Historic Salvage Law Revisited

Litigation involving the R.M.S. Titanic highlights the critical need for a more stable legal regime to protect shipwrecks, their cargo, and other aspects of underwater cultural heritage. The general maritime law, as articulated by admiralty courts in the United States, has begun to qualify salvage awards in terms of compliance with archaeological standards. Salvage law, however, does not provide language and rules readily applicable to historic wreck and related material. We are, therefore, in a period of transition between a heavy reliance on the common law of "treasure" salvage and the development of a truly general, universal regime to govern underwater heritage. At the center of this development is the Draft UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Heritage, based upon the Buenos Aires Draft Convention of the International Law Association. The emerging regime of conventional law provides authority, bases of jurisdiction and other forms of international cooperation, to enforce a set of rules for protection and scientific management of heritage. Critical issues await further negotiations, including the definition of protected heritage, an accommodation of commercial salvage interests within the prescribed conservation and management standards, the status of warships, and the terms of coastal state jurisdiction within the permissible limits of the 1982 UNCLOS.     

The Threat to Nubia

Abstract

The building of a high dam above the first cataract of the Nile near Aswan has presented anthropologists with a salvage problem of the first magnitude. Thousands of archaeological sites will be inundated ranging in time from the Paleolithic to early Christian (Coptic) periods. Since this area is one of the cradles of mankind, this presents a challenge to the entire civilized world.

Discussed are the present international solutions to this problem through the United Nations, Economic, Social, and Cultural Organization, the new and liberal excavation policies of the Egyptian and Nubian governments, and the establishment of various international committees organized to implement these policies.

Work already under way of these committees is summarized. Both the current and planned work of the 10 countries now involved are listed. The problems and policies concerned with the removal and preservation of temples too large to remove are discussed.     

United States policy on international straits

Abstract

United States policy on international straits is dictated by the vital importance to U.S. national security interests of unimpeded commercial and military transit through, over, and under sea lines of communication. Although perceived flaws in the deep seabed mining regime of the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention precluded U.S. signature or ratification of that document, the United States considers that the navigational articles of the convention reflect customary international law. Accordingly, U.S. policy on international straits is premised on recognition of and respect for the balance of interests set forth in the navigational articles of the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention.     

The reigning misperception about culture and Asian American achievement

ABSTRACT

Asian Americans graduate from college at higher rates than other groups, and evince educational outcomes that match or exceed those of their parents. They comprise about 25 per cent of the student body in Ivy League institutions, despite making up only 6 per cent of the U.S. population. While it may be tempting to reduce Asian American academic achievement to Asian culture, and Confucian values more specifically, we provide disconfirming evidence, both within the United States and beyond, to show the fallacy of this logic. Contemporary U.S. Asian immigrants are “hyper-selected”: they are more likely to have graduated from college than their non-migrant counterparts, and also more likely to be college-educated than the U.S. mean. Hyper-selectivity and its spillover effects explain the exceptional educational outcomes of Asian Americans. It is time that we laid to rest the reigning misperception that Asian American academic achievement can be reduced to Asian culture or Confucian values.     

Antler Tine Scraper Handles in the Central Plains

Abstract

In the perspectives of archaeology, it is evident that the widespread antler-handled fleshing adz used by most historic Plains Indian tribes was preceded in the region by other types of hafted skin-working tools. These, inferentially, varied in construction and materials from area to area, but were everywhere provided with planoconvex chipped stone blades - the familiar and omnipresent end scraper of the Plains. In early historic times in the Central Plains, curved antler handles with stone blades are thought from archaeological evidence to have been used not in adz fashion but with a pushing motion, away from the operator. The relative abundance, variety in size and form, and longevity as an artifact type of the plano-convex end scraper raises various questions that invite further inquiry.     

