A first fossil record for Scolytus scolytus (F.) (elm bark beetle): its occurrence in elm decline deposits from London and the implications for neolithic elm disease

A problem which has arisen in discussions of an elm-disease explanation for the Neolithic elm decline has been the lack of fossil records of Scolytus scolytus (F.) (elm bark beetle), which is the main carrier of the fungus which causes the present epidemic of Dutch Elm Disease. Now, the discovery of wing cases of two individuals from elm decline deposits at Hampstead Heath, London, proves that the beetle was present in Britain during this episode. The deposits in which it occurs are described, and the various implications for elm disease causing, aiding or at least occurring during this stage of the early Neolithic are discussed.     

The ambivalent relations behind civil society’s engagement in the “grey zones” of migration and integration governance: Case studies from Belgium

Based on qualitative data collected in two different Belgian cities (Brussels and Liège), this article focuses on the emergence of civil society initiatives to address the grey zones of migration and integration governance in the country. We define the concept of grey zones as situations that appear in specific time-spaces where problematic issues arise and the state fails to intervene. This triggers the intervention of civil society to deal with specific governance issues. In Belgium, the state – through an indifference-as-policy approach – delegates the responsibilities of reception and integration policies to multiple actors and leaves space for a variety of citizens’ initiatives to emerge. The grey zones of government policies become spaces for possible citizen-organised actions aimed at both providing initial reception and legal support to migrants, and denouncing the absence of state intervention. These citizen actions operate in particular on the issue of housing and reception of forced migrants with different legal status and migration aspirations. We also highlight the ambivalent relations emerging between civil society actors and the state. Through the analysis of two situated case studies, this article aims to provide evidence on how these civil society initiatives develop and how their humanitarian approach becomes political.     

文化地理学视角下跨国移民饮食适应研究进展与启示

全球化进程下,跨国移民成为不同地域间文化交流、冲突和再协商的主要载体,其在地饮食适应问题尤为凸显。本文回顾了国内外跨国移民饮食适应的研究,发现由营养学等范式主导的早期研究偏重对饮食适应水平的直接观测,较少探究饮食适应的身体属性、地方关系以及文化意涵。文化地理学视角下的跨国移民饮食适应的相关研究进展主要包括以下三个方面：身体尺度下的动态饮食适应过程、地方尺度下跨国饮食景观的生产与重构,以及身体与地方交互尺度下饮食适应与身份认同的复杂关系。本文最后针对当前研究的主要不足提出未来跨国移民饮食适应研究的可能议题。     

Inter- and intraregional inequality in a spatial economy

In this paper, we develop a three-region economic geography model with workers of heterogeneous skills and mobility rates to consider how first-nature, regional differences impact both inter- and intraregional inequality. In our model, the skill premium within a region summarizes both the degree of intraregional inequality between mobile, skilled workers and immobile, unskilled workers and the interregional inequality through differences in the welfare of unskilled workers across regions. Regions with the highest skill premium have the greatest degree of intraregional inequality and provide the lowest level of welfare to unskilled workers, relative to other regions. We find that the skill premium will be higher in regions with a greater supply of unskilled labor, lower supply of housing, or are more remote. An increase in a region's housing supply or centrality will lower intraregional inequality and raise the welfare of the local, unskilled workforce. However, the magnitude of these changes are declining in the initial number of skilled workers in the region. The model is extended to consider imperfectly elastic housing supply. The larger the price elasticity of housing, the larger the range of values, such that more populated regions will host a disproportionate share of skilled workers, have lower levels of intraregional inequality, and provide higher levels of welfare for unskilled workers.     

Business dynamism,educational attainment,and residential location choice

Using individual-level, geocode data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth's 1997 cohort, I ask whether business dynamism in local labor markets, defined as the rates of job creation and establishment entry, affects the location decisions of labor force participants, and I examine how effects differ for highly and less educated labor force participants. I find that a one standard deviation increase in business dynamism is associated with a 2%–4% increase in the probability a college graduate chooses a metropolitan statistical area and an 8%–15% decrease for high school graduates with no college experience. These results support recent findings documenting a decrease in responsiveness to local labor market conditions and suggest that incentivizing job creation in local labor markets may not be enough to offset the trend of declining internal migration in the United States.     

