(De)queering Hatshepsut: Binary Bind in Archaeology of Egypt and Kingship Beyond the Corporeal

The representations of Egyptian female king Hatshepsut are, as a consequence of a binary heteronormative sex/gender bind, continuously queered in scholarship. Statements on her body and identity are often made by directly equating her representations with the corporeal. This paper offers a critique of the heteronormative interpretations of Hatshepsut, which often identify her as a cross-dresser, gender-bender or “woman with a beard.” An alternative approach will be attempted with the discussion of her imagery in the context of queer and Actor Network theoretical encounters. This paper argues that the binary bind of the sex/gender system can be traversed through a complex network of actants, including bodies, ancestors, relatives, gods, and material culture.     

Emergence,collapse and continuity of the first political system in the Guadalquivir Basin from the fourth to the second millennium BC: The long-term sequence of Úbeda (Spain)

Over the last decade, a long-running archaeological project in the Guadalquivir Basin (Spain) has identified the emergence (c. 3000 BC) and collapse (between c. 2500 and c. 2300 BC) of a regional inter-settlement hierarchical system centred on the south-western Pyrite Belt and the Lower Guadalquivir Basin.     

Trust and Confidence: A Study of Young Queenslanders

This paper provides a unique perspective on trust in Australian society using data from the first wave of a longitudinal study of young people in Queensland. Questions central to young people's expectations regarding institutions and significant others are interrogated. Trust assumes critical importance in this context because it is an important aspect of the future-oriented deliberative processes young people engage in. Gender, indigenous status and religiosity are key determinants of trust across a range of indicators. Boys are less likely than girls to trust significant others such as friends and siblings or to trust environmental groups, but are more trusting of sportspeople, television and the Internet. Aboriginal children are more trusting of their siblings, teachers and neighbours, but less so of their parents. ‘Smart’ children are more trusting of their teachers and schools and feel more confident about their future, while general life satisfaction is positively associated with most measures of trust.     

8500-year-old Late Mesolithic garment embroidery from Vlasac (Serbia): Technological,use-wear and residue analyses

This paper presents results of contextual, technological, use-wear and residue analyses of body ornaments from two Late Mesolithic burials recently excavated at the site of Vlasac in the Danube Gorges of the central Balkans. Common to both burials are ornaments made from modified and unmodified carp (Cyprinidae sp.) pharyngeal ‘teeth’ along with Cyclope neritea marine gastropods. Experimental and low and high magnification use-wear approaches have been employed in reconstructing the way these ornaments were made and used. The precise contextual distribution of these ornaments has been recorded for the first time. The two examined burials exhibit a number of similarities, particularly in the way ornaments were placed in relation to the body. Both burials are also contemporaneous, dated to the mid-7th millennium BC. Implications of these findings for Mesolithic foragers' corporeal symbolism, group identity and regional and long-distance acquisition networks are briefly examined.     

Post-Socialist Transition in Serbia and Its Unsustainable Path

Since the beginning of its post-socialist transition, Serbia has been going through a major political and economic crisis, thus isolated from the mainstream trends of the European integration and convergence. The country's comparative advantages and competitiveness have worsened in terms of two key aspects, that is, its structural qualities and its territorial capital. The economic recovery after the year 2000 assumed a form of “growth without development”, mostly based on poorly legitimized transition reforms, whereby Serbia's inherent unsustainable spatial development patterns have been perpetuated. Today, Serbia finds itself in the position of an economic, ecological and financial semi-colony of a few powerful international political, economic and financial actors, paralleled by the collapse of its strategic thinking, research and governance. Rather bleak development prospects for Serbia call for prompt further research on predictable development scenarios. Therefore, we have discussed the key issues in the current planning system and practice and analysed the basic elements of the prospective future using the scenario approach.     

Notes from the Iberian Algae Belt

In this paper, we explore regional innovation in the use of varieties of algae as inputs to industrial processes. It is important to understand that algae are one of nature's most bountiful products, with an almost infinite variety of applications. Algae have received prominence in the research literature because of the strong evidence that they can make a major contribution to the production and—importantly—storage of renewable energy. Following the introduction to this paper, Section 2 reviews the nature and application of algae in two main aspects of clean energy production: first as biogasolene or biodiesel; second as large-scale storage batteries for electricity. The latter is particularly important as one classic deficiency of electricity is the difficulty in storing it for lengthy periods other than in short-life batteries. However (Section 3), there are other uses for algae, ranging from aquaculture to medicine and the production of cosmetics. In the southwest corner of the Iberian Peninsula, between Faro in Portugal through Huelva to Cadiz in Spain, is a significant research and commercial algae production zone. The paper describes the key system elements in play in this trans-border innovation network and considers prospects for new path creation towards biofuels, the main research and application centres for which are in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. Conclusions and recommendations for policy action are then drawn.