Metapodial asymmetry in draft cattle

Traction work by oxen has been well documented in various pictorial and written sources throughout human history. Analysis of metapodial dimensions has been carried out with the aim of quantifying asymmetry related to sexual dimorphism, body size and possibly heavy duty traction work. A modern reference sample of 103 animals from Hungary and Rumania has been used for this purpose. Bone measurements were correlated with bone density and morphological characteristics in order to make the results applicable for the identification of remains from draft cattle in archaeozoological assemblages. Asymmetry is more pronounced in the thoracic extremity and metacarpals of older or heavier animals, sometimes showing excessive widening of the third, medial ray within the fused bone. Relative broadening is also intensive in the distal end of medial metatarsals of cows and oxen. The bone mineral content of the medial carpal region attains mature density first. The weight of phalanges increases for a longer time in the laterally located toes.     

Analyses of measurements taken from adult femurs of a British population

The femur remains an important bone in palaeoanthropology and this paper reports various analyses of measurements taken from long-cassette radiographs of adult femurs of a reference population from the south of England (n=81, males 33, females 48). Discriminant analysis confirmed that the male femur is usually larger than the female femur, and that a femur may be sexed with some confidence. Discriminant scores have been derived to permit estimates to be made, from the whole or a part of a femur, of the probability of the male gender. Outcomes from a principal component analysis suggest: that the female proximal femur is a morphological unit; that neck length and shaft length are dissociated and there is no common factor representing linearity; and that the male bicondylar width is anomalous, a finding that is confirmed by other analyses. An estimate of the robusticity of the complete female, but not male, bone may sometimes be made from a proximal fragment. The robusticity of the complete bone may be made confidently from the shaft for both genders. The two width variables relating to a distal fragment cannot be used to predict the robusticity of the complete bone for either gender. A method of defining the position of the waist in terms of displacement in deciles down the shaft is described. The position of the waist seems to have a bimodal distribution. The positive association between age and distal displacement may be due to remoulding of the shaft with age or to a cohort (generational) effect. There is a weak correlation between a small neck–shaft angle and the distal displacement of the waist, two archaic phenotypic traits. Ten statements in the literature relating to the femur have been examined and tested; six are confirmed and four are unconfirmed, and it is suggested that there is a need for further studies relating to the morphology of the femur.     

Studies on Amerindian dogs, 2: Variation in early peruvian dogs

Remains of dogs have been discovered in Peru for over a hundred years, but relatively little information is available on them. Dating evidence, especially by the radiocarbon method, suggests that the skulls of dogs considered in detail here range from 1030 BC to 1324 AD, with the majority belonging to the past two millennia. Craniometric information is presented on a series of early Peruvian specimens now preserved in Lima and London, representing the majority of material as yet unpublished, and the largest sample so far studied. Additional Peruvian data were also collected from the literature, as well as comparable information on some other Amerindian dog series. It has been possible to indicate that two distinct forms are represented in the Peruvian material.     

Strengthening gender justice in the Asia-Pacific through the Rome Statute

Many conflicts in the Asia-Pacific region have included sexual violence crimes targeted primarily against women. However, in comparison to other regions, Asia-Pacific states have been reluctant to embrace international law innovations to end impunity for such crimes into the future, as evidenced by their unwillingness to become signatories to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Of the 39 countries constituting the Asia-Pacific region, only 17—less than half—have joined the Rome Statute. This article initially surveys some of the reasons for non-ratification of the Statute. It further examines the role of civil society and the potential normative impact of the Statute to enhance national sexual violence legislation and prosecutions. Finally, it identifies some practical steps that the Australian government could take to encourage regional states to ratify, implement and enforce the Rome Statute in order to further protect all victims of international crimes and bolster the broader Women, Peace and Security framework.     

Is It Always Good to Talk? The Paradoxes of Truth-Telling by Rwandan Youth Born of Rape Committed during the Genocide

Social scientists have extensively debated the virtues, pitfalls, and practical effects of open dialogue and truth-telling versus silence and concealment in global post-conflict endeavours for justice and reconciliation. This article addresses these debates not by endorsing practices of either talk or silence, but by investigating the practical dilemmas faced by Rwandan youth born of rape committed during the 1994 genocide as they find themselves caught in dual cultural imperatives to reveal and to conceal the circumstances of their origins. On the one hand, the post-genocide moment has seen the rise of truth-telling and self-revelation through testimonial practices in settings like post-genocide trials and reconciliation or peace-building workshops. On the other hand, silence and concealment are accepted and expected modes of dealing with hardship in Rwandan cultural practice, and youth participants struggled with the stigma of having been born of genocidal rape. We argue that the youths’ ambivalent and sometimes contradictory moral evaluations of talking about versus hiding their origins highlight the challenges and complexities of identity and belonging in post-genocide Rwanda, since their very existence draws them, their mothers, and their perpetrator-fathers into ongoing relationships. These youths’ lives and experiences speak to larger and powerful conundrums at the heart of what it means to live with legacies of violence, including what should be said or remain unsaid, and how the very opposition between revealing and concealing can be confounded by social and cultural variances in the meaning of “truth.”