The bovids from Elandsfontein,South Africa,and their implications for the age,palaeoenvironment, and origins of the site

The bovid fossils from Elandsfontein, south-western Cape Province, South Africa, comprise 7257 individually numbered specimens from 18 species. Taxonomic comparisons with Olduvai Gorge and other African sites and the high percentage of extinct forms imply that the bones accumulated in the earlier part of the Middle Quaternary, probably sometime between 700,000 and 400,000 years ago. By extension, this is also the most likely age for the skull cap of archaicHomo sapiens (Saldanha Man) and for the occasional late Acheulean stone artifacts that accompany the animal bones. In keeping with geomorphological observations and other aspects of the fauna, the bovids indicate a relatively grassy and moist environment, apparently during an interglaciation that differed significantly from the Holocene. Geomorphological context, the frequent occurrence of partial skeletons, bone damage, and skeletal part representation suggest that carnivore feeding on carcasses scattered across a Mid-Quaternary land surface was probably the main factor shaping the Elandsfontein bone assemblage. Porcupines may also have played a role, but there is little evidence for human activity. The Elandsfontein assemblage thus provides a useful control for comparison with bone accumulations where context, associations, and bone damage indicate that people were heavily involved. For example, there are very few young animals in the otherwise attritional profile of giant buffalo from Elandsfontein, probably because carnivores often rapidly and completely consumed young carcasses. This suggests that few young carcasses would be available for human scavenging and thus that archaeological attritional profiles in which young individuals are common probably reflect active human hunting, at least of young animals.

---

Résumé Les fossiles de bovidés d'Elandsfontein, sud-ouest de la Province du Cap, Afrique du Sud, comportent 7257 spécimens numérotés appartenant à 18 espèces. Les comparaisons taxonomiques avec Olduvai Gorge et d'autres sites africains, ainsi que le haut pourcentage de formes éteintes, indiquent que les os ont dû s'accumuler durant la partie la plus ancienne du Quaternaire moyen, probablement entre 700,000 et 400,000 ans. Par extension, il semble que ce soit aussi l'âge le plus probable de la calotte cranienne d'une forme archaïque d'Homo sapiens (l'homme de Saldanha) ainsi que des quelques outils de l'Acheuléen récent qui accompagnaient les ossements d'animaux. En accord avec les observations géomorphologiques et d'autres aspects de la faune, les bovidés indiquent un environnement relativement humide et herbeux, évidemment durant un interglaciaire qui differe de façon significative de l'Holocène. Le contexte géomorphologique, la présence fréquente de squelettes incomplets, les os endommagés et les parties du squelette représentées suggèrent que des carnivores se nourrissaient des carcasses dispersées sur un terrain du Quaternaire moyen sont le principal facteur de la formation de l'assemblage osseux d'Elandsfontein. Les porc-épics ont peut-être aussi joué un rôle, mais il y a peu de signes de l'activité humaine. L'assemblage d'Elandsfontein est donc un témoin utile pour des comparaisons avec d'autres accumulations de faune, dans lesquelles le contexte, les associations et l'état des os indiquent que les hommes y ont joué un rôle important. Par exemple, très peu d'animaux jeunes sont représentés dans le profil par ailleurs attritionel du buffle géant d'Elandsfontein, probablement parce que les carnivores dévoraient souvent rapidement et entièrement les carcasses jeunes. Ceci indique que très peu de carcasses jeunes étaient disponibles pour les charognards humains et que les profils archéologiques attritionels dans lesquels les animaux jeunes sont fréquents reflètent probablement une chasse humaine active, tout au moins d'animaux jeunes.

     

Could Privatization Increase the Efficiency of Tax Administration in Less-Developed Countries?

In spite of the fact that state tax collection systems in less-developed countries generally are characterized by high levels of tax evasion and official corruption, little experimentation with privatized tax collection has occurred in these countries. This is due in part to: (1) The fact that the literature on privatization has not focused on tax collection, and (2) the existence of prevalent misconceptions regarding the effects of privatized tax collection in earlier periods. This paper uses agency theory and privatization research to discover the conditions under which privatized tax collection may be an efficient alternative to state tax collection, and to show that these conditions are present in many less-developed countries.     

