A 28,000 year old excavated painted rock from Nawarla Gabarnmang,northern Australia

We report new archaeological excavations from northern Australia revealing part of a charcoal design likely to be c. 28,000 years old (and chrono-stratigraphically constrained within the period 15,600–45,600 cal BP) on a small rock slab fallen from the ceiling at the rockshelter of Nawarla Gabarnmang in Jawoyn country, Arnhem Land. This represents the oldest confirmed pictograph in Australia.     

High-resolution radiocarbon dating of marine materials in archaeological contexts: radiocarbon marine reservoir variability between Anadara, Gafrarium, Batissa, Polymesoda spp. and Echinoidea at Caution Bay, Southern Coastal Papua New Guinea

The remains of shellfish dominate many coastal archaeological sites in the Pacific and provide a wealth of information about economy, culture, environment and climate. Shells are therefore the logical sample type to develop local and regional radiocarbon chronologies. The calibration of radiocarbon (¹⁴C) dates on marine animals is not straightforward, however, requiring an understanding of habitat and dietary preferences as well as detailed knowledge of local ocean conditions. The most complex situations occur where terrestrial influences impinge on the marine environment resulting in both the enrichment and depletion of ¹⁴C (Ulm Geoarchaeology 17(4):319–348, 2002; Petchey and Clark Quat Geochronol 6:539–549, 2011). A sampling protocol that combines a high-resolution excavation methodology, selection of short-lived samples identified to species level, and a tri-isotope approach using ¹⁴C, δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O, has given us the ability to identify ¹⁴C source variation that would otherwise have been obscured. Here, we present new research that details high-resolution mapping of marine ¹⁴C reservoir variation between Gafrarium tumidum, Gafrarium pectinatum, Anadara granosa, Anadara antiquata, Batissa violacea, Polymesoda erosa and Echinoidea from the Bogi 1 archaeological site, Caution Bay, southern coastal Papua New Guinea. These isotopes highlight specific dietary, habitat and behavioural variations that are key to obtaining chronological information from shell radiocarbon determinations.     

The ancient Greek names “Magnesia” and “Magnetes” and their origin from the magnetite occurrences at the Mavrovouni mountain of Thessaly,central Greece. A mineralogical–geochemical approach

Pliny the Elder (first century A.D.) mentioned that the Thessalian magnetite from Magnesia in ancient Greece was second in quality after the Ethiopic. This magnetite should be related with the origin of the Homeric Magnetes of the eighth century B.C. who lived around Ossa mountain in central Greece. A new euhedral magnetite occurrence derived from the Kampitsios area at the north-western slopes of Mavrovouni mountain in “Amyrikon Pedion”, probably shows that this region should have been connected with the origin of the Homeric Magnetes. The magnetites under study are found as porphyroblasts in the talc schists. They are almost pure with rare inclusions, mainly ilmenite, rutile, pseudorutile and a PbO phase. The alteration of magnetite to hematite is restricted only along the fissures and cracks as well as along the rims, forming very thin films of a few micrometres in thickness. Microprobe analyses showed that the magnetites are almost pure and they contain only traces of Cr₂O₃ (1.01–3.41%). The high-quality magnetites of Kampitsios could be probably related with those mentioned by Pliny, and they should be related with the origin of the Homeric Magnetes of the eighth century B.C. who lived around Ossa mountain in Thessaly.     

The challenges to democracy and citizenship surrounding the vote to Italians overseas

In 2003, a presidential decree enacted legislation guaranteeing Italian voters overseas the right to postal voting as well as parliamentary representation within their respective electoral constituency. The electoral weight of the overseas-based constituent had a remarkable effect on the 2006 election results. In the tightest vote in the Republic's history, the vote of overseas Italians, which was one of the decisive features of the election, helped provide the winning centre-left coalition with a slender majority in the Senate. Election results notwithstanding, the question of whether to grant the vote to Italians overseas has faced challenges of a procedural, normative and political nature. What may have been initially seen as a democratic right may well be cast aside as it poses challenges to overseas electoral relationships with the Italian national polity, Italian citizenship and multinational allegiances, diasporic identity, electoral participation and political representation in homeland political institutions. The overseas vote for Italians may be contested further in the near future, which could translate into a radical rethink of its validity and democratic global extension.     

Planning Small Regions in a Larger Europe: Spatial Planning as a Learning Process for Sustainable Local Development

An enlarged Europe is addressing the challenge of territorial cohesion on the basis of a disciplinary and operative framework formed by a number of evolving documents and provisions to be applied and developed at different administrative and planning levels. Rapid and profound changes have occurred in previous decades as far as institutional framework, the role of actors and issues to be tackled are concerned, within a re-scaling process of territorial governance. In this context, small territories can take advantage of European funds, but experience a hard confrontation with the market economy and supra-local visions, use of resources and infrastructure projects. A decisive role, in many countries, has been gained by regional authorities, which must mediate among various territorial levels, institutions and actors involved in a multilevel governance process. The paper focuses on spatial and regional/territorial planning processes among the European dimension, Member States and regions, on the basis of a case study conducted in Northern Italy. The aim is to determine the role of European spatial planning as a “learning machine” [Faludi, A. (2008) European Territorial Cooperation and Learning, disP 172, (1/2008), pp. 3–10.] able to support processes of mutual learning and cooperation, overcoming the attitude of compliance to upper level schemes and financial programmes rather than innovating usual procedures and territorial planning.