Fears and aspirations

Very little study has been done of the role of US Intelligence in the South Pacific command in the Second World War. Collection of information on the civilian population concentrated mainly on settlers, sojourners and migrant labour, but military personnel also come under scrutiny. US intelligence collecting was at its most intense in New Caledonia, a major base for the US forces and a country rated as highly strategic by the Allies, especially in the early phases of the war with Japan. Because of the Vichy‐Free French divide from 1940 on, the US was especially wary of possible subversion of the war effort there, but its purview also took in the Asiatic and Melanesian population though the latter, as in the Southwest command, were not considered a major threat. Even so, the magnitude and detail of the intelligence carried out suggests that post‐war political considerations were never far from the US government's wider concerns and aspirations.     

Remarks on the pattern of septal insertion in rugose corals

Wang, G., Percival, I.G. & Li, R., 25.2.2015. Remarks on the pattern of septal insertion in rugose corals. Alcheringa 39, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518

Well-preserved specimens of the Hirnantian (latest Ordovician) rugose coral Lambeophyllum? corniculum He from the Yangtze Platform of South China, clearly show how catasepta (minor septa) are inserted, confirming the model proposed by Weyer in the 1970s. Our observations indicate the insertion of counter lateral septa and their neighbouring catasepta on the counter side takes place in exactly the same manner as that of the subsequent metasepta and catasepta. We propose abandoning the use of the term counter lateral septa. Therefore, exclusion of the pair of counter lateral septa reduces the number of protosepta from six to four.

Guangxu Wang [gxwang@nigpas.ac.cn], State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, PR China; Ian G. Percival [ian.percival@trade.nsw.gov.au], Geological Survey of New South Wales, 947–953 Londonderry Road, Londonderry, NSW 2753, Australia; Rongyu Li [lir@brandonu.ca], Department of Geology, Brandon University, Manitoba R7A 6A9, Canada.     

Brachiopods of the Yarralumla Formation (Ludlovian), Canberra,Australia

The Yarralumla Formation of Canberra has been considered the stratigraphic equivalent of the earliest Ludlovian Yass Formation of the Yass Syncline north of Canberra. The previously unpublished brachiopod fauna of the Yarralumla Formation is fully described; comparison with that of the Yass Formation confirms approximate age equivalence. Of the eleven species, none of which is new, eight also occur in or a little above the Yass Formation.     

山东平邑县南武城故城出土铜镜

1990年春,在山东省平邑县南武城故城附近发现汉、魏晋时期的墓葬三百余座,出土铜镜110面,据其主题纹饰特征分为13类。从中可以看出汉、魏晋时期铜镜制造业的发展水平。其流行的趋势,也反映了南武城地区手工制造业发达、经济繁荣的历史事实。     

An Osteometric Study on the Variation in Orientation of the Lesser Trochanter in an Early Medieval Human Skeletal Assemblage and Comparison with an Individual from the Late Upper Palaeolithic

Anatomical textbooks describe the lesser trochanter in contemporary humans as being oriented posteromedially. In contrast, orientation of the lesser trochanter towards posterior was observed in some human femora from the Upper Palaeolithic, including the femur of a young adult individual from Germany (Irlich 1), radiocarbon dated to 12 500–11 200 bp (calibrated AMS age). The present study analysed the orientation of the lesser trochanter in femora originating from an early medieval skeletal assemblage (Greding, Germany) and compared the results with those for the Irlich 1 femur. Eleven landmarks, four on the proximal femur, four on the mid‐shaft and three on the distal femur, were recorded with a MicroScribe® digitizer and analysed using AutoCAD® 2010 software. Seven angles and five distances were measured. In the Greding femora, significant differences (p  < 0.05) between sexes were found for several linear measurements, while no significant sex‐related differences existed for angular measurements. For some angular variables related to the orientation of the lesser trochanter, the values for the Irlich 1 femur lay outside the range of variation of the Greding specimens, reflecting the more posterior orientation of the lesser trochanter in the Irlich 1 femur. This posterior orientation of the lesser trochanter was not associated with a particularly low degree of femoral anteversion. It is hypothesised that the differences in orientation of the lesser trochanter between the Irlich 1 femur (and other femora of Upper Palaeolithic individuals) and the femora from Greding could basically reflect differences in traction exercised by the iliopsoas muscle during infancy and childhood between the sedentary agricultural population from Greding and Upper Palaeolithic hunter‐gatherers with a mobile lifestyle. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A royal Maya country house: Archaeology at Bejucal,Guatemala

