Production and subsistence strategies at El Zafrín (Chafarinas Islands,Spain): new data for the early Neolithic of North-West Africa

Until a few years ago North-West Africa was ignored in our hypothesis on the neolithization of Western Mediterranean. Moreover, the few excavations focused exclusively on the test of stratigraphies in order to obtain chronological sequences. Recently developed archaeological projects allowed the inclusion of this region in the scientific debate on the origin and evolution of its Neolithic, on the contacts with the Iberian Peninsula through the Strait of Gibraltar, as well as on the documentation of ways of live, habitation structures, and economic strategies. The open area excavation of Zafrín, in the Chafarinas Isles – an archipelago located a short distance from the North African coast – and the full analysis of its lithic industry (technology, typology and use-wear), here presented, represents a novelty on the Neolithic research in North Africa. This in turn will permit us to approach subsistence strategies and the way of life developed by the Neolithic communities of the region.     

Paleoindian subsistence strategies and late Pleistocene paleoenvironments in the northeastern and southwestern United States: a tooth wear analysis

Paleoindians of North America entered a continent undergoing rapid climatic and environmental changes. This paper is a preliminary contribution toward obtaining a better picture regarding how climate and environmental change might have impacted the first settlers of North America. The Paleoindian sites we analyzed are, from the oldest to the youngest, Ingleside (Texas), Blackwater Draw Locality No. 1 (New Mexico), Hiscock Site (New York), and Plainview Quarry (Texas). Paleoenvironmental reconstruction involves identifying the dietary traits of ungulate species that might reflect the environmental conditions where they were living, and also where they might have been hunted by Paleoindians. Such an approach is realized through tooth microwear and mesowear analyses. Results indicate that a variety of food resources were available for the ungulates at these sites as well as the likely presence of mosaic environments around these sites which allowed Paleoindians to exploit resources in a large variety of habitats. The application of a method that allows for the estimation of the duration of occupation at archaeological sites reveals that results for Blackwater Draw and Hiscock Site indicate a long-term occupation of probably several months. However, during short events, Paleoindians were most likely hunting herds of horse and bison when these prey were available near the site. Results indicate that Plainview Quarry was likely used only for short-term occupations, with large game hunting focusing on bison. These patterns identified at the archeological sites studied are related to the fact that Paleoindians follow a high-technology forager model and frequently shifted their territory depending on the composition and distribution of the large mammal fauna.     

A late Holocene pollen record from Lake Almalou in NW Iran: evidence for changing land-use in relation to some historical events during the last 3700 years

A pollen diagram was prepared from Lake Almalou, a volcanic crater wetland located on the eastern flanks of the Sahand Volcanic Complex in NW Iran. The core provides a 3700-year record of human activity and environmental change in an upland region. We attempt to relate vegetation changes to both climatic change and historical events. Variations of anthropogenic pollen indicators suggest several phases of intensified human activities. Two strongly expressed agricultural phases are dated at about 2450–2220 cal BP (Achaemenid Empire) and 230–30 cal BP (collapse of Safavid Dynasty to the modern period). Historical rather than climatic events appear to be the main controlling factors for upland land-use dynamics. Fruticulture has been practiced in the region at least since the Iron Age, reaching its maximum importance 1500–1250 cal BP during the reign of Sassanid Empire; it declined by the time of Islamic conquest of Iran (651 AD). The Little Ice Age is tangibly recorded by higher lake water levels most probably due to both lower summer temperatures and higher annual precipitations. Low values of cereal-type and cultivated tree pollen during this period may indicate a change in the lifestyle from the cultivation of fields and orchards to a more nomadic life dominated by summer pasture. The modern period (1850 AD onwards) is characterized by expansion of agricultural activities to upland areas and intensified pastoralism.     

城市娱乐休闲设施的空间结构特征——以上海市为例

随着文化娱乐活动的日益频繁,娱乐休闲设施的合理布局越发重要。文章首先明确了研究对象及其类别,在此基础上阐述了影响娱乐休闲设施分布与发展的主要影响因素。然后根据上海目前娱乐设施的分布,划分了分布类型,并从娱乐设施的规模和内容着手,分析了空间结构,归纳了娱乐休闲设施的区位特征。最后阐述了娱乐休闲设施的发展变化趋势。     

Les Pradelles (Marillac-le-Franc, France): A mousterian reindeer hunting camp?