Canadian government financial intervention in a marine fishery: The case of newfoundland, 1972/73–1980/81

Abstract

Trade in fish products between Canada and the United States has been the subject of extensive legal activity in the latter country. United States fishing interests have repeatedly attempted to utilize provisions in U.S. law and in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) to have countervailing duties imposed on imports of Canadian fish products, the prices of which are alleged to be artificially depressed by Canadian government financial support of the industry.

This paper summarizes the state of U.S. and international law on countervailing duties, and surveys recent legal activity on the matter. It then presents hitherto uncollected evidence on government financial support of a major Canadian fishery, the Newfoundland groundfishery. It is found that the total value of expenditures was equal to 31 percent of the value of total fish products in 1980/81. However, subsidies as defined by the U.S. International Trade Administration, in accordance with U.S. law and the GATT, amounted to only 4.5 percent of the value of total fish products in that year.     

Man and Bison on the Plains in the Protohistoric Period

Abstract

The presence of great herds of buffalo on the Central and Southern High Plains in early historic times may have been a recent phenomenon that discouraged reoccupation of the area by horticultural groups and encouraged proto-Apacheans who were already hunters of large herd animals to move southward. Such a possibility is supported by both archaeological and historical evidence.     

The Grass Valley Horse

Abstract

The head and part of the neck of a baked clay horse figurine from an archaeological site in Lander County is described. It suggested the presence of the Grass Valley horse in Central Nevada reaffirms the strong cultural ties between the PlateauShoshone and the buffalo hunting; horse-nomad Shoshone of the Western Plains, ties already indicated by Shoshone pottery and other plains type artifacts indigenous to the area.     

Plains Facts

Abstract

During the summer of 1960, 8 burial or storage pits were uncovered at the Leary site 25RH1, Richardson County, Nebraska by a bulldozer of the county highway department. A rush archaeological salvage excavation was conducted, Remains of at least 3 individuals were recovered, Pottery resembles that excavated from the site in 1935 by the Nebraska State Historical Society and is classified as Oneota, A wine bottle of the type manufactured by the William McCully Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania between 1832 and 1890 was recovered from an undisturbed part of a storage pit. It is thought to be intrusive through rodent action.     

The Shoshonean Migration Problem

Abstract

The Shoshone were resident in northwestern Wyoming at the time of historic contact, the early mneteenth century. Two hypptheses to explain their presence and time depth there have been proposed. The migration hypothesis brings them from the southern Sierra Nevadas across the Great Basin beginning no earlier than A.D. 1000. The in situ hypothesis argues for a residency of 5000 to 7000 year. The hypotheses are tested by drawing predictions from them. Using ceramics, rock art, strat1graph1c sequences, and adaptive data the in situ hypothesis may be falsified. The migration hypothesis then best explains the archaeological evidence. It is thus suggested that Shoshonean speakers did not reach southern Wyoming until the fifteenth century A.D. at the earliest. It is also suggested that the higher mountainous areas of Jackson Hole and Yellowstone Park were not occupied by the Shoshonean speakers until after they were driven from the northwestern Plains around A.D. 1800. Finally, it 1s proposed, but not tested, that Athapaskan speakers may have occupied the region of western Wyoming from the Altithermal until the time of the Shoshonean and Crow migrations of the fifteenth century. At this time Apacheans were displaced southward and eastward.     

Morphometric Analysis of Sunflower (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Helianthus annuus</Emphasis> L.) Achenes from Mexico and Eastern North America<Superscript>1</Superscript>

Morphometric Analysis of Sunflower ( Helianthus annuus L.) Achenes from Mexico and Eastern North America. Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) has played a major role in the evolution of agricultural systems in the Americas. The discovery of ancient domesticated remains from archaeological deposits in pre-Columbian Mexico offers new dimensions to widely accepted viewpoints on the domestication pattern of H. annuus. Although American sunflower populations north of Mexico have been examined extensively, Mexican indigenous domesticated landraces have not been studied in any detail. In this study, we morphologically assessed wild and domesticated sunflower achenes from Mexico and compared them to similar datasets from eastern North America. Additionally, we evaluated the utility of four computer-assisted shape measurements in discriminating between wild and domesticated sunflower achenes (fruits) and compared variation in achene size among modern wild and cultivated populations from both Mexico and the U.S. We found that, of the shape parameters tested, none were informative in distinguishing wild achenes from domesticated varieties. Subsequent size analysis, using conventional parameters of length, width, and thickness, showed that modern wild populations from Mexico had smaller achenes compared to modern populations from eastern North America. Domesticated achenes unearthed from Mexican archaeological sites, however, were significantly larger than the early domesticated specimens recovered from eastern North America. Our methodological results indicate that variation in archaeological sunflower achenes is better described by conventional size parameters rather than computerized shape analysis.     

