Neolithic occupation and mid-Holocene soil formation at Encosta de Sant'Ana (Lisbon,Portugal): a geoarchaeological approach

Excavations at the archaeological site of Encosta de Sant'Ana (Lisbon, Portugal) uncovered a mid-Holocene buried alluvial soil associated with early Neolithic occupation layers. Routine laboratory analyses and micromorphological observations were undertaken on the soil material. Humic acids from its Ab horizon, as well as Neolithic ecofacts, were radiocarbon dated. The dates obtained indicate that soil was formed between c. 8.0 and 6.0 cal ka BP and that the pedological evidence fits the record of the North Atlantic Holocene IRD events (“Bond events”) and the so-called “Holocene climate optimum”. The geoarchaeological record reveals that Neolithic inhabitants settled upon a stable surface, still affected by soil formation that was suddenly interrupted by slope wasting, probably in correspondence to Bond event 4, at c. 6.0 cal ka BP.     

Cultural retaliation: the cultural policies of the ‘new’ Front National

This study examines the conception of culture and the cultural policies of the French Front National. Tracing the developments of the party’s cultural agenda before and after Marine Le Pen took over the leadership of the party from her father, I show how the Front National has adapted its discourse on cultural policy to its wider programmatic profile. In the context of a strategy of de-radicalisation promoted by Marine Le Pen, recent years have witnessed focussed efforts by the party leadership to professionalise and modernise the party’s cultural policy programme. However, the analysis of the party’s current cultural policy agenda reveals a remarkable continuity in the way the party leadership conceives of national culture and of what cultural policy should promote. This programmatic continuity becomes apparent in the analysis of the local cultural policies of municipalities won by the Front National in 2014. Exploring the cultural agendas of ten local governments with a Front National majority, I argue that the cultural policies of the Front National remain deeply rooted in a nativist understanding of culture and a dirigiste approach that wilfully excludes postcolonial minorities.     

Reaction to Fire of Existing Timber Elements Protected With Fire Retardant Treatments: Experimental Assessment

Fire safety is an important issue of building safety, especially when the building’s fire load contents enhance the risks of fire deflagration. When existing timber structures are involved, the most usual way to improve its reaction to fire is to treat wood with fire retardants. This study focuses on the surface protection of existing timber roof structures against fire, through the use of fire retardant (FR) treatments applied on site. An experimental investigation was carried out to study the effect of FR treatments on timber reaction to fire, with a special emphasis on timber members with biological deterioration and previously treated with preservative products. The behaviour and effectiveness of intumescent and non-intumescent treatments was also investigated. The study showed that the application of FR treatments improved the reaction to fire of timber, even in the presence of previous preservative treatments. However, the choice of the specific FR treatment should take into account the substrate conditions. In addition, test results suggest that protection systems involving multi layers (intumescent and non-intumescent) with different functioning modes each are likely to have a good global performance on the protection of timber elements against fire.     

A Late 17th‐Century Trade Cargo from Ponta do Leme Velho,Sal Island,Cape Verde

In 1973, while recovering copper cargo from a 20th‐century ship wrecked off the Ponta do Leme Velho on the south‐east side of Sal Island, Cape Verde, explosives revealed an earlier ship cargo with dozens of Portuguese faience plates and bowls, glass beads and metal objects, including buckles, ammunition and copper manillas. The assemblage, including the ceramics and a marked silver tastevin, provide a site date between 1680 and 1700. The research presented here is a result of collaboration between CPAS and the authors in 2008 to analyse this assemblage in the context of late 17th‐century maritime trade.     

A case of Human Bone Chalcolithic Technology from the Perdigões site (Alentejo,Portugal)

A human femur diaphysis in the form of a burin was excavated from a secondary burial context containing osteological remains and industry in the Archaeological Complex of Perdigões (Portugal). The majority of these evidences are thermo‐altered and highly fragmented. Radiocarbon dates for this context place it in the middle 3rd millennium BC. Typological analyses indicate that the human femur fragment is a burin, and use‐wear comparisons suggest that it was used to drill hide. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exclusionary secularism: the Front national and the reinvention of laïcité

After two decades of privileged relations with Catholic traditionalism, the Front national (FN) now presents itself as the staunchest defender of laïcité. This article aims to examine this alleged secular turn by analysing its relation with Marine Le Pen’s strategy of normalisation. It argues that laïcité in today’s bleu marine FN must be understood both as a new frame to legitimise old preferences and as a strategy to reach heterogeneous constituencies. Furthermore, the article places the FN’s understanding of laïcité into the larger context of the diffusion of exclusionary readings of French secularism since 1989.     

Introducing GIS across levels: designing for diversity

The paper proposes a strategy for designing introductory GIS modules at Birkbeck, University of London. Seven design aspects or elements (content, practical exercises, assessment, pace, mode, level of support, and level of difficulty) for tailoring modules at appropriate levels and for diversity are introduced and their application in Birkbeck’s context discussed. Student’s perceptions on those elements, obtained from surveying a subset of students who had taken multiple introductory GIS modules, is then presented. The paper concludes with a discussion on the relevance of the proposed design elements, reflecting on the differences between tutor’s design intentions and students’ perceptions.     

Digital Management of Rock Art: the African Archaeology Archive Cologne (AAArC)

Archaeology is a costly and object-affine practice requiring sophisticated technical equipment, and therefore is largely initiated and run from industrialised countries. Accordingly, also data and objects are largely lodged in these countries. In rock art, this leads to the paradoxical situation that many motifs and sites with outstanding prehistoric art are better known and more often shown in northern hemisphere urban centres than in the global south rural areas where the art in fact is found. This paper will focus on the possibilities and benefits of a digital archive in making pictures, data and other archaeological source material accessible anytime from everywhere. An open online archive will in the long run flatten the hierarchical order of access to the results of archaeological research and heritage archiving. Today, this is still concentrated in the western metropoles and rarest in African hinterlands. The open access to thousands of pictures will facilitate dissemination of motifs in particular since the distribution of smartphones and network coverage are ever growing particularly in Africa’s rural areas. The African Archaeology Archive Cologne (AAArC), being licenced under Creative Commons, provides open access to tens of thousands of rock art photos and to the enormous Brandberg-Daureb Data Base that contains 39,000+ rock art figures. Additionally AAArC stores all kinds of digital archaeological products from across Africa (mainly Sudan, Algeria, Chad and Namibia), including audio and film documentary.