THE DOUBLE-AXE: A CONTEXTUAL APPROACH TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF A CRETAN SYMBOL IN THE NEOPALATIAL PERIOD

The Double-Axe has always been considered as one of the most important religious symbols in Minoan Crete. This paper reassesses the significance of the Double-Axe and puts forward a new interpretation for it. It recognizes the great potential for change in symbolic meanings during the Bronze Age and seeks to understand the Double-Axe in as narrow a period as is realistically possible by filtering out evidence from other periods. Central to the argument is the principle that the meaning of symbols is contextually dependent. It builds, therefore, a new interpretation of the Double-Axe on the basis of as wide a range of contextual associations as possible, both within iconographic sources and in the wider material record. From these contextual associations, it suggests that in the Neopalatial period the Double-Axe was a symbol primarily associated with a social group which exercised power in the economic, military and religious realms and that it became a solely religious symbol only later.     

CULTURAL HISTORY,THE POSSIBLE,AND THE PRINCIPLE OF PLENITUDE1

Cultural historical research has deliberately challenged “historical realism,” the view that history is comprised entirely of observable actions that actually occurred, and instead has emphasized the historical significance of thoughts, emotions, and representations; it has also focused on the invisible, the momentary, and the perishable. These latter elements introduce the notion of the possible in history. This article examines the ways in which cultural history has approached the notion of the possible, as well as the methodological and theoretical implications of this approach. Its chief claim is that the idea of possibility is fundamental for the concept of culture and ineliminable from its historical study. The question of possibility is present in multiple ways in the study of history; it is important to distinguish among different levels of possibility. The possible may mean, for instance, what it is possible for historians to know about the past, or the possibilities open to historical agents themselves, or, indeed, the possibilities they perceived themselves as having even if these seem impossible from the point of view of the historian. The article starts with the first aspect and moves on toward the possibilities that existed in the past world either in fact or in the minds of those in the past. The article argues that the study of past cultures always entails the mapping of past possibilities. The first strand of the essay builds on the metaphor of the black hole and intends to solve one of the central problems faced by cultural historians, namely, how to access the horizon of the people of the past, their experience of their own time, especially when the sources remain silent. The second, more speculative strand builds on the notion of plenitude and is designed to open up avenues for further discussion about the concept of culture in particular.     

THE OLIVE IN THE PREHISTORIC AEGEAN: THE EVIDENCE FOR DOMESTICATION IN THE EARLY BRONZE AGE

Summary. In 1972 Colin Renfrew suggested that the rise of Mycenaean civilization may have been made possible by the development of a polycultural triad of wheat, vine and olive in the Early Bronze Age. A careful examination of the botanical and archaeological evidence for the domestication of the olive lends little support to this aspect of the thesis. The palynological evidence from various points in Greece is inconclusive, but for most areas it would seem to suggest that the intensive cultivation of olive began in the Late Bronze Age or even later.
No conclusive archaeological evidence for processing or storage of olive oil exists for any period in the Bronze Age. The question of when olive domestication took place must remain unanswered until more data are available from Early and Middle Bronze Age contexts and more conclusive botanical data have been collected.     

YUGOSLAVIAN TIN DEPOSITS AND THE EARLY BRONZE AGE INDUSTRIES OF THE AEGEAN REGION

Summary. This paper provides a synopsis of those tin sources available to prehistoric communities in Europe and the Near East. Moreover, it is designed to introduce to archaeologists the recent discovery of substantial cassiterite deposits in Yugoslavia, and to discuss their potential and possible exploitation by Early Bronze Age metallurgists in the area around the Aegean.     

UNOFFICIAL COINAGE IN THE THIRD CENTURY ad IN THE GALLO‐ROMAN WORLD: CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL ANALYSES FOR DETERMINING THE LOCALIZATION OF THE WORKSHOP*

The third century ad was a complex period of crisis in the Roman world. In this paper, official and unofficial antoniniani, and double sestercii and sestercii, were analysed by fast neutron activation analysis (FNAA) to determine the alloys used by the craftsmen for producing forgeries. Moreover, at Châteaubleau, archaeologists discovered antoniniani and bronze forgeries from Postumus. Similar materials have been found in other hoards. They are believed to have been produced by a workshop called ‘atelier II’ by numismatists. The question was whether it is possible to differentiate the Châteaubleau production from the atelier II production.     

