Seeds, Dams, and Khipus: Latin America's Eclectic Recent History of Technology.

Scholarship on Latin America's history of technology has expanded significantly in recent years. By reviewing articles in English- and Spanish-language journals from 2012 to the first half of 2023, we illustrate the emerging themes, geographies, and methodologies in this literature. The four main themes we identify are industrialization, institutions and policies, infrastructure, and moving beyond technological adaptation. We also highlight two emerging themes: Indigenous technologies and the circulation of knowledge. We conclude that the scholarship has generally moved in three directions: the study of technologies associated with traditional economic activities in the region (e.g., monocrop agriculture), national industrialization and modernization processes, and cases that demonstrate alternative ways of knowing the world and how communities use these types of knowledge. We suggest that deepening the connections between these three lines of research could be fruitful for future work.

The effects of the industrial transition on lower limb bone structure: A comparison of the inhabitants of Pecos Pueblo and present-day Indigenous peoples of New Mexico.

OBJECTIVES: Comparisons between Indigenous peoples over time and within a particular geographic region can shed light on the impact of environmental transitions on the skeleton, including relative bone strength, sexual dimorphism, and age-related changes. Here we compare long bone structural properties of the inhabitants of the late prehistoric-early historic Pecos Pueblo with those of present-day Indigenous individuals from New Mexico. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Femora and tibiae of 126 adults from Pecos Pueblo and 226 present-day adults were included in the study. Cross-sectional diaphyseal properties-areas and second moments of area-were obtained from past studies of the Pecos Pueblo skeletal sample, and from computed tomography scans of recently deceased individuals in the present-day sample. RESULTS: Femora and tibiae from Pecos individuals are stronger relative to body size than those of present-day Indigenous individuals. Present-day individuals are taller but not wider, and this body shape difference affects cross-sectional shape, more strongly proximally. The tibia shows anteroposterior strengthening among Pecos individuals, especially among males. Sexual dimorphism in midshaft bone shape is stronger within the Pecos Pueblo sample. With aging, Pecos individuals show more medullary expansion but also more subperiosteal expansion than present-day individuals, maintaining bone strength despite cortical thinning. DISCUSSION: Higher activity levels, carried out over rough terrain and throughout adult life, likely explain the relatively stronger lower limb bones of the Pecos individuals, as well as their greater subperiosteal expansion with aging. Greater sexual dimorphism in bone structure among Pecos individuals potentially reflects greater gender-based differences in behavioral patterns.

"Los Comedores de Patatas" de Vincent van Gogh, ejemplo visual de las carencias vitales durante la Revolución Industrial en Europa / "The Potato Eaters" by Vincent van Gogh, a Visual Example of Vital Shortages during the Industrial Revolution in Europe

El cuadro al óleo de Vincent van Gogh Los comedores de patatas tiene una riqueza expresiva única. Representa a su vez una de las preocupaciones del pintor y que no era otra que las malas condiciones de vida de la gente que habitaba en la escala más baja de la sociedad: los agricultores y el proletariado. Estampa visual que nos sirve perfectamente para entender la dureza de estas personas condenadas a mantenerse en la miseria más absoluta por la escasez retributiva de los responsables políticos durante la fase de afianzamiento de la Revolución industrial alemana y extensible a toda Europa. (AU)

Vincent van Gogh's oil painting The Potato Eaters has a unique expressive richness. In turn, it represents one of the painter's concerns and that was none other than the poor living conditions of the people who lived on the lowest scale of society: farmers and the proletariat. Visual print that perfectly serves us to understand the hardness of these people condemned to stabilize in the most absolute misery due to the scarcity of remuneration of political leaders during the consolidation phase of the German Industrial Revolution and extendable to all of Europe. (AU)

Revolução tecnológica e smartphone: considerações sobre a constituição do sujeito contemporâneo / Revolución tecnológica y smartphone: consideraciones sobre la constitución del sujeto contemporáneo / Technological revolution and smartphone: considerations about the constitution of the contemporary subject

RESUMO. O texto, resultante de estudos teóricos empreendidos à luz da Psicologia Histórico-Cultural entre 2016 e 2020, tem como objetivo recuperar a revolução tecnológica como um recurso para a compreensão da constituição dos sujeitos contemporâneos, partindo da máquina a vapor da Primeira Revolução Industrial, empregada nos meios de produção, até o smartphone, empregado na cotidianidade. O smartphone possui níveis tão altos de compactação, portabilidade e operacionalidade que o tornaram uma das mais avançadas tecnologias da história, revelando o elevado grau de desenvolvimento do psiquismo alcançado pelo gênero humano. Ele, mais do que outras tecnologias digitais de informação e comunicação (TDICs), tem impactado notadamente a constituição dos sujeitos contemporâneos, especialmente suas funções psicológicas cognitivas. Os resultados demonstram que recuperar dialeticamente o percurso histórico das criações tecnológicas é essencial à psicologia, permitindo ampliar o espectro de análise de como os sujeitos se constituem na atualidade. Conclui-se que a revolução microtecnológica deve ser tomada sob um viés crítico e ético, por tudo o que pode impactar nas relações entre os sujeitos e no desenvolvimento dos seus processos psíquicos.

