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An understanding of the growth and demise of ice sheets over North America is essential to inform future climate models. One poorly studied subject is the glacial dynamics during interstadial Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 (57–29 ka). To better constrain the southern margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet during this time period, we re-examined a stratigraphic sequence in southeast Manitoba, Canada, and provide robust evidence for advance and retreat of ice. Around 46.6 ± 5.1 ka (1σ error), fluvial sands were deposited under similar precipitation and significantly cooler summer temperatures than present-day. Ice then advanced south over the area, before retreating once again and a return to boreal forest and grassland conditions. The area was then covered by proglacial Lake Vita, dammed by ice to the north. Geochronology constraints indicate Lake Vita existed from ca. 44.3 ± 3.6 to 30.4 ± 2.3 ka (1σ error), although gaps in the optical and finite radiocarbon ages suggest either a lack of data or plausible temporary ice-margin advances during this time period. Ice covering most of Manitoba during MIS 3 is in line with global δ18O records, and glacially influenced sediment deposition in the Mississippi River basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Establishing the timing of glacial and nonglacial intervals in the core regions of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) is essential to constrain ice-sheet configuration at times of globally reduced ice volume, such as during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 (~57-29 ka). Hudson Bay Lowland (HBL) deglaciation, at the centre of the LIS, has been inferred at MIS 3 based on near-infinite wood radiocarbon ages and limited luminescence ages. To better constrain the age of the penultimate deglaciation of the western HBL, this study initially identified the youngest intertill nonglacial sediments, based on extensive fieldwork and till characterization. Next, vetted radiocarbon ages were combined with revised stratigraphy to show that five previously identified "MIS 3" sites were likely deposited during an earlier ice-free period. Finally, new optical ages targeting the youngest intertill nonglacial bed at three localities yielded ages ranging from 166 to 146 ka; all older than MIS 3. These ages indicate that the penultimate deglaciation of the western HBL likely occurred during MIS 5e. This interpretation better explains accompanying paleobotanic data sets that indicate vegetation similar to vegetation existing under present interglacial conditions. Currently no firm evidence exists in the terrestrial stratigraphic record for the deglaciation of the western HBL during MIS 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excavations at Catalhoyuk have been ongoing for over 20 years and have involved multi-national teams, a diverse range of archaeological specialists and a vast archive of records. The task of marshalling this data so that it can be useful not only at the post-excavation stage, but also while making decisions in the field, is challenging. Here, members of the team reflect on the use of digital technology on-site to promote a reflexive engagement with the archaeology. They explore how digital data in a fieldwork context can break down communication barriers between specialists, foster an inclusive approach to the excavation process and facilitate reflexive engagement with recording and interpretation. Keywords: Catalhoyuk, Neolithic, reflexive archaeology, GIS, 3D visualisation, digital recording, Introduction The aim of this paper is to summarise progress in the development of reflexive methods at Catalhoyuk over the past 20 years, and to describe some recent innovations that [...]

This article is concerned with the social processes involved in the formation of large agglomerated villages in the Neolithic of the Near East and Anatolia, with particular reference to Catalhoyuk in central Turkey. The article aims to show that practice theories (dealing with how social rules are learned in daily practice within the house) can be used to interpret the patterning of recurrent construction and use activities within domestic space at Catalhoyuk. The regulation of social practices in the house created village-wide social rules, but it is argued that the habituated behavior was also commemorative and involved in the construction of social memory. Sitewide and house-based specific memories are documented at Catalhoyuk. The evidence for habituated practice and social memory at other sites is briefly discussed, and is argued to be relevant for the formation of settled agricultural societies. Este articulo se refiere a los procesos sociales implicados en la formacion de grandes aglomeraciones aldeanas en el neolitico del Cercano Oriente y de Anatolia, con particular referencia a Catalhoyuk en Turquia central. Se pretende mostrar que la teoria de la accion practica (relacionada a la forma en que las reglas sociales pueden ser aprendidas en la practica diaria dentro de las residencias) puede ser utilizada para interpretar patrones recurrentes de construccion y actividades de uso dentro de los espacios domesticos en Catalhoyuk. La regulacion de practicas sociales en espacios domesticos creo reglas socials que funcionaban a nivel aldeano pero, se arguye, este comportamiento habituado era tambien conmemorativo e implicaba la construccion de la memoria social. Expresiones especificas de memoria son documentadas en las viviendas de Catalhoyuk y a nivel de sitio. Se discute brevemente la evidencia de practicas habituales y memoria social en otros sitios y se argumenta sobre su relevancia en la formacion de sociedades sedentarias y agricolas., It is often argued that some form of sedentism emerges during the Natufian of the Near East (e.g., Belfer-Cohen and Bar-Yosef 2000). Some of the following Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA, [...]

