Excavations at ed-Dur (Umm al-Qaiwain, U.A.E.)

The results of seven weeks'research in 1989 by a Belgian team from Gent University at ed-Dur, in the Emirate of Umm al-Qaiwain, are presented. Excavations were continued in the southern part of the site. A fourth altar was found near the temple (area M); graves were excavated in other areas (areas N and AT). A large, undisturbed, semi-subterranean tomb with a barrel-vault and enclosure (area AV) was also discovered.     

G.I. Rossolimo (1860-1928) neurologist and public benefactor

G.I. Rossolimo was attracted to neurology as a medical student in the late nineteenth century and remained affiliated with Moscow University most of his life. His training included psychiatry, neuropathology, and laboratory research in his postgraduate years. The domain of his neurological clinical interests was vast. His most enduring efforts were directed toward neurological illnesses and developmental delay. He established a children's institute for neurology and psychology that was the first of its kind in Russia. In addition he developed a neuropsychologic examination for assessing cognitive function. His sustained interests were pursued during and after revolutionary changes in his government.     

Testing settlement models in the early Roman colonial landscapes of Venusia (291 B.C.), Cosa (273 B.C.) and Aesernia (263 B.C.)

This paper examines settlement density and settlement patterns in the Roman colonial territories of Venusia, Cosa and Aesernia, located in three different landscapes of central southern Italy (modern Basilicata, Tuscany and Molise). Using a series of GIS tools, we conducted a comparative analysis of the density and spatial distribution of sites dating to the Hellenistic period (ca. 350–50 b.c.). We used the legacy settlement data collected by previous large-scale, intensive, site-oriented field surveys to test the validity of two competing rural settlement models of early Roman colonization: the conventional model of neatly organized settlements regularly dispersed across the landscape and the recently proposed theory that colonists adopted a polynuclear settlement strategy. After calculating the extent to which the archaeological datasets conform to the regular or polynuclear model, we conclude that only a very small portion of the colonized areas actually meets traditional expectations regarding the organization of early colonial settlements. Our analyses show that the legacy survey data is more consistent with the polynuclear settlement theory, but the data also reveals some completely unexpected patterns, suggesting that early Roman colonial landscapes were more diverse than previously thought.     

Obituary. Wolfgang Scharfe (1942–2003)

At the turn of the twentieth century, a popular mania developed around the idea that Mars was inhabited by intelligent beings. This obsession was originally based in the science of the time, but it outlasted astronomers' certainty regarding the red planet's conditions of habitability. Cartography was vital to the popular construction of Mars as an inhabited world and created a powerful landscape icon that differed significantly from the observations of astronomers. Acceptance of a Martian civilization began to wane only when cartography's status as an objective representational format was weakened by new photographic technology in the early 1900s. Although the processes and formats of cartography are rarely considered primary factors in the Mars mania, they were integral to the origin, development and expiration of the conceptualization of Mars as a world that was possibly inhabited.     

Molecular markers for the discrimination of Triticum turgidum L. subsp. dicoccum (Schrank ex Schübl.) Thell. and Triticum timopheevii (Zhuk.) Zhuk. subsp. timopheevii

The persistent uncertainty on the classification of the “new” glume wheat found in Neolithic and Bronze Age sites from Greece and other European settlements might be resolved only through analysis of its ancient DNA. Tools able to discriminate among different Triticum species on the basis of scarce, very damaged DNA, are therefore essential. While current attempts concentrate on DNA fragments sequencing and comparison, in some instances PCR-based selective amplification techniques might offer a cheaper and quicker alternative. The purpose of this research was therefore the identification of species-specific primers, able to distinguish caryopses of Triticum timopheevii subsp. timopheevii from those of Triticum turgidum subsp. dicoccum. Primers and their working conditions were defined and optimized using DNA from modern accessions. The ribosomal primers ITS1 tim and ITS2 tim, and the nuclear primer acetyl-coenzyme A tim clearly discriminated the sequences of Triticum timopheevii from other species. Finally, Neolithic charred wheat grains found in the sites of Sammardenchia (Pozzuolo del Friuli, Udine) and La Marmotta (Lago di Bracciano, Roma), belonging to the “new” wheat type or to emmer, were tested with the three selected primers. However, the results were not conclusive, because the samples analysed were apparently too degraded to yield useful DNA.     

Excavations at ed-Dur (Umm al-Qaiwain, U.A.E.) – preliminary report on the fourth Belgian season (1990)

The results of six weeks'research in 1990 by a Belgian team from Gent University at ed-Dur, in the Emirate of Umm al-Qaiwain, are presented. Research concentrated on the central part of the site, where the excavation of a large, undisturbed, semi-subterranean tomb with a barrel-vault and enclosure (area AV) was continued. The tomb contained a variety of glass and bronze vessels, bone plaques, iron weapons and numerous small finds. Work was also done in the southern part of the site, where several new areas were opened. A nicely built, circular, stone-lined well was found along with graves and other structures.     