RESUMEN. El texto, resultante de estudios teóricos realizados a la luz de la Psicología Histórico-Cultural entre 2016 y 2020, tiene como objetivo recuperar la revolución tecnológica como un recurso para comprender la constitución de los sujetos contemporáneos, a partir de la máquina de vapor de la Primera Revolución Industrial, empleada en los medios de producción, hasta el smartphone, utilizado en la vida cotidiana. El smartphone tiene niveles tan altos de compacidad, portabilidad y operabilidad que se ha convertido en una de las tecnologías más avanzadas de la historia, revelando el alto grado de desarrollo de la psique alcanzado por la humanidad. Él, más que otras tecnologías digitales de información y comunicación, ha impactado notablemente la constitución de los sujetos contemporáneos, especialmente sus funciones psicológicas cognitivas. Los resultados demuestran que recuperar dialécticamente el camino histórico de las creaciones tecnológicas es esencial para la psicología, lo que permite ampliar el espectro de análisis de cómo se constituyen los sujetos en la actualidad. Concluye que la revolución microtecnológica debe tomarse desde una perspectiva crítica y ética, para todo lo que pueda afectar las relaciones entre los sujetos y el desarrollo de sus procesos psíquicos.

ABSTRACT. The text, resulting from theoretical studies undertaken in the light of Historical-Cultural Psychology between 2016 and 2020, aims to recover the technological revolution as a resource for understanding the constitution of contemporary subjects, starting from the steam engine of the First Industrial Revolution, used in the means of production, even the smartphone, used in everyday life. The smartphone has such high levels of compactness, portability and operability that it has become one of the most advanced technologies in history, revealing the high degree of development of the psyche achieved by mankind. It, more than other digital information and communication technologies, has impacted notably on the constitution of contemporary subjects, especially on their cognitive psychological functions. The results demonstrate that recovering dialectically the historical path of technological creations is essential to Psychology, allowing to expand the spectrum of analysis of how subjects are constituted today. It concludes that the microtechnological revolution must be taken under a critical and ethical bias, due to everything that can impact on the relationships between the subjects and the development of their psychic processes.

Melting, smelting, and recycling: A regional study around the Late Bronze Age mining site of Prigglitz-Gasteil, Lower Austria.

This paper presents a study on copper production and distribution in Lower Austria's southeastern region during the Late Bronze Age (c. 1350-800 BC), with the focal point being the chemistry and isotopic character of artifacts from a small copper mining site at Prigglitz-Gasteil on the Eastern Alps' easternmost fringe. Ores, casting cakes, and select objects from the Late Bronze Age mining site at Prigglitz-Gasteil, Lower-Austria, and within 15 km of its surroundings, were chemically and isotopically analysed using XRF, NAA, and MC-ICPMS. The importance of Prigglitz-Gasteil as a local mining and metal processing center is evaluated based on the produced data, and the distribution and sourcing of copper-producing materials found at the site are discussed. Special attention is paid to the mixing of scrap and source materials early in the metal production process. The most salient discussions focus on the variability of the chemistry and Pb isotopic ratios of the studied objects, which seem to constitute a multitude of source materials, unlike the pure chalcopyrite-source copper produced from the Prigglitz-Gasteil mine itself. The analytical data suggests that copper alloys were mainly imported from materials originating in the Slovakian Ore Mountains, which were subsequently mixed/recycled with relatively pure locally produced copper. The purity of the copper from Prigglitz-Gasteil was fortuitous in identifying imported copper that contained measurable amounts of Pb and other chemically distinct characteristics. The chaîne opératoire of metal production at the site is mentioned; however, it is clear that additional information on the region's geochemistry is required before any finite conclusions on the ore-to-metal production can be made.

The function of the south-Levantine Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age basalt vessels bearing circumferential depressions: Insights from use-wear analyses.

