Rhodian amphora stamps found in Mleiha (Sharjah,UAE): old and recent finds

To date Mleiha has yielded eighteen stamps belonging to Rhodian wine amphorae. Eleven of these can be dated to the second half of the third and the first half of the second centuries BC. Rhodian stamps are vital for the chronological framework of the PIR‐A period at Mleiha. Most of them, if not all, belonged to funerary contexts but were unfortunately rarely found in undisturbed contexts. The stamp types of the eponym ?ριστε?? and of the fabricants ?πολλ?νιο? and Φιλοστ?φανο? do not seem to occur very often.     

Late pre‐Islamic burials at Mleiha,Emirate of Sharjah (UAE)

The history of two monumental grave buildings (nos. 4 and 5), excavated in area P of the late pre‐Islamic city of Mleiha, has been studied in detail. Like all other tombs excavated up to the present day in Mleiha, their chambers had been emptied in ancient times. They were found devoid of human remains and grave‐goods. In the upper parts of the grave fills, however, skeletal remains were encountered. One of the skeletons was radiocarbon dated to AD 623–656, the time of the Islamisation of south‐east Arabia. A radiocarbon date of 384–233 BC for a wooden beam from the same tomb showed that it was built during the late pre‐Islamic period (PIR‐A). These dates and stratigraphic observations made clear that the interments were intrusive. The surrounding sediments were deposited by flooding. Directly underneath the skull of the dated skeleton, a layer of sandy loam was encountered, showing mud cracks. To understand the relationship between the burial and these deposits, micromorphological analyses of the surrounding sediments were conducted. The microstructural organisation of the sedimentary components implied that the skull was interred as part of a burial, and not deposited by natural processes.     

Etched (carnelian) beads from northeast and southeast Arabia

Etched beads from northeast and southeast Arabia are usually not cited in connection with east-west trade, because they remain unknown to most scholars. There is ample evidence, however, from sites on the Arabian shores of the Persian Gulf that the region participated in active trade during several periods. Etched beads are one of the commodities testifying to the existence of maritime links. A high percentage of the etched beads found belong to the Early Bronze Age and the Pré-islamique récent (PIR)-period, although other periods are also represented.     

Reviews

Australian. Frank Stilwell, The Accord … and Beyond, Sydney, Pluto Press, 1986, pp. 194. $11.95 (paper).

Peter Ewer, Winton Higgins and Annette Stevens, Unions and the Future of Australian Manufacturing, Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1987, pp.188. $15.95 (paper).

Michael James, How Much Government? Sydney, Centre for Independent Studies, 1987, pp.xiv, 58. $9.95 (paper).

Ken Coghill (ed.), The New Right's Australian Fantasy, Melbourne, Penguin & McPhee Gribble, 1987, pp. 170. $9.95 (paper).

Mike Steketee and Milton Cockburn, Wran: An Unauthorised Biography, Sydney, Allen and Unwin, 1986, pp.365. $29.95 (cloth).

Brian Dale, Ascent to Power, Sydney, Allen and Unwin, 1985, pp.148. $9.95 (paper).

Stephen Mills, The New Machine Men: Polls and Persuasion in Australian Politics, Ringwood, Penguin, 1986, pp.216. $9.95 (paper).

Bill Rosser, Dreamtime Nightmares, Ringwood, Penguin, 1987, pp.192. $9.95 (paper).

Jocelynne A. Scutt (ed.), Poor Nation of the Pacific? Australia's Future, Sydney, Allen and Unwin, 1985, pp. 137. $9.95 (paper), $19.95 (cloth).

Kosmos Tsokhas, Beyond Dependence: Companies, Labour Processes and Australian Mining, Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 1986, pp. 291. $15.95 (paper).

George Winterton, Monarchy to Republic: Australian Republican Government, Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 1986, pp.211. $19.95 (paper).

