Java's forgotten pearls: the history and disappearance of pearl fishing in the Segara Anakan lagoon, South Java, Indonesia

Pearls have been a valued resource in most cultures that had access to them. A number of historically important pearling grounds were situated in the waters around today's Indonesia. One of these areas, now largely forgotten, was the Segara Anakan lagoon in South Java. In the seventeenth century, Dutch colonists exploited the lagoon's pearls. Afterwards, the lagoon's oysters were locally exploited as a food item until the late 1970s. While the pearl fishery attracted considerable attention in the colonial literature, its disappearance, by contrast, went largely undocumented. Nowadays, the oysters no longer are found in the lagoon as a result of extensive sedimentation processes. Their former existence is only preserved in the memory of local people. This article examines the history and fate of the pearls of Segara Anakan, providing an example of a formerly valued species whose existence simply became forgotten outside the area.     

Reviews

Babi and Baha'i Religions: From Messianic Shi'ism to a World Religion, by Peter Smith, Cambridge University Press, London, New York, New Rochelle, Melbourne, Sydney 1987, pp.xiv, 243.

Panj Vaqf‐namah, by Mahmud Afshar Yazdi, (Five Endowment Deeds), Tehran Foundation for Mahmud Afshar Yazdi's Endowments, 1363/1984. Iraj Afshar and Karim Isfahaniyan, eds., Namvarah‐yi Doktor Mahmūd Afshar Yazdi (Mahmud Afshar Yazdi's Festschrift), 4 vols., Tehran: Foundation for Mahmud Afshar Yazdi's Endowments, 1364/1985–1367/1988.

Bulles et Sceaux sassanides de diverses collections, by Philippe Gignoux and Rika Gysclen, Paris: Sludia Iranica, Cahier 4, Association Pour l'avancemeni des études iraniennes, 1987, 306 pp, 23 plates.

Iran and Iraq at War , by Shahram Chubin and Charles Tripp, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1988.

The Tragedy of Sohrab and Rostam, from the Persian National Epic, the Shahnameh of Abol‐Qascm Ferdowsi, translated by Jerome W. Clinton, Seattle: The University of Washington Press, 1988, xxv + 190 pages, $25.00 cloth $12.50 paper.

Persian Carpets , by Michael Craig Hillmann, Austin: University of Texas Press, 1984, 98 pp. index to p. 112.

Resurrection and Renewal: The Making of the Babi Movement in Iran, 1844–1850, Abbas Amanat, Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press, 1989, pp. xv.+ 461, no price indicated.

Iran min al‐Dakhil, (Iran From Within), by Fahmi Huwaydi, Cairo: Markaz al‐Ahram li al‐tarjuma wa al‐nashr, 1987, 405 pp.

Woven From the Soul, Spun from the Heart: Textile Arts of Safavid and Qajar Iran, 16lh‐19lh Centuries , edited by Carol Bier, Washington, DC: The Textile Museum, 1987.

Summon Up Remembrance, by Marzich Gail, Oxford: George Ronald Books, 1987, 295 pp., appendix, bibliography, $14.95.

Iran and The United States, A Cold War Case Study, by Richard W. Cottam, Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1988. $12.95 pb.     

CHEMICAL AND LEAD ISOTOPE ANALYSES OF GREEK LATE NEOLITHIC AND EARLY BRONZE AGE METALS

Results of a combined archaeological and analytical project of Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age copper, bronze and lead artefacts from four distinct areas of mainland Greece are presented. The aim of the study is to understand better the stages of technological development of each region, their possible ore sources and also to assess any external contribution to or internal evolution of their metallurgy. Interesting results which could challenge the established view of Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age metallurgy in the Greek mainland are presented.     

Incorporating the effects of spatial structure in discrete choice models of migration

Discrete-choice theory and logit models are evaluated for their usefulness in analyzing migration patterns in a zonal system. The authors "argue that spatial effects and more specifically the relative location of zones are not taken into account in such analyses. We, therefore, introduce a measure of spatial structure and advocate its usage as a predictor of migration in such models. In an example of intrametropolitan migration in Toronto [Canada], we demonstrate that this variable is not only significant but also it improves the performance of all the other variables with the greatest impact on the distance between zones. In addition, inclusion of this variable improves the overall performance of the model in terms of residuals."     

Aztecs Before and After the Conquest

Aztecs: An Interpretation. By INGA CLENDINNEN. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Pp. xiii, 398.

The Slippery Earth: Nahua‐christian Moral Dialogue in Sixteenth‐century Mexico. By LOUISE M. BURKHART. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1989. Pp. xii, 242.