Decay of Limestone Statues at Mount Nemrut (Adiyaman,Turkey)

Mount Nemrut is a 2,206 m high mountain located in Adiyaman, Turkey. A number of monumental statues, a 50-m high tumulus, and a lion horoscope were constructed at the top of the mountain by King Antiochos I (69–36 bc) of the Commagene Kingdom. The site was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1987 due to its unique character. However, the limestone statues located on both the east and the west terraces of the site are getting deteriorated. This study investigates the weathering of the limestone at Mount Nemrut based on field and laboratory studies. It is found that the dissolution occurs along microcracks developed in the limestone during geological time. It is more pronounced in the east terrace where freezing-thawing cycles are more than the west terrace. Furthermore, dissolution is more effective for the faces of the statues exposed to direct atmospheric contact. Due to harsh atmospheric conditions with dominant wetting-drying and freezing-thawing processes at the site, it is recommended that direct rain and snow contact with the statues should be minimized.     

Structural Change,the Social Policy Environment and Female Employment in Turkey

Since the 1970s, a series of demand and supply related changes have led to significant labour market transformations which have brought about a sustained increase in female employment throughout the world. While similar transformations have also been underway in Turkey, the country appears to be one of the rare exceptions to worldwide trends. During the last two decades both female labour force participation and female employment rates have declined at national level. In this article, two sets of questions are posed to explore the factors likely to influence female labour force participation. One set of questions pertains to the society‐specific dynamics of structural change in employment patterns in Turkey, with particular reference to the level and composition of employment in the service sector. A second set of questions is posed to examine labour market relations and the social policy environment in Turkey, and their impact on the demand for and supply of female labour. Current changes in the prevailing policy environment are considered to highlight a certain contradiction in the attitudes of decision makers who seem to be faced with a trade‐off between continuing adherence to conservative patriarchal values and the objectives of increasing labour force participation and combating poverty.     

第二轮志书宗教志编纂刍议

由于宗教的特殊性,宗教志是专业分志编写中的难点。基于对首轮及部分第二轮宗教志的总结,系统论述了第二轮宗教志的记载对象、记载范围、框架设计以及如何与首轮志书衔接,并从指导思想、编纂方法等方面提出宗教志编纂应坚持的五个导向,即：以党的理论为指导,以《宗教事务条例》等法规为准则;运用多学科方法;对宗教系统和系统的人、事、物进行全方位记述;立足本位;突出地方特色与时代特色。     

“民国河北高等法院档案与近代华北社会”学术研讨会简述

2006年10月21—22日,由河北省社会科学院主办的“民国河北高等法院档案与近代华北社会”学术研讨会在石家庄召开。北京、天津、山西、河北四省市的30余位学者与会,提交论文26篇。这是继2002年在天津举办“中国华北城市近代化国际学术讨论会”以来,第二次召开有关近代华北社会的学术会议。与会学者一致认为,召开这样一次学术研讨会,不仅可以引发各地专家学者对其所在地区档案的挖掘使用,同时也将推动近代华北社会研究向纵深方向发展。新材料的发掘与使用一直备受学界重视,本次研讨会突显了这一主题。目前,许多省级档案馆里保存有相当数量的民…     

Networks and Neolithisation: sourcing obsidian from Körtik Tepe (SE Anatolia)

This paper details the use of obsidian sourcing to reconstruct networks of interaction (or ‘communities of practice’) amongst populations of south-eastern Anatolia and the Near East in the context of ‘Neolithisation’ during the late 11th–early 10th millennia BC. EDXRF was used to elementally characterise 120 artefacts of Epi-Palaeolithic – Pre-Pottery Neolithic A date from Körtik Tepe in south-eastern Anatolia. Four eastern Anatolian sources are represented, mainly Bingöl A/B and Nemrut Da?, plus the first evidence for the use of Mu? obsidian. When the source data is integrated with the artefacts' techno-typological attributes it is possible to locate the assemblage within an Upper Tigris tradition (with some interesting local differences), which stands in stark contrast to contemporary practices in northern Mesopotamia and the Levant. These local and regional distinctions support recent views of the Neolithic being much more heterogeneous, with a ‘mosaic’ of community-specific/local traditions of subsistence practices, raw material choices and lithic technologies during the Younger Dryas–Early Holocene.     

Politics of decay and spatial resistance

A historical and multi-cultural district called ?stiklal challenges the Turkish claim as a secular, culturally Muslim, and ethnically Turkish nation. This region is at the heart of the republic: it is in the capital city of Turkey, Ankara, and within a region called Ulus, i.e. ‘the Nation.’ This district is threatened by a continuous process of demolition that has been taking place around this region since the 1940s, in fact, in the last thirty years, a politics of decay has complemented actual acts of demolition. The female residents of the region counteract this politics by narrating the daily problems that the residents of ?stiklal encounter as a result of this politics. Their strategies of narration constitute a resistance against exclusion. By historicizing the experiences that the district has endured, they fight the temporalization of this space, and manage to transgress its isolation.