Dating problems in Icelandic archaeology

For many decades tephrochronology has been used as a scientific method for dating archaeological as well as geological remains in Iceland. Recently, parts of the tephrochronology for the eruptions of the famous volcano Hekla have been questioned by the author. This is due to obvious differences in dating results of archaeological artefacts from the valley of Thjórsárdalur in southern Iceland and the current tephrochronological dating of its devastation. While the devastation of the valley has been dated to AD 1104 and is thought to have been caused by a huge eruption of mount Hekla in that year, the artefacts from excavations and stray finds, as well as new ¹⁴C results, show somewhat later 12th‐13th century dates. The paper deals with this obvious discrepancy, which has hitherto been ignored, together with the results of archaeological excavations in 1983–86 at Stóng in Thjórsárdalur; it also gives a critical analysis of the historical methodology of the tephrochronologists.     

Staging the Transnistrian Identity Within the Heritage of Soviet Holidays

This article focuses on the performance of three national holidays in Transnistria in the context of the ongoing consolidation of Transnistrian society since 1991. Transnistrian leaders play a key role in the construction of a distinct Transnistrian regional identity; hence this paper pays close attention to the speeches of Transnistrian leaders as reported in the mass media. In addition, I also base my conclusions on interviews with the residents of Rybnita. I was able to observe and describe the official commemorations of the anniversary of the October Revolution, May Day and Victory Day, all key Soviet holidays which are still celebrated in Transnistria, mostly by the older generation and members of the Communist Party. The theoretical framework of the article, therefore, relies on a constructivist approach to the nation-building process through the manipulation of public opinion by elites.     

Investigations of Byzantine glass bracelets from Nufăru,Romania using external PIXE–PIGE methods

The chemical composition of twenty glass bracelet fragments found in Nuf?ru, a Byzantine site from 10th–13th centuries A.D., nowadays located on Romania's territory, has been determined using Particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) and Particle Induced Gamma-ray Emission (PIGE) in external beam mode. Most of the Byzantine bracelet fragments were identified as “mixed natron-plant ash” soda-lime-silica glasses. The obtained chemical compositions indicated that the manufacturing of these finery items was performed using similar raw materials and techniques, in most of the cases involving colored glass recycling. PIXE–PIGE results highlighted the glass chromophores (cobalt, manganese, copper and iron ions) and provided hints about the mineral pigments used to paint the external surface of some bracelets.     

China’s Rangelands under Stress: A Comparative Study of Pasture Commons in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

China’s economic reforms have exacerbated the problems of over‐grazing and desertification in the country’s pastoral areas. In order to deal with rangeland degradation, the Chinese government has resorted to nationalization, or semi‐privatization. Since the implementation of rangeland policy has proved very difficult, however, experiments with alternative rangeland tenure systems merit our attention. In Ningxia, in northwest China, local attempts have been undertaken to establish communal range management systems with the village as the basic unit of use and control. Some of these management regimes are under severe stress, due to large‐scale digging for medicinal herbs in the grasslands. This digging has resulted in serious conflicts between Han and Hui Muslim Chinese, during which several farmers have been killed. It is against this backdrop that this article explores the institutional dynamics of range management in two different villages.     

From home to city: gender segregation,homosociality and publicness in Istanbul

This article examines the complex and tangled relationships between home, city, and gender in Bagcilar, a municipality in Istanbul governed by Islamist-oriented political parties since 1992. Focusing on women’s spatial experiences at the intersection of the private and the public, the traditional and the modern, the secular and the religious, this article argues that home provides a medium through which gendered forms of governance and publicness are produced in the city. Home as a domestic sphere confines women’s roles to those of motherhood and wifehood, but also functions as a place of sociability for women. The municipality’s Islamic political discourse, combined with secular urban practices, mobilizes women through familial norms, gender-segregated events, and women-only sites in Bagcilar, where home and urban space are mutually constructed, regulated, and legitimized. Thus, women’s publicness, which derives from but goes beyond domesticity, also enables intimate same-sex sociality in urban spaces. Although this creates only conditional access to the city for women, their agency and engagement with the city emanate from such publicness.