Hispania and the Atlantic Route in Roman Times: new Approaches to Ports and Trade

This paper explores the role of Hispania in the Atlantic route in Roman times. We analyse the different Atlantic Iberian territories along this route, based on recent archaeological advances and discoveries related to trade as well as the shipping infrastructure. The aim is to explain the origin and evolution of a new maritime area that was completely integrated with the political and commercial structure of the Empire, with trade routes that followed the coastal areas of the Iberian Peninsula all the way to the Mediterranean.     

Characterization of Glass,Shell, and Fishbone Beads on Ibo Island (Northern Mozambique) in the Context of the Indian Ocean Trade

African Archaeological Review - A set of beads made of glass, gastropod mollusk shell, and fishbone from a Swahili occupation level on Ibo Island (northern Mozambique) is dated to the eleventh and...     

Variation in human bone bioerosion during the Late Eneolithic/Bronze Age in Moravia (Czech Republic): A novel approach to BSE-SEM image quality and quantity assessment

Human bones from Late Eneolithic graves and Bronze Age settlement pits in Moravia (Czech Republic) were studied to reconstruct their post-mortem histories based on the distribution of their microbial destruction. Backscattered electrons in a scanning electron microscope (BSE-SEM) were used for visual assessment of bioerosion. Visual data from the histological analysis were transformed into quantitative data using the Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis (WEKA) toolkit. The results show that the presence of bioerosion is different between the two groups of samples. The bones from settlement pits display extensive bioerosion whereas the bones from graves display no or arrested bioerosion. The absence of bioerosion in graves is most probably linked with tomb burials of Corded Ware Culture. Given the tombs are frequently not preserved archaeologically, the state of bone bioerosion may serve as an indicator of their existence.     

Gastrointestinal parasites in ancient South American camelid feces from the Atacama Desert (Pampa del Tamarugal,Tarapacá, northern Chile)

Faunal remains from archeological sites worldwide, especially feces and regurgitated pellets, are usually subjected to paleoparasitological examination, allowing the identification of past animal parasites. In this study, we analyzed 10 samples of South American camelid dung, which played an important role for the ancient human groups in the South-Central Andes, dated between 341 and 1635 calCE, from the Iluga Túmulos site (Pampa del Tamarugal, Tarapacá region, Atacama Desert, Chile). Microscopy examination revealed parasite remains in seven samples, in which oocysts of Eimeria macusaniensis and eggs of Lamanema chavezi/Nematodirus lamae, Trichuris sp., Moniezia sp., capillariids, strongylids, and unidentified nematodes were found. Although some of these species pose a potential health risk to camelids, most are not considered to be of major zoonotic importance, which could explain the absence of these parasites on human coprolites from this site analyzed previously. This first paleoparasitological study on camelid fecal remains from northern Chile sheds light on the occurrence of gastrointestinal parasites and its relationship with Andean ancient human populations and the environment.     

When DNA can't help: The osteobiographical profile and stable isotope analysis as auxiliary tools for refining genealogical relationships,on the example of the Swéerts-Sporck family

Research into the family of the Counts Swéerts-Sporck raised doubts regarding their biographical data, particularly concerning a child who died in 1817, later identified as Philipp Swéerts-Sporck, and his siblings Joseph and Barbara. These were alleged to include a pair of dizygotic twins, but DNA could not be used to clarify their relationships. Carbon and nitrogen isotopes were therefore measured in their first permanent molars, whereas Philipp's biological age was estimated based on his skeleton. Philipp died at an older age than the written sources claim; an isotopic similarity was found between Joseph and Barbara, but Philipp differed.     

SOCIAL CHANGE AND METALWORKING IN THE EARLY IRON AGE: AN APPROACH FROM NORTH-WEST IBERIA

This paper analyses social transformations in the Early Iron Age based on a holistic and longue durée approach applied to the first fortified habitats in the Iberian north-west. Through a comprehensive review of two paradigmatic settlements of the EIA in the province of A Coruña (Galicia, north-west Iberia), Punta de Muros and A Graña, a comparison is drawn between the social and territorial dynamics of this period by means of an in-depth analysis of the main characteristics of both settlements. Accordingly, a greater level of social complexity during the phases of occupation of the settlement of Punta de Muros has been identified, in contrast to the resistance to change observed in A Graña. Based on these conclusions, the role of metalworking and its symbolic value in fostering and legitimizing these social and territorial transformations and in the development of Iron Age communities are analysed.     

