Explaining the monopoly in shell-bead production on the Channel Islands: drilling experiments with four lithic raw materials

Significant political and economic developments among the Chumash of southern California were catalyzed in part by the emergence of an intensive, specialist-driven shell-bead industry during the second millennium CE on the Santa Barbara Channel Islands. The production of millions of beads depended in turn on the availability of lithic microdrills of standardized form and materials. Channel Islanders quarried a particular stone type, a blocky Monterey Formation chert, from multiple outcrops situated close to the eastern shores of Santa Cruz Island. Rich archaeological assemblages document the lithic and shell byproducts of these intertwined production systems, each of which endured for several centuries (CE 1150–1819). Islanders invariably chose Island chert for making microdrills: hundreds of thousands of specimens recorded to date are of this material. Furthermore, nearly every microlith in all of Chumash territory (post CE 1150) was produced on the islands; the large populations on the mainland did not participate in microlith making or bead making after CE 1150–1200. We argue that this pattern had its roots not only in the patchiness of key resources and shifting regional social relationships, but also in the physical properties of available raw materials. Here we experimentally assess the properties of Santa Cruz Island chert alongside three important mainland raw materials—Grimes Canyon fused shale, Coso obsidian, and Vandenberg chert—that potentially could have been tapped to make microliths. We test the proposition that Island chert outperforms other lithic materials in drilling efficiency and drill use life. Our experimental results from 108 drilling trials reveal sharp distinctions in performance characteristics across the four materials. We infer that the process by which Islanders became the more-or-less exclusive manufacturers of shell-bead currency in southern California was facilitated by both the efficacy and physical properties of the Island cherts and the propitious locations of the outcrops.     

Cultural dynamics and ceramic resource use at Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age Troy,northwestern Turkey

Changes in resource use over time can provide insight into technological choice and the extent of long-term stability in cultural practices. In this paper we re-evaluate the evidence for a marked demographic shift at the inception of the Early Iron Age at Troy by applying a robust macroscale analysis of changing ceramic resource use over the Late Bronze and Iron Age. We use a combination of new and legacy analytical datasets (NAA and XRF), from excavated ceramics, to evaluate the potential compositional range of local resources (based on comparisons with sediments from within a 10 km site radius). Results show a clear distinction between sediment-defined local and non-local ceramic compositional groups. Two discrete local ceramic resources have been previously identified and we confirm a third local resource for a major class of EIA handmade wares and cooking pots. This third source appears to derive from a residual resource on the Troy peninsula (rather than adjacent alluvial valleys). The presence of a group of large and heavy pithoi among the non-local groups raises questions about their regional or maritime origin.     

Accommodating ‘design’: introducing the Western concept into Soviet art theory in the 1950s–60s

This article investigates the background of Soviet industrial design in Soviet art theory. Instead of considering design's interconnection with technology and science, or with consumption and everyday life, the author traces its conceptualisation as a new artistic phenomenon. Using archival records of professional discussions, polemical articles in the art press and design projects, the author looks at how industrial design was incorporated into the Soviet order of things. She concludes that accommodation of the Western model was the way to reform the system of socialism from inside, typical for the Soviet intelligentsia of the 1960s.     

SLIDING MODE CONTROL OF BUILDING FRAMES UNDER RANDOM GROUND MOTION

A sliding mode control theory is presented to control the response of building frames to predominant frequency components of the random ground motions. The control algorithm is derived based on a sliding surface which is a function of a state vector containing the structural displacements and velocities and variables that dictate the predominant frequency components of the excitation. Three control mechanisms are employed to control the response of the building frame namely, (1) active mass damper (AMD) placed at the top storey of the building, (2) an actuator placed at a storey level and, (3) an actuator placed at a storey level along with a tuned mass damper (TMD) situated at the top storey level. Responses obtained by the proposed control strategy are compared with those obtained by the linear feedback and feedforward-feedback control strategies (conventional control strategies). Also, they are compared with those obtained by the sliding mode control strategy that considers in its state vector only structural displacements and velocities. It is shown that the proposed control strategy generally performs better than other control strategies in the higher range of control forces. For the lower range of control forces, conventional control strategies are more effective.     

