A late Holocene pollen record from Lake Almalou in NW Iran: evidence for changing land-use in relation to some historical events during the last 3700 years

A pollen diagram was prepared from Lake Almalou, a volcanic crater wetland located on the eastern flanks of the Sahand Volcanic Complex in NW Iran. The core provides a 3700-year record of human activity and environmental change in an upland region. We attempt to relate vegetation changes to both climatic change and historical events. Variations of anthropogenic pollen indicators suggest several phases of intensified human activities. Two strongly expressed agricultural phases are dated at about 2450–2220 cal BP (Achaemenid Empire) and 230–30 cal BP (collapse of Safavid Dynasty to the modern period). Historical rather than climatic events appear to be the main controlling factors for upland land-use dynamics. Fruticulture has been practiced in the region at least since the Iron Age, reaching its maximum importance 1500–1250 cal BP during the reign of Sassanid Empire; it declined by the time of Islamic conquest of Iran (651 AD). The Little Ice Age is tangibly recorded by higher lake water levels most probably due to both lower summer temperatures and higher annual precipitations. Low values of cereal-type and cultivated tree pollen during this period may indicate a change in the lifestyle from the cultivation of fields and orchards to a more nomadic life dominated by summer pasture. The modern period (1850 AD onwards) is characterized by expansion of agricultural activities to upland areas and intensified pastoralism.     

Un Livre Placé Sous le Signe du Malentendu

Résumé  La Sociologie de la musique de Max Weber est un ouvrage techniquement complexe. Il est également le résultat d’une démarche difficile à retracer et qui se prête au malentendu. Weber vise à reconstituer les forces indissociables — recherche d’expression, rationalisation et, marginalement, luttes pour le prestige — qui ont conduit à l’élaboration des matériaux dont la musique se compose. Les lectures musicologiques du texte, pourtant les mieux armées pour en comprendre les subtilités, en ont simplifié l’argumentation pour ne voir dans la rationalisation qu’un simple processus fonctionnel. Elles ont échoué à saisir la démarche analytique de Weber qui garde aujourd’hui toute sa pertinence. Emmanuel Pedler, né en 1956, est directeur d’études à l’école des hautes études en sciences sociales. Ses travaux ont d’abord porté sur la sociologie de la réception des œuvres visuelles, musicales ou théatrales, puis sur l’analyse critique des premières sociologies de la musique. Il a notamment réalisé avec Jean Molino, l’édition (traduction et annotations) de la Sociologie de la musique de Max Weber (Paris, Métailié, 1998). Sa direction d’études porte sur les dynamiques de la culture (processus d’institutionnalisation de la musique savante et mésosociologie de la relation esthétique).     

Greater France and the provinces: representations of the empire and colonial interests in the Rennes region 1880-1905

The connection between French regional culture and the impactof colonization on France has received important treatment ina number of recent works. A new line of investigation in thisfield could offer a richer analysis of the connection betweencolonialism and regional culture. This approach would need toinsist on how colonialism was differently understood by localelites with varied material and ideological interests. To developthis approach, this article examines how the local press, thelocal business community, the local Church and the fishing communityin Rennes and its surrounding region, developed different attitudestowards the colonial empire. It concludes that representationsof the empire at the local level are deeply rooted in materialand ideological interests and it was through these intereststhat the empire entered debates in local society.     

Measuring the relative topographic position of archaeological sites in the landscape,a case study on the Bronze Age barrows in northwest Belgium

Local topography is an important parameter determining the erection of a certain type of site on a certain location in the landscape. Despite the importance of topography in archaeological landscape research, the role of local topography has remained rather unexplored compared to other specific topographic parameters such as slope, aspect, curvature or visibility. Therefore, three methods to assess the relative topographic position of sites are applied and discussed here. The Bronze Age barrow dataset of northwest Belgium acts as the subject for this methodological case study. First, elevation percentile calculates the area that is lower than the central point within a predetermined neighborhood. Secondly, difference from mean elevation measures the relative topographic position of the central point as the difference between the elevation of this central point and the mean elevation within a predetermined neighborhood. And finally, deviation from mean elevation calculates the relative topographic position of the central point as the difference from mean elevation divided by the standard deviation of elevation, within a predetermined neighborhood. These three methods, each with their advantages and disadvantages, prove to be an added value for archaeological landscape research.