Parties,Governments and Pollsters: A New Form of Patronage?

In its first term, the Howard government hired Australasian Research Strategies (ARS), headed by pollster Mark Textor, to conduct market research for several Commonwealth departments and agencies. This was, the Labor Opposition claimed, a case of the Liberals handing jobs to their 'mates'. Textor played a key role in the Liberals' 1996 and 1998 federal election campaigns. However, Labor's attack rings hollow since in the 1980s the Hawke government similarly contracted Rod Cameron's ANOP to conduct opinion research for Commonwealth departments and agencies. At the time Cameron was Labor's strategic pollster and centrally involved in planning Labor election campaigns. On both sides of Australian politics, governments have begun to channel patronage towards their party's pollsters. In this research note, we suggest that this development cannot be explained as 'jobs for the boys'. Instead, this new form of patronage has its roots in the vital role that pollsters now play in guiding election campaigns, and in the commercial reality that Australian politics provides too little work to sustain specialist political pollsters. Parties in government now appear to utilise incumbency to sustain an ongoing relationship with the commercial polling organisations like ANOP and ARS to whom they will entrust much of the planning of their campaign for re-election.     

Geochemical composition of source obsidians from Kenya

Here we provide a reference resource to archaeologists interested in the sources of obsidian in Kenya, through electron microprobe analyses of 194 obsidian samples from 90 localities. Averaged analyses of each sample and eleven published analyses are categorized into 84 compositional groups of which only about 21 are known to have been used to produce artifacts, possibly because studies of artifactual material in the region are lacking. We also provide trace element analyses determined by XRF and LA-ICP-MS for these same obsidians. In northern Kenya 27 distinct compositions of obsidian have been found, including some of Miocene age, but the source of the most abundant obsidian found in archaeological sites in this part of Kenya remains obscure. The Baringo region contains at least 13 varieties of low-silica obsidian. The Naivasha–Nakuru region contains an abundance of obsidian with 38 compositional types recognized, and is the only region in Kenya apart from the Suregei (northern Kenya) that contains rhyolitic obsidian. Nine compositionally distinct types of obsidian are known from southern Kenya. Although Kenyan obsidians span the compositional range from phonolite to rhyolite, low-silica, nepheline-normative obsidians occur only south of 1°N latitude. One obsidian type, the Lukenya Hill Group, appears to have been derived from a regionally extensive ash flow tuff with a distribution of over 8000 km². From previous studies it is known that obsidians of lowest (Mundui) and highest iron content were used for tool manufacture, as were some obsidians (e.g., Kisanana) with the highest alkali content, and obsidians with both high (Njorowa) and low (Kisanana) silica content.     

Obsidian sources and patterns of source utilization in Kenya and northern Tanzania: some initial findings

A pilot study of Kenyan and northern Tanzanian obsidian sources and artifacts has been undertaken to characterize sources and artifacts in order to examine prehistoric patterns of source utilization and to investigate the long distance movement of obsidian in the region. A survey for source localities has revealed 54 localities to date. XRF analyses for 12 elements have been undertaken on samples from each locality and a number of chemically distinct source areas have been recognized. Some 1400 artifacts from 32 sites were chemically characterized and assigned to sources based on the analysis of three elements by an electron microprobe. The study documents long distant movement of central Rift obsidians from MSA times onward, and demonstrates that with the advent of the Pastoral Neolithic there is wider use of obsidian and more specialized reliance on individual sources.

