The social role of food in the Natufian cemetery of Raqefet Cave,Mount Carmel,Israel

The archaeology of mortuary practices and related foodways in the Late Natufian (LN; ca. 14,000/13,500–11,700 BP) sheds light on the communal activities of the last hunter–gatherers in the Mediterranean Levant. We present a detailed analysis of the fauna from the LN cemetery of Raqefet Cave (Mount Carmel, Israel). Taphonomic evidence indicates that the animal bones are butchery and consumption leftovers. While the patterns of animal exploitation are reminiscent of Natufian habitation sites, the remains do not reflect the typical recurring post-discard damage resulting from continuous or repeating habitations in those sites. Hence the fauna is interpreted as the leftovers of punctuated, short-term events, rather than ‘ordinary’ Natufian household trash. Taking into account the special depositional context and site characteristics, we interpret the fauna as the intentionally-gathered and buried remains of simple funerary feasts. Elaborate mortuary behavior and symbolic role of food refuse were recently suggested at the contemporaneous cave of Hilazon Tachtit (Israel). The new data from Raqefet Cave probably reflect a somewhat different type of communal meals, adding to the diversity and complexity of pre-agricultural life-ways in the Levant.     

On the intrinsic accuracy and precision of luminescence dating techniques for fired ceramics

Luminescence dating techniques have been used extensively for archaeological and geological samples. Such techniques are based on thermally or optically stimulated signals. This paper presents simulations of several luminescence techniques for equivalent dose (ED) estimation for ceramic materials containing quartz. The simulations are carried out using a recently published comprehensive kinetic model for quartz, consisting of 11 electron and hole traps and centers. The complete sequence of the experimental protocols for several thermoluminescence (TL) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) techniques are simulated using the same set of kinetic parameters. The specific simulated protocols are: additive dose TL protocol, predose technique (both additive and multiple activation versions), phototransfer protocol, single aliquot regenerative optically stimulated luminescence (SAR-OSL) protocol, and SAR thermoluminescence protocol (SAR-TL). One hundred random variants of the natural samples were generated by keeping the transition probabilities between energy levels fixed, while allowing simultaneous random variations of the concentrations of the 11 energy levels. The relative intrinsic accuracy and precision of the protocols are simulated by calculating the equivalent dose (ED) within the model, for a given natural burial dose of the sample. The intrinsic accuracy of these techniques is estimated by simulating natural irradiation of the samples with a known burial dose, followed by simulation of the luminescence method used to recover the estimated dose ED. The percent difference between the burial dose and the ED value represents the simulated accuracy of the luminescence technique. The relative intrinsic precision of these techniques is estimated by fitting Gaussian probability functions to the ED values obtained with the 100 model variants. It is found that the various techniques can reproduce natural paleodoses in the range 10 mGy–10 Gy with a typical intrinsic accuracy of +1 to 10%. Techniques based on single aliquot protocols were found in general to be more precise than techniques requiring the use of multiple aliquots. In addition, techniques based on interpolation of experimental data were found to be consistently both more precise and accurate than those based on extrapolation of experimental data.     

Reviews of Books

THOMAS FIGUEIRA. Athens and Aigina in the Age of Imperial Colonization. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991. Pp. xii, 274. $29.95 (US). Reviewed by B. M. Lavelle

JUDITH LIEU, JOHN NORTH, and TESSA RAJAK, eds. The Jews among Pagans and Christians in the Roman Empire. London and New York: Routledge, 1992. Pp. xvii, 198. $39.95 (US). Reviewed by James E. Seaver

PAUL RATCHNEVSKY. Genghis Khan: His Life and Legacy, trans, and ed. Thomas Nivison Haining. Oxford and Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell, 1992. Pp. xvii, 313. $34.95 (US). Reviewed by Reuven Amitai-Preiss

RODERICH PTAK and DIETMAR ROTHERMUND, eds. Emporia, Commodities, and Entrepreneurs in Asian Maritime Trade, c.1400–1750. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1991. Pp. xi, 509. DM 102.00. Reviewed by Christine Dobbin

BERNARD COTTRET. The Huguenots in England: Immigration and Settlement, c.1550–1700. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Pp. xii, 317. $59.95 (US). Reviewed by Andrew Spicer

NICHOLAS B. DIRKS, ed. Colonialism and Culture. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1992. Pp. xiv, 402. $27.00 (US). Reviewed by Dane Kennedy

