Formt die Technik die Musik? Montageästhetik zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts

Does technology shape music? Aesthetics of assembly at the beginning of the 20^th century. This article deals with the relationship between assembly in production technology and similar processes in musical composition. Can composers like Eric Satie, Igor Strawinsky or George Antheil, who used assembly methods in some of their compositions, be called assemblers? The authors point out that all three composers used assembly methods in different ways and with different purposes. Applying a theoretical approach inspired by media studies they come to the conclusion that the conditions under which musical works using assembly methods are shaped do not originate in technology but in the aesthetic convictions of the composer. Apart from assembly methods there are many other compositional principles the composer relies on. Technology may inspire music but does not determine the musical outcome.     

Categorical Wombling: Detecting Regions of Significant Change in Spatially Located Categorical Variables

Wombling is a method for discovering boundaries in a collection of continuous variables observed at the same geographic localities. We extend this method to categorical data. A categorical wombling statistic C_i, which identifies areas of rapid change, is defined for every pair i = 1,…, n of adjacent localities, and is equal to the average number of category mismatches at i. We use both simulation and theory to consider the order statistics of C_i under null hypotheses of randomness, and of spatial autocorrelation for each variable, but independence between variables. Graph-theoretical statistics derived from C_i investigate whether areas of rapid change resemble boundaries. Computer simulation is used to study the distributions of these under the two null hypotheses. The methods are applied to linguistic data in three European areas. Other potential applications exist in biology, linguistics, anthropology, and other social sciences.     

Regional and interregional networks of ancient Eleon during the early 12th century BCE as seen from the petrographic and neutron activation analyses of pottery

In this article, we present the results of application of petrographic and neutron activation analyses to a group of pottery fragments dating to the 12th century BCE deriving from ancient Eleon (Boeotia, Greece) as a means of investigating regional and interregional networks in which the site participated. Production centres in Boeotia and central Euboea provided, as could be expected, the majority of sampled pottery across various shapes. A number of more distant areas, however, such as eastern Attica, the Cyclades, Macedonia, and western Crete, are also documented in the present study, suggesting their products were available to local consumers at ancient Eleon. These results are discussed with reference to consumer preferences and exchange networks operating at that time. Finally, some of the identified petrographic and chemical groups can be securely identified at the macroscopic level, allowing us to arrive at conclusions pertinent to a substantial part of the entire pottery assemblage.     

The fluidity of barbarian identity: the ethnogenesis of Alemanni and Suebi, AD 200–500

This article argues against the romantic notion that barbarian peoples organized themselves around internal identities which persisted essentially unchanged over centuries. The Alemanni comprised an amalgam of constituent groups whose identities and behaviour fluctuated according to situation and context. This loose association of groups was transformed into a more cohesively organized gentile configuration during the migration period, when Alemannic and Suebic elements formed a common Alemannic identity.