Geographic expansions are caused by successful innovations, biological or cultural, that favor local growth and movement. They have had a powerful effect in determining the present patterns of human genetic geography. Modern human populations expanded rapidly across the Earth in the last 100,000 years. At the end of the Paleolithic (10,000 years ago) only a few islands and other areas were unoccupied. The number of inhabitants was then about one thousand times smaller than it is now. Population densities were low throughout the Paleolithic, and random genetic drift was therefore especially effective. Major genetic differences between living human groups must have evolved at that time. Population growths that began afterward, especially with the spread of agriculture, progressively reduced the drift in population and the resulting genetic differentiation. Genetic traces of the expansions that these growths determined are still recognizable.

Demic expansions and human evolution

There may have been 4–5 million people in Amazonia at the time of European contact. These people cultivated or managed at least 138 plant species in 1492. Many of these crop genetic resources were human artifacts that required human intervention for their maintenance, i.e., they were in an advanced state of domestication. Consequently, there was a relationship between the decline of Amazonian Amerindian populations and the loss of their crop genetic heritage after contact. This relationship was influenced by the crop’s degree of domestication, its life history, the degree of landscape domestication where it was grown, the number of human societies that used it, and its importance to these societies. Amazonian crop genetic erosion probably reflects an order of magnitude loss and the losses continue today.

1492 and the loss of amazonian crop genetic resources. I. The relation between domestication and human population decline

Images of the World Trade Center site flooded the media in the aftermath of September 11, and have continued to do so in New York City. The World Monuments Watch moved quickly to feature Ground Zero in its October 2001 issue as a place of heritage, requiring both salvage and commemoration. The site was supra-positioned, listed as site 101 in their register of 100 endangered sites around the globe. The lingering physical marks of violence coupled with the mass grave site have reconfigured its value as a newly constituted tourist site, encouraging us to reflect on the economic and symbolic dimensions of heritage making. The president and the chairman of the World Monuments Watch declared that "weapons of mass destruction are not always aimed at battleships or military installations, but at the cultural icons that bind and inspire communities around the world," underscoring the significance of the WTC's historic import and potent symbolic capital. They describe how "our landmarks-the Mostar Bridge, the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan, and the World Trade Center-- have become prized targets for terrorists because they are what defines the cultures, ideals, and achievements of the people who created them, who use them, who live with them" (Perry and Burnham 2001:3). Quite understandably, the authors have made a personal connection between their own expertise in the heritage field and the events of September 11, yet they also reveal how the materiality of certain sites is enshrined in our own culture and how dominant the language of heritage has become. Despite the potency of the WTC site, it would be unthinkable to preserve the site as it remains-it requires a complete reconfiguration including appropriate memorialization. In this regard it is a salient example of what I would term "negative heritage", a conflictual site that becomes the repository of negative memory in the collective imaginary. As a site of memory, negative heritage occupies a dual role: it can be mobilized for positive didactic purposes (e.g. Auschwitz, Hiroshima, District Six) or alternatively be erased if such places cannot be culturally rehabilitated and thus resist incorporation into the national imaginary (e.g. Nazi and Soviet statues and architecture). Monuments are mnemonics that may serve both as reminders of the past and harbingers of the future (Lowenthal 1985). While seemingly uncontroversial, "heritage" occupies a positive and culturally elevated position within many cultures, yet we should recognize that not all individuals, groups or nations share those views, or have the luxury of affluence to indulge these desires. Moreover, we uncritically hold that heritage, specifically "world heritage," must necessarily be a good thing and thus find it difficult to comprehend groups who support counter claims, whether for the reasons of a religious, moral, economic, or political nature. Exploring how cultural difference is accommodated or elided within the language and practice of archaeological heritage forms the focus of this paper. Taking these two volatile landscapes as my starting point, I argue that the Bamiyan Valley and Lower Manhattan are salient markers that compel us to reflect upon the ordinary construction and conventions surrounding heritage, at home and elsewhere. The World Trade Center as Heritage In New York City on December 31, 2001, the Waterford crystal ball dropped in Times Square to herald the New Year. Literally marked by the events of September 11, the ball was inscribed with the names of those who died and some of the countries who lost citizens in the attacks. The memorialization of the dead through material culture has become a hallmark of post-September 11 culture. Place-making in New York has similarly intensified, from temporary memorials, to thousands of tourists viewing the devastation, to the planning and implementation of new buildings and statues. Some have experienced the materialization as helpful in the healing process, while others see it as commodified outgrowth typical of tourist voyeurism. …