JOYCELYNE G. RUSSELL. Diplomats at Work: Three Renaissance Studies. Gloucester, UK: Alan Sutton, 1992. Pp. xiii, 190. £28.00. Reviewed by Denys Hay

RICHARD HARDING. Amphibious Warfare in the Eighteenth Century: The British Expedition to the West Indies, 1740–1742. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press (Royal Historical Society), 1991. Pp. x, 248. £35.00; $73.00 (US). Reviewed by Philip Woodfine

BILLIE MELMAN. Women's Orients: English Women and the Middle East, 1718–1918: Sexuality, Religion, and Work. London: Macmillan, 1992. Pp. xix, 417. £45.00. Reviewed by Afaf Lutfi Al Sayyid Marsot

H. V. BOWEN. Revenue and Reform: The Indian Problem in British Politics, 1757–1773. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Pp. xi, 204. $47.50 (US). Reviewed by John Derry

PETER D. G. THOMAS. Revolution in America: Britain and the Colonies, 1763–1776. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1992. Pp. x, 101. £5.95. Reviewed by Philip Lawson

STEPHEN HOWARTH. To Shining Sea: A History of the United States Navy, 1775–1991. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1991. Pp. xv, 620. £25.00. Reviewed by William S. Dudley

MIRON REZUN. Intrigue and War in Southwest Asia: The Struggle for Supremacy from Central Asia to Iraq. New York: Praeger, 1992. Pp. xiv, 149. $42.95 (US). Reviewed by M. E. Yapp

GERASIMOS AUGUSTINOS. The Greeks of Asia Minor: Confession, Community, and Ethnicity in the Nineteenth Century. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1992. Pp. x, 270. $39.00 (US). Reviewed by Stanford J. Shaw

JAVED MAJEED. Ungoverned Imaginings: James Mill's The History of British India and Orientalism. New York: The Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press, 1992. Pp. 225. $74.50 (CDN). Reviewed by Lynn Zastoupil

MICHAEL PARIS. Winged Warfare: The Literature and Theory of Aerial Warfare in Britain, 1859–1917. Manchester: Manchester University Press; dist. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Pp. 272. $59.95 (US). Reviewed by John Ferris

DAVID EDGERTON. England and the Aeroplane: An Essay on a Militant and Technological Nation. London: Macmillan, 1991. Pp. xx, 139. £14.99. Reviewed by John Ferris

MAARTEN KUITENBROUWER. The Netherlands and the Rise of Modem Imperialism: Colonies and Foreign Policy, 1870–1902, trans. Hugh Beyer. New York and Oxford: Berg Publishers; dist. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991. Pp. vii, 407. $71.50 (US). Reviewed by D. K. Fieldhouse

JOHN W. CELL. Hailey: A Study in British Imperialism, 1872–1969. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Pp. xv, 332. $47.95 (US). Reviewed by Robin J. Moore

HEINRICH WALLE, ed. Von der Friedenssicherung zur Friedensgestaltung: Deutsche Streitkräfte im Wandel. Herford and Bonn: Verlag E. S. Mittler und Sohn GmbH, 1991. Pp. 398. DM 34.80. Reviewed by Martin Kitchen

CHRISTOPHER J. WALKER, ed. Armenia and Karabagh: The Struggle for Unity. London: Minority Rights Group, 1991. Pp. ix, 162. £7.95. Reviewed by Michael B. Bishku

JOHN B. HATTENDORF, ed. The Influence of History on Mahan. Newport: Naval War College Press, 1991. Pp. vii, 208. NP. Reviewed by Bryan Ranft

RAYMOND F. BETTS. France and Decolonisation, 1900–1960. London: Macmillan, 1991. Pp. 152. £35.00. Reviewed by William B. Cohen

THOMAS B. STEPHENS. Order and Discipline in China: The Shanghai Mixed Court, 1911–1927. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1992. Pp. xiv, 159. $40.00 (US). Reviewed by Nicholas R. Clifford

PAUL LATAWSKI, ed. The Reconstruction of Poland, 1914–1923. London: Macmillan, 1992. Pp. xxi, 217. £45.00. Reviewed by Stefania Szlek Miller

JOHN TURNER. British Politics and the Great War: Coalition and Conflict, 1915–1918. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992. Pp. viii, 511. $40.00 (US) Reviewed by Trevor Wilson