One of the most characteristic aspects of the Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age periods in the southern Levant is the appearance of large assemblages of basalt vessels. These vessels, frequently meticulously made, appear sometimes a considerable distance from the raw material sources and are found mainly at habitation sites. While these and their prestigious value have been widely discussed in the past, their function is still obscure. In the current paper, we address their functionality through microscopic use-wear analysis. Emphasis was placed on basalt vessels with a distinct wear pattern-circumferential depressions, which appear along the perimeter of their interior bases. The documented traces were compared to results of an experimental study we conducted to characterize the effects of abrasion, grinding, and lubrication on basalt surfaces. The results of the comparative experimental study suggest that the circumferential depression was formed from a repetitive rotational activity using a narrow-ended tool. Further, it seems that two material types acted in combination as the circling device and processed material. One was hard and abrasive, such as stone, and the other was semi-resilient, such as wood or mineral powder. Water was likely used as a lubricant in the rotational process. While the actual function of the bowls bearing the circumferential depressions is not entirely clear, the use-wear analyses suggest that they may have been devices involved in craft industries, used for processing materials unrelated to food (minerals in particular). Whatever the exact function was, it clear that this use continued from the Chalcolithic through the Early Bronze Age, providing evidence for functional continuity between these two periods.

Con los nervios de punta: de la medicalización a la psicologización de los quebrantos mentales en el trabajo. Bogotá y Medellín, 1898-1961 / With the nerves on the top: from medicalization to psychologization of mental breakers at work. Bogota and Medellín, 1898-1961

En este artículo se analizará el modo en que la neurastenia y la fatiga fueron objetivadas por la medicina dentro del ámbito laboral en las ciudades de Bogotá y Medellín, durante la primera mitad del siglo XX. De ahí la necesidad de tomar como referencia la identificación de los presuntos padecimientos ligados a la esfera del trabajo intelectual y físico. A la reivindicación de los comportamientos frugales para aminorar los efectos de aquellos padecimientos, se le vino a adicionar la creciente psicologización del mundo del trabajo promediando dicha centuria. Aquella psicologización se volvió una herramienta que amplió el espectro de la anormalidad, en medio de la metamorfosis experimentada por el aparato productivo y la diversificación de la estructura laboral a nivel nacional

In this article it will analize the way in which nervous exhaustion and fatigue were objectified by the medicine inside the labour environment in the cities of Bogota and Medellin, during the first half of twentieth century. From there the necessity of taking as reference identification of alleged hardship related to intellectual and physical work sphere. To the demand of frugal behaviours to minimize the effects of that hardship, it added the growing psychologization of world work in the middle of the century. That psychologization was turned into a tool that extended the spectrum of anormality, in the midst of the metamorphosis experienced by the productive system and diversification of labour structure nationally

Health, science and development: the emergence of American cutaneous leishmaniasis as a medical and public health challenge in Amazonas state, Brazil. / Saúde, ciência e desenvolvimento: a emergência da leishmaniose tegumentar americana como desafio médico-sanitário no Amazonas.

The history of the emergence of American cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Brazilian state of Amazonas since the 1970s is analyzed as an object of knowledge and a medical and public health challenge. An overview of the period is provided, including the public health measures and scientific studies undertaken in the context of the execution of large-scale regional developments pursued in the name of national integration by the federal government. The methodology uses documental analysis of laws, the scientific literature, research reports, epidemiological bulletins, and newspapers. The results show that American cutaneous leishmaniasis emerged as a major health problem in Amazonas in close association with the political, economic, and socioenvironmental changes seen in the period.

O artigo faz análise histórica da emergência da leishmaniose tegumentar americana como objeto do conhecimento e desafio médico-sanitário no Amazonas desde a década de 1970. Fornece visão geral dessa época, as medidas sanitárias e os estudos científicos realizados no contexto de implantação dos principais projetos de desenvolvimento regionais executados em nome da política de integração nacional do governo federal. Utiliza como metodologia a análise documental de leis, produção científica, relatórios de pesquisa, boletins epidemiológicos e jornais. Os resultados da pesquisa mostram que a doença surgiu no Amazonas associando o grande problema de saúde com mudanças político-econômicas e alterações socioambientais.

