Use of three isotopes to calibrate human bone radiocarbon determinations from Kainapirina (SAC), Watom Island, Papua New Guinea

In archaeological dating, the greatest confidence is usually placed upon radiocarbon results of material that can be directly related to a defined archaeological event. Human bone should fulfill this requirement, but bone dates obtained from Pacific sites are often perceived as problematic due to the incorporation of ¹⁴C from a range of different reservoirs into the collagen via diet. In this paper, we present new human bone gelatin results for 2 burials from the SAC archaeological site on Watom Island, Papua New Guinea, and investigate the success of calibrating these determinations using dietary corrections obtained from δ³⁴S, δ¹⁵N, and δ¹³C isotopes

'Black Obsidian Diana': Moore, Pound, and the Curation of Race

This essay concerns the entangled relationship between modernist experiment and race in the late teens and early 1920s. Taking its focus from an exchange of letters between Ezra Pound and Marianne Moore in 1918-19, it argues that Pound's urge to access pure thought conceives racial embodiment as a thickened medium that intrudes between ‘intelligences’ in conversation. Moore's indirect response, the essay suggests, is a citational practice that attends to the provenance and curation of textual objects, and especially to the cultural and commercial traffic between ‘orient’ and ‘occident’. This case is made in a new reading of Moore's 1923 poem, ‘Marriage‘, which identifies, along the way, Sarojini Naidu, John Cournos, and a five-inch Egyptian statue as mediators between Moore and Pound

Assessment of multi-temporal, multi-sensor radar and ancillary spatial data for grasslands monitoring in Ireland using machine learning approaches

Accurate inventories of grasslands are important for studies of carbon dynamics, biodiversity conservation and agricultural management. For regions with persistent cloud cover the use of multi-temporal synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data provides an attractive solution for generating up-to-date inventories of grasslands. This is even more appealing considering the data that will be available from upcoming missions such as Sentinel-1 and ALOS-2. In this study, the performance of three machine learning algorithms; Random Forests (RF), Support Vector Machines (SVM) and the relatively underused Extremely Randomised Trees (ERT) is evaluated for discriminating between grassland types over two large heterogeneous areas of Ireland using multi-temporal, multi-sensor radar and ancillary spatial datasets. A detailed accuracy assessment shows the efficacy of the three algorithms to classify different types of grasslands. Overall accuracies ≥ 88.7% (with kappa coefficient of 0.87) were achieved for the single frequency classifications and maximum accuracies of 97.9% (kappa coefficient of 0.98) for the combined frequency classifications. For most datasets, the ERT classifier outperforms SVM and RF

New observations on the stratigraphy and radiocarbon dates at the Cross Creek site, Opito, Coromandel Peninsula

This paper re-examines stratigraphy and radiocarbon dates at Cross Creek in Sarah's Gully. Three new radiocarbon dates are presented for Layer 9, the earliest, and previously undated, occupation. This investigation is part of a programme of archaeological work being carried out on the Coromandel Peninsula. Although there are several individual research projects underway, they have a common theme related to the Polynesian settlement period on the Coromandel Peninsula. The two seasons of excavation at Tairua are being written up by Matthew Campbell of CFG Heritage on behalf of Roger Green. Louise Furey, also CFG Heritage, is researching a thematic study on early sites for the Department of Conservation, Archaeological research in the Opito area includes documenting a pollen sequence for Opito under a grant obtained from the Green Foundation for Polynesian Research: Pam Chester, Louise Furey and Brenda Sewell are participants. In addition, positively identifying the Kaharoa Ash in the Opito-Sarah's Gully area is a priority

Practicing Matricentric Feminist Mothering

The practice of feminist mothering is central to matricentric feminism because it is centred on the experiences of mothers. Mothering and feminism are equally defining dimensions in the lives of feminist mothers who recognize that although they are oppressed and disempowered both as women and as mothers by the patriarchal institution of motherhood, they, along with their children, can also be empowered through the conscious and active praxis of feminist parenting. By placing their needs and concerns as mothers at the centre of their feminist and political practice of parenting, feminist mothers engage in and offer others a praxis of matricentric feminism that incorporates maternal theory, activism, and feminist motherlines.This article reflects upon some of the lessons of matricentric feminism explored and detailed within my 2011 book Practicing Feminist Mothering. The book is based on two decades of research involving the lived experiences and knowledge of sixteen selfidentified feminist mothers and a number of their adult children. Although the experiences and findings may appear to be somewhat dated, the insights from this research, nevertheless, provide an understanding of the conscious and political action of feminist mothering towards changing society through their parenting. They also provide a powerful perspective on mothering as a central aspect of feminism that may act as a foundation for further alternative family structures

Empowering Mothers and Daughters through Matroreform and Feminist Motherlines

Feminist motherlines, spoken in the mother tongue of relational discourse by mothers with their female relatives and children, help feminist mothers gain authority of their embodied knowledges of mothering. Along with matroreform—the self-determined mindful process of (re)claiming and (re)forming one’s parenting power—feminist mothers develop alternative rules and different practices to those prescribed for them by others. Drawing upon research into feminist mothering over the past two decades, this paper explores the ongoing rich contributions feminist motherlines and matroreform provide families and feminist theorizing. By participating in matroreform and feminist motherlines, mothers and children often develop a life-cycle perspective and a worldview of interconnectivity with each other, with others, and with the world that offer them opportunities and ways to create feminist mothering perspectives and practices countering those prescribed by the patriarchal institution of motherhood. Discovering and nurturing matroreform and one’s motherline is often an idiosyncratic and a chaotic process that takes a lifetime, yet through it, mothers and their children can often reconcile intergenerational rifts. Findings shed light on the potential that matroreform and feminist motherlines have in presenting children with opportunities to engage with their own mothering practices and motherlines should they become parents