Brian Dickey, Rations, Residences, Resources: A History of Social Welfare in South Australia Since 1836, Adelaide, Wakefield Press, 1986, pp. 392. $35.00 (cloth), $25.00 (paper).

Philip McMichael, Settlers and the Agrarian Question: Capitalism in Colonial Australia, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1984, pp.xvi + 304. $50.00 (cloth).

Kyoko Sheridan (ed.), The State as Developer: Public Enterprise in South Australia, Adelaide, RAIPA in Association with the Wakefield Press, 1986, pp. 244. $20.00 (paper).

J. Brian McLoughlin and Margo Huxley (eds), Urban Planning in Australia: Critical Readings, Melbourne, Longman Cheshire, 1986, pp. 372. $22.95 (paper).

David Day, Menzies and Churchill at War, Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 1986, pp. 271. $29.95 (cloth).

P. Loveday, D. Jaensch and W. Sanders, The Western Australian State Election 1986 and the Aboriginal Vote in the Kimberley, Darwin & Canberra, North Australia Research Unit, 1986, pp. 56. $8.00 (paper).

Stuart Macintyre, Winners and Losers: the pursuit of social justice in Australian history, Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1985, pp. 174. $12.95 (paper).

P.R. Stephensen, The Foundations of Culture in Australia (with introduction by Craig Munro), Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1986, pp. xxvii + 192. $17.95 (cloth).

H.K. Colebatch and P.J. Degeling, Understanding Local Government: Action — Linkage — Outcome, Canberra, CCAE, Canberra Series in Administrative Studies, Local Government Papers No. 2, 1986, pp. 75.

Stewart Clegg, Paul Boreham and Geoff Dow, Class, Politics and the Economy, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986, pp.451. $104.95 (cloth), $34.95 (paper).

David Close and Carl Bridge (eds), Revolution: A History of the Idea, London & Sydney, Croom Helm, 1985, pp. 230. $42.50 (cloth).

Steve Smith and Michael Clarke (eds), Foreign Policy Implementation, London, Allen and Unwin, 1985, pp. 195. $18.95 (paper).

William W. Bostock, Francophonie: Organisation, Co‐ordination, Evaluation, Melbourne and Toronto, River Seine Publications, 1986, pp.129. $13.50 (paper).

Yves Mény and Vincent Wright (eds), Centre‐Periphery Relations in Western Europe, London, Allen &Unwin, 1985, pp. 305, $69 (cloth).

A.J. Marques Mendes, Economic Integration and Growth in Europe, London, Croom Helm, 1987, pp. 141, £22.50 (cloth).

Dennis Altman, AIDS and the New Puritanism, London and Sydney, Pluto Press, 1986, pp. 228. $11.95 (paper).

Bill Brugger (ed.), Chinese Marxism in Flux 1978–84: Essays on Epistemology, Ideology & Political Economy, London & Sydney, Croom Helm, 1985, pp. 218. $44.95 (cloth).

S.A. Smith, Red Petrograd: Revolution in the Factories 1917–18, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1983, pp.347. $79.50 (cloth), $23.50 (paper).

Ellen Jones, Red Army and Society: A Sociology of the Soviet Military, Boston, Allen & Unwin, 1985, pp.xviii, 230. $48.95 (cloth).

David Childs (ed.), Honecker's Germany, London, Allen & Unwin, 1985, pp.xv, 201. $54.00 (cloth).

Eckhard Jesse, Wahlrecht zwischen Kontinuitaet und Reform. Eine Analyse der Wahlsystemdiskussion und der Wahlrechtsaenderungen in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1949–1983 (The Voting System between Continuity and Reform. An Analysis of the Discussions regarding the Voting System and Changes Thereof in the Federal Republic of Germany during 1949–1983), Duesseldorf, Droste Verlag, 1985, pp. 440 (cloth; no price given).

Eckhard Jesse, Die Demokratie der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Democracy in the Federal Republic of Germany), Berlin, Colloquium Verlag, 6th printing, 1982, pp. 191 (paper; no price given).

