The Re-Assessment and Reconstruction of Excavated Boats

In response to papers by John Coates and by Owain Roberts, the author re-evaluates mid- to late-20th-century reconstruction drawings and models of prehistoric sewn-plank boats Ferriby 1 and Brigg 2. He concludes that an impartial and informed group should re-examine all surviving evidence for these boats and then build a small-scale 'as-found' model of each one. After being subjected to criticism, these models could become the basis for generally-agreed reconstruction models of the original form and structure of these two boats. A similar process would be the best way ahead for the Dover sewn-plank boat.
© 2007 The Author     

Les corridors maritimes stratégiques dans l'Arctique canadien : un programme adapté au tourisme marin ?

The melting of summer sea ice in the Canadian Arctic allows for better accessibility and therefore increased development of marine tourism. This paper highlights a significant increase in cruise ships and pleasure craft in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago since the 1990s, especially in the strategic areas of the Lancaster Sound and southeast of Baffin Island. Based on spatial analysis, cruise ships and pleasure craft were mostly sailing inside the primary corridors and outside the secondary corridors; this is particularly obvious for the fourth secondary corridor of the western Arctic. Moreover, marine tourism activity related to cruise ships or pleasure craft occurred within a distance of 15 nautical miles and beyond the outer limit of a corridor, whether primary or secondary. The Northern Marine Transportation Corridors Initiative is an important tool to manage marine traffic in the Canadian Arctic and we need to continue to encourage its development through a multipartite approach and taking traditional Inuit knowledge into account.     

Which region to choose for an industrial policy? A research path to highlight restructuring opportunities

Our study explores research avenues that can help policymakers to assess regional capabilities for ‘green’ economic restructuring. After reviewing the relevant literature, and envisioning research paths which consider both market transactions and externalities, we propose possible ways to translate past research findings into novel statistical tools. Our point of departure is the ‘skill relatedness’ among economic sectors in Norway, as inferred from intersectoral labour flows (years 2008–2014). Then, on the basis of the industrial composition in each of the 161 Norwegian labour market areas, candidate regions that could benefit the most from a ‘green’ restructuring policy, aimed at photovoltaics in our empirical example, are brought forward.     

论“苏州片”失蜡铸造工艺的特色及其价值

"苏州片"是我国传统失蜡铸造的代表性工艺,以其法制作的仿古铜器,以精绝、乱真闻名于世,研究者与苏州艺人经数年的密切合作,成功复原此工艺。"苏州片"仿古铜器工艺蜡料配方独特、制范技艺考究、制作过程精细缜密,不仅具有历史人文价值,而且具有一定的经济、科技价值。传统手工艺要揭示其科学内涵,保护传承的同时注重创新,紧跟时代特色,走向产业化,才能在现代社会赢得生存空间。     

Crafting masculinities: gender,culture and emotion at work in the surfboard industry

This article examines the masculinities of male workers in the context of an emotionally rich form of labour: surfboard-making. Contributing to emerging research around the emotional and embodied dimensions of men's working lives, the article maps the cultural, emotional and embodied dimensions of work onto masculine identity construction. Combining cultural economy theory, emotional geographies and in-depth ethnographic methods, I reveal how surfboard-making has become a gendered form of work; how jobs rely on (and impact) the body and what surfboard-making means to workers outside of financial returns. Following a manual labour process, and informed by Western surfing subculture, commercial surfboard-making has layered onto male bodies. Men perform ‘blokey’ masculinities in relation with one another. However, doing manual craftwork evokes close, personal interaction; among co-workers but also through engagements with place and local customers. Felt, embodied craft skills help workers personalise boards for individual customers and local breaks. Beneath masculine work cultures and pretensions, surfboard-making is a deeply emotional and embodied work. Labour is dependent on haptic knowledge: sense of touch, bodily movement and eye for detail. Contrasting their blokey masculinity, surfboard-makers rely on intimate links between their bodies, tools, materials, customers and surfing places. These ‘strong bodied’ men articulate a ‘passion’ and ‘love’ for ‘soulful’ jobs, demonstrating how waged work comprises alternative masculinities, shaped by working culture, relations and labour processes. A cultural economy framework and emotionally engaged research approach are valuable for challenging hegemonic masculinity, important for achieving more inclusive, tolerant and equitable workplaces.     