Saúde, ciência e desenvolvimento: a emergência da leishmaniose tegumentar americana como desafio médico-sanitário no Amazonas / Health, science and development: the emergence of American cutaneous leishmaniasis as a medical and public health challenge in Amazonas state, Brazil

Resumo O artigo faz análise histórica da emergência da leishmaniose tegumentar americana como objeto do conhecimento e desafio médico-sanitário no Amazonas desde a década de 1970. Fornece visão geral dessa época, as medidas sanitárias e os estudos científicos realizados no contexto de implantação dos principais projetos de desenvolvimento regionais executados em nome da política de integração nacional do governo federal. Utiliza como metodologia a análise documental de leis, produção científica, relatórios de pesquisa, boletins epidemiológicos e jornais. Os resultados da pesquisa mostram que a doença surgiu no Amazonas associando o grande problema de saúde com mudanças político-econômicas e alterações socioambientais.

Abstract The history of the emergence of American cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Brazilian state of Amazonas since the 1970s is analyzed as an object of knowledge and a medical and public health challenge. An overview of the period is provided, including the public health measures and scientific studies undertaken in the context of the execution of large-scale regional developments pursued in the name of national integration by the federal government. The methodology uses documental analysis of laws, the scientific literature, research reports, epidemiological bulletins, and newspapers. The results show that American cutaneous leishmaniasis emerged as a major health problem in Amazonas in close association with the political, economic, and socioenvironmental changes seen in the period.

Hypothesis: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and environmental pollutants.

Genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors are relevant in the causation of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in a multistep cascade. We suggest that exposure to environmental pollutants in early life is one such factor. ALS was first described in the 19th century in the context of the Industrial Revolution that began more than 50 years earlier. The rising incidence of ALS thereafter correlates with increasing longevity, but this is an incomplete association. We suggest that increasing exposure to environmental pollutants due to industrial activity, acting over a lifetime, is also important. The combination of genetic mutations and pollutant exposure, with increased life expectancy, may account for the apparent variations in incidence of the disease in different countries and continents and even regionally within a given country. This hypothesis is testable by focused epidemiological studies, evaluating early and lifelong industrial pollutant exposure of differing types, within the Bradford Hill framework.

Historical Persistence of Alcohol-Induced Mortality in the Russian Federations: Legacy of Early Industrialization.

AIMS: The study aims to investigate insofar regional differences in alcohol-induced mortality in Russia, which emerged during the early industrialization of the country, persisted over a prolonged period of time (from late nineteenth to early twenty-first century), surviving fundamental political and social changes Russia experienced. METHODS: Multivariate regression models with historical and contemporary data on alcohol-induced mortality in Russian regions were estimated to document the persistence of spatial patterns of mortality, as well as to identify the possible mediating variables. Numerous robustness checks were used to corroborate the results. RESULTS: Alcohol-induced male mortality in Russian regions in 1880s-1890s is significantly and strongly correlated with male mortality due to accidental alcohol poisoning in Russian regions in 2010-2012. For female mortality, no robust correlation was established. The results for male mortality do not change if one controls for a variety of other determinants of alcohol-induced mortality and are not driven by outlier regions. Consumption of strong alcohol (in particular vodka) appears to be the mediator variable explaining this persistence. CONCLUSIONS: Hazardous drinking behavioral patterns, once they emerge and crystalize during the periods of fragmentation of the traditional society and the early onsets of modernization and urbanization, can be extremely persistent. Even highly intrusive policy interventions at a later stage (like those of the Soviet government) may turn out to be insufficient to change the path-dependent outcomes.

The intersections of industrialization: Variation in skeletal indicators of frailty by age, sex, and socioeconomic status in 18th- and 19th-century England.

OBJECTIVES: Intersectionality theory argues that various categories of identity and forms of systemic oppression interact and produce inequalities in resource access, economic opportunities, and health outcomes. However, there has been little explicit engagement with this theory by bioarchaeologists examining disparate health outcomes in the past. This study examines the associations among frailty, age at death, sex, and socioeconomic status (SES) in 18th- and 19th-century England. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The sample for this study comes from four industrial-era cemeteries from England, ca. 1711-1857. The associations among adult age (18+ years), SES, sex, and three skeletal indicators of stress (dental enamel hypoplasia [DEH, n = 293], cribra orbitalia [CO, n = 457], periosteal lesions [PNB, n = 436]) are examined using hierarchical log-linear analysis. RESULTS: Significant interactions existed among the variables examined for two skeletal indicators: high SES females had lower frequencies of CO relative to other groups and males between ages 30-45 years exhibited higher frequencies of PNB compared to females or males of older or younger ages, regardless of SES. Additionally, sex and SES were consistently associated with age at death. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that patterns of stress indicators cannot be examined solely across unilateral axes of age, SES, or sex. Intersecting axes of privilege, marginalization, and structural oppression may have buffered high SES females from some negative health outcomes (CO) while predisposing them to others (risk of maternal mortality). Likewise, the hazardous working conditions relegated to adult males may have heightened the risk of injury, infection, and death for middle-aged men in industrial-era England.

