Wet charred wood: a preliminary study of the material and its conservation treatments

This study investigated wet charred wood excavated at an archaic cemetery in Corfu, Greece, dating from 6th century B.C. The preservation condition of the material was evaluated based on its physicochemical properties and micromorphology in comparison to modern combusted wood. Charring temperature of the material was estimated by Electron Spin Resonance (ESR). Results indicated a severe degree of decay, resulting not only from charring. Conservation treatments involved spraying, as the material readily collapsed during immersion.     

Fragments of literary papyri from the collection of the Oslo University Library,II: Homer,Iliad 1.411-437 and 473-480

Two papyrus fragments--now in the collection of the Oslo University Library--are described, transcribed and commented on in this publication. Both fragments belonged originally to a roll containing at least book 1 of Homer's Iliad. The handwriting is informal and rather careless, while the portion of the text preserved is of low textual standard. The above features suggest that the roll was a product of private scribal activity.     

A Conservative in Power

As an unbending champion of autocratic power, Nikolai Pavlovich Muratov offers—through a study of his life and career, especially in Tambov province—insights into the changing social climate of early twentieth-century Russia.     

Conceptualisation of home among Russian-speaking women engaged in commercial sex in Finland

This article explores how Russian-speaking women engaged in commercial sex in Finland understand home in relation to their experience of mobility and engagement in commercial sex. As it examines the mobility of those engaged in commercial sex, it moves away from trafficking or forced migration, and focuses on everyday experiences of home, ownership and self-care. The research is based on semi-structured interviews and ethnographic field work conducted in NGOs and commercial sex venues in Finland. It shows how by investing in private property, the women use their earnings from commercial sex to create their own spaces of comfort and personal pleasure, within the context of mobility, and how the inability to secure a material dwelling makes their sense of home more transient and unstable.     

Innovation and Small Firms’ Growth Prospects: Relational Proximity and Knowledge Dynamics in a Low-tech Industry

The paper tests the hypothesis that innovation activity determines the growth prospects of small low-tech firms. Innovation here is analysed as a function of a firm's knowledge base and the relational proximity processes it is involved in. Analysis refers to small and medium- sized enterprises in tourism under the premise that important insights might be provided as regards to the functioning of innovation processes in low-tech industries.     

Community Archaeology: A Threat or an Opportunity for Greek Archaeology?

The development of archaeology in Greece has been determined by the central role classical antiquity played in the European and Greek imagination. Classical archaeology, with its aesthetic view of the material culture, has dominated the discipline and its popular perception ever since. The state has been entrusted with the exclusive authority on archaeological heritage because of its national importance. This paper argues that the combination of the classical and state monopoly has led to the isolation of Greek archaeology from the world and from the Greek people. The aim is to critically assess Greek archaeology and introduce community archaeology as a means to make archaeology relevant to the Greek people.     

Shifting State–Business Relations in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Post‐2014

This study aims to explore how state–business relations in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have been developing following the fall in oil prices in 2014 and the subsequent increased pressure to implement economic reforms. The main argument is that due to a combination of factors, the positions of the established business community vis‐à‐vis the ruling powers in those countries have become weaker. The factors are: 1) economic pressure and necessity to reform since the 2014 decline in oil prices; 2) the generational shift and subsequent centralizing tendencies in the ruling circles in some of the states; and 3) increased geopolitical rivalry and antagonism between the GCC members, including intensified competition for foreign investment and external political support. Meanwhile the governments have acquired more control over commercial activities that used to be the realm of the business elite. Although these changes are happening to a varying extent and at a different pace in each GCC country, the trend is recognizable in all six.     

Regional economic resilience: the role of national and regional policies

In recent years, economic resilience has become a popular term in both theory and policy practice. This interest was triggered by the fact that some regional economies were extremely vulnerable, while others have managed to overcome, more or less effectively, the worse consequences of the current economic crisis. Within this context, questions arise regarding the role that policies at both the national and subnational levels can play in shaping regional economic resilience. Although high in the academic and political agenda, understanding the policy and governance aspects of resilience still remains a relatively underdeveloped area. The paper contributes to this debate focusing on an area which has been most severely hit by crises, the Region of West Macedonia, in Greece. The case study builds on the historical trajectory of the region in order to explain how different types of policies have influenced the ability of West Macedonia to respond to economic slumps and crises of the last 30 years. Evidence suggests that national protectionist policies largely explain not only resilience of the region against previous crises, but also its vulnerability towards the still ongoing economic crisis.