Social Dynamics and Pottery Distribution in the Faro Department, Northern Cameroon

Ethnoarchaeological studies have constantly emphasized the complexity of pottery distribution and its close ties with other aspects of social life. It is argued here that, among the Dowayo of northern Cameroon, pottery exchange is not regulated by preferential economic relationships between producers and consumers but rather by mechanisms such as fashion or the reputation of the artisans.De récentes études ethnoarchéologiques ont constamment mis en avant la complexité des processus de distribution de la poterie et les liens étroits que ceux-ci entretiennent avec les autres aspects de la vie sociale. Il est démontré dans cet article que, chez les Dowayo du Nord-Cameroun, les échanges de poterie sont structurés par une absence de lien privilégié entre producteurs et consommateurs et sont dès lors régulés par des mécanismes tels que la mode ou la réputation des artisans.     

Organizing European Labour: Governance, Production, Trade Unions and the Question of Scale

This paper addresses two main debates: the recent geographical literature on trade union strategy and structure, and contemporary accounts of European labour market governance. Geographers have begun to take notice of organized labour just as it has faced a series of unprecedented challenges, which are partly derived from ongoing changes in the organization of production. In interpreting these debates I focus on the process of scaling – the ways in which the politics of labour market governance are constituted in, and are at the same time constitutive of, one geographical scale or another. These issues are explored through two key recent developments: the changing status of the European Trade Union Confederation, and the creation of European Works Councils. The ETUC and EWCs are particularly significant because they pose a challenge to existing arrangements, and potentially enable a re-configuration of the relation between capital and labour at different scales. I conclude that further exploration of European labour geography could re-connect the diversity of forms of organization of production with the scope and potential of trade union strategy; and that thinking in terms of scale is useful because it highlights the significance of both political and relational issues.     

试论城镇人居环境中的生产环境

本文通过对人居环境概念的分析,指出生产环境是人居环境中不可分割的组成部分,认为城镇人居环境中的生产环境应是城镇中居民从事各种生产活动的直接环境和各种生产活动所营造的对居民有直接或间接影响的城镇环境。根据这一认识,作者对城镇人居环境中的生产环境所涉及的要素分内部和外部环境(包括生产性设施环境、生产性人口环境、生产性文化和制度环境、生产性污染和灾害环境、择业环境等)两个层面进行了多维度的分析,并指出城镇人居环境的持续发展必须加强对生产环境的研究。     

空港经济产业布局模式及规划引导研究——以广州白云国际机场为例

从产业布局的角度探讨了国内近年比较热门的空港经济现象。首先从与机场最直接相关的人、物、资金和信息四大要素入手,剖析了空港经济主要产业类型及其特征,并分析了空港经济总体区位及其演变过程。在此基础上总结分析空港经济产业具有与发展阶段相吻合的增长极、点轴和网络三种布局模式,指出国内备受推崇的圈层布局是发展阶段不明确的理想模式,并尝试采用地理信息系统空间分析方法对产业布局的区位进行叠加分析。最后以广州新白云机场为例,探讨了周围花都区和白云区空港经济产业布局规划方案和措施。     

区域知识管理的目标、原则与方式研究

为了能动响应信息化、全球化带来的机遇与挑战,在动态市场中持续发展,以及解决区域内部知识生产、知识交换和知识分配等方面的问题,区域必须进行有效的知识管理。作为知识系统,区域知识管理目标应该是如何设计出一个适应系统,强化私人主体和公共机构的知识生产能力和知识价值实现能力,管理的核心在于激励私人创造知识的积极性和公共管理的核心在于激励私人的创造知识的积极性和公共知识流通与分配方面。区域知识管理必须遵循人本主义原则、遵循市场规律原则、区域性原则和制度学习原则,并相应采用多级管理模式。