The intensification of production: Archaeological approaches

In this paper I reexamine the Boserup model of agricultural intensification and archaeological reaction to it. Although causes have been extensively debated, little attention has been paid to process, and even those who reject the causal efficacy of population may adopt other aspects of the Boserup model. These unexamined aspects include the assumption that intensification proceeds along a single course, characterized by gradual decreases in the frequency of cropping. I suggest that the course of intensification is complex and variable and that, only by breaking down the process of intensification into its component strategies, can we come to an understanding of both the causes and the courses of intensification.     

Archaeological geophysics of a Bronze Age agricultural landscape: the AROURA Project,central mainland Greece

Between 2010 and 2012, the AROURA project conducted magnetometric prospection in the ancient polder around the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1300–1190 b.c.) fortress of Glas, mainland Greece. As had been hypothesized, the anomalies detected were consistent with a system of agricultural fields. This system appears to have been irrigated and drained through previously identified hydraulic mechanisms in and around the polder. Comparison of soil profiles of anomalies with those of background areas, including their magnetic susceptibilities, corroborated magnetometric data. Anomalies were traced from sampled to unsampled areas through corresponding reclassified satellite bandwidths. Constituent sediments of features discovered were dated to the Late Bronze Age through AMS radiocarbon and OSL analyses. The results validated the use of extensive geophysics to detect and investigate ancient agricultural landscapes.     

Early agriculture and sedentism in the American Southwest: Evidence and interpretations

Recent archaeological research in the American Southwest is rapidly altering long-held perspectives on early agricultural adaptations. The adoption of maize and squash is now reliably dated to ca. 1200 B.C., rather than 4000–2000 B.C. as previously thought, and new sites have been found in a variety of unexpected ecological settings. These emerging spatiotemporal patterns suggest that the development of sedentary communities after A.D. 500 may have been the result of changing systems of foraging, instead of simply a greater dependence on agricultural production.     

The Woodland and Mississippian traditions in the prehistory of Midwestern North America

Cultural developments in Midwestern North America between 5000 and 400 B.P. are reviewed and related to two overlapping, but contrasting, cultural traditions: Woodland and Mississippian. Significant changes in prehistoric subsistence systems, settlement patterns, and sociopolitical organization are reviewed within a three-division framework, beginning with a Transitional period (5000–2000 B.P.) when Late Archaic and Early Woodland societies settled into different regions, constructed regional markers (cemeteries, mounds, earthworks), and established economic and social relations with both neighboring and more distant groups. This was followed by the Middle Woodland period (2000–1500 B.P.) that is associated with the Hopewell climax of long-distance exchange of exotic materials, mound building, and ceremonial activities, although all Middle Woodland groups did not participate in this Hopewell interaction sphere. In the Late Prehistoric period (1500–400 B.P.), the Woodland tradition persisted in some areas, while the Mississippian tradition developed from local Late Woodland societies elsewhere. Finally, the patterns of interaction between the two traditions are discussed.     

LABOUR AND LANDSCAPES: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF LANDESQUE CAPITAL IN NINETEENTH CENTURY TANGANYIKA

In a long‐term and global perspective irrigated and terraced landscapes, landesque capital, have often been assumed to be closely associated with hierarchical political systems. However, research is accumulating that shows how kinship‐based societies (including small chiefdoms) have also been responsible for constructing landesque capital without population pressure. We examine the political economy of landesque capital through the intersections of decentralized politics and regional economies. A crucial question guiding our research is why some kinship‐based societies chose to invest their labour in landesque capital while others did not. Our analysis is based on a detailed examination of four relatively densely populated communities in late pre‐colonial and early colonial Tanzania. By analysing labour processes as contingent and separate from political types of generalized economic systems over time we can identify the causal factors that direct labour and thus landscape formation as a process. The general conclusion of our investigation is that landesque investments occurred in cases where agriculture was the main source of long‐term wealth flow irrespective of whether or not hierarchical political systems were present. However, while this factor may be a necessary condition it is not a sufficient cause. In the cases we examined, the configurations of world‐systems connections and local social and economic circumstances combined to either produce investments in landesque capital or to pursue short‐term strategies of extraction.     

