The Great Kod of Pulu: Mutual Historical Emergence of Ceremonial Sites and Social Groups in Torres Strait, Northeast Australia

2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian J. McNiven ◽  
Bruno David ◽  
Goemulgau Kod ◽  
Judith Fitzpatrick
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
Structural Basis ◽  
Emergent Properties ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Dynamic Relationship ◽  
The Status ◽  
Island Communities ◽  
History Of ◽  
Torres Strait

Communal ceremonial sites and social groups often share mutually reinforcing and structuring properties. As a result of this dynamic relationship, ceremonial sites and social groups exhibit ever-emergent properties as long-term works-in-progress. Ceremonial kod sites featuring shrines of trumpet shells and dugong bones were central to the communal ritual life of Torres Strait Islanders. Continuously formed over the generations by ritual additions, these shrines were linked to ongoing maintenance, legitimization and cohesion of totemic clans and moieties that formed the structural basis of island communities. As such, understanding the history of kod sites provides an opportunity to investigate the historical emergence of ethnographically-known social groups in Torres Strait. This mutual emergence is investigated archaeologically at the kod on Pulu islet which is owned and operated by the Goemulgal people of nearby Mabuyag island. Multiple radiocarbon dates from shell and bone shrines and an underlying village midden indicate that the kod, and by association the Goemulgal and their totemic clan and moiety system, emerged over the past 400 years. Aided by local oral history and ethnography, it is argued further that establishment of the kod saw the status of Pulu change from a residential to a ceremonial and sacred place.

scholarly journals Evaluating and Differentiating Ankle Instability

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (6) ◽  
pp. 617-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip A. Gribble
Keyword(s):  
Ankle Instability ◽  
Chronic Ankle Instability ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Diagnostic Tools ◽  
Ankle Sprains ◽  
Lateral Ankle ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ankle Complex

Given the prevalence of lateral ankle sprains during physical activity and the high rate of reinjury and chronic ankle instability, clinicians should be cognizant of the need to expand the evaluation of ankle instability beyond the acute time point. Physical assessments of the injured ankle should be similar, regardless of whether this is the initial lateral ankle sprain or the patient has experienced multiple sprains. To this point, a thorough injury history of the affected ankle provides important information during the clinical examination. The physical examination should assess the talocrural and subtalar joints, and clinicians should be aware of efficacious diagnostic tools that provide information about the status of injured structures. As patients progress into the subacute and return-to-activity phases after injury, comprehensive assessments of lateral ankle-complex instability will identify any disease and patient-oriented outcome deficits that resemble chronic ankle instability, which should be addressed with appropriate interventions to minimize the risk of developing long-term, recurrent ankle instability.

The limits of comparison: institutional mortality rates, long-term confinement and causes of death during the early twentieth century

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 404-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Waltraud Ernst
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Causes Of Death ◽  
Modern World ◽  
British India ◽  
Psychiatric Institution ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Material

This article presents a case study of institutional trends in a psychiatric institution in British India during the early twentieth century. It focuses on mortality statistics and long-term confinement rates as well as causes of death. The intention is two-fold: first, to provide new material that potentially lends itself to comparison with the few existing institutional case studies that have explored this particular period; second, to highlight some of the problems inherent in the status of the statistics and the conceptual categories used, and to consider the challenges these pose for any intended comparative and transnational assessment. Furthermore, it is suggested that historians working on the history of western institutions ought to look beyond the confining rim of Eurocentric self-containment and relate their research to other institutions around the world. It is important for social historians to abstain from uncritically reproducing hegemonic histories of the modern world in which western cultures and nations are posited by default as the centre or metropolis and the rest as peripheries whose social and scientific developments may be seen to be of exotic interest, but merely derivative and peripheral.

Archaeology, genetics and a population bottleneck in prehistoric Finland

Antiquity ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 88 (342) ◽  
pp. 1132-1147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tarja Sundell ◽  
Juhana Kammonen ◽  
Petri Halinen ◽  
Petro Pesonen ◽  
Päivi Onkamo
Keyword(s):  
Population Bottleneck ◽  
Genetic Profile ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Finnish Population ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Combined Use ◽  
History Of ◽  
Stone Artefact

The long-term history of prehistoric populations is a challenging but important subject that can now be addressed through combined use of archaeological and genetic evidence. In this study a multidisciplinary team uses these approaches to document the existence of a major population bottleneck in Finland during the Late Neolithic period, the effects of which are still detectable in the genetic profile of the Finnish population today. The postglacial recolonisation of Finland was tracked through space and time using radiocarbon dates and stone artefact distributions to provide a robust framework of evidence against which the genetic simulations could be compared.

