant differences between Ste. Agathe and other communities in the magnitude of impact of the 1997 flood, overall, a voluntary evacuation seemed to be preferred at the 50 percent risk of hazardous flooding; whereas the preference for a mandatory evacuation was related to a 99 percent risk. A notification time of 2 days for evacuation was preferred over that of 1 day but the preference for 2 days was not statistically different from that of 4 days. In both types of evacuation a 10 percent increase in the amount of flood relief was preferred over the current amount of 80 percent and the marginal utility of a 5 percent decrease was nearly equivalent to the suggested 10 percent increase. Because of such ability of the DCE to assess tradeoffs of alternative choices/policies, the paper suggests further applications of the model for eliciting floodplain residents' preferences for various flood management issues. Dans le cadre d'une enquête effectuée auprès des résidents de quatre petites communautés urbaines ‐ Emerson, Morris, Ste‐Agathe et St‐Adolphe ‐ à la suite des inondations de la rivière Rouge, les préférences du public quant à la politique à suivre en cas d'évacuation ont étéétudiées. L'évaluation a été menée à partir d'un modèle à choix discret. Les personnes interrogées devaient choisir entre trois hypothèses d'évacuation, hypothèses établies sur les bases suivantes: a) le type d'évacuation (obligatoire; volontaire; non‐évacuation); b) le délai accordé avant l'évacuation (1, 2 ou 4 jours); c) les secours procurés à la suite de l'évacuation (75%, les 80% actuels, 90%); et, d) une évaluation d'ensemble des dangers d'inondation, par exemple, les possibilités qu'une digue soit submergée, ou que les digues rompent par endroits (99%, 75% et 50%). Les résultats de l'enquête montrent que, dans l'ensemble, malgré une différence significative dans l'importance de l'impact de l'inondation de 1997 à Sainte‐Agathe et dans les autres communautés, le choix d'une évacuation volontaire était préféré quand ne se présentait qu'une possibilité d'inondation de 50 pour cent; la préférence pour une évacuation obligatoire n'étant indiquée que dans le cas de 99 pour cent de risques d'inondation. Un avertissement avant évacuation de 2 plutôt qu'l jour était préféré par les personnes interrogées, mais, statistiquement parlant, il n'y avait pas de différence notable entre un choix de 2 ou de 4 jours. Dans les deux types d'évacuation proposés, on préférait une augmentation de 10 pour cent des secours par rapport aux 80 pour cent actuels, l'utilité marginale d'une baisse de 5 pour cent étant presque équivalente aux 10 pour cent d'augmentation suggérés. En raison des possibilités qu'offre un modèle à choix discret pour évaluer les compromis possibles entre les différents choix et politiques d'évacuation proposés, cet article suggère que d'autres études à partir d'un tel modèle soient menées afin d'établir les préférences de ceux qui résident dans des plaines susceptibles d'inondation quant à la prévention et à la gestion de ces inondations.     

A further example of long-bone damage due to chewing by deer

A central diaphyseal fragment of a red deer metacarpus of recent origin is described, showing signs of bone chewing by deer, the most prominent being fork formation at either end of the specimen. Compared with a red deer metacarpus from the same region described previously, the present one was in a much more advanced stage of bone destruction as a result of osteophagia. Additionally, alterations resulting from gnawing by small rodents and from root etching were present in the specimen. Detailed knowledge of the full spectrum of bone changes originating from chewing by ruminants may prevent the erroneous interpretation of such altered bones as human artefacts.