The site of Les Pradelles has an important mousterian stratigraphic sequence. In the lower levels, the very low density of artefacts as well as the carnivores scavenging of carcasses abandoned by the neanderthals point to short-term human occupations; the introduction of finished tools (made on non-local, good quality flint) later highly curated, together with an expedient strategy on strictly local flint, suggest a task-specific location, within a low mobility pattern. The large faunal sample (mainly reindeer) underlines the preponderance of hunting activities. A range of butchering activities took place on the site and the abundance of filleting marks may be an indication of the processing of meat for transport to another settlement. The hypothesis of “specialized hunting” during Middle Palaeolithic is assessed with this new data set.     

剥夺或重构:网络休闲对非网络休闲行为空间的影响——基于“开心农场”游戏用户的案例研究

网络休闲作为现代人休闲活动中的重要部分,影响着实体空间中的休闲活动,为了辨明其影响表现,本文以"开心农场"游戏用户为案例,通过问卷调查获取第一手资料,分析结果显示:首先,人们从事网络休闲的时间越长,对网络休闲的依赖度越高;其次,网络休闲活动越多,非网络休闲活动的距离衰减现象越明显;再次,网络休闲对非网络休闲行为空间构成重构或剥夺的影响,取决于网络休闲的投入程度。对新生期和成长期玩家构成重构的影响;对成熟期和老龄期玩家构成剥夺的影响,并得到线性预测方程。最后,研究局限性和后续可展开的研究被提出。     

中国古代休闲活动发展演变规律探析

从夏朝建立到第一次鸦片战争开始近四千年之久中国古代社会,休闲受社会制度、生产力发展、科技水平、文化宗教等影响下,休闲活动在不断发生变化。本文从休闲社会阶层、休闲内容、休闲空间等方面分析中国古代休闲活动发展演变,总结了其演变规律及其原因。最后从休闲阶层、休闲内容和休闲空间三方面总结了中国古代休闲特点。     

武汉市新洲区农户消费活动的空间特征研究

农户消费活动空间是乡村空间结构的一种表现和组成部分,在受到乡村已有的物质空间和社会空间结构影响的同时,也不断塑造并形成新的乡村空间结构。在对武汉市新洲区3个乡镇11个村326户访谈和问卷调查的基础上,总结了农户消费行为的一般特征。认为农户消费活动总体上呈现距离衰减规律和空间分异特征,形成两带三圈层的空间结构模式。交通工具对农户消费空间的扩展有较大影响。同时,农户消费活动也受个人及其社会经济属性的制约。研究结果表明,农户消费空间偏好具有明显的性别差异;家庭经济收入和年龄是农户消费空间结构形成的主要影响因素,而农户受教育程度对农户消费空间的形成没有明显影响。     

From water to tears: extra-curricular activities and the search for substance in China’s universities

ABSTRACT

Why do university students participate in extra-curricular activities in China? What do they seek in a meaningful education? This paper explains the rising interest in extra-curricular activities by looking into students’ frustration about classroom-bounded education in China’s universities. A transforming socio-economic landscape and increasing imagination about global modernity have inspired new neoliberal demands for practical knowledge and personal meaning. And yet, China’s universities have failed to keep up with students’ changing visions of education, success, and productive personhood. This paper explores students’ agentive pursuit of sociability and emotional sensitivity through extra-curricular activities as a lens to examine the fluidity of meaning-making in contemporary China. In the process, I discuss why self-reported aspirations in skill cultivation cannot encompass the range of motivations that have driven students to extra-curricular participation, and explain how the ethnographic method can help to address gaps of knowledge in inquiries about youthful aspirations.     

The After School Routines of Literature-Devoted Urban Children

This paper discusses the out of school routines of a group of ‘literature-devoted’ children of the city of Madrid (Spain). The children and families were recruited for the study at a library, a children's bookstore and a puppet show in a park. Participants provided information on their weekly routines through several procedures: surveys, photographs of their daily lives, interviews based on the photographs and interviews with parents. We develop a spatially based model that allows us to identify four styles of activity in children's out of school lives: homebound children, non-scheduled children, outdoor and scheduled children, and fully scheduled children. Our results suggest that there is significant diversity in the ways in which children's after-school time is organized, even within a middle-class and socially homogeneous sample as the one in this study. Also, the range of activities our participants engage in seems to contradict current portraits of Western urban children's lives as constrained.