The Approximate Bayesian Computation approach to reconstructing population dynamics and size from settlement data: demography of the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition at Lepenski Vir

Demographic aspects of prehistoric populations have an important role in current archaeological theory and empirical research. In this study, we develop a method to estimate population dynamics and population size and apply it to data on house remains at one of key European Mesolithic-Neolithic transitional sites - Lepenski Vir (Serbia). Lepenski Vir is a site located in the Danube Gorges, well-known for its trapezoidal house floors and stone sculpture. It was most intensively occupied between ~6200 and ~6000 cal BC, the so called Transitional phase, which corresponds to the beginning of the Neolithic in Central Balkans. We combine archaeological evidence and ethnographic information with mathematical models of population dynamics and house accumulation within a Bayesian framework (Approximate Bayesian Computation) to derive posterior distributions of growth rate and population size estimates for the Lepenski Vir population in this period.     

Changes of Proverbs in Form and Meaning: The Case of Croatian ‘Odjeća ne čini čovjeka čovjekom’ (Clothes Do Not Make the Man)

This article deals with changes of form and meaning of the Croatian proverb ‘Odje?a ne ?ini ?ovjeka ?ovjekom’ (Clothes do not make the man). The analysis is done on the basis of its use in newspaper articles and spoken communication. Furthermore, the data are interpreted within the framework of cognitive semantics. The analysis shows that the proverb is often used in modified form and that it has changed its form from negative to positive. Most of the informants recognize its modified form ‘Odijelo ne ?ini ?ovjeka’ (The suit does not make the man) as the original one. From the cognitive semantic point of view, changes analysed in relation to the concept of basic conceptual metaphor point to changes in the socio-cultural context and to perception of the importance of (outward) appearance.     

Traditional undeveloped municipalities in Serbia as a result of regional inequality

This paper examines the issue of traditionally underdeveloped areas of Serbia, with special emphasis on development trends of the south, south-east and south-west areas of Central Serbia. The observed area is represented through a continuous time and space zone which includes rural, hilly-mountainous, border areas and the contact zone with the AP Kosovo and Metohija, including 22 municipalities, the majority of which belong to the so-called traditionally underdeveloped municipalities, that is, those that have had this status for a few decades. For the purpose of monitoring development trends, the indicators of the settlement structure, demographic and socio-economic characteristics and the level of development of the observed municipalities were used. Then, an evaluation and comparison to the national average were carried out. The presented results show a deviation and significant lagging behind of almost all parameters for the analysed municipalities in the period since 2002 until the present day, which indicates that the several-decade-long gap is still being intensified. A cluster analysis was performed for the typology of observed municipalities in order to determine the level of undevelopment and socio-economic marginalization.     

What makes people stay in or leave shrinking cities? An empirical study from Portugal

The attractiveness of cities as places to live determines population movements into or out of them. Understanding the appealing features is fundamental to local governments, particularly for cities facing population decline. Pull and push attributes can include economic aspects, the availability of amenities and psychological constructs, initiating a discussion around which factors are more relevant for migration. However, such discussion has been underexplored in studies of shrinking cities. In the present study, we contribute to the discussion by identifying pull and push factors in Portuguese shrinking cities. Data were collected using a face-to-face questionnaire of 701 residents in four shrinking cities: Oporto, Barreiro, Peso da Régua and Moura. Factor analysis and automatic linear modelling were used to analyse the data. Our results show that the economic activity is the most relevant feature for retaining residents. However, characteristics specific to each city, related to heritage and natural beauty, are also shown to influence a city’s attractiveness. The cause of population shrinkage was also found to influence residents’ assessments of the pull and push attributes of each city. Furthermore, the results show the relevance of social ties and of place attachment to inhabitants’ intention to continue living in their city of residence.     

The Evolution of Population Distribution on the Iberian Peninsula: A Transnational Approach (1877–2001)

Abstract

Surpassing the national perspective usually adopted, the authors confirmed the existence of a pattern of population distribution common to the whole Iberian Peninsula in the long run. This pattern is clearly associated with geographical factors. These variables seem to have more weight in explaining changes between 1877/78 and 1940 than in the period from 1940 to 2001. The observation of the cross-border region has shown that proximity to the frontier has not generated any distinct pattern of population density on either side of the boundary line. The spatial coherence of the observed phenomena throughout the Peninsula and of its evolution, independent of the border between states, reinforces the importance of geographic factors in their explanation. At the same time, this verification opens up new issues related to the effect of national political and economic policies.     

Peculiarities of sedimentation conditions in the oxbow lakes of Dubysa River (Lithuania)

Abundant wood remains and buried trees have been found in the western part of Lithuania near Zakeli?kiai and Lyduv?nai on Dubysa River (a tributary of Nemunas River) where deposits are rich in organic remnants and buried soils. In Zakeli?kiai and Skiru?iai sections of Dubysa River oxbow sediments were investigated by various methods (dendrochronological, carbonate, granulometric, pollen and mollusc fauna analysis). In addition, these sections were dated using the radiocarbon method. Samples were collected from deposits of Dubysa River outcrops. The studied oxbow lakes have existed for more than 5 thousand years (from ca. 4300 BC to 1000 AD). During this period organic rich deposits with trees and branches were formed in the oxbow lake. This indicates that at the end of Atlantic, during Subboreal and in the early Subatlantic periods there was a forest growing that contained mainly oaks which were falling down into an oxbow lake and later were covered by sandy and silty deposits. The granulometry of alluvial deposits, as well as the mixture of medium-grained sand and silt show different stages of Dubysa River palaeochannel formation: riverbed and oxbow lakes. Three climate warming cycles were revealed according to carbonate analysis data in all investigated sections. The rheophile thermophilous Holocene age molluscs species Bithynia tentaculata L., Unio cf. crassus Philipsson, Pisidium amnicum (Müller), Theodoxus fluviatilis (Linnaeus) have been found. The pollen composition and sequences have been divided into five local pollen assemblage zones (LPAZ) and described according to pollen spectra in each zone. In this way it is possible restore palaeoclimatic coherent evolution, trends and cyclical change.     

Muscles,Nerves, and Sex: The Contradictions of the Medical Approach to Female Bodies in Movement in France, 1847–1914

From the early nineteenth century in France, the treatment of hysteria was connected to both physical and moral development. As a result, therapeutic treatments envisaged by medical practitioners were influenced by and related to the formulation of precepts of medical gymnastics. This article considers how ‘physical education’ for women became part of medical discourse, specifically the elaboration of ‘body treatment’ as a remedy against nervous disorders including hysteria. From the Second Republic (1848) to the years of the belle epoque (1914), the discourse concerning the medical cause of ‘hysterical madness’ is marked by the progressive discrediting of reflections that located the causes of pathology in the genitals. However, the shaping of a neuro‐cerebral etiology did not fully replace discussions of the relationship between hysteria, female bodies and the uterus. While the current historiography emphasises the participation of doctors in the production and legitimation of physical exercises in the nineteenth century, some aspects of this process are not yet fully explored. We examine the ambivalences of medical discourse, between the rhetoric of the eternally wounded woman and the need to develop women's abilities (intellectual, moral, and physical) to ensure healthy children. And despite the shadows that still obscure the etiology of nervous disorders, there is, in our period, a genuine dynamic favouring experimental therapeutics. The ‘movement disorders’, such as chorea, hysteria or neurasthenia, were handled by increasingly well‐established regimes utilising physical exercise. The introduction of gymnastics in the hospital played a fundamental role in this process; it enabled experimentation and lent legitimacy to physical exercise as therapy.