Excavations at ed-Dur (Umm al-Qaiwain, U.A.E.) — Preliminary report on the sixth Belgian season (1992)

The results of six weeks'research in 1992 by a Belgian team from Gent University at ed-Dur in the Emirate of Umm al-Qaiwain are presented. The excavations concentrated on the areas BQ and BR, where a total of almost 2700 m² were excavated. Both areas contained mostly graves, all plundered, however, except for some plain earth-burials. These large exposures provided a vast amount of various objects and pottery and gave further information on burial practices of the 1st cent. A.D. in southeastern Arabia.     

Thucydides and 'Chalkidic' Torone (IV.110.1)

This article is a reply to the Thucydidean part of J.K. Papadopoulos in OJA 15 (1996) 151–81 and is concerned with the meaning of 'Chalkidic Torone' at Thucydides IV.110.1 (and of 'Chalkidic Olynthos' at IV.123). Various meanings, canvassed in previous scholarship, are considered. Sense (1) is geographical, 'Torone in Chalkidike' sense (2) is political, 'Torone the member of the Chalkidic State or League'. Both these are rejected in favour of some translation of 'Chalkidic' which implies either colonial descent from Euboian Chalkis (sense (3)) or ethnic affiliation to a local and non-Euboian 'Chalkidic genos' (sense (4)). It is argued, contrary to Papadopoulos, that Thucydides in the fifth century, and perhaps Ephorus in the fourth, did after all think in terms of sense (3), but that non-Euboian Chalkidians, if any, may have appropriated Euboian origins to themselves, partly for imperialistic reasons and partly to assert their hellenism, surrounded as they were by non-Greek neighbours. (Analogies are suggested for such 'propagandistic' behaviour.) That is, senses (3) and (4) can be reconciled.     

美国中央情报局对中国西藏的准军事行动(1949-1969)

1949至1969年间美国中央情报局向西藏分裂势力提供了一系列准军事援助。该援助行动的实质是为美国远东战略利益服务,其目标是利用西藏分裂势力遏制与分裂中国,具体内容主要包括：为西藏叛乱分子提供情报和准军事训练技术;在西藏实施公路袭扰和破坏行动;为达赖集团提供军事物资和活动经费;与印度情报机构开展针对中国的情报合作等等。     

An cUbaid site in the Emirate of Sharjah (U.A.E.)

This article reports on the excavations of a coastal site in Sharjah dating to the 5th millennium BC at which examples of painted ^cUbaid pottery, probably of Mesopotamian origin, were found.     

The archaeological and linguistic reconstruction of African history : and (Eds), (Berkeley and London: University of California Press, 1983. Pp. xi + 299. $22.50)

Land disposal by southern African administrations to European settlers between 1860 and 1960 was pursued on a more extensive scale than in the previous two centuries. This reflected the increased ability of local governments to seize land occupied by the indigenes. African land rights received scant attention as most of the sub-continent was taken by conquest, thereby offering governments the opportunity to settle Europeans upon the land. By 1860 the local European settler communities had achieved control over their own land policies, which were framed under political pressure from the rapidly growing rural European population. Land settlement policies were, however, severely constrained by existing practices, which emphasized extensive pastoral farming to the detriment of the development of crop farming and plantation agriculture.     

Briefe im 19. Jahrhundert als wissenschaftshistorische Quelle. Dargestellt am Beispiel des Briefwechsels des Apothekers A. P. J. Du Menil (1777–1852)

The aim of this article is to demonstrate the importance of scientific communication of pharmacists in the 19th century. 89 letters were analysed both written received by August Peter Julius Du Menil (1777–1852). In the paper also a summary is given about the importance of extensive activity of the pharmacist Du Menil. He was be in correspondence with 39 scientists, for instance 13 physicans and 12 pharmacists. The letters are an interesting document about scientific community in the 19th century.     

On Sophron fr. 3 K.-A. (Athenaeus 11.480 B)

After a brief review of some of the general problems posed by Sophron’s work, the paper analyses Sophron’s fr. 3 K.-A., offering a detailed commentary and a new interpretation of the passage.     

Wadi Suq and Iron Age period ceramics from Sharm, Fujairah (U.A.E.)

The Wadi Suq period and Iron Age ceramics from Sharm are examined in terms of morphological, compositional and decorative features. The assemblage is typical of the second- and first-millennium BC ceramics of southeastern Arabia. The more unusual Iron Age 'imitation soft stone' ceramics are amply represented and the Sharm assemblage considerably expands upon this corpus of ceramics which has hitherto been less than abundant in the region. Comparisons with other second- and first-millennium sites suggest the tombs were largely occupied in the late Wadi Suq period, a pattern of occupation which again peaked in the Iron Age II period.     