我国宗教文物保护的特殊性初探

宗教文物作为我国文化遗产的重要组成部分和传统文化的重要载体,近年来引起了业内及社会的广泛关注和讨论.作者在文中就”宗教文物”这一对象,从其特殊性、保存现状和问题、宗教文物的有形与无形价值,等几个方面进行了分析和讨论,强调了宗教文物的独特性,以及相关保护修复工作的特殊意义.     

Modeling the Roles of Craft Production in Ancient Political Economies

Ongoing debates over the significance of specialized production in ancient political economies frequently hinge on questions of whether elites or commoners controlled craft manufactures and whether the material or ideological import of these production processes was more significant in deciding power contests. Though long recognized, such queries were traditionally answered in relatively straightforward economic terms. Recently, these time-honored approaches have been questioned. An ever increasing number of authors are promoting varied takes on the causal linkages between political forms and processes, on the one hand, and patterns of production, distribution, and use of craft goods, on the other. The literature generated by these discussions is extensive, vibrant, and often confusing. Rather than trying to synthesize all reports and essays dealing with specialized manufacture, this paper highlights general interpretive trends that underlie and structure current debates. The concluding section offers suggestions for how studies of relations among crafts, power, and social heterogeneity might be pursued profitably in the future.     

Urban evolution in the USA

On a sustained basis, cities are of non-uniform relative sizes.This paper addresses three basic issues which arise from thissimple observation by examining the size distribution of UScities over the period 1900–1990. First, we explore thereasons why there is a wide distribution of city sizes. Second,we characterize the evolution of the size distribution of cities,documenting growth in sizes and numbers of cities. We ask whetherthe relative size distribution of cities has remained stableover time, or if it has displayed, instead, a tendency to collapse,flatten, or otherwise change its shape. We also examine evidenceon whether the size distribution obeys Zipf's Law. Third, weexamine the degree and determinants of mobility of individualcities within this distribution, asking to what extent citiesare moving up and down in the distribution and how this movementis influenced by cities' geographic characteristics. We usea newly constructed data with consistent metropolitan area definitionsover this century, discussing the issues and linking our resultsto the relevant literature.     

Functional specialization across space: a case study of the Canadian Electricity Industry, 1971–2001

This article examines the location of functions within the electricity sector in Canada from 1971 to 2001, using a centre‐periphery model. Power generation, distribution and retailing are generally carried out by multiestablishment crown corporations. Location patterns of different functions—management, scientific, production, etc.—are analyzed via the use of occupational groups. The spatial distribution of functions is found to be generally consistent with centre‐periphery relationships, with evidence of a growing functional specialization between large metropolitan and nonmetropolitan locations. However, differences emerge depending on power generation sources: fossil fuels, hydro, nuclear, solar or biomass. The choice of a power generation source has consequences for local economies.     

The Archaeology of Global Encounters Viewed from Banda, Ghana

West African societies have long been enmeshed in interregional, subcontinental, and intercontinental relations. Documents tell us little about how local life was shaped by its intersection with global processes, especially in coastal hinterlands. In this paper I report on archaeological investigations into the changing contours of local life in the Banda area of west central Ghana over the past seven centuries. Excavations at three temporally distinct occupations on two sites—Makala Kataa and Kuulo Kataa—document changes in settlement, craft production, subsistence, and exchange, providing insights into the dynamics of local life during a period of expanding global networks. A concluding section addresses why this type of research is important for our understanding of ancient African societies. Les sociétés Ouest Africaines sont depuis longtemps parties prenantes dans les relations inter-régionales, sous-continentales et inter-continentales. Les documents ne nous disent pas grand chose sur la manière dont la vie locale a été façonnée par cette interaction avec les processus mondiaux, particulièrement dans les arrières pays côtiers. Dans cet article, je rends compte des recherches archéologiques concernant les changements dans la vie locale intervenus dans la région de Banda au centre ouest du Ghana au cours des sept derniers siècles. Les fouilles dans trois occupations temporellement distincts sur deux sites—Makala Kataa et Kuulo Kataa—mettent en évidence les changements dans l'occupation, la production artisanale, les modes de subsistances et les échanges, donnant un aperçu des dynamiques de la vie locale durant une période d'expansion des réseaux mondiaux d'échange. La conclusion aborde les raisons pour lesquelles ce type de recherche est important pour notre compréhension des anciennes sociétés africaines.