PANIKOS PANAYI. The Enemy in Our Midst: Germans in Britain during the First World War. New York and Oxford: Berg Publishers; dist. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991. Pp. xii, 312. $66.50 (US). Reviewed by Trevor Wilson

DAVID M. ANDERSON and DAVID KIIXINGRAY, eds. Policing and Decolonisation: Nationalism, Politics, and the Police, 1917–1965. Manchester: Manchester University Press; dist. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Pp. xi, 227. $69.95 (US). Reviewed by John Flint

DAVID G. WILLIAMSON. The British in Germany, 1918–1930: The Reluctant Occupiers. New York and Oxford: Berg Publishers; dist. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991. Pp. xv, 374. $59.95 (US). Reviewed by John Hiden

JOHN MORISON, ed. Eastern Europe and the West. London: Macmillan, 1992. Pp. xix, 271. £40.00. Reviewed by Kay Lundgreen-Nielsen

MARK MAZOWER. Greece and the Inter-War Economic Crisis. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. Pp. xii, 334. $65.00 (CDN). Reviewed by Dimitri Kitsikis

JONATHAN HASLAM. The Soviet Union and the Threat from the East, 1933–41. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1992. Pp. vii, 208. $49.95 (US). Reviewed by Paul Dukes

DAVID R. MARPLES. Stalinism in Ukraine in the 1940S. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 1992. Pp. xix, 228. $34.95 (CDN). Reviewed by David Saunders

JUDITH A. STOWE. Siam Becomes Thailand: A Story of Intrigue. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1991. Pp. xii, 394. $39.00 (US), cloth; $16.95 (US), paper. Reviewed by Anthony Short

DAVID DAY. Reluctant Nation: Australia and the Allied Defeat of Japan, 1942–45. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. Pp. x, 366. $45.00 (CDN). T. B. Millar

KLEMENS VON KLEMPERER. German Resistance against Hitler: The Search for Allies Abroad, 1938–1945. New York: The Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press, 1992. Pp. xvi, 487. $49.95 (US). Reviewed by Katharine Sams

SAMUEL W. MITCHAM, JR. and GENE MUELLER. Hitler's Commanders. Lanham, MD: Scarborough House, 1992. Pp. 320. $23.95 (US). Reviewed by L. H. Gann

HARRY A. GAILEY. Bougainville: The Forgotten Campaign, 1943–1943. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1991. Pp. 237. $27.00 (US). Reviewed by Thomas M. Huber

ROY PALMER DOMENICO. Italian Fascists on Trial, 1943–1948. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1992. Pp. xvii, 295, $43.95 (US). Reviewed by Richard Bosworth

GRANT K. GOODMAN, ed. Japanese Cultural Policies in Southeast Asia during World War Two. London: Macmillan, 1991. Pp. xi, 223. $35.95 (US). Reviewed by Ricardo T. Jose

DONALD R. BAUCOM. The Origins of SDI, 1944–1983. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1992. Pp. xix, 276. $29.95 (US). Reviewed by Edward Rhodes

STEIN TØNNESSON. The Vietnamese Revolution 0/1945: Roosevelt, Ho Chi Minh, and De Gaulle in a World at War. London: Sage, 1991. Pp. xiv, 458. $60.00 (US). Reviewed by Ralph Smith

LOWELL DITTMER. Sino-Soviet Normalization and Its International Implications, 1945–1990. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1992. Pp. viii, 373. $35.00 (US) Reviewed by Dennis J. Dunn

BEATRICE LEUNG. Sino-Vatican Relations: Problems in Conflicting Authority, 1976–1986. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Pp. xix, 415. $74.95 (US). Reviewed by Dennis J. Dunn

ROGER BUCKLEY. US-Japan Alliance Diplomacy, 1945–1990. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Pp. xiv, 225. $49.95 (US). Reviewed by Akira Iriye

JEFFREY GREY. Australian Brass: The Career of Sir Horace Robertson. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Pp. xxi, 249. $59.95 (US). Reviewed by G. C. Bolton

SALLIE PISANI. The CIA and the Marshall Plan. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1991. Pp. x, 188. $25.00 (US). Reviewed by Lawrence S. Wittner

ANUSON CHINVANNO. Thailand's Policies towards China, 1949–54. London: Macmillan, 1992. Pp. xiv, 200. £40.00. Reviewed by Arlene B. Neher