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Résumé Une étude pilote a été enterprise afin de caractériser des sources et des outils en obsidienne trouvés au Kenya et en Tanzanie du nord. Cette étude est dans le but d'approfondir nos connaissances des modèles préhistoriques de l'utilisation des sources et du transport à longue distance de l'obsidienne. Jusqu'à maintenant la reconnaissance nous a permis de localiser 54 sources. Les analyses par la méthode de fluorescence des rayons X de douze éléments ont été menées sur des échantillons provenant de chaque source et un certain nombre d'entre elles ont été reconnues comme étant chimiquement distinctes. Quelques 1400 outils provenant de 32 gisements ont été caractérisés en utilisant la microsonde électronique et attribués à certaines sources grâce à trois éléments. De plus cette étude documente le transport à longue distance des obsidiennes du Rift central depuis de Middle Stone Age. Enfin avec la venue du Néolithique pastoral nous retrouvons une plus grande utilisation de l'obsidienne et une dépendance spécialisée sur des sources particulières.

     

Processes of Change--A Longitudinal Ethno-Archaeological Study of a Ghanaian Village: Hani 1970–98

Most ethno-archaeological research involves the study of single communities over short time periods. As archaeology endeavors to appreciate the processes of change over extended periods of time it is important to obtain insights into the dynamics of past communities by studying comparable communities over periods long enough to delineate significant changes in site formation, uses of material culture and reactions to environmental, economic, and political stimuli. The study of the Ghanaian village of Hani, the successor community to the medieval town of Begho (ca. AD 1100–1800), is unique in that it provides a continuous study of a community over 28 years, during which time the village has been mapped on seven occasions, agricultural practices and collecting activities studied at different seasons, the changing material culture of the village recorded and the attitudes and reactions to environmental, economic, and political changes monitored through a continuous series of questionnaires. Conclusions are drawn as to the effect of these changes and archaeological implications evaluated.La plupart des études ethno-archéologiques sont basées sur des communautés uniques durant des périodes courtes. Etant donné que l'archéologie apprécie de plus en plus le processus de changement à long terme, c'est très important de connaître le fonctionnement des anciennes communautés en étudiants des communautés comparables durant des longues périodes pour pouvoir démarquer des changements pertinents; notamment dans le domaine de la formation des sites, l'utilisation de la culture matérielle, des réactions á l'environnement, et l'impact politique. L'étude du village ghanéen de Hani, successeur de l'ancienne ville médiévale de Begho (ca. AD 1100–1800) est unique parce que c'est le résultat d'une étude progressive de plus de 28 ans. Pendant cette période, la carte de la ville a été tracée sept fois, les activités d'agriculture et de collecte ont été étudiées pendant les saisons différents, et les changements de la culture matérielle ont été enregistrées. Les attitudes et réactions aux changements d'environnement, ainsi que les changements politiques et économiques, ont été documentés à l'aide d'une série continue des questionnaires. Des conclusions ont été tirées sur les effets de ces changements et les implications archéologiques sont évaluées.     

Obsidian types from Holocene sites around Lake Turkana,and other localities in northern Kenya

Obsidian has been widely used by early Holocene hunter-gatherers and succeeding Pastoral Neolithic peoples in northern Kenya. Here we report the results of over 2000 electron microprobe analyses of artifactual and non-artifactual obsidian from the greater Lake Turkana region. Of the 15 compositional types of obsidian observed, a preponderant type is widespread across the region from the Barrier in the south to Ileret in the north and east as far as Kargi. This obsidian is the principal type at Lowasera and most Pastoral Neolithic sites, including the Jarigole Pillar site and Dongodien (GaJi4). The source of this obsidian is not known, but based on its distribution the source may be located on the Barrier or in the Suguta Valley immediately to the south of Lake Turkana. Although there are several possible sources of local obsidian identified for minor types, in stark contrast to the central part of the Kenyan Rift, major sources of obsidian available for artifact manufacture are not known in the Lake Turkana region. The lack of obsidian from demonstrable Ethiopian Rift and central Kenyan Rift sources, and the absence of obsidian with compositions found at the Turkana area sites in assemblages in the central part of the Kenyan Rift suggests that the earlier Pastoral Neolithic peoples around Lake Turkana interacted with each other, but perhaps not as strongly with people farther south along the Rift Valley, even as herding practices were expanding to the southward into central Kenya.