FOCUS: on the use of the petrous bone for estimating cranial abundance in fossil assemblages

Low representation of braincase bones in zooarchaeological assemblages suggests that skulls have been intensively processed by Levantine Epipalaeolithic foragers; most cranial elements are often unidentifiable and are considered poor candidates for quantifying crania. In contrast, the petrous bone is usually found complete, and was found to be easily identifiable to body size category. Use of the petrous bone in fossil assemblages analyses leads to better estimation of the occurrence of cranial elements, and thus of skeletal part representation. We therefore suggest use of the petrous bone for detecting bone destruction and selective transport in faunal assemblages.     

Book reviews

CHINA

TANG KWOK‐LEUNG. Colonial State and Social Policy: social Welfare Development in Hong Kong 1842–1997. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1998. 192 pp. US$36.00, hardcover.

ZHENG YONGNIAN. Discovering Chinese Nationalism in China: modernity, Identity, and International Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. 208 pp. US$54.95, hardcover; US$19.95, paper.

STEVAN HARRELL, BAMO QUBUMO and MA ERZI (photographs by Zhong Dakun). Mountain Patterns, The Survival of Nuosu Culture in China. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 2000. Colour and black‐and‐white illustrations. No price given, paper.

PENG XIZHE with ZHIGANG GUO (eds). The Changing Population of China. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2000. 312 pp. Figures, tables, index. £50.00, US$68.95, hardcover; £15.99, US$31.95, paper.

ROBERT S. ROSS (ed). After the Cold War: domestic Factors and U.S.‐China Relations. Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, 1998. xiv, 208 pp. Charts, figures, index. US$59.95, hardcover; US$22.95, paper.

PING CHEN. Modern Chinese: history and Sociolinguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. 229 pp. Introduction, tables, notes, references, index. US$59.95, hardcover; US$21.95, paper.

JAPAN, KOREA

MARK R. MULLINS. Christianity Made in Japan: a Study of Indigenous Movements. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1998. 288 pp. Illustrations, preface, notes, bibliography, index. US$24.95, paper.

HIROSUKE KAWANISHI (ed). The Human Face of Industrial Conflict in Post‐war Japan. London: Kegan Paul International, 1999. 287 pp. Introduction, chronology of events, translation of Japanese organisational and statutory names, index. US$93.50, hardcover.

YUKIKO KOSHIRO. Trans‐Pacific Racisms and the US Occupation of Japan. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. xi, 295 pp. US$21.50, paper.

PHYLLIS BIRNBAUM. Modern Girls, Shining Stars, the Skies of Tokyo: five Japanese Women. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. 255 pp. US$29.00; UK£19.95, hardcover.

ROBIN M. LEBLANC. Bicycle Citizens: the Political World of the Japanese Housewife. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. 246 pp. US$14.95, paper.

SOUTH, WEST & CENTRAL ASIA

ROWENA ROBINSON. Conversion, Continuity and Change: lived Christianity in Southern Goa. New Delhi, Thousand Oaks, London: Sage Publications, 1998. 236 pp. £27.50, hardcover.

RAJAT GANGULY. Kin State Intervention in Ethnic Conflicts: lessons from South Asia. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1998.266 pp. Map, notes, bibliography, index. Rs. 350, hardcover.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

DANNY UNGER. Building Social Capital in Thailand: fibers, Finance, and Infrastructure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. 227 pp. A$90.00, hardcover; A$29.95, paper.

JEFFREY R. VINCENT, ROZALI MOHAMED ALI and ASSOCIATES. Environment and Development in a Resource‐Rich Economy: Malaysia Under the New Economic Policy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997. 364 pp. Foreword, preface, bibliography, index. US$46.95, hardcover; US$22.95, paper.

GENERAL ASIA

ANITA CHAN, B. J. TRIA KERKVLIET and J. UNGER (eds). Transforming Asian Socialism: China and Vietnam Compared. St. Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 1999. 240 pp. A$24.95, paper.

KURT W. RADTKE and J. A. STAM et al. (eds). Dynamics in Pacific Asia: conflict, Competition and Cooperation. London and New York: Kegan Paul International, 1998. 287 pp. US$110, hardcover.

YUE‐MAN YEUNG (ed). Urban Development in Asia: retrospect and Prospect. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Institute of Asia‐Pacific Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1998. 453 pp. Plates, introduction, notes, index. No price given, hardcover.     

The Past under the Shadow of the Present: The Case of the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History

The National Museum of Korean Contemporary History, which opened in 2012, has been the focus of a heated controversy between the progressive and conservative camps over the “proper” ways to represent South Korea’s turbulent history. I build on the relationship between heritage, collective memory and national identity, and argue that the division that typifies South Korean society has implications that extend beyond socio-political issues. Anchored within a broader discursive context, the museum became an important memory carrier involved in the process of debating the issue of national identity. Although no agreement has been reached regarding the “proper” historical narrative the site should exhibit, the museum has nevertheless offered an opportunity to shape a form of national identity that can embrace a more complex perspective on the country’s contemporary history. At present, though, this contentious site has demonstrated the extent to which the legacy of the conservative–progressive divide remains deep. I offer a discursive context that is useful for the study of current debates over heritage sites in South Korea, while the overall analysis illuminates the idea that the “present-centred” management of heritage in national museums can, potentially, play a part in the process of forming more intricate notions of national identity.