This article presents three years of archaeological investigations at the minor Maya center of Bejucal, Guatemala. A complete site history is presented relying on data from artifact analysis, architectural study, epigraphy, and bioarchaeology, with a goal towards identifying the site's function within the broader El Zotz polity. The authors argue that Bejucal underwent significant transformation following its establishment as a sacred hilltop site during the Late Preclassic period (400 b.c.–a.d. 250). The El Zotz royal family gradually appropriated the space, converting it into a royal country house and elite burial place. Bejucal's proximity to a large permanent water source suggests that the country house was situated within favorable hunting grounds. The research contributes to a broader discussion about the role of minor centers in regional settlement patterns, highlighting the benefit of textual data in making interpretations. The article also highlights the important role of salvage work in lowland Maya archaeology.     

Gender and Minor Aesthetics in Northeastern Brazilian Banditry: The Evolution of Cangaceiro Assemblages in Photography,Film, and Oral History

Various accounts and representations of the last generation of active cangaceiros, or Northeastern Brazilian bandits, (ending with the killing of Lampião’s lieutenant, Corisco, in 1940) have emphasised and popularised a unique aesthetic developed by Lampião’s group. This aesthetic was divulged to the public, and documented for subsequent generations, with the help of the photographic and cinematic technology of the time. I analyse this imaginary as a minor aesthetic in the vein of Deleuze and Guattari’s notion of minor literature, focussing on the doubly minor character of the involvement of women in cangaço (banditry) after 1930, and utilising several key photographic/filmic texts, beginning with images of the 1930s and continuing with reimaginings and reframings of those images from the 1950s through the 1980s. Women’s contributions to both the aesthetic and survival of cangaço in its final decade have been denied or not well recognised in contemporary accounts, but their contributions to the imaginary I call the cangaceiro assemblage have received increasing attention since the 1970s, which I demonstrate with important examples of film and television (both documentary and fictional) and related oral history. Beyond their aesthetic creativity, the affective perspectives/experiences of women bandits (cangaceiras) are best understood as outlaw emotions which challenged conventions of gender and sexuality in the backlands.     

中国古代金饰文化板块论

古代金饰记载缺佚,其发展状况实难廓清。经耙梳发掘出土金饰,不难发现金饰晚出,始于夏商,承传至清。各地金饰功能不同,其工艺、形式、风格异彩纷呈,独具一格而又互有联系、取长补短。从宏观层面以板块概全4000余年金饰文化的运动规律,先后出现了北方草原游牧部落金饰文化、黄河长江流域粟稻农作华夏族群金饰文化、西南高原红土带农牧群落金饰文化、中原帝王金饰文化等四大金饰文化板块,始终处于互为碰撞、交流、整合、承传、创新的运动过程之中,创造了金丝片、锤鍱、錾刻至焊金粟珠、编丝、掐丝、累丝、镶嵌以及错金银等金细工艺。这四大板块是由于环境、气候、产业、食物链的多样性等物质的、文化的客观条件决定的,同时又促成其局部范围金饰文化亚板块的形成与发展。4000余年的中国古代金饰文化发展变化无不受其板块运动的制约和推动。     

元英宗谪高丽忠宣王于吐蕃原因探析

元英宗曾谪高丽忠宣王王璋于在蕃,其原因史料中虽有所记载,但语焉不详,本对此进行探析,指出：元英宗谪王璋于吐蕃,具体罪名是王璋执迷于佛教,而深层次的实质性原因则在于英宗与其祖母太皇太后答己之间的宫廷斗争,王璋是答己的亲信,成为了英宗的清除对象;王璋与宦伯颜秃古思的矛盾则是引发英宗处罚王璋的导火线。