Re-evaluating the Neolithic: The Impact and the Consolidation of Farming Practices in the Cantabrian Region (Northern Spain)

Research projects undertaken in the Cantabrian region since 1980 have produced new, high-quality information about the neolithisation process(es) in this area. It is now necessary to review this archaeological information and test the main hypotheses put forward to explain it. This paper presents an update on the archaeological evidence (sites, chronological dates, archaeozoological, archaeobotanical and technological information) for the early Neolithic in the Cantabrian region. It summarizes recent research on neolithisation in the region, and assesses the impact of this process during the early Neolithic, and its later consolidation. Although the available information is still incomplete, it is now possible to identify the focal point of the introduction of elements characteristic of the Neolithic way of life in the region. Current evidence suggests that it is in the eastern sector, where the earliest arrival of domesticates and new technologies such as pottery has been attested. The existence of continuities—such as sustained reliance on hunting and gathering and the coexistence of old and new funerary rites—suggests the persistence of native populations, which gradually participated in the neolithisation process after an ‘availability phase’.     

Understanding the July 2016 Military Coup: The Contemporary Security Dilemma in Turkey

This study explores the link between religious identity and conflict in contemporary Turkey by examining the dramatic reversals in the relations between the country’s two prominent Islamic social forces, the ruling party AKP and the Gülen Organization. It shows how a particular trajectory of power and identity between the two religious forces transformed into a brutal security competition in the Turkish society and polity. It puts the analytical foci on the following puzzle: how did the Gülen community — once a confidential ally of AKP — turn into a coup plotter in the Turkish military to bring down the elected government? In order to explore the puzzle, the study offers significant departures from the standard approaches to religious identity and conflict by employing a distinct concept — the inter‐societal security dilemma.     

Grave‐goods from the long chamber tomb “Dibba 76/1” (Fujairah,UAE): a first inventory

The aim of this paper is to present the rich set of finds collected inside the grave Dibba 76/1, in the Emirate of Fujairah, during a season of rescue excavation conducted under the direction of S. Ali Hassan in 1994. The recovered grave‐goods include pottery, soft‐stone vessels, metal finds, personal ornaments, coins, and other items. Although comparable with other corpuses of material excavated in south‐eastern Arabia, the material of Dibba 76/1 stands out for the inner variety of the different artefacts’ classes and their remarkable chronological heterogeneity. The study of the grave‐goods suggests that Dibba 76/1 was reused over several centuries, showing a strong continuity in the funerary destination of this specific place from the end of the Wadi Suq period (2000–1600 BC) to the first phases of the late pre‐Islamic period (250 BC–AD 400), and the full integration of the area of Dibba in the succession of the various cultural facies known during this long time span.     

Zukunft Ruhr 2030

Zusammenfassung  Regionale Entwicklungsstrategien werden in der Regel ohne substanzielle Beteiligung der Wirtschaft entwickelt. Das war im Projekt „Zukunft Ruhr 2030“ anders. Hier hat der „Initiativkreis Ruhrgebiet“, die Vereinigung gro?er Unternehmen in der Metropolregion Ruhr, Entwicklungsperspektiven für die Region aus Sicht der Wirtschaft entworfen. Sechs führende Unternehmensberatungen haben in Zusammenarbeit mit Experten aus Wissenschaft und Wirtschaft verschiedene Themenfelder untersucht, eine Vision entwickelt und daraus eine Entwicklungsstrategie für die kommenden Jahre abgeleitet.     

Der „Mitteleuropäische Kristall“ – zwischen „Blauer Banane“ und „osteuropäischem Pentagon“

Der deutsch-tschechische Grenzraum liegt gewisserma?en in einer Sandwich-Position zwischen verschiedenen europ?ischen Makroregionen; auf europ?ischer Ebene wird er bislang eher als Verbindungselement wahrgenommen. Seine innere Struktur ist von einer relativ geringen Besiedlungsdichte und ausgepr?gten Stadt-Land-Unterschieden gekennzeichnet. Im Frühjahr 2006 gründeten die beiden nationalen Regierungen eine deutsch-tschechische Arbeitsgruppe für Raumentwicklung. Der Artikel skizziert, welche Ziele und Erwartungen damit verbunden werden und welche Funktionen ein solches Gremium übernehmen kann. Dazu wird zun?chst die Ausgangssituation dieses Raumes skizziert. Abschlie?end wird das m?gliche Leitbild des „Mitteleurop?ischen Kristalls“ vorgestellt.