Prehistoric Pile Dwellers within an Emergent Ecosystem: An Archaeological Case of Hunters and Gatherers at the Mouth of the Savannah River during the Mid-Holocene

Evidence of a pile-dwelling community and seral environmental conditions during the late Mid-Holocene (ca 4,000–3,000 years b.p.) is explored through archaeological data and paleoecological information from the Bilbo Site at the mouth of the Savannah River along the Georgia coast, U.S.A. It is argued that pile dwellings were a central feature of the cultural adaptive system, allowing settlements to be located in wetlands that provided optimal access to the evolving food resources of multiple, dynamic environments. It also is suggested that the adaptive strategy included residential stability and a more complex organizational structure than that exhibited by modern hunter-gatherers living in marginal environments. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Archaeological Investigations at the Budenbender Site,Tuttle Creek Reservoir,North-Central Kansas, 1957

Abstract

By means of a contract with the National Park Service, and additional support from the University, the Department of Anthropology at the University of Kansas conducted archaeological salvage investigations in the northern part of the Tuttle Creek Reservoir of north-central Kan5as in 1957. Excavations were conducted at five sites, of which the Budenbender site (14P04) proved most productive. The present report describes excavations at Budenbender, the discoveries made, and interprets the data from the excavations in terms of current archaeological interest and taxonomic usages. The single house completely excavated at Sudanbender is identified as a component of the Central Plains tradition, and is placed in the Smoky Hill regional variant of that tradition.     

Craniometric Relationships of Plains Populations: Historical and Evolutionary Implications

Abstract

Large skeletal samples from cemeteries in the Northern Plains near Mobridge, South Dakota have made possible the accurate determination of craniometric relationships between populations ancestoral to the historic Arikara. There is considerable change throughout the approximately 200 years represented, due primarily to gene flow from adjacent Siouan speaking groups. Arikara crania from the Northern Plains are seen to be morphologically similar to earlier crania further south, in particular St. Helena materials in northeastern Nebraska. This offers Support for the archaeological hypothesis that Coalescent Tradition cultures grew out of the Central Plains Tradition. Early crania from the Northern Plains are markedly different from those in the Central Plains and more similar to historic Mandan. The craniometric evidence argues for biological continuity rather than replacement in the Plains area.     

The United States and the new law of the sea

Abstract

The official U.S. statement on the 32nd meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC termed the outcome a “modest success.”; However, from the point of view of conservationists—i.e., governments and private groups seeking greater protection for the world's endangered whales—the results of the 1980 IWC session can be described at best as satisfactory. The disappointing U.S. performance at this and other recent Commission proceedings strongly suggests the need for a reassessment of American cetacean policy and the way in which we pursue this policy in the IWC.

The discussion will begin with a review of U.S. objectives in the IWC in relation to national and international law governing cetaceans. The focus will then turn to the role played by the United States in the Commission's deliberations on selected issues in 1980. The conclusion will set forth recommendations for improvements in American policy and strategy in the IWC.     