Anthropologies of extinction

This guest editorial reflects on the relevance of anthropology for extinction concerns, a rapidly expanding practical, ethnographic and theoretical space at a time of impending mass extinction. While biological extinction is necessarily a multispecies development (usually implicating humans), traditional species talk – focused on taxonomies, collections and classification – needs critical rethinking as it necessarily diverts attention from the vitality of life. The broad discipline of anthropology has much to offer for understanding processes of extinction and recovery, fleshing out habitat problems and prospects of extinction, and advancing meaningful environmentalist practices.     

Barcelona—fast forward? City entrepreneurialism in the 1980s and 1990s

Since 1979 the city council of Barcelona has sought to guide the city's destiny by a variety of methods, most powerfully by securing the 1992 Olympic Games candidacy, but also by means of two strategic planning exercises, begun in 1988 and 1992. These strategies are examined within their political and economic contexts in order to understand how they relate to changes in Spanish and Catalan politics, in global/local economic shifts and in thinking on city guidance. Significant differences in the three phases of city promotion are identified. It is concluded that strategic planning within the context of the intense spatial economic competition of the late 1990s may be even more difficult for Barcelona than was its drive up to 1992.     

Book Reviews

Ken Booth and Steve Smith (eds), International Relations Theory Today, Cambridge: Polity Press, 1995. xii + 367pp. $39.95 (paper).

Christine Sylvester, Feminist Theory and International Relations in a Postmodern Era. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. xi + 265pp. $47.50 (paper).

Stephanie Lawson (ed.), The New Agenda for Global Security: Cooperating for Peace and Beyond. St. Leonards: Allen & Unwin/Department of International Relations, RSPAS, Australian National University, 1995. xi + 217pp. $24.95.

Anne O. Krueger, Economic Policies at Cross‐Purposes: The United States and Developing Countries. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1993. xii + 253pp. $US36.95 (cloth).

Robert L. Paarlberg, Leadership Abroad Begins at Home: U.S. Foreign Economic Policy After the Cold War. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1995. xxv + 115pp. $US28.95 (cloth); $US10.95 (paper).

Tony Brenton, The Greening of Machiavelli: The Evolution of International Environmental Politics. London: Royal Institute of International Affairs/Earthscan, 1994. xvii + 282pp. $UK14.95 (paper).

John Charmley, Churchill's Grand Alliance: The Anglo‐American Special Relationship, 1940–1957. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1995. xv + 427pp. $55.00 (cloth).

Victor A. Kremenyuk, Conflicts In and Around Russia. Nation‐Building in Difficult Times. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1994. xiv + 159pp. $US49.95 (cloth).

Alexander Johnston, Sipho Shezi and Gavin Bradshaw (eds), Constitution‐making in the New South Africa. London and New York: Leicester University Press, 1993. viii + 272pp. $UK 39.50.

Ramesh Thakur, The Politics and Economics of India's Foreign Policy. London: Hurst and Company; New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994. xi + 306pp. No price given.

Francis Seow, To Catch a Tartar: A Dissident in Lee Kuan Yew's Prison (with a foreword by C.V. Devan Nair). Yale Southeast Asia Studies Monograph 42, New Haven: Yale Centre for International and Area Studies, 1994. xxxiii + 293pp. $50.00 (paper).

Brij Lal, Robert Kiste and Kerry Howe (eds), The Tides of History: The Pacific Islands in the 20th Century. St Leonards: Allen & Unwin, 1994. xviii + 475pp. $34.95 (paper).

LaMond Tullis, Unintended Consequences—Illegal Drugs and Drug Policies in Nine Countries. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1995. ix + 229pp. $US42.00 (cloth).

The United Nations and Cambodia 1991–1995, The United Nations Blue Books Series, Vol. II. New York: Department of Public Information, United Nations, 1995. 352pp. $US29.95 (paper).

‘Atu Emberson‐Bain (ed.), Sustainable Development or Malignant Growth? Perspectives of Pacific Island Women. Suva, Fiji: Marama Publications, 1994. 290pp. No price given.

Payam Akhavan and Robert Howse (eds), Yugoslavia, the Former and Future: Reflections by Scholars front the Region. Washington, DC and Geneva: The Brookings Institution and The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, 1995. xxviii + 188pp. $US32.95 (cloth) $US 12.95 (paper).

David Camroux, ‘Looking East’ . . . and Inwards: Internal Factors in Malaysian Foreign Relations during the Mahathir Era 1981–1994. Australia‐Asia Papers No. 72. Griffith University: Centre for the Study of Australia‐Asia Relations, 1994. iii + 62pp. $10.00.