THE LAST WORD ON THE GOLDEN FLEECE LEGEND?

Summary. Evidence is discussed for the three theories on the origins of the Golden Fleece legend. That the epithet 'golden'referred to fine wool, because of its value, is thought to be not incompatible with the view that fleeces were used to collect gold particles from streams. That the fleece was yellow is unlikely since such discoloration is a wool fault, but it is just possible that 'golden' might refer to genetically 'tan' fibres.     

THE PROVENANCE OF IRON ARTEFACTS FROM MANCHING: A MULTI‐TECHNIQUE APPROACH*

Iron finds from the Celtic oppidum of Manching in southern Bavaria (Germany) are analysed in view of their possible provenance. The exceptional size and the location of Manching are usually attributed to the presence of abundant iron ores in its vicinity. After a review of previous approaches for source determination of iron artefacts, we introduce lead isotope analysis as a new approach. However, only by combining the trace element patterns of slag inclusions and iron metal with lead isotope ratios in the metal is it possible to distinguish various iron ore formations near Manching. As a result, it turns out that, indeed, the most obvious ones—namely, bog ores near the Danube—constituted the main resources for iron production at Manching. It was even possible to select one occurrence as the most likely ore source.     

THE ISOTOPIC COMPOSITION OF TIN IN SOME ANCIENT METALS AND THE RECYCLING PROBLEM IN METAL PROVENANCING

A recent suggestion that some ancient metallurgical processes might give rise to large changes (> 0.5%) in the isotopic composition of tin gave hope that it might be possible to identify ancient bronze samples which had undergone recycling and mixing processes. This paper describes a method for the analysis of the isotopic composition of tin by thermal ionization mass spectrometry and applies it to analyse a number of ancient bronzes and tin metal objects from the Bronze Age Mediterranean. No observable isotopic fractionation of tin was found above $0.1% in the ratio¹²² Sn/¹¹⁶. Consequently, either recycling of bronze in the Late Bronze Age Mediterranean was not so common as supposed, or the isotopic composition of tin is not fractionated by anthropogenic metallurgical processes to the extent predicted by the Bradford group.     

REVISING THE PAST / REVISITING THE PRESENT: HOW CHANGE HAPPENS IN HISTORIOGRAPHY

This article investigates the various forces that may help to explain the ongoing historio‐graphical phenomenon of revision. It takes as its point of departure Michel de Certeau's understanding of the writing of history as a process consisting of an unstable and constantly changing triangulated relationship among a place (a recruitment, a milieu, a profession), analytical procedures (a discipline), and the construction of a text (or discourse). For de Certeau, revision is the formal prerequisite for writing history because the very distance between past and present requires continuous innovation simply to produce the objects of historical knowledge, which have no existence apart from the historian's identification of them. The specific nature of revision at a given moment is determined by the specificities of the process as a whole, that is, by the characteristics of place, procedure, and text and their contemporary relational configuration. Taking the rise of “linguistic‐turn” historiography as exemplary of the process of historical revision in its broadest possible meaning, the article seeks to discover the possible “causes” for that turn. It begins with an analysis of the psychological roots of poststructuralism as a response to the holocaust and its aftermath, and then proceeds to explore the possible economic and social transformations in the postwar world that might account for its reception, both in Europe but also, more counterintuitively, in the United States, where postmodernism proved to have an especially strong appeal. Added to this mix are the new patterns of social recruitment into the historical profession in the “sixties.” the essay suggests that, to the extent that revision is understood as the result of the combined effect of psychological, social, and professional determinations, it is unlikely that there will ever be genuine consensus about the sources of revision in history, since all historians bring to their work differing congeries of psychological preoccupations, social positions, and professional commitments.     

