Agricultural Plain Research Articles

The Greek Neolithic: A new review

The Greek Neolithic, here divided into five phases, is the oldest in Europe. Geographically, it is the closest to the Near East and has thus long been seen as an impoverished derivative of the latter. However, recent research has tended to emphasize the autochthonous nature of Neolithic development in Europe, including Greece. The Greek Neolithic economy, which was based almost entirely on domesticates, and its densely packed, long-lived villages strongly recall the Near East, as do also the early emphasis on fine, decorated, nonculinary pottery and the wealth of figurines. On the other hand, the evolution of stylistic patterns is specifically Greek, although generally related to trends in the Balkans. Originality in the development of the Greek Neolithic is also seen in its latest phase, with apparent decreases, rather than increases, in site density, social differentiation, and, to some extent, long-distance trade. At the same time, however, the dichotomy became much sharper between the rich agricultural plains of northern Greece and the more pastoral(?) regions of the Peloponnese and Cycladic Islands; this presages similar contrasts during the Bronze Age.

On the number and location of cities

Urban economists, notably Henderson (1974, 1988), have developed and quantitatively tested elegant models that offer an explanation of the sizes and roles of cities in a many-city economy. These models, however, lack a spatial dimension that is, they have nothing to say about why cities are where they are, and do not help us to look intelligently at a map. When geographers need ways to think about urbanized economies, they therefore turn to a variety of insightful but incompletely worked-out approaches. The most influential of these are the central-place theory of Christaller (1933) and Liisch (1940), which argues that economies of scale will cause producers to locate in a lattice of urban sites across an agricultural plain; and the cumulative causation theory of Pred (1966) and others, which similarly relies on economies of scale but argues that initial advantages of particular sites set in motion a snowballing process of agglomeration. Unfortunately, neither of these approaches provides what mainstream economists would consider a complete model: an interesting aggregate story that emerges from the interactions of carefully described individual behavior. In this paper I offer a small-scale pilot run of a new approach to modeling urban systems. Underlying the approach is a monopolistically competitive general equilibrium mode1 similar to those now widely used in trade and growth theory, but with an added spatial dimension. As in both central-place and cumulative causation theory, the formation of cities is driven by economies of scale at the level of individual firm. And in fact, the results provide at least a rough synthesis of the two theories: the process of city formation is one of cumulative causation, but (for reasons that will become clear) the eventual locations of cities tend to have a roughly central-place pattern.’

Simulating Winter Wheat Production in Three Tillage Systems Using the Nitrogen Tillage Residue Management Model

AbstractCrop production system analysis is necessary to identify tillage and residue management practices that affect crop production. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of using the Nitrogen Tillage Residue Management (NTRM) model to evaluate the influence of tillage practices on winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) yield. Modifications of the NTRM model were required to simulate winter wheat production. The model was calibrated using site‐specific information obtained from a tillage‐nitrogen rate experiment conducted at the High Plains Agricultural Laboratory near Sidney, NE, on an Alliance silt loam (fine silty, mixed, mesic Aridic Argiustoll). Model output was compared to measured yields of winter wheat grown on three tillage treatments [moldboard plow, subsurface tillage (1.5 in‐wide “V” blade), and no tillage] during three seasons. Simulations within the year of calibration agreed within ± 28% of measured yields for the moldboard plow and subsurface tillage treatments. Deviations were observed between predicted and measured yields when using data outside the year of calibration. Crop coefficients, determined in the calibration process, affected the yield predictions of NTRM. Grain yield predictions by NTRM were very sensitive to initial and stabilized soil bulk density values within the range of 1.2 to 1.3 Mg m−3 (1% change in input value caused a five‐fold change in predicted yield). Usefulness of the model could be enhanced through greater documentation on calibration procedures and explanation of calibration coefficients. Results obtained here should alert users to the need for care in application of results obtained from complex, highly interlinked models, such as NTRM.