This document is a correction notice for an article published in the journal Quaternary Research. The correction addresses an error in Table 2 of the article, specifically the De (Gy) – C value for site 23. The correct value should be 292 ± 18 instead of 229 ± 18. The correction emphasizes that this typo does not impact the results of the study. The corrected table is provided in the document. [Extracted from the article]

This article argues that the development of excavation field methods in archaeology is closely tied to the social position of fieldworkers. We also note disaffection in field contract archaeology today resulting from a wide range of factors, including the separation of excavation from interpretation. We argue that this separation and the notion that archaeological excavation can be seen as unskilled undermine the scientific basis of archaeology. A reflexive archaeology is discussed that empowers field archaeology by (a) focusing interpretation at the trowel's edge, (b) bringing multiple perspectives close to the moment of excavation, and (c) documenting the documentation process., We wish to argue in this article that the development of excavation field methods in archaeology is closely tied to the social position of fieldworkers. We also note disaffection in [...]

In December 1997 we published Fekri Hassan's comments on Ian Hodder's 'Reflexive excavation methods' (ANTIQUITY 71: 1020-25). Ian Hodder responds here to the criticisms and defends his position. In the [...]

Although processual and postprocessual archaeologists conceive of 'data' in different ways (Patrik 1985), there has been little discussion of a postprocessual methodology (but see Carver 1989; Tilley 1989). This is [...]

This article uses spatial autocorrelation analysis in order to explore the social organisation of crop and herd management at the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in south-central Turkey. Evidence for spatial clustering across the settlement is sought at different scales (house, neighbourhood, radial wedge, sector, sub-mound) in the different periods of occupation from Early to Late. The data used are sheep carbon and nitrogen isotopes, densities of weed species in archaeobotanical assemblages and the densities of weed species in sheep dung. The results are interpreted in relation to existing work both on crop and herd management and consumption at Çatalhöyük and on the social organisation of the settlement. Complex nested and cross-cutting social groupings shared many aspects of production and consumption activities across the site resulting in limited spatial clustering of values. The impacts of taphonomic factors on these results are considered. Especially by the Late period of occupation at Çatalhöyük, there is some evidence of distinct labour and consumption organisation linked to houses and house groupings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the standpoint of marketing and sales, Henry David Thoreau's first major publishing venture, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, was something of a fiasco, a fact hardly [...]

This response to Adams' comment regarding the interpretation of Catalhoyuk, a 9000 year old tell site in central Turkey, notes some important differences between Neolithic Catalhoyuk and the Indonesian societies described by Adams. Ritual was closely linked to daily practices in all houses at Catalhoyuk. While it is argued that socialization through daily routines in houses was a main mechanism for creating and maintaining social relationships at Catalhoyuk, it is also accepted that feasting was a very central part of social and political strategies. However the role of feasting needs to be situated within specific sets of historical meanings. Similarly, a contextual analysis of the circulation of human heads suggests that those at Catalhoyuk were more likely ancestral heads than victim or enemy heads. Esta respuesta al comentario de Adams en relacion a la interpretation de Catalhoyuk, un sitio monticulo de 9,000 anos de antiguedad en el centro de Turquia, da cuenta de varias diferencias importantes entre el Neolitico de Catalhoyuk y las sociedades de Indonesia descriptas por Adams. El ritual estuvo muy ligado alas practicas cotidianas en todas las casas de Catalhoyuk. La socializacion a traves de las rutinas cotidianas en las casas fue un mecanismo importante para crear y mantener las relaciones sociales en Catalhoyuk, pero al mismo tiempo los festines cumplieron un rol central en las estrategias sociales y politicas. Sin embargo, el rol de los festines necesita ser situado dentro de un conjunto especifico de significados historicos. De la misma manera, un analisis contextual de la circulacion de las cabezas humanas sugiere que aquellas en Catalhoyuk eran mas posiblemente cabezas de ancestros que cabezas de victimas o enemigos., I am grateful to Ron Adams for his constructive comments and for the productive email exchange that we have had as a result. My response here results from our overall [...]