我国农业结构战略性调整的目标与态势分析

农业结构调整是针对当前我国农业面临的突出问题和面向中长期农业发展目标而实施的农业振兴计划,其根本目标就是把长期以来不符合市场消费需求和没有市场前景的品种及播种面积果断地退下来,形成适应农业发展多样化、优质化、专用化的市场需求,促进农业经营逐步由粗放型向集约型、由数量型向质量效益型的根本性转变。积极推进农业结构调整也是加入WTO后实现我国农业可持续发展的基本出路和动力。近几年来,受国家宏观调控与市场调节作用的影响,我国农业结构调整战略性调整快速推进,农业生产的优势区、产业带新格局正在形成。     

我国绿色农业布局问题研究

绿色农业是一种新的农业生产方式。本文探讨了绿色农业的基本含义,分析了我国绿色农业发展、布局中存在的优势和问题,认为绿色农业将成为我国农业的主导产业部门,其结构是以绿色粮食生产为基础,以绿色经济作物和绿色畜牧业为主体,并包括绿色林特产品采集和绿色养殖业在内的综合农业。全国范围内可划分为九个绿色农业区。按照比较优势、市场导向、因地制宜和地域相对集中等原则,要重点建设14个绿色农业类型,并进一步研究了我国绿色农业合理布局的对策     

20世纪50～80年代河北省污水灌溉与农业生态环境问题述论

20世纪50～80年代河北省的污水灌溉经历了起步、曲折发展和步入科学化三个阶段。利用城市污水灌溉农田,一方面是污水资源化的体现,另一方面是污水无害化处理的措施,是解决环境问题很重要的举措之一,更是一种廉价的污水处理方法。工业化产生的大量污水日夜不息地排放,决定了利用土地净化污水方式存在的必然性。历史表明,这一时期的污水灌溉发展仍不成熟,理论研究滞后于实践,新污染问题的不断出现需要通过科技创新加以解决。     

Alternative adaptive regimes for integrating foraging and farming activities

There are two distinct forager-farmer adaptive regimes evidenced in the ethnographic record: an ancillary and surplus cultivation regime. Societies characterized by these different regimes define different systems for allocating time to the production of domesticated plants. Cross-cultural patterns support the proposition that two socioecological conditions are logically necessary in order for an ancillary cultivation regime to develop and persist within a population of foragers. Wild resources must be sufficiently available, and farmers who produce a surplus of crops must be available to exchange with, live with or raid to redistribute crops after an episode of crop loss. The cross-cultural presence of two empirically distinct regimes for integrating foraging and farming is a useful frame of reference for evaluating how prehistoric foragers first integrated foraging and farming activities in archaeological contexts of secondary crop acquisition. A preliminary examination indicates that the ethnographic patterns are most consistent with the interpretation that the earliest farmers to inhabit the American Southwest produced at least a minimal surplus of domesticated plants. It is postulated that the adoption of a surplus cultivation regime by a population creates the adaptive opportunity for ancillary cultivation to develop and persist on a landscape.     

The emotional geography of a mine closure: a study of the Ravensthorpe nickel mine in Western Australia

This paper engages with the literature on emotional geographies to report on a case study of the emotions surrounding the closure of a nickel mine in the shire of Ravensthorpe in the south-west of Western Australia in January 2009. Two themes from the affect-infused narratives of pre- and post-mine community members are outlined. The first, which challenges constructions of the closure as a purely industrial and economic concern, focuses on the intense feelings the shut-down invoked amongst participants. The second theme explores the way in which the owner of the mine, BHP Billiton, worked to suppress and regulate affective reactions to the closure and thus reveals the highly political nature of emotions.