Artificial Intelligence, 3D Documentation,and Rock Art—Approaching and Reflecting on the Automation of Identification and Classification of Rock Art Images

Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory - Rock art carvings, which are best described as petroglyphs, were produced by removing parts of the rock surface to create a negative relief. This...     

Radiocarbon and U-series dating of the endemic deer Praemegaceros cazioti (Depéret) from “Grotta Juntu”, Sardinia

Radiocarbon and U-series methods (²³⁰Th/U and ²³¹Pa/²³⁵U) for absolute age determination have been applied to some fossil samples from Grotta Juntu, in North Eastern Sardinia (Italy). The remains belong to the endemic deer species Praemegaceros cazioti, which is here represented by an almost complete skeleton. The three dating methods lead to concordant ages of about 7500 years BP, indicating that the skeleton was maintained as closed system after burial. Taking into consideration these results, Praemegaceros cazioti from Grotta Juntu is now the youngest representative of this species in Sardinia.     

Chance, creativity, and the discovery of the nerve growth factor

This essay analyzes the history of the Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) discovery, relating some of the principles of the theory of scientific creativity to the cognitive and personal qualities of the scientists that participated in the discovery, particularly Rita Levi-Montalcini and Viktor Hamburger. The discovery of NGF is especially attractive for the history of science as it involves chance, luck, creativity, and some extraordinary scientists.     

Gender Blindness and the Annulment of the Development Contract

This contribution to the Forum Debate responds to Horner and Hulme's analysis on the ‘rise of the South’, which they see as suggesting a dramatic redrawing of the global map of development and inequality. This response presents a critical South feminist perspective, informed by the lived realities of women in the South. It is based on a historical and political perspective that goes beyond income inequality to understand gender inequality in development within the persistent North–South divide.     

Chance,Creativity, and the Discovery of the Nerve Growth Factor

This essay analyzes the history of the Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) discovery, relating some of the principles of the theory of scientific creativity to the cognitive and personal qualities of the scientists that participated in the discovery, particulary Rita Levi-Montalcini and Viktor Hamburger. The discovery of NGF is especially attractive for the history of science as it involves chance, luck, creativity, and some extraordinary scientists.     

Tiwanaku trade patterns in southern Peru

This paper provides data and analysis from an intensive settlement survey in the southwestern Titicaca Basin. This research was designed to assess the nature of Tiwanaku (AD 600–1100) long-distance trade. The survey area was placed between the prehistoric urban capital of Tiwanaku and its primary colony in Moquegua, a valley located on the Pacific watershed approximately 325 km away. The survey was specifically placed in an area where GIS analysis indicated a least-cost transit route between Tiwanaku and Moquegua. Field adjustments to the survey area were made based upon informant data about the historic location of caravan routes. The results of the survey indicate that there is a light but virtually continuous string of Tiwanaku occupation along the trails and roads in the area sampled between Tiwanaku and Moquegua. However, in contrast to the later Inca (AD 1450–1532) period pattern, Tiwanaku did not maintain way stations or build any kind of formal road system. The data indicate that Tiwanaku had indeed relied upon camelid caravans utilizing the least-cost pathways, but it did so in a more decentralized and informal way than the later Inca state.     

Luxury and Consumption in Eighteenth-Century Italy: Intellectual History,Methodological Ideas and Interdisciplinary Research Practice

Summary

This article has two aims. In the first part I will present some methodological considerations on intellectual history, particularly in relation to other disciplines considered similar yet different, such as the history of ideas, the history of concepts and the history of discourse. I will then seek to clarify what it means, in terms of research practice, to write intellectual history, taking as a starting point the subject of my own research, namely the political implications of economic thinking on luxury and consumption in Italy during the second half of the eighteenth century. More specifically, I intend to highlight the unique characteristics of intellectual history, understood as global history, which requires the reconstruction of the different contexts in which its underlying ideas and objectives developed, concentrating on its highly interdisciplinary nature. In particular, I will focus on a specific type of interdisciplinarity that characterised the methodology of my research, namely the attempt to hold together political thought and economic analysis. Eighteenth-century Italy was in fact marked by a strong, multifaceted political evaluation of economic thinking on luxury and consumption, which led me to examine the discussion of the subject through two lenses, those of economic analysis and political thinking. This specificity shows how the reconstruction of economic thought constitutes a fertile course for the investigation of the political culture and social projects of Italian authors in the eighteenth century, at a time when economic science was taking shape as a separate discipline.