Von der Wissenschaftsverwaltung zur Wissenschaftspolitik. Friedrich Althoff (19. 2. 1839-20. 10. 1908)

Friedrich Althoff (1839–1908) was one of Germany's three great administrators of science and humanities between Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835) and Carl Heinrich Becker (1886–1933). He was perhaps the most prominent representative of Prussian bureaucratic liberalism and the first eminent politician of culture or — in the words of W. H. Dawson — “the most enlightened but also the most dictatorial Minister of Education Prussia has ever had”. Althoff dominated the state administration of higher education in Prussia between 1882 and 1907, serving as Ministerial director over higher educational affairs under at least four ministers. The so-called “Althoff system”, that he built pushed the development of German science and scholarship to a dominant position in the world, rationalized the universities and further subordinated them to state or ministerial policy through a rigid control of professional appointments, started the mobilization of private capital in support of German scientific hegemony (founding of Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft), and put forward the Prussian tradition — ultimately an unsustainable one — of strong personal administration, by which Althoff systematically manipulated or overrode the very bureaucratic apparatus he had helped to create. On the other hand his policy defended academic freedom, patronized Catholic and Jewish scholars against reactionary university faculties as well as the so-called Kathedersozialisten against the influences of big business and laissez-faire capitalism. As a creator of german cultural foreign policy he paved the way for more international understanding and peace policy, an alternative to the war-aims policy of Imperial Germany on the eve of the Great War.     

Urban geo-archaeology in medieval alzira (Prov. Valencia,Spain)

Alzira is situated in a cut-off meander loop of the Rio Júcar. Geo-archaeological study shows that the Islamic city wall was built during the second quarter of the 11th century AD, at a time when the river had a low-amplitude and low-energy flood regime. After mid-century, overbank silts began to invade the city as peak flood discharge increased, with a spate of destructive floods reflected by high-energy deposits during the late 11th century. Urban expansion within the city wall is dated to the later 11th or early 12th century, interrupted by local abandonment and moderate-energy flood silts. Major construction during the mid-12th century was followed by protracted abandonment (after a siege in AD 1171?) and further, moderate-energy flood silts that redistributed occupation and collapse debris. Reoccupation, during the late 14th century, was terminated by catastrophic floods in 1517 and 1571, after which much of the western end of Alzira was not rebuilt. Following further flood catastrophes during the 17th century, parts of the central walled city remained abandoned until the 19th century. with new occupation atop flood sands of yet another disaster in 1864. The change in flood regime after 1150 was a result of deforestation of the watershed, but progradation of a downstream tributary fan after 1517 created an unstable, aggrading floodplain increasingly prone to severe flooding. Climatic anomalies were responsible for periods of recurrent severe floods, archaeologically verified during the 11th and 12th centuries, and historically documented, beginning in 1318. The geo-archaeological methodology illuminates the constructional and settlement history of Alzira, allows distinction of fluvial and cultural components, and provides the necessary microstratigraphic detail and dating control to document the true complexity of alluvial processes during the last 1000 years.     

Youth crime and preventive policing in post-war Scotland (c.1945-71)

This article explores debates concerning the methods and styles used by the police service in its dealings with children and young people in post-war Scotland (in comparison with England). Study of the implementation of Police Juvenile Liaison Schemes is used to consider shifting points of tension as well as cooperation between the police and other occupational groups engaged in work at the nexus of youth justice-welfare. Whilst often characterized as contradictory tendencies, the article demonstrates that a social welfare ethic and a criminal justice ethic were coexistent within the rhetoric and practice of policing, but that they operated in a state of flux. It also argues that styles of policing were subject to change, particularly as the use of discretionary and informal methods was increasingly challenged, as physical violence was increasingly seen as an outmoded recourse for the institutions of criminal justice, and as the policing of youth was increasingly politicized. The post-war period can be characterized in terms of greater levels of public scrutiny, the formalization of processes previously undertaken through informal or semi-formal mechanisms, and attempts (not always successful) to systematize procedures nationally in terms of the Scottish state.     

Venedig und die Wissenschaftssprachen. (30. Symposium der Gesellschaft für Wissenschaftsgeschichte im Deutschen Studienzentrum in Venedig, 20.-23. Mai 1993)

Languages of science, the idioms of learning and teaching, depend on intellectual trends and cultural developments. Their characteristic adaptation and transformation was particularly evident in the Venetian history of mind which influenced — comparable to the humanist circles of Florence and Rome — wide parts of Europe. In the 12th century James of Venice translated Aristotle directly from the Greek originals, thus forming a new scholastic idiom, whereas — in the 14th century — Petrarch attacked the lingua franca of the scholastic researchers, stressing the importance of poetic and rhetoric elements. Scholastic and humanistic languages were regarded as irreconcilable. In the 15th century an approach was enabled by Bessarion and Ermolao Barbaro who accepted Aristotle and natural sciences as humanistic topics. Around 1500 the famous Venetian printing offices spread the specific idioms of science and researching in the European countries.