Massaging the Media: Australia Day and the Emergence of Public Relations

2012 ◽  
Vol 144 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-36
Author(s):  
Robert Crawford ◽  
Jim Macnamara
Keyword(s):  
Public Relations ◽  
Growth And Development ◽  
Media Relations ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Central Function ◽  
Dynamic Relationship ◽  
Local Media ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Media

The status of Australia Day has long generated mixed responses – from patriotic flag-waving, to apathy, to outright hostility. Proponents of 26 January consequently have engaged in various public relations activities in order to promote Australia Day and to establish its credentials as the national day. From the early nineteenth century through to the present, local media outlets have had a dynamic relationship with Australia Day. Yet while they have been active proponents of Australia Day, their support was not unconditional. The emergence of various bodies with the specific aim of promoting Australia Day would alter this relationship, with the media becoming a potential adversary. As such, media relations assumed a more central function in the promotion of Australia Day. By charting the growth and development of media relations that have accompanied Australia Day celebrations, this study not only documents the evolution of media relations practice, but also reveals the extended history of public relations in Australia and its presence in everyday Australian life.

‘Sexual chemistry’ before the Pill: science, industry and chemical contraceptives, 1920–1960

2010 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
ILANA LÖWY
Keyword(s):  
Pharmaceutical Industry ◽  
Laboratory Tests ◽  
Chemical Compounds ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
Marginal Status ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Pharmaceutical Laboratories

AbstractThe history of contraceptives met the history of drugs long before the invention of the contraceptive pill. In the first half of the twentieth century, numerous pharmaceutical laboratories, including major ones, manufactured and marketed chemical contraceptives: jellies, suppositories, creams, powders and foams applied locally to prevent conception. Efforts to put an end to the marginal status of these products and to transform them into ‘ethical’ drugs played an important role in the development of standardized laboratory tests of efficacy of contraceptive preparations; debates on the validity of such tests; evaluation of the long-term toxicity of chemical compounds; and the rise of collaborations between activists, non-profit organizations and the pharmaceutical industry. Chemical contraceptives were initially associated with quack medicine, shady commercial practices and doubtful morality. Striving to change the status of contraceptives and to promote safe and efficient products that reduced fertility in humans shaped some of the key features of the present-day production and regulation of pharmaceuticals.

scholarly journals The Ancient Tree Inventory: a summary of the results of a 15 year citizen science project recording ancient, veteran and notable trees across the UK

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 3103-3129
Author(s):  
Victoria Nolan ◽  
Tom Reader ◽  
Francis Gilbert ◽  
Nick Atkinson
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Tree Age ◽  
Tree Inventory ◽  
Recording Process ◽  
Recording Project ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Citizen Science Project

Abstract Ancient, veteran and notable trees are ecologically important keystone organisms and have tangible connections to folklore, history and sociocultural practices. Although found worldwide, few countries have such a rich history of recording and treasuring these trees as the UK, with its extensive Royal and aristocratic land ownership, unique land management methods and long-standing interest in natural history and species record collecting. As a result, the UK has collated an extensive database of ancient, veteran and notable trees called the Ancient Tree Inventory (ATI). The ATI is the result of a successful, long-term citizen science recording project and is the most comprehensive database of ancient and other noteworthy trees to date. We present here the first review of the ATI in its entirety since its initiation in 2004, including summaries of the UK ancient, veteran and notable tree distributions, the status and condition of the trees, and key information about the recording process and maintenance of the database. Statistical analysis of components of the dataset, comprising 169,967 tree records, suggest there are significant differences in the threats, size, form and location of different types of trees, especially in relation to taxonomic identity and tree age. Our goal is to highlight the value of the ATI in the UK, to encourage the development of similar ancient tree recording projects in other countries, and to emphasise the importance to conservation of continued efforts to maintain and expand databases of this kind.

The growth of rural madrasa

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felicitas Becker
Keyword(s):  
Educational Practice ◽  
Local Institutions ◽  
Local Networks ◽  
Mission Schools ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
Indirect Association ◽  
And Performance

In parallel with mosques, centres of Quranic education, known locally as madrasa, sprang up in the countryside between c.1920 and 1960. They were small, poor, and often transient; their one defining feature was the presence of a mwalimu, a teacher. Comparison of the parallel development of madrasa and mission schools makes clear that the main reason for this divergence was not resistance to Christian elements in the missionaries' syllabus, but to the perceived interference of mission teachers with the authority of students' families and with local religious practices. By contrast, madrasa tolerated these practices and were more closely integrated into the social networks of parents. The spread of madrasa and of mission schools involves three subtle long-term processes. Topics covered include educational practice and the status of knowledge, madrasa and mission schools, unyago, colonial politics and local networks, schools and madrasa as local institutions, madrasa as sites of encounter with Muslim knowledge, imagining Muslim scholarship, and performance and orality in Muslim education. In general, the history of madrasa emphasizes an indirect association between education and social control – the complex status of knowledge.

