The Environmental History of Tigray (Northern Ethiopia) in the Middle and Late Holocene: A Preliminary Outline

This paper outlines the environmental history of the Tigrean Plateau (northern Ethiopia) during the Holocene, based on the available geomorphological, palynological, archaeological, and historical evidence. At present, it seems that (1) the plateau experienced a more humid climate with a denser vegetation cover during the Early Holocene; (2) Soil erosion due to clearing vegetation began in the Middle Holocene; (3) agricultural activity was intensified in the Late Holocene, as a consequence of the rise of a state; (4) demographic pressure increased from the early first millennium BC to the mid–first millennium AD, causing soil erosion; (5) environmental degradation and demographic decline occurred in the late first millennium AD; (6) the vegetation cover was regenerated in the early second millennium AD; and (7) progressive vegetation clearance started again in the second half of the second millennium AD.Cet article trace l'histoire ambiante du Plateau Tigréen dans l'Holocène en utilisant les données géomorphologiques, palynologiques, archéologiques et historiques. Il semble que (1) dans l'Holocène ancien le plateau était caractérisé par une phase humide avec une dense végétation; (2) l'érosion causée par l'abbattage de la végétation commen¸a dans l'Holocène moyen; (3) l'activité agricole s'inténsifia à la fin de l'Holocène, par conséquence de l'essor d'un état; (4) la pression démographique augmenta de plus en plus du début du premier millénaire av. J.-Ch. à la moitié du premier millénaire ap. J.-Ch.; (5) la dégradation ambiante et la diminution démographique se vérifièrent à la fin du premier millénaire ap. J.-Ch.; (6) une régéneration de la vegetation se vérifia au début du seconde millénaire ap. J.-Ch.; et (7) l'abbatage de la végétation recommen¸a dans la seconde moitié du seconde millénaire ap. J.-Ch.     

Contact Dynamics of Masonry Block Structures Using Mathematical Programming

A simple variational formulation for contact dynamics is adopted to investigate the dynamic behavior of planar masonry block structures subjected to seismic events. The numerical model is a two-dimensional assemblage of rigid blocks interacting at potential contact points located at the vertices of the interfaces. A no-tension and associative frictional behavior with infinite compressive strength is considered for joints. The dynamic contact problem is formulated as a quadratic programming problem (QP) and an iterative procedure is implemented for time integration. Applications to analytical and numerical case studies are presented for validation. Comparisons with the experimental results of a masonry wall under free rocking motion and of a small scale panel with opening subjected to in-plane loads are also carried out to evaluate the accuracy and the computational efficiency of the formulation adopted.     

Neutron imaging study of ‘pattern-welded’ swords from the Viking Age

We present novel imaging results from a non-invasive examination of three ‘pattern-welded’ swords from the Viking Age belonging to the National Museum of Denmark, using white beam and energy resolved tomographies with neutrons. Pattern-welded blades are made by forge welding together thin strips of iron and steel that were twisted and joined in various ways, producing a decorative pattern on the surface. The study shed light on the inner structure of the composite material and manufacturing techniques of these admired examples of past technology, revealing some otherwise invisible details of their assembly methods, phase distribution and extent of the corrosion.     

Archeometric characterization of prehistoric grindstones from Milazzo Bronze Age settlement (Sicily,Italy)

The results of a petrographic and geochemical study carried out on archeological grindstones allow to provide new constraints on protohistoric commercial exchanges over the Mediterranean area. Eleven grindstones, discovered in an archeological site located in Milazzo (Messina, Sicily) and dated from the Early Bronze Age, have been investigated by geochemical and petrographic techniques. The raw materials are mainly volcanic rocks characterized by calc-alkaline and K-alkaline affinities with volcanic arc geochemical signature. Only one sample, made of basalt belonging to the Na-alkaline series, shows an intraplate signature. The comparison with the available literature data for similar rocks allowed constraining the volcanic origin of the exploited lavas. While the intraplate-type raw material came from Mt. Etna Volcano (Sicily), the arc-type volcanic rocks are mostly trachyandesites, basaltic andesites, and one rhyolite. Although most of them come from the Aeolian Arc, a provenance of some samples from the Aegean Arc cannot be excluded. This last region could represent the most probable provenance area for the rhyolite sample.     