"A sudden and terrible revelation": motherhood and infant mortality in France, 1858-1874

In 1874, legislators in France passed a law regulating the wet-nursing industry. Citing recent medical research into the causes and social costs of high infant mortality, the law's supporters met little opposition, despite the fact that the law challenged the tradition of paternal authority and familial autonomy that had been inscribed in French law since the promulgation of the Civil Code of 1804. Extending state power into the familial realm required a concerted effort by reformers, who concentrated on two issues: maternal responsibility for newborn infants and the social costs of early death. Because working women in urban areas used wet-nurses to preserve their wage-earning capacity, reformers capitalized on widespread opposition to women's labor outside the home. The law met little opposition in part because the issues of paternal authority had already been thoroughly debated several months earlier in the child labor law of 1874.     

Reviews

A Liberal Nation: The Liberal Party and Australian Politics, Marian Simms, Sydney, Hale and Iremonger 1982, pp. 224. $24.95, $11.95 (paper)

Robert Manne (ed) The New Conservatism in Australia, Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 1982, pp. 290. $25.00, $9.99 (paper)

Kate White, John Cain and Victorian Labor 1917–1957, Sydney, Hale and Iremonger, 1982, pp. 208. $24.95, $13.95 (paper)

Michael James (ed) The Constitutional Challenge; Essays on the Australian Constitution, constitutionalism and parliamentary practice, St Leonards, The Centre for Independent Studies, 1982, pp. 166. $7.95 (paper)

John R. Nethercote (ed) Parliament and Bureaucracy: Parliamentary Scrutiny of Administration: prospects and problems in the 1980s, Sydney, Hale and Iremonger, 1982, pp. 363, $24.95, $11.95 (paper)

Mary Dickenson, Democracy in Trade Unions, St Lucia, University of Queensland Press, 1982, pp. 249. $29.95

Robert Murray and Kate White, The Ironworkers: A History of the Federated Ironworkers’ Association of Australia, Sydney, Hale and Iremonger, 1982, pp. 341. $24.95, $11.95 (paper)

Chris Fisher, Innovation and Australian Industrial Relations: Aspects of the Arbitral Experience 1945–1980, Canberra, Croom Helm, 1983, pp. 226. $24.95, $12.95 (paper)

Helen Palmer's Outlook, edited by Doreen Bridges, with an introduction by Robin Gollan, Helen Palmer Committee, Sydney, 1982, pp. 220. $9.95

Ian Turner, Room For Manoeuvre, Writings on History, Politics, Ideas and Play, selected and edited by Leonie Sandercock and Stephen Murray‐Smith, Drummond, Richmond, Victoria, 1982, pp. 335. $15.95

Len Fox, Broad Left, Narrow Left, Sydney, Author and APCOL, 1982, pp. 233. $19.95, $12.95 (paper)

What Rough Beast? The State and Social Order in Australian History, Sydney Labour History Group, George Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1982, pp.282. $22.50, $9.95 (paper)

Stephen Holt, Manning Clark and Australian History 1915–1963, University of Queensland Press, 1982, pp.207. $14.95.

W.E.H. Stanner, White Man Got no Dreaming: Essays 1938–1973, Canberra, ANU Press, 1979, pp. 389. $25.00

Alan Powell, Far Country, a Short History of the Northern Territory, Melbourne University Press, 1982, pp. 301 $24.50, $14.95 (paper)

Robert M. Worcester & Martin Harrop (eds) Political Communications : The General Election Campaign of 1979, London, George Allen & Unwin, 1982, pp. 177. $49.95

John Western & Colin Hughes The Mass Media in Australia, 2nd Edn, University of Queensland Press, 1983, pp. 209. $19.95, $9.95 (paper)

Henry Mayer, Pauline Garde & Sandra Gibbons The Media : Questions and Answers ’Australian Surveys 1942–1980’, Sydney, George Allen & Unwin, 1983 pp. 206. $29.95

Gavin Souter, Company of Heralds, Melbourne University Press, 1981, pp. 667. $24.50

Ronald Mendelsohn, Fair Go, Melbourne, Penguin, 1982, pp. 228. $7.95

Richard V. Cardew, John V. Langdale and David C. Rich (eds) Why Cities Change: Urban Development and Economic Change in Sydney, Sydney, George Allen & Unwin, 1982, pp. 307. $24.95, $11.95 (paper)

