Tell formation processes as indicated from geoarchaeological and geochemical investigations at Xeropolis,Euboea, Greece

Xeropolis is a tell site on the island of Euboea, Greece just to the east of the village of Lefkandi, and was occupied from the Early Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age. Excavations in recent years have provided an opportunity to investigate site formation processes using geoarchaeological and geochemical techniques. Sediments derived from the tell on the southern side have been lost by coastal erosion whilst those on the north mantle the flanking slope. Of particular interest is a homogeneous and unstratified deposit of over 2 m which overlies the archaeology near the southern perimeter of the summit area. The soil structure as evident in thin sections indicates a high degree of bioturbation, probably stimulated by recent manuring and cultivation. The implication is that tillage erosion has had a major impact on the morphology as well as on the surface soils of the tell. Despite such reworking and redeposition of near surface materials, it is still possible from multi-element analysis to identify the geochemical distinctiveness of six archaeological contexts (pit, house, plaster floor, alley, road and yard); pits and floors have high loadings of all elements except Pb; in contrast pits and floors have the lowest elemental concentrations.     

Challenges to Democracy in Market-Oriented Urban Planning in Norway

Neo-liberal ideas have resulted in a planning practice characterized by an informal phase in which early agreements are reached in closed negotiations between municipal planners and private developers. This challenges norms of legitimacy and accountability found in traditional democratic theories, as well as deliberative planning and network governance theories. Input-based legitimacy may be weakened by the lack of participation as well as by asymmetry in resources available for participation (voice). The representative democracy's (vote) responsiveness to the electorate may be weakened due to the lack of knowledge of the views of those affected, early lock-in to agreements and weak meta-governance due to the lack of adherence to overall plans. Throughput legitimacy is reduced by the lack of transparency, and thus accountability, in the informal phase. Output legitimacy might justify the privileged position of developers if tangible results are achieved. However, lack of participation weakens the quality and long-term lastingness of decisions, and lack of deliberation weakens the acceptability of justifications for those burdened by the decisions. We argue that two different types of reforms are necessary to increase the input legitimacy of planning practices: representative democracy reforms that strengthen the role of politicians and reforms that strengthen the direct participation of stakeholders in planning.     

Buried together,buried alone: Christian commemoration and kinship in the early Middle Ages

This essay explores the ways in which strategies of commemoration elaborated by kin groups changed after the end of the western Roman empire and what role Christianity played in these transformations. In order to shed some light on the situation, a broad sample of cemeteries dating from late antiquity and the early Middle Ages was analysed, focusing on the spatial organization of the individuals within the cemeteries and around cult places. For this purpose archaeological, physical anthropological and epigraphic data were studied and juxtaposed with the theoretical debates expressed by Christian writers. The data at hand seem to suggest that rather than radically transforming kinship commemoration strategies, Christianity added new ideological layers, making its use and display multidimensional.     

City-Management – Eine Erfolgsstory?!

Seit geraumer Zeit wird das Thema Innenstadt kontrovers diskutiert. Neben dem Niedergang der City und der Konkurrenz zur „Grünen Wiese” werden zugleich die europ?ische urbane Stadt heraufbeschworen und zahlreiche Aktivit?ten zur (Re-)Vitalisierung unternommen. Von privaten Initiativen, H?ndlergemeinschaften über public-private-partnership-Projekte, wie z.B. „Ab in die Mitte” in Nordrhein-Westfalen, bis zum st?dtischen City-Manager und Landesf?rderung für Innenstadtprojekte reicht das Repertoire. City-Management ist dabei ein wesentliches Instrument. Wie City-Management in Deutschland aussieht und wie es sich entwickelt, zeigt der folgende Beitrag.     

Characterization of dyestuffs in ancient textiles from Xinjiang

Extraordinarily well-preserved organic remains from mortuary and settlement sites, including mummified bodies, are scattered along the outer, oasis-laden rim of the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang Province, China, ranging in date from about 1400 BC to the late first millennium BC. Specimens of textile finds from Chärchän, dated at about 1000 BC were selected for dye analysis using newly developed protocols employing high performance liquid chromatography with spectrophotometric and mass spectrometric detection. A single blue (from an indigo plant), a red (from madder, a Rubia species) and two yellow dyes were detected, although the exact plant source for none of them could be identified with certainty. This research offers new insights in the interpretation of textile finds from prehistoric Xinjiang, and more generally, of early Bronze Age Eurasia.     

The After School Routines of Literature-Devoted Urban Children

This paper discusses the out of school routines of a group of ‘literature-devoted’ children of the city of Madrid (Spain). The children and families were recruited for the study at a library, a children's bookstore and a puppet show in a park. Participants provided information on their weekly routines through several procedures: surveys, photographs of their daily lives, interviews based on the photographs and interviews with parents. We develop a spatially based model that allows us to identify four styles of activity in children's out of school lives: homebound children, non-scheduled children, outdoor and scheduled children, and fully scheduled children. Our results suggest that there is significant diversity in the ways in which children's after-school time is organized, even within a middle-class and socially homogeneous sample as the one in this study. Also, the range of activities our participants engage in seems to contradict current portraits of Western urban children's lives as constrained.     

Balance of power across the Channel: reassessing Frankish hegemony in southern England (sixth–early seventh century)

Relations between southern Britain and the Merovingian kingdoms in the sixth and early seventh centuries have largely been understood in terms of a Frankish hegemony extending across the Channel. However, a re-examination of the small group of written sources on which this idea is based shows that they do not necessarily imply such overlordship. Sixth-century archaeological evidence points to a different and more complex picture of Frankish influence: displaying links with the Franks was crucial for the self-representation of elites in southern England, and should be understood in the context of extensive transmarine contacts.