Interaction Parameters and the Demise of Paleo-Indian Craftsmanship

Abstract

Interaction plays a central role in archaeological interpretations, yet it has remained theoretically underdeveloped and has often been misused. A framework for dealing with interaction is presented, consisting of: 1) ultimate adaptive conditions for interaction; 2) specific reasons for various types of interaction; 3) modifications of interaction due to aspects of the social matrix; 4) interaction mechanisms; and 5) the artifact patterns resulting from all of these factors. It is clear that “interaction” cannot be treated as a monolithic phenomenon; rather there are many types of interaction with many different outcomes for artifact patterning. The transition from the Paleo-Indian to Archaic stages is analyzed within this framework, and it is suggested that in the simplified interaction context of generalized hunter/ gatherers the size of interaction networks is largely a function of resource reliability and the relative need to maintain subsistence-related alliances between bands.     

Prehistoric settlement developments in the multi-period sites of south India,Brahmagiri Hill

This paper is focused on the multi-period sites in the core southern Neolithic region of south India to highlight their potential archaeological features and resources to assess land use and settlement patterns adopted by the mid-Holocene societies. Systematic archaeological reworks at the multi-period sites require particular attention to identify the resource locations and non-occupation sites for developing a comprehensive picture of the demographic and social models for explaining how people managed and shared resources within the site environs that continued to exist and operated for more than three thousand years spanning from Neolithic (3000-1200 BCE), Iron Age (1200-300 BCE) and Early History (300 BCE- 500 CE). Published archaeological data on major multi-period sites of south India is reviewed, compiled and attested with exploration findings from the Brahmagiri Hill. Here a fresh approach is made to assess the impact of Ashokan rock edicts on the social fabric and any landscape changes it brought to Isila (Isila is believed to be an early historic townsite at Brahmagiri ).     

Solution Structure of a GAAG Tetraloop in Helix 6 of SRP RNA from Pyrococcus furiosus

The NMR structure of a 12-mer RNA derived from the helix 6 of SRP RNA from Pyrococcus furiosus, whose loop-closing base pair is U:G, was determined, and the structural and thermodynamic properties of the RNA were compared with those of a mutant RNA with the C:G closing base pair. Although the structures of the two RNAs are similar to each other and adopt the GNRR motif, the conformational stabilities are significantly different to each other. It was suggested that weaker stacking interaction of the GAAG loop with the U:G closing base pair in 12-mer RNA causes the lower conformational stability.     

Effects of temperature,oxygen concentration,leaf age and seasonal variations on the CO2 compensation point of Lolium perenne L.

Various factors affect the CO₂ compensation point of detached leaves of Lolium perenne L. These include oxygen concentration, temperature, leaf age, and season (spring and summer). Analysis of the results using the model of G.D. Farquhar, S. von Caemmerer and J.A. Berry (1980) Planta 149, 78–90, indicates that some of the CO₂ evolved by leaves in the light is derived from sources other than photorespiration. It is suggested that the operation of the tricarboxylic acid in the light can account for most of this CO₂.Azcón-Bieto—experimental work was done in Barcelona, the further analyses white at the A.N.U.     

ZOOGEOGRAPHY OF OREGON COAST MARINE MAMMALS: THE LAST 3,000 YEARS

Mammalian faunal remains recovered from three archaeological sites on the Oregon, U.S.A. coast provide strong evidence that 18th and 19th century commercial exploitation of marine mammals had major effects on the zoogeography and demography of those taxa. Zalophus californianus and Callorhinus ursinus bred and pupped along the Oregon coast between 3,000 and 100 yr ago. About 100 yr ago Eumetopias jubatus abandoned a major rookery that had been utilized since at least 400 yr ago. Phoca vitulina does not appear to have suffered major modifications to coastal use or demographic patterns in Oregon during the last 3,000 yr, although a minor incident of intensified utilization of one location about 1,000 yr ago is suggested. All age-sex classes of Enhydra lutris lived on the Oregon coast until about A.D. 1900. Oregon's prehistoric remains of E. lutris display some dental characters similar to modern Alaskan specimens, and other dental characters similar to modern Californian specimens, conforming to a latitudinal dine reflected by historic specimens. Additional evidence for many of these observations is found in faunal remains recovered from archaeological sites on the coast of Vancouver Island, the Washington coast, and the northern California coast.