Self, Peter, Planning the Urban Region, Sydney, George Allen and Unwin, 1982, pp. 174. $35.95, $16.50 (paper)

Robert Birrell, Doug Hill and John Stanley (eds) Quarry Australia! Social and environmental perspectives on managing the nation's resources, Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 1982, pp. 366. $12.95 (paper)

Dean Jaensch, The Australian Party System, Sydney, George Allen & Unwin, 1983, pp.235. $11.95 (paper)

Grant Harman and Don Smart (eds) Federal Intervention in Australian Education: Past, Present and Future, Melbourne, Georgian House, 1982, pp. 197. $12.50 (paper)

Desmond Ball (ed) Strategy & Defence : Australian Essays, Sydney, George Allen & Unwin, 1982, pp. 402. $24.95, $12.95 (paper)

R.L. Mathews (ed) Public Policies in Two Federal Countries: Canada and Australia. Canberra, Centre for Research on Federal Financial Relations, Australian National University, 1982, pp. 298. np.

F.G. Castles (ed) The Impact of Parties : Politics and Policies in Democratic Capitalist States, London, Sage Publications, 1982, pp. 370. US $25.00

Greg Crough and Ted Wheelwright, Australia: A Client State, Ringwood, Penguin Books, 1982, pp. 255. $7.95 (paper)

Hilde T. Himmelweit, Patrick Humphreys, Marianne Jaeger, and Michael Katz, How Voters Decide, A longitudinal study of political attitudes and voting extending over fifteen years, Academic Press, 1981, pp. 276. £14.20. $38.45, $18.55 (paper)

Peter Limqueco and Bruce McFarlane (eds) Neo‐Marxist Theories of Development, London and Canberra, Croom Helm, 1983, pp. 220. $18.25 (paper)

J.A.A. Stockwin, Japan: Divided Politics in a Growth Economy, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1982, pp. 333. £15.50, £8.50 (paper)

John L.S. Girling, Thailand: Society and Politics, Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London, pp. 306. $41.95

Alan W. Ward, Land and Politics in New Caledonia, Canberra, Department of Political and Social Change Monograph, Research School of Pacific Studies, ANU, 1982, pp. 86. $6.00

John Lawrey, The Cross of Lorraine in the South Pacific—Australia and the Free French Movement 1940–1942, Canberra, Journal of Pacific History, 1982, pp. 142. $8.50

Peter McDonough, Power and Ideology in Brazil, Princeton University Press, 1981, pp. 326. US$33.00; US$10.70 (paper)

Fouad Ajami, The Arab Predicament: Arab Political Thought and Practice Since 1967, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1981, pp. 220. £12.50

Alexander S. Cudsi and Ali E. Hillal Dessouki (eds) Islam and Power, London, Croom Helm, 1981, pp. 204. $19.95

Steven L. Spiegel (ed) The Middle East and the Western Alliance London, George Allen and Unwin, 1982, pp. 252. $39.95

K.P. Misra(ed), Afghanistan in Crisis, London, Croom Helm, 1981, pp. 150. $20.25

John Ardagh, France in the 1980s: The Definitive Book, Harmondsworth, Penguin, pp. 672. $10.95

Jan F. Triska and Charles Gati (eds) Blue‐Collar Workers in Eastern Europe, London, Allen and Unwin, 1981, pp.302. $38.50, $18.95 (paper)

Francis A. Beer, Peace Against War, San Francisco, W.H. Freeman and Company, 1981, pp. 447.

Robert Gilpin, War and Change in World Politics, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1981, pp. 272. £15

Seweryn Bialer and Thane Gustafson (eds) Russia at the Crossroads: The 26th congress of the CPSU, London, George Allen & Unwin, 1982, pp. 223. $49.95

Hannes Adomeit, Soviet Risk‐Taking and Crisis Behaviour, London, George Allen & Unwin, 1982, pp. 377. $75.00

Frank Field, Poverty and Politics: The Inside Story of the Child Poverty Action Group's Campaigns in the 1970s, London, Heinemann, 1982, (paper)

Dennis Kavanagh (ed) The Politics of the Labour Party, London, George Allen and Unwin, 1982, pp. 228. $13.95 (paper)

Michael Meacher, Socialism with a Human Face, London, George Allen and Unwin, 1982, pp. 295. $42.50