“You don't go there”: Spatial Strategies of Stigma Negotiation in a Post-Industrial Town

This paper draws on a multimethod ethnographic study, conducted between 2016 and 2017 in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, England—a small and relatively isolated deindustrialising colliery town—examining how residents negotiate living in stigmatised territory. In doing so, microspatial strategies of distancing, avoidance, and deflection are illustrated, revealing how residents reassign and deepen stigma in particular locations within a stigmatised territory. This highlights the relationship between social and physical space, and while spatial strategies of negotiation do not mitigate stigma, they do (re)produce internal social hierarchies within a place that is homogenised from the outside through disparaging narratives. A key contribution reveals the significance of the racialised production of space in shaping how territorial stigma is negotiated within this distinct socio-spatial location. Residents use strategies to redirect the stigma toward those seen as out of place and draw attention away from sticky sites of racialised urban stigma towards symbols of unspoilt rural Englishness.     

Indigenous agriculture in the Americas

Significant advances in our understanding of ancient agricultural practices in the Americas have been made in recent years. This review of the literature focuses on studies published between 1987 and early 1994. Issues pertaining to the transition from foraging to farming include the habitability of the American tropics prior to the development of agriculture, theories on plant domestication and the origins of agriculture, regional syntheses of agricultural development, and the origin, evolution, and dissemination of domesticates in the Americas. Other topics reviewed include new techniques that have recently been applied to the study of prehistoric agriculture in the Americas, various approaches to the study of agricultural change, and ways in which research on ancient agricultural practices is being applied in modern experimental agriculture and rural development projects.     

Investigating Human Migration and Horse‐Trading in Yelang (夜郎) Through Strontium Isotope Analysis of Skeletons from Zhougshui Sites,South‐West China (1300 bc – ad 25)

Yelang (夜郎), a mysterious state located in the south‐western area of early China and dating from the Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age (1300 bc – ad 25), is a cultural interactive junction between the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau and the Yangtze River Basin. The Zhongshui Basin in Weining County, Guizhou Province, was one of the important distribution areas of the Yelang civilization. This area, which includes sites at Jigongshan (鸡公山; 1300 – 800 bc ), Hongyingpan (红营盘; 700 – 400 bc ) and Yinzitan (银子坛; 400 bc – ad 25), has provided a very integrated chronology, spanning from the Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age in the eastern Yunnan – western Guizhou area. To investigate human migration and horse‐trading at these Yelang sites, we conducted a strontium isotopic analysis on the teeth enamel of humans and horses unearthed from these three sites. The results indicated the following: (1) people at the earlier sites (Jigongshan and Hongyingpan) were all indigenous, whereas in the Yinzitan cemetery, there was a more immigrant population, and all the people who were buried in an upper limb flexed supine position were non‐local; and (2) most of the horses found at the Jigongshan and Yinzitan sites show different provenances, probably related to the famous Dian (滇) and Zuo (筰) horses recorded in historical documents, providing more clues for further study on horse‐trading in South‐West China during the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age.     

The Archaeometry and Archaeology of Ancient Chinese Glass: a Review

This paper provides a new review of archaeometric research carried out on glass found in China, set in an archaeological context, from its earliest occurrence to the Song dynasty. It is set within a broad geographical context taking the terrestrial and maritime Silk Road contacts into account. We discuss chemical and isotopic compositional contrasts in glasses from different periods found in different parts of China, the glasses that were almost certainly made in China and those that were imported. A theme that runs through the paper is the problem of provenancing glass found in China, along with a lack of evidence for primary glass‐making sites and minimal evidence for secondary glass production. We discuss the glass artefacts that are of typical Chinese types and contrast these with imports; the structure reflects this contrast. We discuss potential new scientific and archaeological approaches to Chinese glass.     

Moving stories: precarious work and multiple migrations

According to the United Nations over 3% of the global population or 232 million people currently live outside their country of birth. Their significance as a growing proportion of the labour force in many European countries is widely known. It is also evident that women – many of them young – are increasingly represented among economic migrants and asylum seekers. However, the longer term contribution of women, as migrants and as workers, is less well recorded. Here, I explore the connections between migration and employment, through the lens of oral histories undertaken with women who moved to the UK. Their life stories illustrate the growing diversity among female migrants as well as the changing nature of women’s employment. My key focus is, however, not on the work these women migrants undertook in the UK, but on precarious forms of waged work engaged in during the migration journey itself. I also reflect on oral history as a method and the problems of writing difference for feminist scholars working with and on women migrants.