Negative heritage and past mastering in archaeology

Illegal markets differ from legal markets in many respects. Although illegal markets have economic significance and are of theoretical importance, they have been largely ignored by economic sociology. In this article we propose a categorization for illegal markets and highlight reasons why certain markets are outlawed. We perform a comprehensive review of the literature to characterize illegal markets along the three coordination problems of value creation, competition, and cooperation. The article concludes
by appealing to economic sociology to strengthen research on illegal markets and by suggesting areas for future empirical research.
Illegale Markte unterscheiden sich in vielerlei Hinsicht von legalen Markten. Trotz ihres grosen wirtschaftlichen Gewichts und ihrer theoretischen Bedeutung blieben sie in der Wirtschaftssoziologie bislang weitgehend unbeachtet. Dieses Papier schlagt eine Kategorisierung illegaler Markte vor und diskutiert die Grunde fur ihr Verbot. Auf der Grundlage einer umfassenden Literaturauswertung werden die Strukturmerkmale illegaler Markte anhand der drei Koordinierungsprobleme der Wertbildung, des Wettbewerbs und der Kooperation dargestellt. Das Papier schliest mit Empfehlungen fur zukunftige empirische Forschung.

https://www.mpifg.de/pu/mpifg_ja/SER_11_2013_Beckert.pdf

In the shadow: illegal markets and economic sociology

Climate changes occurring during the past several decades in the high elevations of the tropical Andes Mountains have implications for the native plant and animal species, for the ecological integrity of the affected land cover, and for the human-biophysical systems involved. Consequences are also probable for rural inhabitants and their livelihoods, especially for farmers and pastoralists. Biophysical factors have always changed in these mountainous zones; the extent and degree of alteration acting on native and agricultural biodiversity is the concern. Addressing these climate changes is probably within the adaptive capacity of many local land-use systems, unless external socioeconomic or political forces are unsupportive or antagonistic. Suitable programs to provide information, subsidies, or alternatives could be designed. We highlight some of the inherent resiliencies of natural and cultural systems in the Andes and suggest that these systems contain lessons that could be useful elsewhere, in terms of the traits that allow for the sustainable utilization of dynamic and heterogeneous landscapes.

Adaptive governance and climate change in the tropical highlands of Western South America

gy's arrested development, how on earth would we know? Casa Grandes and Its Hinterland is an important book, and its importance is magnified by the reflection of Di Peso's work, now four decades old. Without Di Peso, this survey would be of less interest. Without Whalen and Minnis, Di Peso would be lost in space. So Casas Grandes and Its Hinterland is indeed pioneering, exploratory, and pathbreaking-for the next generation. And not before time: the accelerated pace of field research in Chihuahua already crosses generations. Whalen and Minnis' students, and the students of Jane Kelley (University of Calgary), Robert Leonard (University of New Mexico), and others are (as you read this) writing thirdand fourth-generation sequels. And, in the future, others will revise and build upon these words.

Trade in Illicit Antiquities: The Destruction of the World's Archaeological Heritage

1. Still a new world 2. A matter of time 3. The physical setting 4. The first peoples: 12,000-6000 BC 5. Settling down: 6000-3500 BC 6. The problem of maize 7. Cultural intensifications in the Andes: 3500-2000 BC 8. Ceramics: their origins and technology 9. The first civilizations: 2000-200 BC 10. Textiles: the high art of South America 11. Metallurgy 12. Regional diversification and development: 200 BC-AD 600 13. Iconographic studies 14. Militaristic and religious movements in the Andes: AD 500-900 15. Transport and trade 16. Kingdoms, chiefdoms and empires: AD 900-1438 17. The sixteenth century 18. Intercontinental movements before Columbus 19. The future of a continent Appendices.

Ancient South America

This first comprehensive work on women in precolumbian American cultures describes gender roles and relationships in North, Central, and South America from 12,000 B.C. to the 1500s A.D. Utilizing many key archaeological works, Karen Olsen Bruhns and Karen E. Stothert redress some of the long-standing male bias in writing about ancient Native American lifeways. Bruhns and Stothert focus on several of the most thought-provoking areas of study in the Americas: the origins of agriculture, the development of complex societies, the evolution of religious systems, and the interpretation of art and mortuary materials. The authors pay particular attention to the problems of interpreting archaeological remains and the uses of historic and ethnographic evidence in reconstructing the past.

Women in Ancient America

A recent identification of ramon in Miranda's sixteenth-century relacion of Alta Verapaz more likely describes achiote. There is very little archaeological evidence to suggest that ramon was more than a famine food in ancient Maya times.

Karen Olsen Bruhns

Papers

Trade in Illicit Antiquities: The Destruction of the World's Archaeological Heritage

Ancient South America

Women in Ancient America

Rethinking Ramón: A Comment on Reina and Hill's Lowland Maya Subsistence

The moon animal in northern peruvian art and culture