THOMAS-DURRELL YOUNG. Australian, New Zealand, and United States Security Relations, 1951–1986. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1992. Pp. xxii, 284. $35.00 (US). Reviewed by Ann Trotter

THOMAS W. ZEILER. American Trade and Power in the 1960s. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992. Pp. xiv, 371. $45.00 (US). Reviewed by Philip J. Funigiello

RAMESH THAKUR and CARLYLE A. THAYER. Soviet Relations with India and Vietnam. London: Macmillan, 1992. Pp. xi, 315. £45.00. Reviewed by Rajan Menon

EFRAIM KARSH. Soviet Policy towards Syria since 1970. London: Macmillan, 1991.Pp.ix, 235. £35.00 Reviewed by Michael Graham Fry, Tamara Bitar

OLES M. SMOLANSKY with BETTIE M. SMOLANSKY. The USSR and Iraq: The Soviet Quest for Influence. Durham, NC and London: Duke University Press, 1991. Pp. xi, 346. $55.00 (US), cloth; $24.95 (US), paper. Reviewed by Michael Graham Fry, Tamara Bitar

JOHN NORTON MOORE, ed. The Arab-Israeli Conflict: Volume IV: The Difficult Search for Peace (1975–1988). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991. Part One: Pp. xxvii, 1,066. $99.50 (US); Part Two: Pp. xvii, 1,072–1,960. $99.50 (US). Reviewed by L. Carl Brown

KATHLEEN BURK and ALEC CAIRNCROSS.‘Goodbye, Great Britain’: The 1976 IMF Crisis. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1992. Pp. xix, 268. $30.00 (US). Reviewed by John McDermott

RICHARD EDMUND WARD. India's Pro-Arab Policy: A Study in Continuity. New York: Praeger, 1992. Pp. x, 172. $39.95 (US). Reviewed by Anita Inder Singh

MARTIN VAN CREVELD. On Future War. London and New York: Brassey's, 1991. Pp. x, 254. £24.00. Reviewed by Geoffrey Blainey

MURRAY WOLFSON. Essays on the Cold War. London: Macmillan, 1992. Pp. x, 244. £45.00. Reviewed by Dietrich Fischer

ADAM WATSON. The Evolution of International Society. New York: Routledge, 1992. Pp. viii, 337. £14.99. Reviewed by Richard Langhorne     

Reviews

The Art of Persian Music, Jean During, Zia Mirabdolbaghi, and Dariush Safvat, Washington, D.C.: Mage Publishers, 1991, 280 pp. + Compact Disc entitled Anthology of Persian Music: 1930–1990, $100.

Les Kurdes et le Kurdestan, Bibliographie critique 1977–1986

Abstracta Iranica (volume 5), ed. Joyce Blau, Tehran and Paris: Institut Français de Recherche en Iran, 1989, xvi + 146 pp.

La Révolution française, la Turquie et l'Iran, special issue of the Cahier d'études sur la Méditerraée orientale et le monde turco‐iranien, no. 12 (Juin‐Décembre 1991), 161 pp., with additional articles and book reviews 264 pp.

The History of al‐Tabari, Volume 3: The Children of Israel, trans, and annot. William M. Brinner, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991, xii + 194 pp.

Majestic Failure: The Fall of the Shah, Marvin Zonis, Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1991, x + 350 pp.

Sufi Women, Javad Nurbakhsh, trans. Leonard Lewisohn, rev. ed., London: Khanigah‐i Ni'matullahi, 1990, xv + 263 pp., bibliography and index.

Die persische Gesellschaft unter Nasiru'd‐Din ?ah (1848–1896), Heinz‐Georg Migeod, Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 1990, 430 pp.

States and Urban‐Based Revolutions: Iran and Nicaragua, Farideh Farhi, Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1990, x + 147 pp., including notes, bibliography, and index, cloth $ 29.95.

Women's Autobiographies in Contemporary Iran, Afsaneh Najmabadi (ed.), Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1990, Harvard Middle Eastern Monographs 25, 78 pp., $9.95.

A Shi'ite Pilgrimage to Mecca, 1885–1886: The Safarnameh of Mirza Mohammad Hosayn Farahani, ed., trans., and annot. Hafez Farmayan and Elton L. Daniel, Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990, xxxii + 380 pp.; cloth $40, paperback $17.95.