Book reviews

Leonard Blussé. Strange company: Chinese settlers, mestizo women, and the Dutch in VOC Batavia . xiii, 302 pp. Dordrecht: Foris Publications, 1986. (Verhandelingen van het Kononklijk Instituut voor Taal‐, Land‐ en Volkenkunde, 122.) Guilders 35.

John S. Guy. Oriental trade ceramics in South‐East Asia, ninth to sixteenth centuries. With a catalogue of Chinese, Vietnamese, and Thai wares in Australian collections, xiv, 161 pp. Singapore, etc: Oxford University Press, 1986. (Oxford in Asia Studies in Ceramics.) £47.50.     

Effect of mollusc eating on human bone strontium levels

Empirical aspects of the movement of strontium through the food chain suggest that the level of bone strontium can be used as an indicator of the percentage of meat in human diet. In general, skeletal remains from agricultural peoples are expected to have high bone strontium levels relative to hunter-gatherers from the same geographical region because plants contain relatively higher amounts of strontium when compared with animal products. The results of the study described in this paper, however, indicate that the inclusion of molluscs as a component of the diet may produce the opposite of the expected strontium values. Burials from an Archaic (c. 2500 BC) hunting-gathering population excavated from Lu^o25, an archaeological site in northern Alabama, USA, exhibit a mean bone strontium level ( atomic absorption; neutron activation) that is higher than the mean level from an agricultural Mississippian (c. AD 1400) population ( atomic absorption; neutron activation) that was buried at the same site. The samples were analysed by two techniques (atomic absorption spectrometry and neutron activation analysis) and the results compared favourably; therefore, the results can be accepted as valid rather than being due to technique error. We propose that the ingestion of molluscs, whose meat is known to contain large amounts of strontium, has produced this reversal from expected results.     

Preliminary geology, paleontology and paleoecology of a sangoan site at Andalee, Middle Awash Valley, Ethiopia

A rich stone tool assemblage is described of the Sangoan-type from a potentially semi-primary site, in association with a well-preserved fauna, and in paleo-environmental context. The site appears to be late Middle Pleistocene and contains a high proportion of small to medium-sized mammals (e.g. rodents, monkeys) deposited in low energy conditions. The environment is suggestive of a fringing woodland or riverine forest contained in a subarid climate.     

The conundrum of castration in the archaeological record: An interpretation of Roman cattle horn-cores from Chelmsford,Essex

Current methods of sexing archaeological cattle bones, in particular the metapodials, are based upon past research into contemporary breeds and this work embraces a limited sample size, spread across a vast geographical area. Although the separation of cows and bulls is not in question, there appears a great deal of subjectivity in the literature concerning the identification of castrated beasts. Living bone is in a dynamic state of equilibrium with the rest of the body and responds to increased loading, that is, an increase in weight of the beast or stress/strain through strenuous movement, by remodelling. If cows and oxen are performing the same work, as for example in ploughing, then loading on the bones will be similar. These bones will thus respond by remodelling in corresponding fashion, and hence any morphological and metrical distinctions will be clouded. Horn-cores are less subject to these constraints, although in some cultures there may be loading on these bones, for example through attaching the harness to the horns for ploughing. The Chelmsford cattle horn-cores constitute waste from some industrial activity and it is argued in the text that horn-working is the most likely candidate, together with possibly tanning. Sexing of the bones strongly indicated male animals, with few females being present. A procedure for detecting castrated cattle (oxen) is presented, the results of which suggest an equivalent ratio of oxen to bulls.