THE HOMERIC TOPOGRAPHY OF THE TROJAN PLAIN RECONSIDERED

Summary. Homeric passages bearing on the location of the Achaean camp at Troy are re-examined in the light of new scientific data on the time-scale for the alluviation of the Trojan plain. The new data confirm the accuracy of Strabo's account of the plain, and in particular of the shore-line having come close to the Hisarlik site ( Novum Ilium ) in Hellenistic times. In the era of Troy VI/VII, c. 3,250 years BP, the shore-line appears to have run west by south of the site, and a broad marine embayment lay between the city and the Sigeum ridge. It is therefore no longer possible to accept the received view (deriving from Schliemann and Leaf) that the Achaean camp was sited on the present shore-line by the Hellespont. A new site is proposed for the camp on the lower slopes of the Sigeum ridge about four miles west of Hisarlik. It is argued that the indications in the Iliad are not inconsistent with such a siting, and in fact suit it better than the received view. This is shown with regard to the course of the Scamander, evidently pictured by Homer as running between camp and city, and also with respect to the general axis of the fighting on the plain, which is indicated to lie in an east-west rather than a north-south direction. The Besika Bay site, first proposed in 1912, is rejected as inconsistent with the Homeric data and unsatisfactory in itself.     

基于非线性动力学模式的城市道路与人口的平衡分析

城市道路的发展状况已经成为制约城市社会经济发展的"瓶颈",许多地区采取了各种各样的措施来缓解交通压力,但是收效甚微,关键在于我们没有从根本上认识产生这一现象的根源。本文通过建立城市道路与人口的非线性动力学模式,分析城市道路与人口之间的关系。     

THE TIME OF POLITICS,THE POLITICS OF TIME,AND POLITICIZED TIME: AN INTRODUCTION TO CHRONOPOLITICS

Time is so deeply interwoven with all aspects of politics that its centrality to the political is frequently overlooked. For one, politics has its own times and rhythms. Secondly, time can be an object and an instrument of politics. Thirdly, temporal attributes are used not only to differentiate basic political principles but also to legitimize or delegitimize politics. Finally, politics aims at realizing futures in the present or preventing them from materializing. Consequently, the relationship between politics and time encompasses a broad spectrum of phenomena and processes that cry out for historicization. In our introduction to this History and Theory theme issue on chronopolitics, we argue that the concept of chronopolitics makes it possible to do this and, in the process, to move the operation of rethinking historical temporalities from the periphery toward the center of historiographical attention as well as to engage in a dialogue with scholars from a wide range of disciplines. To this end, we propose a broad concept of chronopolitics by discussing existing definitions, by distinguishing between three central dimensions of chronopolitics (the time of politics, the politics of time, and politicized time), and by systematizing possible approaches to studying chronopolitics.     

PANEL ON THE SOVIET UNION IN THE YEAR 2000

A panel of geographers debates possible future developments in the Soviet Union in regional and environmental policy, water resource management, agriculture, industry, energy, population, urban growth and planning, transportation, and foreign trade. The present emphasis on modernization of existing plant capacity in cities of the western, more heavily settled regions of the USSR seems destined to continue, although it will be constrained by a growing shortage of industrial labor, declining terms of trade and resource oversupply in increasingly competitive export markets, and the continued resistance of Central Asian populations to urbanization and industrial employment.     

THE SOCIAL EVALUATION OF A TERRITORY UNDER CONDITIONS OF THE SCIENTIFIC-TECHNICAL REVOLUTION

The present practice of economic and technological evaluation of a territory for development purposes is found to be inadequate because the evaluation made by Soviet planning and design agencies does not always coincide with the perception of particular places by individual citizens. As a result, the outflow from rural areas has been particularly heavy in areas where agricultural labor is especially short, and the predominant direction of interregional migration has been southward rather than to the east, where it is most needed. It is therefore suggested that spatial planning is based on a social evaluation of territory that would eliminate the present conflicts in perception and bring the interests of society more into line with the interests of individual citizens. Social evaluation is based on two value indicators: (1) the uniqueness of the creative process localized in a particular place, tending to make that place attractive; (2) accessibility of the place from surrounding areas. One possible approach to measuring the social attractiveness of a place is the extent to which individuals strive to establish direct contact (visits, direct dealings) or indirect contacts (eliciting of information) with that place.     

