First archaeozoological evidence for haimation, the ‘invisible’ garum

The fish remains are described that were found at the bottom of an Early Roman ceramic jar from Aila Aqaba, Jordan. The bones, representing the gill apparatuses of at least 33 medium-sized tunas (Auxis; Scombridae) and a single individual of a lizardfish (Trachinocephalus myops; Synodontidae), are believed to correspond to haimation. This highly prized fish sauce, documented previously only from ancient textual evidence, was typically made from the gills and the entrails of tunnids to which salt was added. The sauce was not imported from the Mediterranean or the Black Sea, but made from local Red Sea fish as shown by the zoogeographical distribution of the lizardfish that is considered as stomach content of the tunas. Because the fish bones were found in a locally produced jar and because the calculated volume of the haimation that the bones represent corresponds more or less to the volume of the jar, it is concluded that this high-quality garum was produced in this container at Aila itself.     

Budgetary Punctuations: A Fiscal Management Perspective

Although the development of punctuated equilibrium theory makes broad reference to the bureaucratic procedures that regulate budgetary decision making and makes reasonable assumptions about the influence of those procedures on the dynamic of resource allocation, little is known about how the specific mechanisms work. This has led to a call to understand the processes that cause friction in greater detail. This study examines how budgetary output patterns may be influenced by governments' strategic fiscal choices. Using an approach that highlights the roles of various fiscal policy-making processes, we found significant deviations of budgetary output patterns in capital projects, restricted funds, and entitlement spending, thus signifying the influence of fiscal practices on resource allocation decisions. We further examined how fiscal influences may be realized in the political process of democratization in Hong Kong. By examining legislative filibuster cases related to capital projects, we found evidence associating democratization with greater institutional friction and consequently with larger budgetary output punctuations.     

Metallurgical remains from regional surveys of “non-industrial” landscapes: The case of the Kythera Island Project

Abstract

This paper explores the potential of studying metallurgical remains recovered during regional surveys in the reconstruction of past metallurgical practices across a given landscape, using as a case study the relevant finds from the Kythera Island Project. The methodology developed includes macroscopic examination of all finds, evaluation of spatial distribution patterns, an assessment of local and regional ore resources, and microscopic and chemical analyses of selected samples. The study suggests that during the Classical period both small scale iron smelting and smithing were taking place in the surveyed Kythera landscape. The picture is less clear for other historical periods. Prehistoric metallurgical finds on the other hand are meager to nonexistent; a picture partly attributable to the scarcity of finds left behind by secondary non-ferrous metalworking.     

Reconceptualizing the Policy Subsystem: Integration with Complexity Theory and Social Network Analysis

The concept of the policy subsystem is an essential building block for several of the basic frameworks of policy process studies. Over time issues have become more complex, crossing subsystem boundaries, and so subsystems have escalated in their complexity as well. It is increasingly insufficient to study just one policy subsystem and so scholars have turned to studying boundary‐spanning regimes or policy networks. In this essay, we review the major contributions to developing the concept of a policy subsystem and trace its evolution into broader conceptualizations like issue and policy networks. We argue that the future for theories of the policy process is in more explicit integration of complexity theory and more effective modeling of subsystems with the utilization of social network analysis. In closing, we discuss the enduring nature of the concept of policy subsystems and highlight studies that continue using it in innovative ways.     

湖北郧县人遗址石器的第二步加工

郧县人遗址中发现的石器第二步加工的特点是大部分用石锤来直接进行加工;打击方向垂直或接近于垂直;修整痕迹多浅、平;加工方向大部分为单向加工,少数为交互加工、转向加工的;在两刃或两刃以上的石器中,不同边缘的加工方向相同的多,不同的少。郧县人遗址中的石器特征与国内外的旧石器时代早期石器进行对比,在石器的第二步加工技术方面,有着自己鲜明的特点,从而构成了独具特色的“郧县人文化”。     

Exploring the Factors for Budget Stability and Punctuations: A Preliminary Analysis of State Government Sub-Functional Expenditures

Disproportionate information processing theory asserts that sudden, dramatic changes punctuate otherwise stable growth patterns in U.S. policy and budget processes. The present paper uses state government sub-functional expenditures to explore what factors cause budget stability and punctuations. First, the findings in the present paper generally confirm the observations made in other studies that distributions of governmental budgets are Paretian. Second, while future research is warranted to identify more specific causes, this preliminary analysis suggests that institutional frictions and information oversupply tend to increase both budget stability and punctuations. It also suggests that availability of efficient information reduces budget stability but not necessarily budget punctuations. However, when examined at the level of different fund-type expenditures, which have differing degrees of institutional friction and availability of information that can be efficiently processed, more subtle and distinguishable differences in patterns of budget stability and punctuations emerge, which was not accounted for in disproportionate information processing theory.