Gordon Smith, Democracy in Western Germany, Aldershot, Gower, 3rd ed., 1986, pp. 243. £6.95 (paper).

Donald C. Rowat. The Ombudsman Plan: The Worldwide Spread of an Idea, 2nd edition, Lanham, University Press of America, 1985, pp.199. US$11.50 (paper).

Ken Booth, Law, Force and Diplomacy at Sea, London, Allen and Unwin, 1985, pp.231. $19.95 (paper), $49.95 (cloth).

Jacques G. Richardson (ed.), Managing the Ocean: Resources, Research, Law, Mt. Airy, Maryland, Lomond Publications, 1985, pp.407. US$28.95 (cloth).

A.P. Pross, Group Politics and Public Policy, Toronto, Oxford University Press, 1986, pp.343, n.p.a.

Theodore W. Taylor (ed.), Federal Public Policy, Lomond Publications, Maryland, 1984, pp. 327. $US29.50 (cloth).

Kenneth Wiltshire, Planning and Federalism: Australian and Canadian Experience, St. Lucia, University of Queensland Press, Scholars’ Library, 1986, pp.333. $50.00 (cloth).

Peter Hennessy, Cabinet, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1986, pp. 230. $25.95 (paper).

Douglas Wass, Government and the Governed: BBC Reith Lectures 1983, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1984, pp. 120. $9.95 (paper).

H. T. Wilson, Political Management, Berlin, Walter de Gruyter, 1985, pp.316. $US34.95 (cloth).

John M. Allswang, Bosses, Machines, and Urban Voters, Baltimore and London, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986, pp. 174. $ 17.95 (paper).

Lawrence T. Farley, Plebiscites and Sovereignty: The Crisis of Political Legitimacy, Boulder, Westview Press, 1986. US$26.00 (paper). Available from Wildwood Distribution Services, Aldershot, Hants GU124DY, UK.

David Marsden, Timothy Morris, Paul Willman and Stephen Wood, The Car Industry: Labour Relations and Industrial Adjustment, London, Tavistock, 1985, pp. 210. $17.95 (paper).

Tony Cutler, Karel Williams and John Williams, Keynes, Beveridge and Beyond, London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1986, pp. 162. $31.95 (paper).

David W. Lovell, From Marx to Lenin: An evaluation of Marx's responsibility for Soviet authoritarianism, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1984, pp.197, $66.50 (cloth) Ronald Tiersky, Ordinary Stalinism: Democratic Centralism and the Question of Communist Political Development, Boston, Allen and Unwin, 1985, pp.177, $39.95 (cloth).

Lincoln Allison, Right Principles: A Conservative Philosophy of Politics, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1986, pp. 180. $21.95 (paper). First published in hardback, 1984.

John Horton and Susan Mendus (eds), Aspects of Toleration, London, Methuen, 1985, pp.180. £15.00 (cloth).

Alan Brown, Modern Political Philosophy: Theories of the Just Society, Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1986, pp.215. $12.95 (paper).

Istvan Hont and Michael Ignatieff (eds), Wealth and Virtue: The Shaping of Political Economy in the Scottish Enlightenment, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1983, pp.371. $37.00 (paper), $ 103.50 (cloth).

David Boucher, Texts in Context, Revisionist Methods for Studying the History of Ideas, Dordrecht, Martinus Nijhoff, 1985, pp. 280. $A46.75 (cloth).

Carole Pateman and Elizabeth Gross (eds), Feminist Challenges: Social and Political Theory, Sydney, Allen and Unwin, 1986, pp. 215. $29.95 (cloth), $14.95 (paper).

Norma Grieve and Ailsa Burns (eds), Australian Women: New Feminist Perspectives, Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 1986, pp. 412. $17.50 (paper).

Hilary Callan and Shirley Ardener (eds), The Incorporated Wife, London, Croom Helm, 1984, pp.229. $31.95 (cloth).