城市生活质量与生活空间质量研究评介与展望

在当今的社会-文化进程阶段,新人本主义强调人与社会(文化)和谐的可持续发展观,其目标体现在人们的生活质量上,其焦点是城市(社会)生活质量构成与城市(社会)生活质量空间耦合的建构。从新人本主义理念出发探讨城市(社会)生活质量与其对应(社会)生活空间质量对政府部门和学术界都是全新的课题。二者在不同领域,不同学科之间的研究并行不悖。对前者的研究是人文社会与管理学科聚焦的方向,对后者的探讨是区域与城市诸学科聚焦的方向。它们充分体现学科融合的新理念/原理及其前沿性。本文从研究源起、研究意义、研究阶段以及评价指标体系的构建等不同角度对二者的国内外研究动态及方向进行了评介与展望,目的在于明晰二者的研究方法,理论框架与研究趋势,为社会与城市发展及其规划指明方向,提供理论基础与科学依据。     

MATERIAL SYMBOLS AND THE INTERPRETATION OF CULTURAL CHANGE

Changes in economic patterns, such as in subsistence practices, settlement organization, and trade, are accompanied by changes in people's view of their world and their place in it. In contexts for which the economic bases and social configurations are fairly well understood, it should be possible to identify and interpret changes in symbolic systems. The case presented involves transformations in the character and decoration of ceramic vessels of the European Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages. This line of inquiry can provide insight into shifts in attitudes and perceptions that came about as the result of newly developing economic and political configurations.     

A NEW METHOD FOR THE DETERMINATION OF THE PROVENANCE OF WHITE MARBLES BY CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF INCLUSION FLUIDS: THE MARBLES OF THE MAUSOLEUM OF BELEVI/TURKEY*

A new method is presented in this paper to pinpoint the origin of white marbles using the chemical analysis of fluids occurring as micro-inclusions in calcitic or dolomitic marbles. Beside the conventional methods usually applied for this purpose, the analyses of significant anions and cations in fluids extracted from white marbles were used to characterize different types of marbles. Using this new approach it is possible to distinguish different groups of marbles which cannot be separated isotopically. A case study was performed on the mausoleum of Belevi, close to Ephesus in Turkey, and the quarries in the area of the mausoleum. The marbles used for the architecture of the mausoleum cannot be distinguished isotopically but were split into two groups when using fluid inclusion analysis. The corresponding quarry for the high-quality marble (cella walls, columns etc.) turned out to be the Kentli Çiftliği quarry, which also supplied the marbles for the classical Artemision. According to the chemical and fluid data it can be shown, however, that neither the adjacent famous antique quarry of Belevi nor the underground mine of Kusini, some 5 km away from the mausoleum, are the sources for the marbles used for the construction or decoration of the mausoleum.     

THE (DIS)CONTINUOUS HISTORY OF THE POLITICAL

The political is not given. Understood as the space in which collectives think about how they should live together, the political has existed only since the seventeenth century—according to the thesis of Elías José Palti's Archaeology of the Political. Since then, a central problem of the political, namely how transcendence can be founded on immanence, has been posed in a completely new way. Palti follows this development from the seventeenth to the twentieth century, illustrated by a few individual examples. His reading of the problem is a possible one. But aren't the political questions arising from the combination of transcendence and immanence much older? Can the political really be reduced to the period so often referred to as “modernity”? In contrast to Palti, I would like to emphasize more strongly the continuities in the field of the political—continuities that can be attached to a void, to the search for a foundation that cannot be justified. But even if one may and should argue about the thesis of the book, it proves to be above all a stimulating study and an important contribution to the understanding of the political.     

THE ROMAN CHURCH AT SILCHESTER RECONSIDERED

Summary. The historical development of the current interpretation of the Silchester church is reviewed, and shown to reflect the prior notion that it was a church, to the detriment of other possible interpretations of its use. The interpretation as a church presents several problems, mainly to do with the probable date of construction of the building, in the late third or early fourth century, and its abandonment, in about the second third of the fourth century. Romano-Celtic temple architecture seems to have had some influence on the design of the building, but on balance, the best possibility for its use was for an eastern cult.     

THE USE OF ROMAN COINAGE

Summary. There is little doubt that Roman coins found today in excavations were lost during the Roman period because they were in use. If these coin-finds are examined in the appropriate way it should be possible to detect something of the patterns of coin-use and coin-loss in the ancient world and hence to learn something of the monetary side of trade and the economy. Finds from different sites are compared in an effort to establish basic rules of interpretation, or, failing that, of presentation of the evidence.