The sustainable development paradox: urban political economy in the United States and Europe * Rob Krueger and David Gibbs (Eds)

Recent work in the field of urban political ecology has broughtto attention the lack of critical discussion surrounding notionsof ‘sustainability’ in local planning and policydiscussions. In The Sustainable Development Paradox: Urban politicaleconomy in the United States and Europe Rob Krueger and DavidGibbs edit a comprehensive volume that highlights many currentcritical conversations about sustainability. Work on sustainabilitygenerally begins by stating that it is a widely recognized conceptwith no clear definition and therefore the need to define itbecomes paramount. Krueger and Gibbs go beyond this tired tropeand challenge current theorizations of sustainability whiletaking up critical analysis of its use in material practice.The question that runs throughout the volume is: how can wediscuss achieving a state of sustainability under the currenteconomic system? Through detailed case studies, the authorstake a distinctly geographical approach     

La ragion di Stato in biblioteca

The Fondazione Luigi Firpo, based in Turin, houses the library collected by Luigi Firpo (1915–1989), one of the most distinguished European historians of early modern political thought. The collection includes around 6 000 16^th, 17^th and 18^th century books, among which one can find almost all European literature on the reason of State. The Foundation organizes international conferences, grants scholarships and publishes the research of young scholars. Therefore it has established itself as one of the leading research centres on political thought and on early modern and modern history.     

Ancient social landscapes of northwestern Argentina: preliminary results of an integrated approach to obsidian and ceramic provenance

This article presents the results of ongoing instrumental neutron activation analyses (INAA) conducted on archaeological artifacts from the Formative period of northwestern Argentina (NWA). These studies are part of a wider archaeological project that seeks to understand the structure of the social landscape of the period by examining domestic and burial evidence from a wide range of villages across the area known as the southern Calchaquí valleys. Elemental data is discussed in the light of its potential contribution to reassess past social interaction strategies in the region.     

Multitemporal analysis for preservation of obsidian sources from Melka Kunture (Ethiopia): integration of fieldwork activities,digital aerial photogrammetry and multispectral stereo-IKONOS II analysis

An integrated analysis of recent satellite imageries and dated aerial photos demonstrated to be a good investigation tool (Gallo et al., 2009) for the identification of new sites and for the assessment of landscape changes of wide archaeological areas in Ethiopia.     

Interpretative scenarios emerging from plant micro- and macroremains in the Iron Age site of Salut,Sultanate of Oman

The archaeobotanical research carried out in the Iron Age site of Salut (north Oman) gives insights on various interpretative scenarios: the ancient vegetation surrounding the site, oasis farming, and possible ritual practices. The landscape was dominated by dry shrublands with, among others, acacia, jujube and tamarisk that were exploited for obtaining timber and firewood. Agricultural practices mainly consisted of date palm, cereal and sesame cultivation. By comparing the datasets it was possible to assess that the date palm had various uses in this site: one hypothesis involves its offering in ceremonial practices. This third scenario suggests a new way of interpreting some of the plant remains in an archaeological site as Salut, a multipurpose site including a possibly cultic function.     

Medieval Landscape Archaeology in Italy: A Review

MEDIEVAL LANDSCAPE ARCHAEOLOGY in Italy is reviewed here by analysing the methodological approaches and the theoretical frameworks adopted by researchers working from the 1970s to the present day. Notwithstanding a kind of ‘resistance’ of Italian archaeology to theorisation, the intensive fieldwork and fruitful exchanges of the many teams working on the Peninsula have not only brought important achievements for the reconstruction of settlement patterns and landscape dynamics during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, but have also animated and enriched the debates about approaches and methodologies. The ‘Italian context’ is therefore framed within the European mainstream and the international panorama.     

Death in the sun: the bioarchaeology of an early post-medieval hospital in Gibraltar

SUMMARY: In 2014, during construction work at the ex-Civil Hospital in Gibraltar, excavations led by the Gibraltar Museum revealed a major, previously unknown burial ground containing more than 200 skeletons. We present the historical, archaeological and radiometric dating evidence from the site alongside the results of initial osteological analyses. The data indicate that the burials pertain to an earlier 16th-century Spanish hospice, and therefore stand to offer new insights into the functioning of this early modern hospital and the health and movements of people at a time of incipient globalization.