Deindustrialization, the Linwood Car Plant and Scotland's Political Divergence from England in the 1960s and 1970s.

Scotland's political divergence from England is a key theme in late twentieth century British history. Typically seen in terms of the post-1979 Thatcher effect, this in fact developed over a longer timeframe, rooted in industrial changes revealed by analysis of the Linwood car plant in Renfrewshire. Conservatism and Unionism was an eminent political force in Scotland in the 1940s and 1950s. But in all general elections from 1959 onwards the vote share of Conservative and Unionist candidates was lower in Scotland than in England. From the late 1960s onwards there were also ambitions for constitutional change. This article breaks new conceptual and empirical ground by relating these important markers of political divergence to popular understanding among Scottish workers of deindustrialization. A Thompsonian moral economy framework is deployed. Expectations were elevated by industrial restructuring from the 1950s, with workers exchanging jobs in the staples for a better future in assembly goods. Labour governments earned a reputation in Scotland as better managers of this process than Conservative governments. The 1979 general election showed that Labourism was growing in popularity in Scotland just as its appeal faded in England. At Linwood moral economy expectations were compromised, chiefly by intermittent redundancy and recurrent threat of closure, which was averted in 1975 by Labour government intervention. When the plant was shut in 1981 criticisms of UK political-constitutional structures and Conservativism were intensified.

The gender suicide paradox under gender role reversal during industrialisation.

OBJECTIVES: To test for social structural effects on the gender paradox in suicidal behaviour. METHODS: We analyzed newspaper reports of completed and attempted suicides in the Scottish city of Dundee during the mass movement of women into the paid labour force in the 19th and early 20th Centuries. We calculated rates of suicides per 100,000 of the male and female populations. RESULTS: We found that the female suicide rate dropped during this time period, whereas there was only a significant reduction in attempted suicide amongst men. CONCLUSIONS: Our understanding, and action to prevent, suicide in men and women must take place in the context of our gendered social world.

Humans thrived in South Africa through the Toba eruption about 74,000 years ago.

Approximately 74 thousand years ago (ka), the Toba caldera erupted in Sumatra. Since the magnitude of this eruption was first established, its effects on climate, environment and humans have been debated. Here we describe the discovery of microscopic glass shards characteristic of the Youngest Toba Tuff-ashfall from the Toba eruption-in two archaeological sites on the south coast of South Africa, a region in which there is evidence for early human behavioural complexity. An independently derived dating model supports a date of approximately 74 ka for the sediments containing the Youngest Toba Tuff glass shards. By defining the input of shards at both sites, which are located nine kilometres apart, we are able to establish a close temporal correlation between them. Our high-resolution excavation and sampling technique enable exact comparisons between the input of Youngest Toba Tuff glass shards and the evidence for human occupation. Humans in this region thrived through the Toba event and the ensuing full glacial conditions, perhaps as a combined result of the uniquely rich resource base of the region and fully evolved modern human adaptation.

Chronology of the Acheulean to Middle Stone Age transition in eastern Africa.

The origin of the Middle Stone Age (MSA) marks the transition from a highly persistent mode of stone toolmaking, the Acheulean, to a period of increasing technological innovation and cultural indicators associated with the evolution of Homo sapiens We used argon-40/argon-39 and uranium-series dating to calibrate the chronology of Acheulean and early MSA artifact-rich sedimentary deposits in the Olorgesailie basin, southern Kenya rift. We determined the age of late Acheulean tool assemblages from 615,000 to 499,000 years ago, after which a large technological and faunal transition occurred, with a definitive MSA lacking Acheulean elements beginning most likely by ~320,000 years ago, but at least by 305,000 years ago. These results establish the oldest repository of MSA artifacts in eastern Africa.

THE ENGINE AND THE REAPER: INDUSTRIALIZATION AND MORTALITY IN LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY JAPAN.

Economic development improves long-run health outcomes through access to medical treatment, sanitation, and higher income. Short run impacts, however, may be ambiguous given disease exposure from market integration. Using a panel dataset of Japanese vital statistics and multiple estimation methods, I find that railroad network expansion is associated with a six percent increase in gross mortality rates among newly integrated regions. Communicable diseases accounted for most of the rail-associated mortality, which indicate railways behaved as transmission vectors. At the same time, market integration facilitated by railways corresponded with an eighteen percent increase in total capital investment nationwide over ten years.