THE CITY OF TARSUS AND THE ARAB-BYZANTINE FRONTIERS IN EARLY AND MIDDLE ʿABBĀSID TIMES

The ancient settlement of Tarsus is best known for that part of its history which stretches from classical through early Christian and Byzantine times into the Islamic period, but modern archaeological excavations have further demonstrated a past going back, with some interruptions, to at least Neolithic times. Situated in classical times on the river Cydnus, the early Islamic Nahr Baradan1 and the modern Turkish Tarsus ?(ay, in the rich agricultural plain of Cilicia, the modern Turkish (;ukurova, it owed its florescence firstly, to this same fertility of the local soil; secondly, to its strategic position commanding the southern end of the Cilician Gates across the Taurus Mountains into central Anatolia, the route through which, amongst so many others, Xenophon and Alexander the Great had passed with their armies; and thirdly, to its possessing a fine sheltered harbour, that of Rhegma, opening the city to the maritime influences of the eastern Mediterranean, including those from the Semitic Near East.2 The city is certainly ancient, although not mentioned in the Hittite texts. The Greeks attributed its foundation to Perseus or Heracles. It first appears firmly in history under the Assyrian kings, for one clay tablet records the rebuilding of Tarsus by Sennacherib (705-681 B.C.) after a revolt in Kue or Cilicia. It subsequently fell within the Persian sphere of influence, although probably still ruled by native princes who minted coins in the fourth century B.C. with Aramaic legends. Under the Macedonian kings, Tarsus was disputed by the

Prehistoric Agriculture in the Central Plains. Mary J. Adair. University of Kansas Publications in Anthropology No. 16. University of Kansas, Lawrence, 1988. viii + 145 pp., tables, figures, references. $15.00 (paper).

Prehistoric Agriculture in the Central Plains. Mary J. Adair. University of Kansas Publications in Anthropology No. 16. University of Kansas, Lawrence, 1988. viii + 145 pp., tables, figures, references. $15.00 (paper).

Nitrate removal by denitrification in alluvial ground water: Role of a former channel

Chemical variations of ground water in an ancient meander of the Garonne river (southern France) were compared with that of ground water located under the intensively cultivated fields of the surrounding alluvial plain. Nitrate, Mn[II] and Fe [II] concentrations were found to be very different in the two situations. The denitrification process in the former channel was identified through the natural 15N isotope enrichment on residual nitrate induced by isotope fractionation and by the in situ measurement of gaseous nitrogen losses using the acetylene method. A recent embankment leads to the progressive drying of the waterlogged soils thereby decreasing the capacity of this natural riparian wetland to regulate nitrate transfers from the agricultural plain to the river.

Large‐Scale Biological Nitrate and Ammonia Removal

ABSTRACTIn order to treat water containing nitrogen in excess of the European Drinking Water guideline, an innovative large‐scale biological, nitrogen‐removal process has been used. After extensive pilot‐scale testing and a first full‐scale (80 m3/h) demonstration at Eragny (France), a 400 m3/h installation, serving about 50000 people, was built at Guernes‐Dennemont, near Paris. The raw water source is a combination of percolation from agricultural plains and river bank infiltration, and contains both nitrates and ammonia.The plant consists of two fixed‐bed biological reactors in series. An anoxic filter, using ethanol as a carbon source for heterotrophic bacteria, removes nitrates at filtration rates up to 10 m/h. The denitrified water is then polished on an aerated two‐layer filter, packed with activated carbon and sand. Excess carbon from the first stage, together with reduced nitrogen (ammonia and nitrates), is oxidized at this stage before ozonation of the water.Design data and operational performance are given for total nitrogen (NO3 and NH,), total organic carbon (TOC) and chlorinated hydrocarbons. A specific dosing method for biodegradable carbon was developed to monitor the efficiency of the post‐treatment. Special attention was paid to (a) nitrate control through improved backwash, and (b) reducing the potential for bacterial contamination and aftergrowth in the distribution network.