Stanley Hoffman and Paschalis Kitromilides (eds) Culture and Society in Contemporary Europe: A Casebook Harvard, Centre for European Studies, London, George Allen and Unwin, 1981, pp.238. $49.95, $22.50 (paper)

Peter Lange and Maurizio Vanicelli (eds) The Communist Parties of Italy, France and Spain—Postwar Change and Continuity: A Casebook, Centre for European Studies, Harvard, George Allen and Unwin, London, 1981, pp. 385. $62.50, $27.50 (paper)

Janice Jiggins, Caste and Family in the Politics of the Sinhalese 1947–1976, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1979, pp. 189. £15.50

Michael Roberts, Caste Conflict and Elite Formation—the Rise of a Karava Elite in Sri Lanka, 1500–1931, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1982, pp. 382. £30.00 Donald L. Horowitz, Coup Theories and Officers’ Motives—Sri Lanka in Comparative Perspective, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1980, pp. 238. US$25.00, US$11.75 (paper)

Stewart Clegg, Geoff Dow and Paul Boreham (eds) The State, Class and the Recession, London and Canberra, Croom Helm, 1983, pp.331. $29.25

Mike Muller, The Health of Nations: A North‐South Investigation, London, Faber and Faber, 1982, pp.255. $10.95

Richard L. Merritt and Bruce M. Russett (eds) From National Development to Global Community: Essays in Honor of Karl W. Deutsch, London, George Allen and Unwin, 1981, pp.480. $50, $23.95 (paper)

Robert G. Burgess (ed) Field Research: A Sourcebook and Field Manual, Sydney, George Allen & Unwin, 1982, pp. 286. $68, $35 (paper)

Jean Bethke Elshtain, Public Man, Private Woman: Women in Social and Political Thought, Princeton University Press, 1981.

Jean Bethke Elshtain (ed) The Family in Political Thought, Brighton, Harvester Press, 1982.

Keith Graham (ed) Contemporary Political Philosophy: Radical Studies, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1982, pp.159. £12.50, £4.50 (paper)

Robert E. Goodin, Political Theory and Public Policy, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1982, pp.249. US$27.50

Gerald F. Gaus, The Modem Liberal Theory of Man, London, Croom Helm, 1983, pp.312. $29.25

R.D. (Bob) Jessop, The Capitalist State: Marxist Theories and Methods, Oxford, Martin Robertson, 1982, pp. 296. £5.95 (paper)

John Passmore, The Limits of Government (1981 Boyer Lectures), Sydney, ABC, 1982, pp. 62. $2.95

Russell Jacoby, Dialectic of Defeat: Contours of Western Marxism, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1981, pp. 202. £15

Howard Margolis, Selfishness, Altruism & Rationality, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1982, pp. 194. £18

Michael Oakeshott, On History and Other Essays, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1983, pp.198 £12.

David Miller and Larry Siedentop (eds) The Nature of Political Theory, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1983, pp.261 $43.75

Sheila Rowbotham, Lynne Segal and Hilary Wainwright, Beyond the Fragments: Feminism and the Making of Socialism, London, Merlin Press, 1979, pp. 253. (paper)

Helen Roberts (ed) Doing Feminist Research, London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1981. £4.95 (paper) Margrit Eichler, The Double Standard, London, Croom Helm, 1980. $9.95 (paper)

Kaye Hargreaves, Women at Work, Ringwood, Victoria, Penguin, 1982, pp. 402. $6.95     

Assessing Collector Bias: A Geometric Morphometric Analysis of a Collection of Isolated Clovis Points from the Midcontinent

Clovis points are found across the contiguous United States as isolated surface finds and as elements of assemblages in surface and subsurface deposits. Despite being scattered over the continent, Clovis points exhibit a remarkable degree of standardization, yet there is still a demonstrable level of variation in their shapes across regions. Including isolated points in regional comparative analyses would significantly increase sample sizes and spatial coverage of these analyses; however, the effects of collector bias—the tendency to collect the most typical and aesthetically pleasing points—are unknown. Here, we examine the shape of a sample of isolated Clovis points from the midcontinent using geometric morphometric techniques. We show that resharpening had little effect on the shape of points and that our sample of isolated points are similar in shape to points from assemblages in the midcontinent. Our findings suggest that isolated points have research potential when collector bias is limited.