Development of a peatland complex in boreal western Canada: lateral site expansion and local variability in vegetation succession and long-term peat accumulation

2003 ◽  
Vol 81 (8) ◽  
pp. 833-847 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilka E Bauer ◽  
L Dennis Gignac ◽  
Dale H Vitt
Keyword(s):  
Vegetation History ◽  
Community Change ◽  
Vegetation Succession ◽  
Peat Accumulation ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Nucleation Sites ◽  
Peatland Development ◽  
Water Tables ◽  
History Of

The spatial development and vegetation history of a large boreal peatland complex in east-central Alberta was reconstructed to examine factors that control peatland development in continental regions. Peat depth throughout the site was interpolated from over 300 depth measurements, and basal radiocarbon dates were obtained from 16 cores. Peat first initiated about 7400 calibrated 14C years BP (cal. BP), and early peat-forming communities were wet fens or marshes. Rates of expansion from these nucleation sites were dependent on both moisture availability and topography, with asynchronous expansion in different regions. Basal macrofossil assemblages suggest that paludification on slopes of large basins was the result of flooding caused by rising peatland water tables. In many areas that initiated after 3000 cal. BP, paludification involved invasion of upland forest by Sphagnum. Long-term apparent rates of peat accumulation were fastest in wet, moderate-rich fen areas where little community change has occurred over time. Macrofossil analysis of core profiles reveals a tendency for sites that initiated wet and minerotrophic to eventually be colonized by Sphagnum. However, the thickness of surficial Sphagnum layers differs between cores, and there are several examples of minimal or apparently reverse successional development.Key words: peatlands, boreal, paleoecology, vegetation succession, peat accumulation, paludification.

The world recreated: redating Silbury Hill in its monumental landscape

Antiquity ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 81 (311) ◽  
pp. 26-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Bayliss ◽  
Fachtna McAvoy ◽  
Alasdair Whittle
Keyword(s):  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ritual Landscape

A classic exposition of the difficulties of dating a major monument and why it matters. Silbury Hill, one of the world's largest prehistoric earth mounds, is too valuable to take apart, so we are reliant on samples taken from tunnels and chance exposures. Presenting a new edition of thirty radiocarbon dates, the authors offer models of short- or long-term construction, and their implications for the ritual landscape of Silbury and Stonehenge. The sequence in which monuments, and bits of monuments, were built gives us the kind and history of societies doing the building. So nothing matters more than the dates…

scholarly journals BAS’YANOVO ARCHAEOLOGICAL COMPLEX OF THE NEOLITHIC IN THE FOREST TRANS-URALS: THE HISTORY OF RESEARCH

2021 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-149
Author(s):  
Alexander F. Shorin ◽  
◽  
Anastasia A. Shorina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Tradition ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Cultural Phenomenon ◽  
History Of Research ◽  
Local Variant ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
Stone Industry ◽  
Similarity And Difference

The article is devoted to the analysis of the history of exploring the Bas’yanovo archaeological complex of the Neolithic in the forest Trans-Urals. At the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries A. F. Shorin and V. A. Arefiev identified this ceramic complex initially as an independent type of ceramics based on materials from the Koksharovsky hill sanctuary. The authors of the first researches showed the markers of this ceramic complex, its similarity and difference from the vessels of the Boborykino culture. After the excavations of the Vtoroy poselok I site, the features of the stone industry of this new archaeological phenomenon, similar and distinguishing features of it from the Boborykino culture, were highlighted. The data on the relative stratigraphy of Koksharovsky hill, as well as the analysis of the base of radiocarbon dates, made it possible to determine the chronological framework of this cultural phenomenon within the last quarter of the 6th–5th millennium BC, i. e. the late Neolithic of the Trans-Urals. However, at present, based on materials from the excavations of the Beregovaya II site on the Gorbunovsky peat bog, the age of the Bas’yanovo cultural tradition is proposed to be dated to the turn of the 7th–6th millennium BC, i. e. attributed to the very beginning of the Neolithic in the region. The status of this cultural phenomenon in the accepted archaeological definitions can be assessed as a local variant of the Boborykino culture. The assessment of the ratio of the Boborykino and Bas’yanovo complexes of the Trans-Urals can also be interpreted from the standpoint of another culturological approach — the concept of “archaeological continuity”.

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