Effect of the joint type on the bearing capacity of a multi–drum column under static load

The results of an experimental study on the effect of the joints between the blocks on the ultimate bearing capacity of a multi-drum column loaded to centric vertical force and horizontal force in the middle of its height are shown. The column is approximately 2.5 m high, with one hinge at the top and another hinge at the bottom. Four types of joints between the blocks were considered: a dry joint (column C-DJ) and joints with stone powder (column C-SPJ), lead (column C-PBJ), and epoxy (column C-EPJ). The applied vertical and horizontal forces, horizontal displacement, vertical strains, and horizontal circumferential strains in the middle of the column height, as well as shortening of the column, were measured. Under axial compression, ratios between the ultimate load bearing capacities of tested columns were C-EPJ: C-DJ: C-SPJ: C-PBJ = 1: 0.68: 0.59: 0.51. The bearing capacity of the tested columns with regard to the horizontal force depended on the level of the applied centric compression force. Columns with soft joints (C-PBJ, C-SPJ) had the largest shortening and the largest horizontal displacements for the equal forces.     

Modeling Expansive Phenomena in Early Complex Societies: the Transition from Bronze Iron Age in Prehistoric Europe

The Bronze Age/Iron Age transition in Prehistoric Europe represents a perfect case study to test different and competing hypotheses of social dynamics and economic change in small-scale societies. The paper discusses the possibilities of modeling what could have happened in Europe between 1800 and 800 bc, in terms of spatiotemporal dynamics. The paper presents some theoretical aspects of the dynamic study of expansive phenomena and gives an overview of a computer model programmed to explain the way new burial forms expanded in Europe. The main idea is comparing classic demic diffusion models (spread of population), cultural transmission models (spread of ideas), and technological innovation diffusion model (spread of goods). We will present the fundamentals of a preliminary study towards the computational simulation of such hypothetical social mechanisms, using a dataset composed of more than 1,500 georeferenced and radiocarbon dated archaeological contexts of a period between the Early Bronze Age and the first Iron Age (1800–800 bc) from an area including the North-East of Iberian Peninsula, Southern France, Northern and Central Italy, Switzerland, Austria, and Southern Germany.     

The impacts of spatial planning on the sustainable territorial development of the Rhine-Danube Trans-European Transport Corridor through Serbia

The Danube River is both the international waterway E-80 and the Rhine-Danube Core Network Corridor of nine European corridors in the trans-European transport network, and it is the core area of the most significant Danubian development axis in the Republic of Serbia. The present research focus of this paper is the integrated impact of spatial planning on achieving the sustainable territorial development of the Rhine-Danube Corridor through Serbia and its potential transboundary impact. Integrated assessment (environmental and social), based on the combined application of the standard strategic environmental assessment (SEA) method and the newly presented adapted strategic environmental assessment (ASEA) method, has made it possible to predict the effects of future activities on the sustainable territorial development of the waterway corridor, not only in Serbia, but also in other Danubian countries. The applied combination of the SEA and ASEA methods is presented in the form of key planning solutions in three selected sectors: international inland waterway, water management infrastructure and tourism. The results indicate that the negative impacts of potential conflicts between the planning solutions are far greater than the negative impacts of individual planning solutions, and that it is more difficult to control and mitigate or neutralize them.     

Physical activity and social status in Early Bronze Age society: The Mokrin necropolis

This paper investigates the social structure of an Early Bronze Age society whose members were buried at the necropolis of Mokrin (Serbia, Southeastern Europe), by comparative analysis of musculo-skeletal markers (MSM) of activity and social status as induced on the basis of grave contents. The main objective of the analysis is to determine whether quantitative and qualitative differences in activity are related to social status. Besides using an overall measure of activity, we attempted to isolate different qualitative aspects (facets) of activity through factor analysis of MSM scores. No correlation between social status and overall labor intensity was found. However, there are clues that social status and a single facet of activity are related. Positive correlation between vertical status and the intensity of use of upper arm and shoulder muscles was found among male individuals, while negative correlation between the aforementioned variables was found among the females. The general conclusion based on the results of this study is that there is no simple correlation between the overall labor intensity and social status.     

Archaeometric study of medieval pottery excavated at Stari (Old) Ras,Serbia

A combined study of a series of polychromatic and monochromatic glazed medieval pottery shards excavated from the archaeological area of Stari (Old) Ras in southern Serbia, including petrographic and chemical analysis, powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, allowed us to clearly distinguish between two groups of ceramics. Ras pottery, made of fine-grained well-cleaned clay and characterised by a rich mineral assemblage, was produced by firing in a temperature range between 800 and 900 °C. Reljina Gradina ceramics were produced at similar temperatures from materials which, with regard to mineralogical and chemical composition, show clear similarity with local clay, suggesting that these samples are of local origin and production. This work is the first systematic archaeometric study of medieval pottery excavated on the territory of Serbia.     

Exploring Roman Ritual Behaviours Through Plant Remains from Pannonia Inferior

The recovery of new plant remains from eastern Croatia are discussed here in order to determine their ritual significance and how this evidence may fit into chronological and regional observations on ritual plant offerings in the Roman world. Samples collected from inhumations, cremations and an altar dedicated to Silvanus Domesticus, dating from the 2nd to 4th centuries AD, are presented and show that a range of more ‘common’ plant remains, such as cereals and pulses, were an important part of ritual life. These results are also compared to the growing archaeobotanical data collected from shrine and cremation burials across Europe. Although the archaeobotanical data from the Croatian sites are limited, the increasing evidence of ritual plant use allows observations regarding the wider context of Roman social and religious change.