A prehispanic Maya pit oven? Microanalysis of fired clay balls from the Puuc region,Yucatán,Mexico

Excavations of a kitchen at Escalera al Cielo in the Puuc Maya region of Yucatán, Mexico uncovered a concentration of fired clay balls (ca. 3–5 cm in diameter), in addition to other de facto domestic refuse. The kitchen pertains to an intensively excavated elite residential group that was rapidly abandoned sometime near the end of the Terminal Classic period (A.D. 800–950), resulting in floor assemblages that provide an opportunity to explore the types and distribution of daily household activities. The results of experimental replications and a suite of analyses comprising modal analysis, ceramic petrography, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and microbotanical residue analysis reveal aspects of clay preparation, firing temperatures, repeated use of the balls, firing conditions, and specific plant food or fuel residues adhering to them. We show that the fired clay balls were manufactured with local, clay-rich soil and employed by the inhabitants of Escalera al Cielo as heating elements; relatively high concentrations of microbotanical residues from edible plants adhering to them support the hypothesis that they were involved in kitchen activities related to food processing.     

Proto-Cities or Non-Proto-Cities? On the Nature of Cucuteni–Trypillia Mega-Sites

The Eneolithic Cucuteni–Trypillia mega-sites were undoubtedly the largest residential agglomerates in southeastern Europe from c. 4100 to 3400 cal BC. Their sheer size and estimated population have triggered animated discussion of whether or not they should be regarded as ‘proto-cities’. Considering trajectories of change in, for instance, density of dwellings and settlement size, this paper discusses a series of issues that will help the reader decide in which category these large sites should be placed, while at the same time examining the arguments for and against Trypillia low-density settlement patterns, recently problematized by Chapman and Gaydarska (2016).     

Contextualizing marriage: conjugality and Christian life in Jonas of Orléans' De institutione laicali

The De institutione laicali by Jonas of Orléans has frequently been examined as a source for conjugal life in the Carolingian period, but rarely analysed in its entirety. In this article I propose an overall reading of the text, based on the version addressed to Count Matfrid before 828, in order to place the chapters about marriage in their context. I will formulate new interpretations of its purposes – arguing that Book II was configured as a speculum comitale – and of Jonas's view of marriage. The De institutione laicali will therefore be shown to have served the needs of Carolingian representations of society and public power.     

Aurignacian ethno-linguistic geography of Europe revealed by personal ornaments

Our knowledge of the migration routes of the first anatomically modern populations colonising the European territory at the beginning of the Upper Palaeolithic, of their degree of biological, linguistic, and cultural diversity, and of the nature of their contacts with local Neanderthals, is still vague. Ethnographic studies indicate that of the different components of the material culture that survive in the archaeological record, personal ornaments are among those that best reflect the ethno-linguistic diversity of human groups. The ethnic dimension of beadwork is conveyed through the use of distinct bead types as well as by particular combinations and arrangements on the body of bead types shared with one or more neighbouring groups. One would expect these variants to leave detectable traces in the archaeological record. To explore the potential of this approach, we recorded the occurrence of 157 bead types at 98 European Aurignacian sites. Seriation, correspondence, and GIS analyses of this database identify a definite cline sweeping counter-clockwise from the Northern Plains to the Eastern Alps via Western and Southern Europe through fourteen geographically cohesive sets of sites. The sets most distant from each other include Aurignacian sites from the Rhône valley, Italy, Greece and Austria on the one hand, and sites from Northern Europe, on the other. These two macro-sets do not share any bead types. Both are characterised by particular bead types and share personal ornaments with the intermediate macro-set, composed of sites from Western France, Spain, and Southern France. We argue that this pattern, which is not explained by chronological differences between sites or by differences in raw material availability, reflects the ethnolinguistic diversity of the earliest Upper Palaeolithic populations of Europe.     

Recognition and Classification of Urban Shapes

This paper is concerned with a methodology that is able to recognize and classify geometric shapes, in particular urban shapes. The main objective of this study is to develop a shape index that will address Whyte's category of “spatial form” (1968), that is, the external appearance or outward form, in contrast with the “internal form,” which is the structural form. We first review methodologies of shape recognition and classification. Next, we propose a viable formulation for such an endeavor by drawing from the aforementioned methodologies, and we aim to overcome some of their limitations by formulating a new index. We will apply the resulting shape index to an illustrative case in order to recognize urban shapes.     

A socioeconomic impact assessment of three Italian national parks

The expansion of protected areas (PAs) is feared to negatively affect the local economy, as every PA, albeit to different degrees, entails restriction to the economic activities. The literature on the topic has started assessing what is the socioeconomic impact of PAs, mostly focusing on the Global South. The objective of this article is the analysis of the socioeconomic impact of three Italian national parks (NPs), established in the 2000s, using a counterfactual approach based on both the outcome regression diff-in-diff and the doubly robust diff-in-diff combined with different propensity score-based and Mahalanobis distance matching procedures. We find that the three Italian NPs have a robust and statistically significant impact on average income of residents in municipalities hosting them. Conversely, there is weak evidence that population and local establishments are positively affected, and touristic local establishments and employment are negatively affected by the three NPs. All together the results indicate that the three NPs have no negative effect on the socioeconomic dynamics of the territories impacted, although additional investigations are required to shed lights to the impact mechanisms.