Numerous hedge funds stop reporting each year to commercial databases, wreaking havoc with analyzing investment strategies that incur the unobserved delisting return. We use estimated portfolio holdings for funds-of-funds to back out estimated hedge-fund delisting returns. For all exiting funds, the estimated mean delisting return is insignificantly different from the average monthly return for live hedge funds. However, funds with poor prior performance and no clearly stated delisting reason had a significantly negative estimated mean delisting return of -5.97%, suggesting that a shock to their returns “tips them over the edge” and leads to delisting. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Edited by A. REID. St. Leonards: Allen and Unwin, 1996. Asian Studies Association of Australia, Southeast Asia Publications Series No. 28. Pp. xxx, 232. This thorough and scholarly book is [...]

Martin Luther King Jr. is widely read through his association with Gandhi's ideas and practice. Whilst it is important to neither overstate nor ignore this influence, the paper retraces the work undertaken behind the scenes to script this relationship for wider audiences. It questions how King's casting as America's black Gandhi was strategically undertaken, by whom and for what purposes, as well as exploring why it was ultimately short-lived. Although King experimented with Gandhism briefly in the late 1950s, by the early 1960s the idea had largely been dropped. In particular, the paper focusses on the role played by the American pacifist movement up to, and including, organizing King's visit to India in 1959. These sources are used to make a broader argument that King's ability to inhabit Gandhi's legacy during the movement's early years was critical to forging global anticolonial connections. As such the paper argues that nonviolence was more than a repertoire of resistance techniques, but a spatial mechanism which could fold scale, bridge distance, and thereby produce and reshape racial solidarity itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial continuity of the house is often seen as crucial in providing temporal depth for the Neolithic societies of southwest Asia. While an emphasis on the creation of such continuities is evinced at densely agglomerated sites, other sites are characterised by dispersal and frequent relocation of habitation. Çatalhöyük (Turkey) and Tell Sabi Abyad (Syria) appear to be at either end of this spectrum. However, recently found evidence and reinterpretation of older evidence call into question the apparently stark distinction between the two sites. The purpose of this paper is to compare aspects of the archaeological evidence from Tell Sabi Abyad and Çatalhöyük, and in doing so to understand the different ways in which site formation and social continuity were achieved. In particular, the presence of breaks in spatial continuities – an often overlooked aspect of site formation – and its implications are discussed. It appears that at these two sites both continuity and breaks gave form and meaning to the settlements and to the societies that inhabited them. We argue that social continuities and anchors to the past can be constructed in many variable ways, and that direct spatial continuity of the house is but one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate incentive effects of a typical hedge fund contract for a manager with power utility. With a one-year horizon, the manager displays risk taking that varies dramatically with fund value. We extend the model to multiple yearly evaluation periods and find that the manager's risk taking is rapidly moderated if the fund performs reasonably well. The most realistic approach to modeling fund closure uses an endogenous shutdown barrier where the manager optimally chooses to shut down. The manager increases risk taking as fund value approaches that barrier, and this boundary behavior persists strongly with multiyear horizons.

This article presents an examination of Japanese financial markets within the historical context of the 1950s and 1960s. Specifically, the authors wish to explain how particular regulatory forces influenced the development of unique corporate financial structures. They describe how the circumstances of post war reconstruction impacted the economic structure and development. One peculiarity is that Japanese corporations borrow mainly from private banks and insurance companies instead of through bonds.