On Language Distribution in Ilam Province,Iran

As is still the case in many parts of Iran, the distribution of languages and dialects in Ilam Province, western Iran, is unevenly documented. There have been several studies on specific language varieties spoken throughout the province but, in large part because of conflicting perspectives on the relationship between language and ethnicity, the situation for the region as a whole has until now remained unclear. The present study first of all brings together existing sociolinguistic and demographic data on language distribution and highlight areas of uncertainty. The main part of the study provides an overview of local perceptions of language distribution and language use based on field research and interviews conducted in each of the province's ten regions (shahrestān) and their twenty-five districts (bakhsh). Here, respondents' assessments of the geographic extent of the province's four main languages—Kurdish, Luri, Laki and Arabic—as well as more minor languages spoken by immigrants from elsewhere in Iran are summarized. For Kurdish in particular, which is the major of the four languages, the article shows the perceived geographic distribution of each major dialect and its affiliation within one of two major Kurdish dialect groups: Ilāmi (or “Feyli”) and Kalhōri. This analysis is followed by a brief discussion of multilingualism. The results of the study are brought together in a map of the province's languages.     

France's Grotian moment? Hugo Grotius and Cardinal Richelieu's commercial statecraft

Cardinal Richelieu's commercial projects have long been seenas a part of his early efforts to reform the French state. Thispaper argues that Richelieu's commercial activity can more profitablybe viewed in the context of his thinking about relations betweenFrance and its neighbours and of a pan-European movement toreconsider the connections among commerce, governance and sovereigntyspawned by the Dutch war with Spain. Specifically, it examinesRichelieu's relations with the Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius. In1626 the cardinal attempted to hire Grotius as a commercialexpert, consulting with him on several occasions. Although Grotiusdeclined, the cardinal was deeply influenced by Grotius’arguments about the freedom of commerce and trade. Richelieuadapted these arguments to suit French needs and his own Catholicvision of the state.     

Pricing, Capacity Choice, and Financing in Transportation Networks

Abstract.  This paper explores interrelations between pricing, capacity choice, and financing in transportation networks. We build on the Mohring‐Harwitz result on self‐financing of optimally designed and priced roads and investigate it in a network environment under various types of second‐best regulation. A small network model with endogenous car ownership demonstrates that optimal congestion pricing and capacity choice over an entire network may cause user prices to increase more in initially mildly congested areas compared to heavily congested areas. Furthermore, a flat kilometer charge under optimal capacity choice may result in first‐best efficiency gains.     

Radiocarbon dating of prehistoric hearths in alpine northern Sweden: problems and possibilities

The chronology of prehistoric Sami settlement sites has previously been established by conventional radiocarbon dating of bulk charcoal samples associated with hearths from sunken hut floors (stállo-foundations). Here we present results of a comprehensive dating exercise of stállo-foundations in the alpine area of northern Scandinavia using Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating of charcoal. Over a 3 km² study area, AMS calibrated ages of hearth charcoal from 22 stállo-foundations across 12 sites securely date these features to between cal. AD 640 and AD 1180. Only small variations in age were found between charcoal samples from different areas of a given hearth. Statistical analysis of all the charcoal AMS radiocarbon dates obtained reveals that 12 stállo-foundations across nine sites are contemporaneous and date to the Viking Period (AD 800–AD 1050). The tightly constrained AMS-based chronology of stállo-foundations contrasts with the existing chronology based on conventional radiocarbon analysis, which places these features within a significantly greater time-frame of between AD 600 and AD 1900, with most dates ranging between AD 800 and AD 1350.This discrepancy is likely to result from the necessity of collecting composite hearth charcoal particles, which may originate from different phases of occupation, in order to achieve the required final carbon content for conventional radiocarbon analysis. We argue that the new AMS-based radiocarbon chronology of stállo-foundations presented here supersedes the existing chronology based on conventional (Gas Proportional counting) radiocarbon analysis and we advocate the use of AMS radiocarbon dating in future hearth investigations.