The Great Plains Agricultural Frontier and What Lay Ahead for Rural America

After the colonial period of American history, survey courses with so much to cover usually give short shrift to rural history. Yet the study of the farming fron tier on the Great Plains is impor tant to American history. The first census in 1790 revealed a popula tion 95 percent rural. By 1870, 79 percent of the population still lived on the or in rural small towns and 53 percent of the nation's workers made their livings from agriculture. Settlement on the Great Plains after the Civil War expanded America's rural heritage into a new environment?level, treeless, and arid. Railroads, steel plows, barbed wire, windmills and other technol ogy would be required to subdue it, according to historian Walter Prescott Webb in his seminal study The Great Plains. The unique fea tures of the Great Plains coincide with the changes wrought by the industrialization of America and provide secondary school students with a unique perspective for studying late nineteenthand early twentieth-century America. But while many survey texts in clude an obligatory chapter on the western frontier at the end of the nineteenth century?invariably focusing on Custer and the Seventh Cavalry meeting their fate at the Little Big Horn?the role of the farming frontier in western devel opment needs attention. Discussion of plains agriculture, moreover, re peatedly ignores American Indian agriculture. Almost every Ameri can school child knows that Squanto's corn saved the starving New England settlers, but Plains Indians, and particularly American Indian women horticulturalists, are completely ignored. In fact, many Plains Native American cultures subsisted with a combination of bi son and agriculture before the in troduction of the horse. The flood of white population carried by the Union Pacific and Kansas Pacific railroads among others destroyed American Indian ways of life and radically changed the Great Plains environment. Free land and the indepen dence it promised proved an irre sistible lure for white home steaders, as students readily com prehend. The view of independent citizen-farmers enjoying prosperity on their own land, however, does not reflect the development of the Great Plains described by historian

Agrarian Change and Economic Development in Rural Romania: A Case Study of the Oas Region

Collectivisation and mechanisation of agriculture combined with large-scale development of the manufacturing sector in selected growth centres have formed the cornerstones of the strategy for rural development in postwar Romania. Al- though best suited for the agricultural plains, this strategy has been pursued along the same lines throughout the country. This paper examines agrarian change and economic development in an economically depressed rural region with poor conditions for agriculture in the light of the pursued strategy. It is found that the actual development in terms of employment and income genera- tion and economic growth has been far below both the potentials and the requirements and that many villages have witnessed eco- nomic and demographic decline. A main reason behind this deve- lopment has been extremely low returns to both labour and land in collectivised agriculture, which has sharply reduced the impor- tance of land as a source of employment and incomes. Manufac- turing has developed at a fast pace, but has been confined to one centre only. While this centre and the immediately surrounding villages have seen impressive development, the economic base of the villages beyond commuting distance has been eroded as the fall in the importance of agriculture has not been compensated for. Hence, a highly uneven development pattern in the rural areas has emerged. It is concluded that the most important short- coming of the pursued strategy is likely to be the extremely small room it has allowed for initiatives on the local level. Thus it has served as an obstacle to as well as an instrument for economic de- velopment. In many villages the former function is likely to have been more important than the latter.

Kerala is Different

While it is very well known that the small Indian state of Kerala has many extraordinary anthropological, demographic, ecological, economic, educational, historical, political, religious, etc. features (which are reflected in a vast and to some extent learned literature), so that it is quite unlike what Stokes denotes as ‘the great agricultural plains areas, which for centuries before the British had experienced large-scale political organization’, it is yet possible that certain of its peculiarities are still insufficiently appreciated. So I here note some of the ‘surprises’ (as well as the uncertainties) which I experienced as a result of spending nearly three months in 1981–82 doing fieldwork in the lowlands of rural Trivandrum District, in the extreme south of Kerala, while also consulting the excellent library of the Centre for Development Studies near Trivandrum city. Whether Kerala bears comparison with Java, as some have claimed, I cannot say; but, of course, it provided an extraordinary contrast to the villages in southeastern Karnataka where I had worked in 1977–78.

Elemental analysis of soils from central Sudan by energy dispersive XRF

Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy is employed to determine the concentration of nineteen elements in seven profiles representing the aridisols and vertisols groups from agricultural plains of Sudan. A significant variation in the concentration of alkaline and alkaline earth elements in the different regions is observed, which is discussed in relation to the texture of the soil and climatic factors. Uranium, determined by the delayed neutron technique, is observed to increase with depth in one area.

Fejér county—the István Király Museum at Székesfehérvár

Fejer county lies between Budapest and Lake Balaton; the county's chief town, Szekesfehervar, has played a prominent role in Hungarian history and, since the 1960s, has also been gaining in importance as an industrial centre. Dunaujvaros, the county's other principal town, developed in the 1950s in the vicinity of the steel works and was the first example of socialist town-planning in Hungary. In the northern part of the county, where lie the Bakony, Vertes and Velence hills, the villages populated by national minorities retain their special character and mining and vine-growing are practised. In the southern part of the county lies the agricultural plain of Mezőfőld, as well as Lake Velencei, which is visited regularly by more than 100,000 holiday-makers at the height of summer; here the extensive highway system bears witness to the importance of this area from the Roman period until the early Middle Ages. Late in the tenth century Szekesfehervar became the royal residence of the Hungarian kings, who were crowned and buried there, and the Diet even met there for a long period. After the Ottoman domination the town's political importance decreased, but up to the mid-nineteenth century Szekesfehervar remained an important centre of Hungarian cultural life.

Excavations at Tell Abada a Preliminary Report

The work at Tell Abada was a part of the intensive rescue operation conducted by the Iraqi State Antiquities Organization in the Hamrin basin where about seventy archaeological sites are to be flooded by a dam now under construction.The work at Abada started in the middle of December 1977 and lasted until the end of July 1978 without any interruption. The excavations were conducted by the writer assisted by Mr. Ali Hashim Khairi and Mr. Jurjis Muhammad Fadhil (Archaeologists); Mr. Salih Al-Tu‘ma was the foreman. They all worked with exceptional industry despite the severe climatic conditions, especially in winter and summer, and many thanks are due to them all. I would like also to express my warmest thanks and gratitude to Dr. Muayad Sa‘id, head of the State Antiquities Organization, for his greatest interest in the work and his constant encouragement and invaluable advice. My thanks are due also to Dr. Joan Oates for her sincere help and advice. The photographs were taken by Mr. Yasin Al-Mashhadani.Tell Abada lies to the east of the Diyala River, 12 km southeast of Al Sadiyah. It is situated in a large agricultural plain along the Zagros foothills. In the vicinity are a number of small villages whose Arab inhabitants rely on cultivation and herding for their subsistence. The most important crops grown are wheat and barley. In general the climate of the area is very cold and stormy in winter and hot with dust storms in summer. Although winter rainfall is marginal for agriculture (235 mm per annum, recorded at Jalaula 1956–1958), the rain can be very heavy so that in winter the wadis flow as rushing torrents.

Effects of Tillage on Soil Erosion in a Wheat-Fallow Rotation

ABSTRACT EROSION from alternative tillage systems in winter wheat-fallow rotations was measured using a rainfall simulator. The Nebraska study, conducted at the High Plains Agricultural Laboratory, showed that during the fallow period between harvest and tillage, soil erosion was not affected by the tillage systems studied. However, erosion following tillage was different for the systems evaluated and moldboard plowing with the slope had the largest amount. The no-till system reduced erosion by about 95% during this period. Although contour plowing was effective in reducing erosion when compared to plowing with the slope, no differences were measured between with the slope and contour tillage for the no-till or stubble-mulch treatments.

Sediment-Delivery Ratios for a Small Coastal Plain Agricultural Watershed

ABSTRACT SEDIMENT delivery ratios (SDR) were computed for a 1736 ha, mixed land use, agricultural Coastal Plain watershed, based on observed sediment yield and com-puted gross erosion by the USLE method and an experi-mentally determined soil erodibility factor. Seasonal variation in SDR values was observed. This variation was not adequately explained by seasonal variation in rainfall and/or runoff. Relationships for predicting SDR based on season and climatic variables were developed for the study area. Season was found to be the predominate in-dividual predictor of observed variations in SDR values.

We Must Reform the Cropping System to Suit Local Conditions

At present on the agricultural battlefront on the agricultural plains surrounding Beijing, there is debate about the question of which cropping system to adopt. One alternative is the system of interplanting and relaying three crops [with three plantings and three harvests total]. The other system is two monoculture plantings in sequence [with two plantings and two harvests]. There are three focal points of the argument: (1) How can the interplanting and relay cropping system be evaluated?

Agriculture in the Great Plains, 1876-1936

Agriculture in the Great Plains, 1876-1936

Agriculture in the Great Plains, 1876-1936

Agriculture in the Great Plains, 1876-1936

Agriculture in the Great Plains, 1876-1936

Agriculture in the Great Plains, 1876-1936

The Nabateans in the Hawran

Among the provinces of the Nabatean empire, the ancient Auranitis in southern Syria holds a special place. The area was already under Nabatean claim as early as the second century B.C. and signs of how energetically and prosperously the Nabateans developed Auranitis are still visible in the cities on the western slopes of the Jebel Hawran and the agricultural plain south of the mountain. Auranitis had eventually to be shared with the Herodians, but before the remaining portions of the Hawran were incorporated into the Roman province of Arabia, Bostra had replaced Petra as the capital of the kingdom. The Nabateans in Syria continued their successful careers as farmers and commercial entrepreneurs to the very end of their independence.